1 million day, winning both the Tour Championship and the Fedex Cup in Atlanta today as Jason Day scrapped his way to another strong finish.
<image="1" align="left" />Horschel, the American ranked No. 23 in the world, completed a golden three weeks by winning the Tour Championship at East Lake by three shots, nervelessly closing it out down the stretch.
Starting the week at No. 2 in the season-long Fedex rankings, the win pushed 27-year-old Horschel up to No. 1 above Chris Kirk, and earned him the $10 million bonus on offer. Put together with the $1.4 million prizemoney for winning the tournament, he will return to his pregnant wife with more than $11 million.
Typical of his gritty play was his long par-save at the 16th hole after he had driven into trouble and laid up short of the green. He calmly parred the final two holes to card a 68, having seen off the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jim Furyk, who at one point on the back nine tied for the lead.
Horschel’s win was a remarkable tale of a hot streak. It was his 12th consecutive round in the 60s, and he had started the PGA Tour playoffs ranked 69th on the Fedex Cup list, then slid to 82nd after he missed the cut at the Barclays Championship, the first round of the playoffs.
But he won the last two tournaments, the BMW Championship in Colorado and the Tour Championship, continuing the recent pattern of Tour Championship winners also taking the Fedex Cup bonus.
Day’s performance was noteworthy given that he withdrew from the BMW last week with back spasms. The Queenslander carded a final-round 69 to finish in a tie for fourth, and he will have some time to recover before he tees it up in the Emirates Australian Open at The Australian at the end of next month.
Adam Scott also continued his solid form, finishing tied-ninth after a final-round 70 that was somewhat marred by a costly double bogey at the 17th hole today.