By Tony Webeck

A brilliant up-and-down from the greenside bunker on the 72nd hole has guaranteed Adam Scott a spot at the PGA TOUR Tour Championship and a pay day of at least $US500,000.

Scott was the only Australian to join Cameron Smith at the FedEx Cup Playoffs finale at East Lake Golf Club and he did so in dramatic fashion.

Two strokes off the lead at the start of the final round, Scott had his eye on a drought-breaking win yet by day’s end had to scrap to stay in the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings.

Bogeys at two, seven and nine saw Scott make the turn in two-over and in very real danger of falling out of Tour Championship contention.

As champions do, however, Scott responded.

He holed a 15-footer for eagle at the par-5 12th, dropped a shot at 13 but then hit back with a birdie at the par-5 14th when he got up-and-down from the greenside bunker.

From there he walked the tightrope towards Atlanta.

He two-putted from 59 feet at the par-3 15th, from 66 feet at 16 and 49 feet at 17 but his greatest test was yet to come.

The 42-year-old was left with an incredibly awkward second shot when his tee shot skipped into the left rough.

Forced to stand in the bunker with the ball at knee height in the rough, Scott’s approach shot from 131 yards turned over and found the trap to the left of the green.

It left a bunker shot of 34 yards to a back right flag, Scott calling on all of his class to splash it up to inside two feet and make the putt and a final round of even par 71.

“It shows you that it was a tough day for me because neither were a good position,” Scott said of his second and third shots on the 18th hole.

“I was a little unlucky off the tee shot. Anything could have happened with the second shot. It came out not well, but it could have come out worse.

“Yesterday I hit a really nice long bunker shot on my second hole, and when I was in there kind of weighing up the shot, it just looked similar.

“I just had those kind of thoughts and took a swing at it, and it worked out.”

The only player to qualify for the Tour Championship from outside the top 70 two weeks ago, Scott is now guaranteed a FedEx Cup bonus of at least $US500,000, the prize for 30th place.

Scott will enter the Tour Championship in 29th position but with the belief that his golf is now at a standard that can challenge the world’s best again.

“This week I felt like I played really high-quality golf,” said Scott.

“I was out there with Scottie Scheffler yesterday who's obviously played incredible this year, and I felt like I was playing at that high, high level again, and I haven't been in so many of those situations this year.

“I felt like my game stacked up, and I felt like a top player.

“Hopefully stuff to build on this week, and go for it next week with really nothing to lose and head into the next season full of confidence and hopefully keep my head in this place where I feel like I'm one of the best players out here.”

Lucas Herbert put together a strong weekend with rounds of 68-69 to finish tied for 15th, not enough though to play his way into the Tour Championship.

Marc Leishman (70) and Cam Davis (71) also made progress on the leaderboard on Sunday but like Herbert, not enough to qualify for the FedEx Cup finale.

With a PGA TOUR card for next year already secured, Harrison Endycott’s tie for 18th was the best of the Aussies in week one of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

Endycott was four-under through his first five holes on Sunday but after birdies at 16 and 17 double-bogeyed his final hole for a round of 67.

Min Woo Lee (67) and Jason Scrivener (69) were one shot back of Endycott in a tie for 26th, Aaron Baddeley’s four-under 67 lifting him into a tie for 37th.

Jake McLeod’s tie for sixth at the D+D Real Czech Masters was his best career result on the DP World Tour, Karis Davidson was tied for eighth at the Simone Asia Pacific Cup in Jakarta and Todd Sinnott, Brad Kennedy and Stuart Appleby recorded top-15 finishes on the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour and Champions Tour respectively.

Results

PGA TOUR

BMW Championship

Wilmington Country Club, Wilmington, Delaware

• Winner Patrick Cantlay 68-68-65-69—270 $US2.7m

• T5 Adam Scott 65-69-69-71—274 $547,500

• T15 Lucas Herbert 70-70-68-69—277 $247,500

• T28 Marc Leishman 68-71-71-70—280 $104,250

• T35 Cam Davis 69-67-75-71—282 $67,750

Korn Ferry Tour

Albertsons Boise Open

Hillcrest Country Club, Boise, Idaho

• Winner Will Gordon 67-66-67-63—263 - Won on the first hole of sudden death playoff

• T18 Harrison Endycott 68-64-69-67—268

• T26 Min Woo Lee 63-69-70-67—269

• T26 Jason Scrivener70-66-64-69—269

• T37 Aaron Baddeley65-68-71-67—271

• MC Anthony Quayle 68-71—139

DP World Tour

D+D Real Czech Masters

Albatross Golf Resort, Prague, Czech Republic

Event reduced to 54 holes due to rain

• Winner Maximilian Kieffer 68-66-66—200 €297,500

• T6 Jake McLeod 67-68-69—204 €56,875

• T41 Zach Murray 71-68-71—210 €9,800

• T60 Maverick Antcliff 70-72-73—215 €5,075

• 67 Jordan Zunic 68-74-77—219 €4,200

• MC Austin Bautista68-76144

• MC Dimitrios Papadatos 75-69—144

• MC Elvis Smylie 73-71—144

Asian Tour

International Series Korea

Lotte Skyhill Country Club, Jeju, Korea

• Winner Taehoon Ok 68-64-69-68—269 $US270,000

• T15 Todd Sinnott 69-73-67-67—276 $18,112.50

• T25 Travis Smyth 70-72-66-69—277 $14,325

• T29 Sam Brazel 68-71-69-70—278 $11,766.67

• T38 Brett Rumford 66-74-69-70—279 $9,615

• T44 Wade Ormsby 69-72-67-72—280 $8,475

• T51 Jake Higginbottom 69-68-77-68—282 $6,450

• T59 Ben Campbell (NZ) 67-73-73-71—284 $5,100

• T68 Cory Crawford 70-72-74-72—288 $3,675

• T72 Daniel Fox 70-71-71-77—289 $3,225

• MC Ben Eccles 72-71—143

• MC Junseok Lee 73-71—144

• MC Kevin Yuan 74-71—145

• MC Scott Strange 72-75—147

• MC Blake Windred 72-82—154

Japan Golf Tour

Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup

The North Country Golf Club, Hokkaido

• Winner Hiroshi Iwata 68-68-66-67—269 ¥24m

• T14 Brad Kennedy 69-70-71-70—280 ¥1.944m

• MC Dylan Perry 76-68—144

• MC Adam Bland 75-71—146

• MC Andrew Evans 73-74—147

• MC Brendan Jones 76-72—148

• MC Michael Hendry76-74—150

• MC Matthew Griffin 72-78—150

Ladies European Tour

Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande

La Reserva Club De Sotogrande, Spain

• Winner Nelly Korda 67-69-67—203 €73,954.95

• T39 Stephanie Kyriacou 69-77-71—217 €3,106.11

• MC Whitney Hillier 76-74—150

Ladies Asian Tour

Simone Asia Pacific Cup

Pondok Indah Golf Course, Jakarta, Indonesia

• Winner Princess Mary Superal 66-71-67—204

• 3 Lydia Ko (NZ) 66-72-70—208

• T8 Karis Davidson 72-75-68—215

• T17 Momoka Kobori 76-70-73—219

• T22 Cassie Porter 80-73-70—223

PGA TOUR Canada

CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open

Southwood Golf and Country Club, Winnipeg, Manitoba

• Winner Parker Coody 65-62-67-67—261

• MC Will Barnett 74-76—150

Champions Tour

DICK’S Sporting Goods Open

En-Joie Golf Club, Endicott, New York

• Winner Padraig Harrington 66-67-67—200 $US315,000

• T15 Stuart Appleby 68-70-70—208 $29,937

• T31 John Senden 74-70-67—211 $14,175

• T37 Steven Alker (NZ) 71-74-67—212 $10,920

• T37 David McKenzie70-70-72—212 $10,920

• T61 Robert Allenby 72-72-73—217 $2,940

• T71 Rod Pampling 71-75-73—219 $1,659

Legends Tour

Irish Legends presented by McGinley Foundation

Rosapenna Hotel and Golf Resort, Ireland

• Winner Phillip Price 72-70-71—213

• T16 Michael Long 74-74-72—220

• T31 Peter Fowler 76-75-71—222

• T39 Peter O'Malley 77-79-69—225