Lucas Glover suddenly in on a roll.
The 43-year-old Glover made a par on the first playoff hole to defeat fourth-ranked Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first event of the PGA Tour playoffs, at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn.
The top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings qualify for the BMW Championship next week in the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club outside of Chicago, with the top 30 making it to the Tour Championship at East Lake Country Club in Atlanta, where the FedEx Cup champion will be crowned.
“You work hard no matter what, whether you’re fighting something or you’re playing great, you just work hard because you never know when it can turn,” said Glover, who won the Wyndham Championship last week just qualify for the playoffs. “It’s turned very quickly for me, and luckily I’m in a good frame of mind to take advantage of it.
“No, it was just keep fighting, keep fighting. The closing holes here aren’t easy birdies, and easy pars really under pressure, so it was just keep fighting, stay close, stay close, and I was fortunate to get in a playoff. I said yesterday the guns would be coming, and they came.
“I was just last man standing this week.”
Glover, who became the first golfer over 40 to win a FedEx Cup Playoffs event since Tiger Woods in 2018, led after each of the last two rounds, but fell one stroke behind when he made his lone bogey at No. 14, before hitting his approach from 39 feet to within a foot of the hole at No. 16 for a birdie on his way to a 69 that caught Cantlay at 15-under 265 after 72 holes.
Cantlay collected three birdies on each nine in a 64 to pull even, but hit his second shot into the water on the playoff hole that led to a costly bogey.
“Obviously, I made a bad tee shot and paid the price, but I’m in in a good spot with two big weeks coming up, so I’m looking forward to it,” said Cantlay, the 2021 FedEx Cup champion who won the BMW Championship the last two years. “I just hooked the ball a little too much off the tee, bad shot, obviously, and paid the price.
“It’s been a long year, so I’m looking forward to the next two weeks and the opportunity I have. I’m obviously playing really well, and next week is a golf course that I enjoy, so looking forward to it.”
Second-ranked Rory McIlroy, a three-time FedEx Cup champion, made three straight birdies through No. 4 in a bogey-free 65 and finished two shots back in a tie for third with Tommy Fleetwood of England, who had four birdies in a 68, while Taylor Moore made two late birdies to salvage a 71 and was three down in solo fifth.
Seventh-ranked Max Homa of Valencia and Cal sank an eight-foot eagle putt at No. 16 and wound up four strokes back in a tie for sixth with Jordan Spieth, the 2015 FedEx Cup champion, who also had a 70; Corey Conners of Canada, who had four birdies and a 12-foot eagle putt at No. 16 on the back nine in a 65; Adam Schenk, who made four birdies on the front nine in a 66; Cam Davis of Australia, who shot a bogey-free 67; Russell Henley, who had four birdies on the back nine in another 67, and Sungjae Im of South Korea, who had two birdies in a bogey-free 68.
Fifth-ranked Viktor Hovland of Norway made three birdies on the front nine en route to a 69 to tie for 13h, sixth-ranked Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State tied for 24th after making two early birdies in a 69, and top-ranked Scottie Scheffler made three birdies on the front nine in a 70 to finish in a tie for 31st that included ninth-ranked Brian Harman, who made four birdies on the back nine in a 68.
Third-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain made three birdies down the stretch for a 68 and tied for 37th, while 10th-ranked Matt Fitzpatrick of England made two double-bogeys and struggled to a 72 to tie for 66th.
For complete results and the FedEx Cup standings, visit: https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard
