Jason Day has lost the top spot on the FedEx Cup rankings but is still favourite with most to become the first Australian to win the lucrative $10 million bonus pool.
Jason Day has lost the top spot on the FedEx Cup rankings but is still favourite with most to become the first Australian to win the lucrative $10 million bonus pool.
The World Number 1 struggled with his swing all week at The Barclays in New York but, as he has for much of the year, battled gamely to produce a top-5 finish regardless.
American Patrick Reed claimed the title at Bethpage Black and moved from seventh in the standings to first with Day now second a little over 400 points behind.
Adam Scott, who shared fourth spot alongside Day, moved down one place in the standings to fourth after a final round 71.
Day returned consistent scores of 68-70-70-69 on his way to a 7-under total, two behind winner Reed, despite not being comfortable with his driver all week.
"This week I don’t think there was a tee shot that I felt comfortable over, to be honest," he said after the final round.
"I was fighting a left shot then I was fighting a right shot as well. I didn’t give myself opportunities off the tee.
"If I gave myself a few more opportunities coming into the green hitting the fairways, I think I may have had a good chance."
All five Australians who teed up in the first of the four playoff events have survived to next week’s Deutsche Bank Championship where the field has been culled from 125 to 100 players.
That number will be trimmed to the top-70 in FedEx Cup points for the third event of the series, the BMW Championship in Chicago, in two weeks’ time.
Only the top-30 will tee up at the final event of the season, the TOUR Championship, in the third week of September.
John Senden, who began the week in New York in 99th place, moved up to 80th courtesy of a T31 finish and now has a chance to climb into the top-70 next week.
Marc Leishman, 57th at the start of The Barclays, missed the cut and fell to 71st and while guaranteed a place next week will need to play well to survive to week three.
Fellow Victorian Aaron Baddeley also missed the cut at Bethpage to slip from 45th to 56th on the points table.