Yet as his lead began to dwindle Sunday at Conway Farms Golf Club, it appeared that Leishman was about to suffer a deja coup in the BMW Championship. Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose had crept within two strokes, and Leishman, who had led after each of the first three rounds, needed to offer an appropriate response.

“I had a few scars from a few weeks ago,” Leishman said candidly. “I was just really, really determined to not let that happen again. Got it done.”

Done, and then some. A birdie at No. 15 from 30 feet. Another from 10 feet at the short 16th. And then a capper for good measure from 18 feet at the last. Birdies on three of the final four holes, and the soft-spoken big-swinging Aussie completed a wire-to-wire victory and a second PGA Tour title to his career year.

Thanks to 29 birdies for the week, Leishman, 33, closed with a four-under 67 and a tournament-record 23-under 261 to defeat Rose and Rickie Fowler by five strokes (the margin by which he started the final round out in front) and tied for the third-largest margin in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He heads to the Tour Championship at East Lake fourth in the FedEx Cup standings and first in momentum with finishes of third and first his last two outings.

Ask Billy Horschel or Rory McIlroy, who won the FedEx Cup in 2014 and 2016, respectively, with big playoff pushes, how important momentum can be in claiming the $10 million prize.

“It was just nice to put four good rounds on the board in a really big event, and backing up what happened to me last week was probably the most satisfying thing for me,” said Leishman, who advanced to the Tour Championship for just the second time in his career. “You come to every tournament to try and win it. Especially after last week my game was in a good spot and I felt confident with my game and so, yeah, I had my sights set high for the FedExCup and trying to get into the top-five. If I have another good week next week, who knows what might happen.”

Jordan Spieth, the 2015 FedEx Cup champ, shot a Sunday 65 to tie for seventh and retain the No. 1 overall seed, followed by PGA champion Justin Thomas, World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Leishman and rookie Jon Rahm. Fowler failed to birdie the par-5 18th, closed with a 67 and will go to East Lake in sixth place. The points are reset to give all 30 players at East Lake a mathematical chance, but the top five seeds are the only ones who can capture the FedEx Cup with a Tour Championship win.

Rose, with a bogey at 17, settled for 65 and will start eighth at East Lake.

“That was really important today to go out and shoot a low round,” said Spieth, the British Open champion, who is still in the picture for Player of the Year, though Thomas, with five wins, including the PGA Championship, has the edge. “Obviously that was kind of my goal today, to maintain the No. 1 position, and we’ll go into East Lake really trying to win the golf tournament and trying not to focus on anything else.”

Leishman and his family pose for pictures after Marc won the BMW Championship. (Photo by Icon Sportswire)

But there’s certainly no ignoring Leishman, who moved into the top 15 in the world rankings with his third career victory and second of the year after the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. In addition to seven top-10 finishes, Leishman was one of just 13 players this year to make the cut in all four majors. His best finish was T-6 at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

“Marc’s a world class player now,” said Fowler, paired with Leishman on Sunday. “He’s got the power, he hits it plenty far. He made plenty of big putts today especially coming down the stretch, made some good swings. He’s definitely not someone that you look past. I think maybe that’s been the case in the past, but I know us as players, it’s never really been that way.”

Leishman credits improved driving for his surge this season, but he didn’t expect anything like this. “You dream. I thought my game was in a good enough spot but, you know, having one win in eight years, it’s hard to imagine winning twice in one year and two big events like they were.”

It doesn’t hurt that things are more settled off the course. Leishman’s timing was particularly rewarding for reasons beyond his bounceback performance. His wife, Audrey, has her own story of recover. She nearly died from toxic shock syndrome two years ago, just before the Masters. Marc wanted to use the BMW Championship to help spread awareness of the illness during what is Sepsis Awareness Month, and he asked his fellow players to wear ribbons on their caps.

Then he left with a feather in his own.

Audrey and his three children were there on the 18th green to help him celebrate. Perfect.

“I’ve never been one to say I’m going to get to No. 1 in the world or anything like that,” said Leishman, who describes himself simply as “a normal bloke.” Normal but extremely talented. “I feel like, you know, with the life I live that’s probably very hard for me to do that. Don’t practice a lot on weeks off. Spend a lot of time with my kids, and I feel like you have to dedicate … not your whole life but you have to work very, very hard. I’m happy doing what I’m doing now with the life I’ve got and the way I’m playing and all that to be happy with where I am.”

Especially considering where he had just been.

The post Marc Leishman isn’t a big name, but he continues to show he has a big game appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
Like many Florida-based PGA Tour pros, Justin Thomas’ FedEx Cup Playoffs off week wound up being more stressful than trying to win a postseason event. The Player of the Year front-runner has experienced a series of firsts this season, but none as scary as a mandatory evacuation due to Hurricane Irma bearing down on his Jupiter home.

“We got very, very lucky,” Thomas said at his Wednesday press conference at the BMW Championship.

“Jupiter — I shouldn’t say we, I mean the State of Florida got hammered and it’s awful the last couple of weeks of what the hurricanes have done and growing up Louisville I never had — never had to deal with anything like this. You just have to deal with the tornado every once in awhile, but even those are usually never anything crazy.”

Thomas said he brought a lot of stuff inside his home ahead of the storm, but he turned to friend Rickie Fowler to stash some of his most prized possessions — including the Wanamaker Trophy he claimed for winning his first major title at last month’s PGA Championship.

“I had some valuables that I actually just took to Rickie’s house down the street because he has a safe that’s kind of — that’s built in the ground and is a little more sturdy than I may have,” Thomas said, “and took the Wanamaker, took some watches and some other valuables and put them in there because I figured at least I have those if everything goes.”

Smart move. And like the song goes, “For good times, and bad times, you can use my safe forever more. That’s what friends are for!” Or. . . something like that.

We’re sure Rickie was happy to hold Thomas’ major trophy even though he’s still searching for his first. But he probably would have preferred JT to keep that info on the down low.

The post Justin Thomas reveals where he smartly stashed his Wanamaker Trophy during Hurricane Irma  appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
Sean O’Hair has a game plan for this week’s BMW Championship, and he sounds suspiciously like the guy who didn’t come all this way to lay up.

The third event in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the BMW Championship is a no-cut tournament that determines the unkindest cut. At the end of the week, only 30 of the 70 players advance to the Tour Championship, the season finale on the PGA Tour held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

At 65th in the FedEx Cup standings, O’Hair needs an exceptional week at Conway Farms Golf Club to reach the Tour Championship for the second year in a row and reap the rewards that go with it, including a berth in the Masters. He’s not leaving any doubt about his strategy.

“I’m either going to play really good this week or really bad. I don’t think there is going to be anything in between,” O’Hair predicted. “I’m pretty much going to put it all on the line this week. I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m going to go for broke and see what happens. When you’re back is up against the wall, sometimes that’s when you play your best.”

“You have to have the mentality that you’re capable of putting it all together,” said Billy Horschel, who in 2014 assembled a breathtaking run, finishing 2-1-1 in the final three events to not only reach East Lake but pilfer the FedEx Cup title. “You’ve gotten this far so you have to think you’re talented enough. You have to go out with a cockiness that your game stacks up and then just go out and do it.”

Horschel doesn’t need the kind of miracles he did three years ago, standing 38th this week. But the winner of this year’s AT&T Byron Nelson will need a solid four days to achieve his first appearance at East Lake since his magical run in ’14. “I know what I need to do,” he said firmly.

Likewise, Phil Mickelson, at No. 36, doesn’t have to win to advance. The Hall of Famer just has to build on the T-6 finish he submitted at the Dell Technologies Championship that ended on Labor Day. Feeling refreshed after making dietary changes to address a testosterone deficiency, the left-hander is determined to make it to Atlanta so he can play his way into the Presidents Cup after being named one of Steve Stricker’s captain’s picks last week.

Not that winning isn’t on his mind. “I really feel like I can win again now that I have things figured out,” said Mickelson, who also thinks he has solved his frustrations on the greens by adjusting the loft on his putter.

Two-time major winner Zach Johnson, 54th in the standings, won here at Conway Farms four years ago. He’d dearly love a repeat to erase what has largely been a forgettable season, one in which he’ll miss just his second Presidents Cup since 2005.

“The beauty of the FedExCup is that you can put yourself in position to not be in this position. And I put myself in this position,” Johnson, 41, said. “So the only thing left for me to do is to play great golf, because that’s my only choice if I want to go to East Lake. You get what you deserve.”

Will he play more aggressively than if this were a regular-season tournament? Well, define “more aggressively.”

“You are who you are and you know what your game is,” he said. “Now, there’s going to be some situations where you’re going to be more aggressive. The right club with the right number to the right pin, then you’ve got to go. But in general, in this day and age, you have to play aggressively. That’s the way the game is. Guys are just too good.”

Keegan Bradley agrees that pedal-to-the-metal golf is almost mandatory. “I play aggressively in most events anyway. It’s really what you need to do now,” said Bradley, who enters this week 48th in the FedEx Cup standings. “I don’t think you can just throw all caution to the wind here. But coming down the stretch, you have a drivable par-4 and a reachable par-5 and then you might take some chances if you think it will push you over the top.”

In the balance, some unusual decisions and shot selections could be witnessed this week, all in an effort to squeeze in one more week of competition.

“Yeah, I might hit some shots I normally wouldn’t,” O’Hair said. “It comes down to, do I want another week off or play in the Tour Championship and qualify for a lot of great tournaments next year? Kind of obvious what the answer is. So, I will go for it as hard as I can.”

The post How does being on the Tour Championship bubble affect strategy this week? Phil Mickelson and others explain appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.