Zach Johnson wins BMW Championship

Zach Johnson of the USA fired a final round of 65 to win the rain-delayed BMW Championship at Conway Farms GC by two strokes over his countryman Nick Watney.

Zach Jonson wins BMW Championship (Getty Images)

Zach Johnson of the USA fired a final round of 65 to win the rain-delayed BMW Championship at Conway Farms GC by two strokes over his countryman Nick Watney.

Johnson has moved to fourth on the FedEx Cup rankings with just the Tour Championship to play. He has a very realistic chance of winning the $10,000,000 bonus and, in fact, if he wins at East Lake, he will take that prize.

"It's not like you have to win every week to win that FedExCup," he said. "You've just got to win at the right times, or play well at the right times. And I like the momentum I have for next week."

Although he's taken over from Henrik Stenson at Number 1 on the FedEx Cup rankings, Tiger Woods doesn't have such great momentum going into the Tour Championship. He had a chance to win this event going into the final round, but he couldn't get it going on Monday and he closed with a disappointing 71 to end the week tied for 11th.

It was also a poor day for Jim Furyk. In round two, he became only the sixth man in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59. But he is now the third of those six to fail to secure victory despite the historic round.

He carried a one-stroke lead into the final round, but his putter was cold on Monday and he could only finish in third place. It was the sixth straight time he's failed to win when carrying the lead, or share of the lead, into the last round.

"I don't know if I used them all up on Friday and knocked them all in or what, but I just wasn't able to get the putts to go," he said.

With only the top-30 on the FedEx Cup points list progressing to East Lake next week, there was plenty of tension as the final groups completed their rounds at Conway Farms.

Luke Donald had reason to celebrate. He posted a closing 66 to lift himself into a tie for fourth. Prior to the event he was 54th on the standings, but this result propelled him to 29th. Nick Watney also moved into the top-30 with his excellent second place finish.

The news wasn't so good for Matt Jones. The Australian needed to hole an eight-foot birdie putt on the final green to secure his spot at East Lake, but it lipped out.

BMW Championship Conway Farms GC, Lake Forest, Illinois Sep 12-16, purse $8,000,000, par 71

1   Zach Johnson (USA)   64   70   69   65   268   $1,440,000 2   Nick Watney (USA)   67   69   70   64   270   $864,000 3   Jim Furyk (USA)      72   59   69   71   271   $544,000 T4   Luke Donald (Eng)   70   70   67   66   273   $315,000 T4   Jason Day (Aus)      71   66   70   66   273   $315,000 T4   Hunter Mahan (USA)   68   73   65   67   273   $315,000 T4   Steve Stricker (USA)   66   71   64   72   273   $315,000 T8   Matt Jones (Aus)      69   71   67   67   274   $232,000     T8   Charl Schwartzel (RSA)   66   70   69   69   274   $232,000 T8   Brandt Snedeker (USA)   63   68   71   72   274   $232,000

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?