Rickie Fowler won the Deutsche Bank Championship today but Australia's Jason Day held the No. 1 Fedex Cup position going into the last two events of the US PGA Tour playoffs.
Fowler clinched his fourth tour victory with two solid pars to finish after Sweden's Henrik Stenson handed him the lead with a mistake at the par-three 16th hole.
Stenson had led by three shots with eight holes to play, and still by one as he stood on the tee at the 16th. But his tee shot landed short and trickled back into the water hazard in front of the green and his double bogey gave Fowler — playing in the same group — the lead for the first time all day.
The American held firm for a win that will push him into the top five on the official world rankings. "Just kind of hung in there today," Fowler said. "It’s pretty special."
The bright spot for Australia was the performance of Sydney's Matt Jones, who closed with a 74 to finish in a tie for fourth.
Jones is now ranked 33rd on the points list, giving him a chance of getting through to the Tour Championship.
Day had another good round, carding a 69 to tie for 12th and keep his top billing on the points table as the players take a week off before teeing it up in Chicago at the BMW Championship for the top 70.
After that the field will be trimmed to 30 for the Tour Championship in Atlanta, where the $US10 million Fedex Cup bonus goes on the line.
Day remains in a good position to pitch for that cash prize. The Queenslander will join Steven Bowditch (ranked 33rd), and Jones in the BMW Championship, while John Senden and Marc Leishman missed out narrowly, their seasons over.
Deutsche Bank Championship result
-15 Rickie Fowler
-14 Henrik Stenson
-11 Charley Hoffman
-8 Matt Jones (Aust), Jim Furyk, Patrick Reed, Hunter Mahan, Sean O'Hair
Fedex Cup positions (after two playoff tournaments)
1 Jason Day
2 Jordan Spieth
3 Rickie Fowler
4 Henrik Stenson
5 Bubba Watson
Other Australians
22 Steven Bowditch
33 Matt Jones
72 Marc Leishman (eliminated)
73 John Senden (eliminated)