Five Australians advance to Atlanta

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 BMW Championship | Wrap | 19 Sep 2011

Five Australians have made it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta representing a significant percentage of the 30 man field that will line up at East Lake Golf Club next week.

It is the most number of Australians to have made it to the Tour Championship in the history of the event

John Senden, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley are all through to next week’s event with Robert Allenby and Marc Leishman the only two players not to have survived from this week’s penultimate FedEx Cup playoff at the Cog Hill Golf and Country Club near Chicago.

31 year old Justin Rose won the BMW Championship after the Englishman had led from start to finish but the outstanding efforts of both John Senden (2nd) and Geoff Ogilvy (3rd) have ensured they will advance to the final of the Fed Ex Cup Playoffs and in the case of Ogilvy guarantee he is in the Presidents Cup side for Royal Melbourne.

Senden has opened the door to the possibility of him forcing his way into calculations for one of Greg Norman’s wildcard selections but he will likely require another very good tournament next week if he is to force his way past Robert Allenby and Aaron Baddeley for one of the two remaining places in the International side.

They will be finalised after the Tour Championship and so, as was the case this week in Chicago, much is at stake in Atlanta.

Rose appeared to have the tournament at his mercy through seven holes of the final round. He stood at 14 under and at that point was a massive five shots clear. Rose bogeyed the 9th however and when Senden birdied the 9th and 10th, a dramatic three shot swing put a new light on the outcome of the event and, for Senden, his chances of winning the event and forcing his way into the automatic qualifiers for the Presidents Cup.

Things became even tighter when Rose bogeyed the 15th and the margin was just one but with the door open for Senden at the 17th he missed the green with his second and although Rose had done the same, eventual winner was able to chip in for a birdie which provided the all important two shot lead playing the dangerous last.

Rose is an outstanding player and has been ever since finishing 4th behind Mark O’Meara as a 17 year old at the 1998 Open Championship. It took him a long while to find his feet in professional golf and even in recent times there has been the occasional – perhaps unfair – question regarding his capacity to finish events off.

After all, the two tournaments Rose has won on the PGA Tour (the AT&T National and the Memorial) have been against quality fields on quality golf courses and this week once he got his nose in front then he was always going to be a hard man to run down.

Senden has had a solid if unspectacular season to date making the cut in 17 of 23 events until this point but there had been only two top tens. Always one of the best and most accurate of ball strikers in the game, the improvement this week, especially through the opening three rounds, was in his putting.

It was a valiant effort by Senden to run down the leader but the runner-up finish has added a big cheque (US$860,000) to his 2011 earnings and importantly opens the door to other possibilities next week.

Ogilvy too produced the big effort he needed to not only make the Tour Championship but to guarantee himself a place on the Presidents Cup side without having to rely on Greg Norman’s generosity. He needed a share of third to advance to Atlanta and although there were times when it could have gone either way early in his back nine today, consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th all but sealed the deal.

Ogilvy’s automatic inclusion in the top ten of International Presidents Cup Team standings also opens the door for two Australians to be granted Captain’s picks. As to just who those two are may now depend on performances in Atlanta.

Robert Allenby will not get the chance to improve his chances as his weekend rounds of 75 and 71 cost him the chance to advance to Atlanta. Senden and Baddeley therefore can enhance or hinder their prospects and those of Allenby at East Lake.

The one player who is still in the mix for one of those berths is Fijian Vijay Singh but his rather ordinary week in Chicago leaves him a big task is he is to remain in consideration by the end of the Tour Championship.

Allenby finished 12th this week, Baddeley 22nd, Scott 37th, Leishman 47th and Day 49th.

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