Tour Championship: Memorable moments

For the first time since his third tournament as a professional in 1996, Tiger Woods failed to win when he held or shared the 54-hole lead. Running him down from one stroke behind was Phil Mickelson, who closed with a 66 and beat Woods by two shots. It was the second time that year that Mickelson had stopped a Woods streak; in February he won at Torrey Pines to halt Woods’ run of six consecutive wins.

Jordan Spieth halted what appeared to be a sputtering finish to a great year by winning the Tour Championship and the FedExCup and setting a PGA Tour record for single-season earnings of $12,030,485 (not counting the $10 milion bonus for winning the FedEx Cup). Spieth had gotten off to a rocky start in the playoffs, missing the cut in the first two events. But he had built up such a lead over the season, the MCs didn’t hurt him. For the year, Spieth won five times, including the Masters and U.S. Open.

Bill Haas defeated Hunter Mahan with a par on the third hole of their sudden-death playoff, but it was Haas’ par on the second extra hole that everyone remembers. His approach from a fairway bunker to the 17th hole went just a bit too far left and trickled down the hill and ended up half-submerged in the water hazard. Playing an explosion, he spun the ball to a stop next to the hole for a tap-in par and new life in the playoff. “If I don’t pull it off,” he said, “I’m shaking Hunter’s hand.”

With Jordan Spieth – among others – nipping at his heels, Henrik Stenson became the first European to win the Tour Championship and the FedExCup. But Stenson’s ultimate three-shot win set up an even more significant piece of golf history. Two months later the Swede won the DP World Championship, which allowed him to clinch the European Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai and give him what he called a “double-double.”

Finishing 1-2 in a tournament for the ninth time, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods walked off with the PGA Tour’s two big end-of-season prizes. Mickelson won the Tour Championship and Woods, who finished three shots back, wrapped up the FedExCup. For Mickelson, it was his first win since his mother and wife had been diagnosed in the spring with breast cancer. “We’ve been through a lot,” he said, “and I’m very proud of my wife and my mom on the fight that they’ve been through.”

The inaugural FedExCup went to – who else? – Tiger Woods. Woods forged a three-shot lead after 54 holes at East Lake, then stepped on the gas with a final-round 66 to win by eight shots. His 23-under total shattered the Tour Championship 72-hole scoring record.

Curtis Strange became the first player to earn more than $1 million in a season by winning what was then known as the Nabisco Championship. Strange defeated Tom Kite with a birdie on the second hole of their sudden-death playoff at Pebble Beach. The victory was worth $360,000 and made Strange the leading money winner for the season, which also earned him a bonus of $175,000. That brought his total earnings for the year to $1,147,644.

Hal Sutton was still two years away from uttering one of the most famous quotes in golf, but on Nov. 1, 1998, “the right club today” was the 4-wood that he hit to 6 feet on the 240-yard par-3 finishing hole at East Lake. Sutton, the former Player of the Year whose game had fallen to such depths, that he felt “embarrassed” hitting balls on PGA Tour practice ranges, made the putt to defeat Vijay Singh on the first hole of their sudden-death playoff.

Rory McIlroy had previously failed to win the FedExCup, even though he had the best overall season. Now, three shots down with three to play on Sunday at the Tour Championship, McIlroy holed out for eagle at the 16th, closed in 64 and won on the fourth playoff hole to clinch the Cup.

Jim Furyk, whose FedExCup Playoffs had gotten off to an ignominious start when he was disqualified from the first event after he overslept and missed his pro-am tee time, won the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. After bogeying the 16th and 17th holes, Furyk got up and down from a bunker – his ninth sand save in nine attempts - for par on the 18th to beat Luke Donald by one shot.