My Sports News Digest

ATLANTA, Ga. — In his adopted hometown of Chicago, world No. 1 Luke Donald had a lot to play for last week at the BMW Championship. After an opening round of 75 at Cog Hill, the Englishman rallied in the final three rounds to shoot 12-under and finish fourth to accomplish his primary goal heading into the Tour Championship. “I had a lot to play for,” Donald said in an interview on Monday. “I’ve put myself in a great position and I know what to do. One of my goals for last week was to finish in the top five [...]

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Coming into the BMW Championship, five players had managed to advance to the Tour Championship in all four prior years of the FedEx Cup. After play in Chicago on Sunday, only three remain 5-for-5 in reaching the playoff finale. Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, 2010 FedEx Cup winner Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan all had made it to the first four Tour Championships under the FedEx Cup format. Els and Furyk, however, were unsuccessful in accruing enough points to get to East Lake. Els finished T-42 at the BMW Championship, coming up well short of what a run that would have made him the [...]

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A season that began in January, went through four majors and three playoff events has whittled down the ranks of the PGA Tour to the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings who comprise the field at next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. With his win at the BMW Championship, Justin Rose moved up 31 places into third in the standings and earned a spot in the playoff finale. Webb Simpson leads the standings, buoyed by a fifth place finish on Sunday. Despite a poor result as defending champion, Barclays winner Dustin Johnson entered the Tour Championship ranked second [...]

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Justin Rose does not have a very good record as a frontrunner in his PGA Tour career. The Englishman is 1-6 with at least a share of the 54-hole lead on tour.He entered the final round of the BMW Championship with a 4-shot lead, which is a nice cushion but certainly not insurmountable. Rose began the final round of play at the Transitions Championship in March with a 1-shot lead over Webb Simpson and Brendan de Jonge. Rose shot 3-over 74 in the final round to finish five shots back of winner Gary Woodland. Through 54 holes in Tampa, Rose [...]

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Justin Rose appears to be playing the BMW Championship on a different course than the other 68 players in the field at Cog Hill. With a third round of 2-under 69 – his worst of the week – Rose still managed to extend his lead in Chicago to four shots over John Senden. Rose, who won twice in 2010, had a fairly uneventful round on Saturday. The Englishman made three birdies and a bogey in addition to 14 pars that served Rose nicely on a difficult scoring day. Rose is on 13-under and the only man in the field to [...]

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Before Jamie Sadlowski made his Nationwide Tour this week at the Albertsons Boise Open, it was a foregone conclusion the long driving champion would lead the field in driving distance. Despite the Canadian’s tremendous strength and length, it was unclear how that would translate against those on the cusp of the PGA Tour. After an opening round of 2-over 73 spread between two days, Sadlowski put together a second round 66 to make the cut in Idaho. Sadlowski began with a birdie at Hillcrest Country Club, then gave it back a hole later. At the par-4 14th hole, Sadlowski made [...]

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Where have you gone, Mr. September? Steve Stricker withdrew from the BMW Championship late Friday, but did not cite a reason. Stricker had been the only player to compete in every round of the FedEx Cup playoffs since 2007. He has two playoff wins and 10 top-10 finishes over the four-plus years of the playoffs. The Wisconsin native will qualify for the Tour Championship next week. He entered the third leg of the playoffs ranked 8th. He is currently projected to go into the points reset ranked 12th.

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Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil. That’s how Jim Furyk planned to attack this important week at the BMW Championship. Winner of last year’s FedEx Cup, Furyk entered the third leg of the playoffs in 35th position. Needing to improve five places in the standings while maintaining his meager edge inside the cut for the Presidents Cup team, Furyk says he is not going to be board watching this week in Chicago. “I’m not sure what that spot is, and I won’t check,” Furyk said of where he would have to finish to assure his place in [...]

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