Bill Haas pulls off shocking win.
America's Bill Hass won the TOUR Championship in Atlanta after a nerve-wracking play-off against his compatriot Hunter Mahan. This triumph also meant Haas won the FedExCup. When the 29-year-old teed off at the final Playoff tournament at the East Lake Golf Club, he was just 25th in the FedExCup rankings. However, he leapfrogged many favourites – including world number one Luke Donald, who was in with a shout right up until the end of the tournament – to claim the overall victory.
After four days packed with excitement and changes at the top of the leaderboard, Haas and Mahan both finished on 8 under par, just one shot ahead of Donald (ENG), K.J. Choi (KOR) and Aaron Baddeley (AUS) who had to settle for a share of third place. Donald was ultimately just one shot away from FedExCup victory – second place at the TOUR Championship would have been enough for the 2011 BMW PGA Championship winner.
Victory for Baddeley, on the other hand, would have made Webb Simpson the overall winner. Simpson arrived in Atlanta as the FedExCup leader, but could do no better than 22nd at the season finale, meaning he agonisingly finished just 15 FedExCup points behind Haas.
And so the tournament and FedExCup were decided in a play-off. First up was the eighteenth hole, a difficult par 3. Following a poor tee shot, Haas holed an extremely demanding downhill putt for par, which Mahan equalled without any major problems. Haas' dream of winning looked even more likely to be over on the second play-off hole – the seventeenth. The American's drive found the fairway bunker. His second shot then overshot the green and rolled down a three-metre slope towards the lake. When the ball came to a stop in the mud, it was half submerged in the water.
While Mahan found the green safely, but left himself a very long putt, his rival once again found his way out of a tight spot. Haas sensationally chipped from his awkward lie to within feet of the hole, giving him a simple putt for par. The duo returned to the eighteenth, where it was Mahan's turn to hit a poor tee shot. Unlike Haas, however, he was unable to save par. Haas found the centre of the cup with his putt to win a remarkable 2011 TOUR Championship and claim the ten million US dollars bonus prize awarded to the FedExCup champion.
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