Justin Rose wins BMW Championship

England’s Justin Rose finished two shots clear of Australia’s John Senden to win the BMW Championship at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Illinois. Rose now has a realistic chance of winning the FedEx Cup.

Justin Rose
Fergus Bisset
By Fergus Bisset
published

England's Justin Rose finished two shots clear of Australia's John Senden to win the BMW Championship at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Illinois. Rose now has a realistic chance of winning the FedEx Cup.

Rose came into the week with no guarantee he would make next week's Tour Championship but with this, his first victory of the year, the 31-year-old will not only tee it up at East Lake, he'll also have a chance of scooping the $10 million first prize. He moved from 34th to third place on the standings.

Although his margin of victory at Cog Hill was two shots, it wasn't plain sailing for Rose. He held a five-shot lead with 10 to play but after a bogey at the 15th his advantage was down to one. It looked like being a tense finish until the Englishman holed a superb chip from short of the 17th green to secure an unlikely birdie.

John Senden's second place finish was a crucial one for the Australian, he moved from 55th on the FedEx Cup to 9th. His fellow Aussie Geoff Ogilvy also had cause to celebrate at the end of the week. By finishing alone in third, he made it into the top-30 for the Tour Championship and he also secured a spot in Greg Norman's Presidents Cup team.

"It was a slightly flat feeling when you look back because I might have had a chance to win the tournament," Ogilvy said. "But who am I kidding? It's my best tournament in months."

Luke Donald ended the week alone in fourth with on-form Webb Simpson in fifth. The American has retained his place at the top of the FedEx Cup standings. Dustin Johnson is second with Justin Rose third and Luke Donald fourth.

BMW Championship Cog Hill Golf and Country Club, Illinois Sep 15-18, purse $8,000,000, par 71

1   Justin Rose (Eng)      63   68   69   71   271   $1,440,000 2   John Senden (Aus)   68   66   70   69   273   $864,000 3   Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)   69   68   68   69   274   $544,000 4   Luke Donald (Eng)   75   66   67   68   276   $384,000 5   Webb Simpson (USA)   65   68   73   71   277   $320,000 T6   Jason Dufner (USA)   71   68   71   68   278   $278,000 T6   Camilo Villegas (Col)   68   73   71   66   278   $278,000 8   Chez Reavie (USA)   69   70   70   70   279   $248,000 9   Brandt Jobe (USA)   75   64   69   72   280   $232,000 T10   K.J. Choi (Kor)      67   71   73   70   281   $208,000 T10   David Toms (USA)   71   66   73   71   281   $208,000

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

Where next? European Tour - GB&I win Seve Trophy

Fergus Bisset
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?

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