This past weekend in golf saw the third leg of the FedEx Cup take place as golf got closer to finding out who will win its season-long playoff race at the BMW Championship. On the LPGA Tour, the year's fifth and final major took place this weekend at the Evian Championship.
Leishman easily wins the BMW Championship
Going into the final day Australian Marc Leishman had a commanding five-shot lead over fellow countryman Jason Day and American Rickie Fowler.
Unlike two weeks ago at the Dell Technologies Championship where Leishman went into the final day tied for the lead only to finish in third, he held steady on Sunday.
Leishman shot a solid 4-under par 67 for the day to easily take the BMW Championship without any real competition, finishing at 23-under for the tournament, five shots ahead of Fowler and Justin Rose. Rose did get within two shots when he finished his day with a 6-under par 65 but Leishman birdied three of the final four holes, shaking off any pressure Rose applied.
Leishman's dominant four-day stretch of 62-64-68-67 (261) gave him his first ever FedEx Cup playoff victory and his first wire-to-wire win in a PGA Tour event.
It was also his third career win on the PGA Tour and his second this year, as he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in March.
The win also moved him into the top five of the FedEx Cup standings going into this week's final event, the Tour Championship. The top five going into the final week, in which points are reseeded based on standings are Jordan Spieth (2,000), Justin Thomas (1,800), Dustin Johnson (1,520), Marc Leishman (1,296), and Jon Rahm (1,280).
Nordqvist takes the Evian Championship in playoff
The Evian Championship was only a three-round event this year. It was halted due to heavy rain and wind on Thursday during play, with the controversial decision being made to wipe all Thursday scores so that the tournament would wrap up on time on Sunday instead of being delayed.
Going into the final round Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn was winning the event at 9-under par but Sweden's Anna Nordqvist and American Brittany Altomare ended up in a playoff at 9-under after they both shot 5-under par 66 on Sunday. Jutanugarn and New Zealand's Lydia Ko both missed out on the playoff as they each bogeyed the final hole to finish at 8-under for the tournament.
Replaying the 18th in a sudden-death playoff under wind, rain, and hail, Nordqvist made bogey, while Altomare triple-bogeyed. This gave the 30-year-old Nordqvist her second major win, as her first one came back at the 2009 LPGA Championship. It was also her eighth career win on the LPGA Tour.