Henrik Stenson of Sweden won the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston by two shots from the USA's Steve Stricker. The Swede has taken the lead in the FedEx Cup.
Stenson began the final round two shots behind Sergio Garcia, but the Spaniard quickly dropped out of the running with a succession of missed putts. He had played extremely solidly over the first three rounds, but the spark had gone on Labor Day Monday and he faltered to a disappointing 73 and a tie for fourth.
Stenson surged to the top of the pack with birdies at the 4th, 5th and 6th holes. Despite a rain delay and pressure from Steve Stricker, Stenson held on to claim the title, move to sixth on the Official World Golf Ranking and put himself in a great position to win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus that goes with that.
"Pretty perfect timing I guess," he said. "There's never a bad time to win a golf tournament."
Stenson has been circling a title all summer. He was tied third at the Scottish Open, second at the Open, tied second at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and third at the USPGA Championship.
There was a great deal of interest away from the top of the leaderboard at TPC Boston as players looked to secure a place in the top-70 on the FedEx Cup standings and, thereby, a start at the BMW Championship next week.
Brendan Steele looked to be out of the picture when rain halted play. But, when he headed back out to the 15th green, something clicked and he finished with four straight birdies to sneak into the top-70.
It seemed that would be at the expense of Ernie Els, but when K.J. Choi, Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell all faltered close to the line, the South African made it through with less than a point to spare.
Elsewhere, Steve Stricker's second place finish was enough to secure his place in the President's Cup team, and Zach Johnson pipped Webb Simpson to gain the final qualification place. Fred Couples will announce his two wildcard selections on Wednesday. Jordan Spieth closed with a superb 62 at TPC Boston to give himself a real chance of earning one of those picks.
Englishmen Brian Davis and Ian Poulter finished in eighth and tied ninth places respectively to insure they progressed to the third FedEx Cup playoff event.
Deutsche Bank Championship TPC Boston, Norton, Massachusetts Aug 30 - Sep 2, purse $8,000,000, par 71
1 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 63 66 66 262 $1,440,000 2 Steve Stricker (USA) 66 68 63 67 264 $864,000 3 Graham DeLaet (Can) 67 68 62 69 266 $544,000 T4 Sergio Garcia (Esp) 65 64 65 73 267 $315,000 T4 Matt Kuchar (USA) 66 66 69 66 267 $315,000 T4 Jordan Spieth (USA) 67 66 72 62 267 $315,000 T4 Kevin Stadler (USA) 64 71 64 68 267 $315,000 8 Brian Davis (Eng) 63 72 66 67 268 $248,000 T9 Roberto Castro (USA) 65 65 68 71 269 $208,000 T9 Brendon de Jonge (Zim) 69 65 69 66 269 $208,000 T9 Jason Dufner (USA) 66 66 66 71 269 $208,000 T9 Ian Poulter (Eng) 66 68 66 69 269 $208,000
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage
