At one point in the final round, Rose had stretched his lead to five shots following birdies on holes six and seven. However, by the time he teed off on the seventeenth he was being hunted down by the two Australians John Senden (-11) and Geoff Ogilvy (-10), who had closed the gap to just one and two shots respectively.
Rose, however, had played too well all week at the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club to let his third PGA TOUR victory slip from his grasp. When the 2007 European Tour Order of Merit winner chipped in magnificently for a birdie on the seventeenth, he gave himself breathing space heading down the eighteenth hole on the iconic Dubsdread course. Four shots later, victory was Rose's. The win earns him a winner's cheque for 1,440,000 US dollars and also catapults him from 34th to third in the FedExCup, earning him qualification for the TOUR Championship next week.
Second place went to John Senden, while Geoff Ogilvy took the third spot. Both Australians join Rose in rocketing into the top thirty of the FedExCup rankings and qualifying for Atlanta next week.
One man who has done his hopes of ending the season as FedExCup champion is world number one Luke Donald (ENG, -8). Having endured a disappointing opening round of 75 (+4), the 2011 BMW PGA Championship winner recovered well to end the week in Chicago on his own in fourth place. This is enough to ensure the Englishman travels to the season finale in the top five of the FedExCup rankings, meaning a win at East Lake would guarantee overall victory.
As for the FedExCup leader: Webb Simpson enjoyed another excellent result at Cog Hill, finishing fifth on 7 under par. With 2010 BMW Championship winner Dustin Johnson (USA, +14) enduring a miserable week and only able to finish 65th , Simpson heads to Atlanta as the man to catch. The fifth player who - along with Simpson, Johnson, Rose and Donald – will have his fate in his own hands at the TOUR Championship is Matt Kuchar, who finished tied in 22nd place (even par) in Chicago.
Whatever happens there, the PGA TOUR will have a new FedExCup champion, as last year's winner Jim Furyk (USA, even par) shot a disastrous 76 (+5) on the final day to fall out of the top 30 in the FedExCup rankings.
