Leishman fends off Rose to win BMW Championship

Marc Leishman fired a final-round 67 on Sunday to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the BMW Championship, beating Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler by five strokes.

Australia’s Leishman had seized control of the penultimate event in the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs with a scintillating 62 on Thursday.

He started the fourth round at Conway Farms with a five stroke lead that twice dwindled to two shots over Rose before Leishman finished confidently, with birdies in three of the last four holes.

He rolled in a 19-footer from the fringe at the 72nd hole to celebrate his third US PGA Tour title with a 23-under par total of 261.

England’s Rose had seven birdies — and an ill-timed bogey at 17 — in a 65 for 266.

Fowler had five birdies in his four-under 67 to join Rose on 18-under.

Former world number one Jason Day of Australia was alone in fourth after a 69 for 268.

Leishman, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, moved to fourth in the FedEx Cup standings going into the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Only the top 30 players in the standings advance to the season finale, where a $10 million playoff bonus will be up for grabs.

The four players who moved into the top 30 this week included Masters champion Sergio Garcia, who jumped from 34th to 25th in the standings with a tie for 12th.

Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson came up just short in his bid to book a Tour Championship berth.

Source: AFP