The first playoff event on the way to the FedEx Cup was delayed by Hurricane Henri, which resulted in a Monday finish for the Northern Trust. The PGA Tour was able to get the tournament played to its scheduled 72 holes despite nine inches of rain from the storm, due primarily to the condition of the Liberty National Golf Club and the efforts of its grounds crew.
Finally, after five years of frustration, Tony Finau came from two shots behind with a final-round, six under par 65, to win in his second Tour event in a playoff with Cameron Smith after Smith hit his tee shot on the first playoff hole out of bounds. The par gave Finau, who had odds of +5000 entering the tournament, the winner’s share of $1.71 million and 2000 FedEx Cup points, which moved the 31-year-old from Salt Lake City into the lead in the standings heading to Maryland for the BMW Championship.
Jon Rahm had at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds and at one point led by three shots in on Monday but faltered down the stretch to finish in third place at 18 under par, two shots behind the leaders. Alex Noren, Tom Hoge, and Justin Thomas finished tied for fourth at 15 under par, followed another shot back by Erik van Rooyen.
After the regular season concluded with the Wyndham Championship a week ago, the top 125 in the FedEx Cup point standings qualified for the Northern Trust, with the top 70 moving on to the BMW Championship next week. Collin Morikawa entered the event as the leader in FedEx Cup points, but he missed the cut and dropped to sixth in the standings.
While there was plenty of drama at the top of the leaderboard, the real action took place for the players that were competing to continue their season for another week and possibly having a shot at qualifying for the Tour Championship by finishing in the top 30 in the point standings following the BMW Championship. Keith Mitchell, who entered the final day on the bubble at 70th in the standings, had an up and down round and finally was able to birdie his last three holes to move to 64th and get into the BMW, while Phil Mickelson, despite missing the cut, was the final player to move on at 70th in the standings.
Finau moved up 22 spots with the win…
FedEx Cup Standings
Finau moved up 22 spots with the win, while climbing to second, Cameron Smith jumped up to third from 16th place, followed by Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas, who round out the top five. After Morikawa in sixth is Jordan Spieth, who dropped to seventh after suffering back-to-back triple bogeys during his final round on the way to a finishing 79 and 73rd place in the tournament.
Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau, and Abraham Ancer complete the top ten in the FedEx Cup point standings, although all of them dropped several spots. Entering the BMW Championship, Rory McIlroy is at 28th, followed by Charlie Hoffman and Max Homa as the last three players in the Top 30.
