A tee shot on the 72nd hole of the Dell Technologies Championship that rolled two inches too far brought Cameron Smith’s chance at a first individual PGA Tour title to an end as he pushed champion Bryson DeChambeau to the very end, the American claiming rare back-to-back victories.

After making birdies at the 15th and 16th holes of his final round, Smith drew to within one shot of DeChambeau and headed to the 18th needing an eagle to draw level at 16-under par.

But a booming 320-yard drive that rolled through the fairway and butted up against the second cut of rough made his approach to the 530-yard par 5 closing hole an awkward one, the 25-year-old Queenslander taking 7-iron from 208 yards.

His shot came up well short of the green and landed in the hazard, leaving him a 75-yard pitch for his fourth shot after taking a penalty drop.

He subsequently missed the 11-foot putt for par to drop a shot and fall into outright third, three shots behind DeChambeau and one behind Englishman Justin Rose.

Although he tossed his ball away in disgust at the way he finished the top-three finish – his best result since the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges last October – saw him move up a further eight places in the FedEx Cup standings to eighth, the highest of the four Aussies still vying to qualify for the top 30 and the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

Jason Day enters this week’s BMW Championship 10th in the FedEx Cup after missing the cut at TPC Boston while defending champion Marc Leishman will need to mount to strong title defence at Aronimink Golf Club to secure his place in the field for the Tour Championship.

A final round of even-par 71 saw Leishman finish the Dell Technologies Championship in a tie for 21st to move up two places to 22nd in the FedEx Cup, his highlight an extraordinary 56-foot putt on the par-3 16th that fell into the centre of the cup.

Adam Scott will need to tap into the momentum created by a final round of 66 at TPC Boston if he hopes to be in the field at East Lake, the Queenslander dropping eight places to now sit 48th following a tie for 49th finish.

After back-to-back top-five finishes, Scott lost ground to the field in the third round when he dropped five shots in the space of six holes on the back nine including three three-putts.

New Zealand’s one and only FedEx Cup Playoffs qualifier, Danny Lee, was unable to move into the top 70 heading to the BMW Championship, a final round of 67 only enough to move him up one spot after starting the week 98th in the rankings.