LONDON — Spanish professional golfer Jon Rahm’s season-ending spot atop the FedExCup leader board has earned him a $4 million bonus.
Lucas Glover looked to the sky and held back tears after winning the Wyndham golf Championship, sending him to the PGA Tour postseason with more opportunities ahead of him.
Justin Thomas fell to the ground, stunned that his birdie chip hit the base of the pin and stayed out, leaving him out of the FedEx Cup playoffs by about the same small margin that kept his ball out of the cup.
Such were the range of emotions at Sedgefield, the final tournament before the lucrative postseason for the top 70 players.
Glover is one of them, closing with a 2-under 68 for a two-shot victory over a faltering Russell Henley and Byeong Hun An.
He started the week at No. 112, and the victory – his first in two years – moved him to No. 49. Another good week in Memphis, Tennessee, would set him up for the all the signature $20 million events next year.
The timing couldn’t have been better for the 43-year-old Glover. “Tried not to think about it too much until the end there,” Glover said.
“Like to think I had a leg up on everybody today because of that. Still had to do what I had to do.”
Thomas needed one more birdie to get into the top 70. His birdie chip checked and hopped against the base of the pin and stayed out. Standing at the back of the green, he saw a video board project him at No. 71. He missed by nine FedEx Cup points.
The Wyndham Championship marked the end of the 2022-23 regular season. In 17 starts, Rahm won four times — including The Masters — and posted 10 top-10 finishes.
Rahm’s bonus was part of a $20 million pot divided among the 10 top finishers in the FedExCup standings.
The Spaniard is No. 3 in the world but is ahead of No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 2 Rory McIlroy in FedExCup points.
Scheffler earned a $3 million bonus, with McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, receiving a check for $2.4 million.
Rahm, 28, said the first-place points finish and bonus serve as “a reminder of the season I put together and all of the hard work and support the team put in to get there. I try my hardest to win each and every time I tee it up in a tournament, and this award is a great acknowledgment of that goal.”
Other players to earn bonuses were fourth-place finisher Max Homa ($2 million), Wyndham Clark ($2 million), Brian Harman ($1.7 million), Norway’s Viktor Hovland ($1.4 million), Keegan Bradley ($1.2 million), Rickie Fowler ($1.1 million) and Tony Finau ($1 million).
