Bhatia squeezes into last spot for elite Tour Championship; Scheffler wins again

Owing Mills (USA), Aug 18 (PTI) Akshay Bhatia endured an anxious wait after dropping four bogeys in his last six holes of the BMW Championship, but eventually squeezed into the 30th and final spot for the season-ending Tour Championship.

Bhatia, who had started the week ranked 29th in the FedEx Cup standings, shot 75-69-66-72 for a two-over total and finished tied-26th in the 49-player field.

H he looked set to slip outside the top-30, but late results confirmed his place, giving him a second straight appearance at the elite finale.

The Hero Golfer had provided one of the highlights of the week with a hole-in-one in the third round, which earned him a car.

Scottie Scheffler produced another stunning performance, erasing a four-shot deficit in five holes before chipping in from 82 feet on the par-3 17th to seal his fifth PGA TOUR title of the year.

He closed with a 3-under 67 to finish at 15-under 265, two shots clear of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre.

Scheffler thus became the first player since Tiger Woods (2006-07) to win at least five times on the PGA TOUR in consecutive years.

Scheffler has 18 career titles in the last three years and six months since his first PGA TOUR title in Phoenix.

MacIntyre pulled within one shot of the lead going to the 17th, the toughest hole at Caves Valley.

Scheffler went just left in the rough, the ball sitting up nicely but the shot was very tough. He landed it some 60 feet short and watched it trickle, and then roll, and then slow again until it dropped into the cup.

MacIntyre stared at it totally stunned. MacIntyre, who made 18 birdies in the first 45 holes of the tournament, made only two over the last 27 holes. He shot 73.

Scheffler leads the 30 players who advanced to the TOUR Championship at East Lake with a chance to become the first repeat FedExCup champion since the series began in 2007.

All 30 players at East Lake can win the USD 10 million first-place prize money.

Rickie Fowler was on the verge of getting back to East Lake only to twice miss the green from the fairway on the back nine, leading to bogey on the 14th and double bogey on the 15th, which knocked him out of the top 30.

Bhatia, despite making four bogeys and seemingly blowing his chances, was lucky to find himself back inside top-30. PTI COR TAP