Welcome to the September Pro Golf Wrap-Up – everything you need to know in the world of golf expertly curated by your friends at Global Golf Management.
Justin Thomas capped his breakthrough season with the ultimate prize on the PGA TOUR, the FedExCup title, while Stacy Lewis posted one of the most meaningful wins in her career.
Those were the highlights of tournament golf in September as the PGA TOUR wrapped up its season and the LPGA staged its final major championship.
Thomas, 24, finished second to Xander Schauffele at the Tour Championship presented by Coca Cola, which ended on Sunday, Sept. 24, and came out the big winner, passing good friend Jordan Spieth and winning the $10 million bonus for the season-long title.
The Kentucky native closed with a 4-under 66 at East Lake Golf Club, but came up one stroke shy of Schauffele, who finished with a 68 and 12-under 268 total. With his second victory of the season, both after the U.S. Open, Schauffele locked up the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Award.
http://www.foxsports.com/golf/story/schauffele-wins-tour-championship-thomas-takes-fedex-cup-092417
Thomas set up his season title by winning one of the four playoff events, the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. He outdueled Australia’s Marc Leishman on the back nine to shoot a 5-under 66 and win by three strokes in the Boston suburb of Norton, Mass.
Leishman felt like he let that tournament get away from him, so he made up for it in his next start, at the BMW Championship, where he led wire-to-wire for his second win of the year. Leishman’s 62-64-68-67 effort, good for 23-under 261 at Conway Farms in Lake Forest, Ill., gave him a five-stroke victory over Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler.
On the LPGA, familiar faces shone. Lewis captured the Cambia Portland Classic presented by JTBC. Lexi Thompson won the inaugural Indy Women in Tech Championship presented by Guggenheim, and Anna Nordqvist triumphed at the weather-shortened Evian Championship, the year’s final major in women’s golf.
Nordqvist first. Her final-round 66 and 9-under 204 total tied Brittany Altamore after 54 holes. The Swede then needed only a conservative bogey for the victory at the Evian Golf Club in France.
http://golfweek.com/2017/09/17/anna-nordqvist-wins-evian-championship-in-playoff/
Thompson became the first American woman with two victories this year when she fired a 4-under-par 68 and posted a four-stroke victory at Brickyard Cross Golf Course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Thompson posted a 19-under 197 total in the 54-hole event that ended on Saturday, Sept. 9.
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/4325507-thompson-sizzles-links-win-indianapolis
Easily the most heart-warming win of the month came from Lewis after an inspired performance at Columbia Edgewater Golf Club. Lewis ended a three-year winless streak for her 12th career LPGA title and then donated her $195,000 first prize to relief efforts in her hometown of Houston, which was ravaged by Hurricane Harvey.
Lewis’ 3-under 69 enabled her to hold off In Gee Chun by one stroke. Lewis finished at 20-under 268.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/golf/2017/09/03/stacy-lewis-wins-portland-classic-for-houston.html
Stay tuned here and on Global Golf Management Twitter for next month’s Pro Golf Wrap-Up.