Born in Montreal and raised in Verdun, Que., Bob Vokey has become one of the world’s foremost wedge designers and trusted short game advisor to many of the modern game’s greatest golfers. His innovative designs have made Titleist Vokey wedges a trusted brand among golfers of every age and skill level. Over his illustrious career, Vokey has designed wedges for many of golf’s notable players.

Earlier this year, as part of the 2017 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club, the legendary club maker officially entered the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame as an honoured member.

Watch the video teaser below for a glimpse into the life of Vokey and click here to watch the video in full.

Following an extensive search of accomplished business and marketing leaders, the PGA of Canada has selected one of its own to lead the association to a new level of sustainable growth and success, its President announced Tuesday.

“Considering the large number of highly accomplished business leaders who entered this competition, I am excited to announce that our Board of Directors has selected Kevin Thistle to lead the PGA of Canada into an exciting new era of success,” Steve Wood, President of the Board of Directors of the PGA of Canada announced Tuesday.

Mr. Thistle, former President of Golf Operations for the Windmill Group in Calgary, has held leadership positions at some of Canada’s most recognized golf clubs including Angus Glen.

“I want to emphasize that while he was, until Wednesday of last week, an active member of our Board of Directors, he was chosen because of his track record in business, his demonstrated leadership skills, his proven marketing acumen and his ideas about sustaining growth and profitability in our business through innovation,“ Mr. Wood said.

“Kevin is extremely well-known and respected in our business across Canada, not only because of his extensive professional accomplishments but because of his ethics, his energy, his ideas and his ability to work with others to achieve common goals. The number of high calibre leaders who expressed interest in this challenge should have made a difficult choice. In the end, Kevin’s knowledge of our industry and experience as a marketing innovator made him a clear and unanimous choice of our Board,” Mr. Wood said.

“Thanks to the work of Gary Bernard, our former Chief Executive Officer, we are in a strong position, with the means to identify and pursue exciting new directions. The transition process towards those new directions will require vision, leadership and strong people skills.  We are confident Kevin has those skills. “

“To me, this is a dream come true,” Mr. Thistle said. “I have been part of the PGA of Canada throughout my career. I have been active in both Ontario and Alberta zones of the PGA of Canada and I have close friends across the country.  Our members value the PGA of Canada and the brand credibility it offers. I think they realize change is inevitable. I look forward to working closely with our Board and our members across Canada to help our association and its members enjoy a robust and exciting future.”

Founded in 1911 the Professional Golfers Association of Canada is the oldest professional golf association in North America and the second oldest PGA in the world. The PGA of Canada is a non-profit association comprising 3,700 golf professionals across the country and has evolved to become one of the most innovative and respected in the world.

Read Thistle’s full biography at the PGA of Canada’s website.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Americans won the Presidents Cup for the seventh straight time, and this one was no contest.

With most of the work already done, a dominant U.S. team needed only one point from the 12 singles matches Sunday. Kevin Chappell halved the first match with Marc Leishman, and victory was assured when Daniel Berger went 3 up with three to play against Si Woo Kim in the fourth match.

Berger wound up winning his match, and the celebration was on.

The last point came from Phil Mickelson, a 47-year-old on an American team that featured six players in their 20s. Mickelson has played in every Presidents Cup since it began in 1994. This was his 23rd straight team in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. And in his 100th career match, he beat Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., 2 and 1.

The final score was 19-11.

The Americans fell short of their goal to become the first Presidents Cup team to win all five sessions. The Internationals won six matches and halved two others. One of those victories belonged to Jhonattan Vegas, who waved his Venezuela flag after beating Jordan Spieth, keeping Spieth winless in singles in his five team competitions as a pro.

President Donald Trump arrived at Liberty National about 45 minutes before the Americans secured the gold trophy that he was to present to them. Trump, the honorary chairman of the matches, is the first sitting president to attend on the final day and present the trophy.

“This is a juggernaut of a U.S. team,” said Nick Price, in his third and final stint of the International captain, all of them losses. “They’re an overpowering team that played some phenomenal golf. It was tough to watch, especially being on the receiving end.”

The Americans had an 11-point lead going into Sunday. All that remained was the margin of victory, and to see if they could become the first team to win all five sessions in the Presidents Cup.

That was the motivation from U.S. captain Steve Stricker, and the players responded with some of their best golf.

So thorough was this beating that Chappell and Charley Hoffman could have clinched the cup Saturday evening if they had won their fourballs match. Stricker sent them out at the top of his lineup to give them a chance to finish the job. Chappell nearly did. Hoffman was beaten by Jason Day, who had gone nine straight matches without winning until a 2-and-1 victory.

Instead, the clinching match fell to Berger, who had told Sky Sports in an interview Saturday, “Our goal from the minute we got here was to crush them as bad as we can. I hope that we close them out today and we go out there tomorrow and beat them even worse.”

Berger won his match on the 17th green with the Americans who had finished gathered around and ready to start their party. Hoffman ran over and sprayed Berger with champagne, and Berger took a swig from the bottle before handing it over to Stricker for a quick guzzle.

“They came in here riding a ton of momentum and a ton of confidence,” Stricker said. “It was about getting out of their way.”

The Americans have a 10-1-1 record in the Presidents Cup. The only loss was at Royal Melbourne in 1998, which ended just 12 days before Christmas. The matches return to Australia in two years for another pre-Christmas test for the Americans.

“It was a bit of a slaughtering this week,” said Adam Scott, who won his first point of the week by beating U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Canadian Brooke Henderson won the weather-delayed New Zealand Women’s Open on Monday, finishing off a 3-under 69 for a five-stroke victory.

The 20-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., led by four shots through six holes Sunday when the final round was suspended after a day of heavy rain, high wind and threatened lightning strikes. She returned Monday morning to the Windross Farm course and easily held off China’s Jing Yan for her second LPGA Tour victory of the season and fifth overall.

Henderson finished at 17-under 271. She also won the Meijer LPGA Classic in June in Michigan.

“I was feeling pretty comfortable out there and I was just trying to keep it at minus 17 as long as I could,” Henderson said after receiving the trophy, $195,000 winner’s check and a ceremonial feather cloak presented by indigenous Maori. “I had a couple of bogeys but made a lot of birdies and it was probably some of the best golf I’ve played in a while.

“I’m super excited to win outside North America for the first time and glad it could be here in New Zealand.”

ICYMI: Watch highlights from the final round of the @NZWomensOpen! pic.twitter.com/p4nRsE2Ves

— #CMEFinalStretch ? (@LPGA) October 2, 2017

Henderson said the relatively short Windross Farm course was not ideally suited to her game and she was pleased to show she could win on such a layout and “in pretty terrible weather conditions.”

“I felt like the pressure was really off of me this week was possibly why I got off to such a fast start,” she said. “To play so well on this golf course was just incredible.

“I’m just so happy to win here. My season has been kind of up and down, steady for the most part. I got a lot of questions early in the year but now to get my second wind is great going into the last five events I’m going to play.”

What an amazing week @NZWomensOpen! Proud owner of a new trophy & ceremonial cloak…I’ll get some use out of it back home this winter! ??? pic.twitter.com/an0M3GTJA3

— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) October 2, 2017

The weather remained troublesome Monday with strong wind making low scoring difficult. Henderson mastered the conditions, birdieing three of the first five holes and turning for home five shots clear.

Yan shot a 71. South Korea’s Hee Young Park was third at 11 under after a 69.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp tied for 13th at 7 under.

American Jennifer Song had the best round, a 68, to finish fourth at 10 under.

New Zealand star Lydia Ko closed double bogey-triple bogey for a 75 to tie for 22nd at 5 under.

“I played really solid apart from the last two holes,” Ko said. “I made an eagle on 15; I hit it really close and I thought I might have actually hit it in the water. It was a tough finish, but overall I felt really solid, a lot of positives.”

Ko defended the decision to play on in marginal weather conditions Sunday.

“Week to week we just have to go with it and they’re trying to do the best for us,” Ko said.

Henderson had an early bogey Monday on the par-4 eighth hole, then parred the next four and got to 17 with a birdie on the par-3 13h. By the 14th, the wind had picked up and was making it hard to hit the narrow fairways at the newly established course built on farmland east of Auckland. The wetlands layout featured bristling rough and water off the fairways but Henderson, with sister Brittany on her bag, was able to stay out of trouble and to maintain a lead that peaked at six shots.

She bogeyed the tricky par-4 16th and finished a birdie on the par-5 18th.

ATLANTA — Justin Thomas had an inkling back in January that this season might be something special.

More than winning the Sony Open for a sweep of Hawaii and his third victory in five starts, it was how he won. Thomas opened with a 59 and never let up until he set the PGA Tour’s record for lowest 72-hole score and won by seven shots. Instead of trying to protect a lead, he left everyone in his wake.

“I felt like after that, I learned a lot to where I could kind of ride that momentum out for the year,” Thomas said.

But there was a moment early in the week at Waialae that might have set the tone for a FedEx Cup title that came down to the last hour.

Thomas played with Jordan Spieth when he shot 59, and the statistics would have suggested a different outcome. Spieth led the field that day in proximity to the hole with his approach shots at 18 feet, 4 inches. Thomas was seventh at 25 feet, 7 inches.

Thomas, however, was the one making all the putts.

On more than one occasion, they were on the same line and Thomas holed his putt from a longer distance, while Spieth missed. Over the next few days, Spieth couldn’t help but smile at the observation that Thomas was doing to him what Spieth had done to so many other players.

In some respects, it was like that all year.

Thomas went into a brief lull, missing six cuts in 14 events after Hawaii. He had a few flashes of brilliances, such as his 63 in the U.S. Open. Spieth caught up with three victories, including the third leg of the career Grand Slam at the British Open.

Thomas had the best finishing kick.

He won his first major at the PGA Championship. He won at the TPC Boston by outlasting Spieth on the back nine. The FedEx Cup title came down to the last day, and at one point, Thomas and Spieth were projected to tie, which would have meant a sudden-death playoff to decide the $10 million bonus. That was unlikely to happen, but fun to contemplate, even for Thomas when he saw the projections on a video board.

“I think I laughed when I saw it,” Thomas said. “I thought, ‘Honestly, this probably will happen and the golf world will completely blow up and lose its mind if Jordan and I were in a playoff for the FedEx Cup.’ I don’t think anybody would have known what to do with themselves.”

Thomas was a birdie short of winning the Tour Championship, though the FedEx Cup title was never in doubt over the last three holes.

In the 11-year era of the FedEx Cup, he joined Spieth and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the FedEx Cup in a season with at least five victories and a major.

The awards already are rolling in. Thomas clinched the points-based award from the PGA of America as player of the year. Ballots were sent out Monday to PGA Tour players for their vote, and there’s little doubt how that will turn out. Thomas also won the PGA Tour money title with just over $9.9 million.

Along the way, Thomas ticked off plenty of goals. He had kept them to himself on his phone, not willing to disclose them until the season was over. It ended on Sunday at East Lake when he was runner-up for the first time in his PGA Tour career, and it was enough to capture the FedEx Cup.

He pulled out his phone and began to read them when the screen switched over to an incoming phone call from his grandfather.

“Hey, Grandpa, can I call you back? I’m in the middle of a press conference,” Thomas said.

The list:

— Make the Tour Championship (check).

— Win at least once (check, check, check, check, check).

— Be in the final two groups of a major on Sunday (U.S. Open, PGA Championship).

— Win a major (PGA Championship).

— Make the Presidents Cup team (check).

— Better than 0.25 in the strokes-gained putting statistic (0.289).

— Better than 1 in strokes gained tee-to-green (1.33).

— Top 10 in the all-around statistical category (No. 6)

— Top 30 in scrambling (No. 28).

— Sub-70 scoring average (69.36).

— Top 10 in half of his starts. (“I missed by one,” he said.)

Hey, he can’t have it all. But he has plenty this year, the least significant of which might be the $10 million bonus.

Cash only matters to Thomas when he loses a bet.

The difficulty is what that list looks like next season. Thomas said when he finally gets time to reflect after this week’s Presidents Cup, he’ll spend time with Spieth and Woods — two players he knows well who can appreciate big years — and ask them how to reset goals and manage expectations.

“And then we will go off to Malaysia again,” he said.

That’s where the winning started this season. The outlook no doubt will be different a year later.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR today released the full 2017-18 Season schedule of 49 FedExCup tournaments, representing an increase of two events with the previously announced additions of THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES at Jeju Island, Korea, and the elevation of the Web.com Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. Total prize money for the season will be a record of more than $363 million.

THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, Korea’s first official PGA TOUR event, debuts October 16-22 at The Club at Nine Bridges as one of eight tournaments in the 2017 portion of the schedule, which was released in August.

The Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, which was held for two years on the Web.com Tour, will debut on the PGA TOUR March 19-25, 2018, the same week as the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play. The Tom Fazio-designed Corales course will continue to serve as the tournament course.

The Puerto Rico Open, in turn, moves from Match Play week to February 26-March 4, coinciding with the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. With the addition of the two new international tournaments, the schedule includes nine tournaments in eight countries outside the United States.

Other significant changes relate to venues. The AT&T Byron Nelson (May 14-20) moves to the new Trinity Forest Golf Club in Irving, Texas, while two FedExCup Playoffs events change courses: THE NORTHERN TRUST (August 20-26) returns to The Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey and the BMW Championship (September 3-9) visits historic Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia for the first time, marking only the second time in the tournament’s 115 years of play that it will be held in Pennsylvania (1959 being the other).

Additionally, the U.S. Open (June 11-17) returns to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, for the first time since 2004; The Open Championship (July 16-22) rotates to Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland and the PGA Championship (August 6-12) will be held at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis for only the second time (first being in 1992).

One final change sees the open week during the 2018 FedExCup Playoffs shifting by one week. The first three events will be held consecutively – THE NORTHERN TRUST, the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston (August 27-September 3) and BMW Championship. Then comes the open week, followed by the season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta (September 17-23).

As previously announced by Golf Canada and RBC, the RBC Canadian Open, Canada’s National Open Championship, takes place July 23-29, 2018 at Glen Abbey Golf Club.

On behalf of the almost 6 million golf enthusiasts from coast-to-coast, Golf Canada is absolutely thrilled to congratulate Adam Hadwin on earning his spot in the 2017 Presidents Cup, Sept. 28 – Oct. 1 at Liberty National Golf Club.

Adam showed tremendous consistency all season long and it is a testament to his commitment and hard work that he achieved this important goal in becoming only the third Canadian ever to compete in the biennial team event. 2017 has been a momentous year for this proud Canadian, from his historic 59 at the CareerBuilder Challenge and first-ever PGA TOUR win at the Valspar Championship to his top-15 finish this past weekend to lock up his spot on the International Team. Adam has given golf fans nation-wide, a season’s worth of incredible performance and we look forward to supporting his continued strong play representing Canada at the Presidents Cup.

As well, our very best wishes go out to five-time Presidents Cup competitor Mike Weir in his role as an assistant captain on this year’s Presidents Cup International Team. Mike’s leadership and experience will no doubt be a positive influence to help drive the collective performance of the International Team.

Both Mike and Adam are tremendous ambassadors for Canadian golf and we wish them continued success representing Canada on one of the game of golf’s greatest stages.
– – –
Laurence Applebaum
CEO
Golf Canada

CALGARY – Scott McCarron didn’t waste any time after missing a long putt for birdie on the final hole Sunday.

In front of a large gallery of fans at the Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, McCarron walked right up and tapped in a short, but nerve-wracking putt, to win the 2017 Shaw Charity Classic title.

“It felt like 20 feet,” said McCarron, who held on for a one-shot victory over Miguel Angel Jimenez after shooting a 3-under 67 in the final round. “It was probably about three feet or so. It was kind of a right-centre putt. I didn’t take much time over it, because I saw it go right by and I knew exactly what I was going to do.

“I just missed a couple short ones before, so I didn’t want to even think about it too long. I set it up and made a good putt finally. It really felt good to get that done.”

McCarron had three birdies and two bogies on the front nine before draining a long putt from off the green at the par-5, 11th hole for eagle. It was the third eagle of the weekend for McCarron and the 17th of his season to lead the PGA Tour Champions circuit in that category.

McCarron then birdied the 15th hole before giving a shot back with a bogey on 16. He finished with two straight pars to end the three-day event at 16-under 194 to take home the winner’s share of $352,500 U.S.

It was the fourth PGA Tour Champions tournament victory of the season for the 52-year-old golfer from La Quinta, Calif., who earlier won titles at the Allanz Championship, the Constellation Senior Players Championship and the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

“Winning does not get easier,” stressed McCarron. “These guys are the best players in the world at their time and they’re still playing some great golf. I truly believe we’ve got 25 guys that can still play on the PGA Tour and compete.”

Jimenez had a chance to eagle the final hole, but he just missed his long putt and had to settle for a birdie and a round of 66 to finish in second spot by himself.

“I knew I had to hole the putt if I have any chance,” said Jimenez, while adding he wasn’t able to sink enough putts in the final round. “Scott is playing very well and holed very important putts for him and that’s the key.”

Scott Dunlap and Todd Hamilton both had rounds of 67 on Sunday to finish in a tie with first-round leader Kevin Sutherland at 13 under.

Sutherland followed up a birdie on the third hole with an eagle on the fourth to move into a tie with McCarron at 14 under before falling out of contention.

“Momentum is only as good as the next shot,” Hamilton said. “I just didn’t string together the shots today. I wasn’t able to have a lot of good birdie opportunities and I had a lot of trying to save pars most of the day.”

Although he had respectable rounds of 67 and 68 in the first two rounds, 2014 Shaw Charity Classic winner Fred Couples withdrew from the tournament on Sunday before his tee time due to ongoing back issues.

Vancouver’s Stephen Ames finished as the top Canadian in a tie for 19th spot with Kirk Triplett at 7 under after shooting a final round 68.

“I wasn’t hitting the ball great for the first two days, so I kind of did well with what I had,” Ames said. “Considering the fact I was 7 under, I think I’ll take it. I’m quite happy with the result.”

Rod Spittle, of Niagara Falls, Ont., shot his second straight round of 69 to finish the tournament in a seven-way tie for 25th at 5 under.

Victoria resident Jim Rutledge made four birdies and an eagle to get to 6 under before recording two bogies in his final four holes to shoot 66. He finished the tournament in a tie for 40th place with nine other golfers at 3 under.

NORTON, Mass. – Kevin Chappell made his first Presidents Cup team by a fraction of a point, and he needed a lot more help that he realized.

“I made it a lot more exciting than it needed to be,” Chappell said.

Chappell, who won his first PGA Tour event earlier this year in San Antonio, earned enough FedEx Cup points from the Dell Technologies Championship to secure the 10th and final automatic spot on the U.S. team.

Rounded off, Chappell and Charley Hoffman finished with 4,369 points. Stretched out to include decimals, the PGA Tour said Chappell beat Hoffman by 0.073.

This was the final qualifying event for the Presidents Cup, which starts Sept. 28 at Liberty National.

Chappell will be one of at least four Americans making their debut in a Presidents Cup or a Ryder Cup. He spent the last month getting weary of talking about the possibilities, suggesting that he could live with however it turned out.

That changed when he shot a 69 on Sunday and was projected ahead of Hoffman, meaning he controlled his own fate.

“I didn’t know what it meant until I tried to go to sleep last night,” Chappell said Monday on his way to the airport to catch a flight home – in coach, no less – to Seattle.

Hoffman, who showed up at the TPC Boston at No. 10 and with a slim lead, closed with a 68 on Monday and tied for 40th. Chappell appeared to have it locked up until three bogeys over a four-hole stretch on the back nine.

It’s official!

Your 2017 @PresidentsCup U.S. Team and International Team.

Next stop: NYC.? pic.twitter.com/J5IhndBcCu

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 4, 2017

He answered with a birdie on the par-3 16th, but then his shot from a fairway bunker on the par-5 18th came to rest on a loose piece of dirt, and his wedge came up well short. Chappell pitched to 10 feet, missed his par putt and closed with a 71.

That’s when he needed some help, and Russell Henley unknowingly provided it.

Chappell was tied for 35th, and Henley also was in that group at 2-under 282. If Henley had made one more birdie, that would have taken points away from Chappell, and Hoffman would have moved past him.

Henley, however, made bogey on the 17th and failed to birdie the 18th to tie for 40th. That was all Chappell needed.

It was a familiar feeling for Chappell, and not a pleasant one. Five years ago in the final tournament of the year, Chappell finished at No. 125 on the money list to keep his card by $1,809, but only after two players made par on the tough par-4 18th at Disney. If either had made bogey, Chappell would have lost his card.

“That was to keep my job,” he said. “I’d much rather being doing this, relying on others to get me on a Presidents Cup team.”

The other U.S. qualifiers were Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Kevin Kisner, Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed.

U.S. captain Steve Stricker will make two wild-card selections Wednesday afternoon, and Hoffman is a favourite to get one of them. With no one below Hoffman in the standings playing exceptionally well, the other pick could go to Phil Mickelson, who has never missed a team event since 1994.

Mickelson was in the mix early at the TPC Boston on Monday, and that could be enough to show Stricker that he’s worth a pick.

“We’ll see. I hope so,” Mickelson said after he closed with a 68 to tie for sixth, his best finish in stroke play since he was runner-up at the British Open last summer. “I think this is a big step for me as far as getting back to where I want – shooting the scores, playing, having energy, being able to practice, all these things.”

Mickelson said Stricker would do what’s best for the American team “and I totally support him either way.”

Emiliano Grillo of Argentina also came up with a good round at the right time. Grillo closed with a 66, enough to move him past Hideto Tanihara of Japan to No. 11 for the International team. Only the top 10 from the world ranking qualify, though Grillo would seem to be safe to be one of captain Nick Price’s picks.

“That’s not up to me,” Grillo said. “Today was up to me and I did my best. It worked out.”

The other International team qualifiers were Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Marc Leishman, Branden Grace, Jhonattan Vegas, Si Woo Kim and AdamHadwin.

Vegas, Kim and Hadwin will be competing for the first time in the matches.

NORTON, Mass. – The victories keep piling up for Justin Thomas, and all that does is make him want more.

In a Labor Day finish that was harder than the final margin suggested, Thomas kept his patience when Jordan Spieth shot out to a brief lead and Marc Leishman built a two-shot lead at the turn. Keeping his mistakes to a minimum, Thomas outlasted them both by closing with a 5-under 66 for a three-shot victory in the Dell Technologies Championship.

He started the PGA Tour season at No. 34 in the world with all of one PGA Tour victory.

Thomas won for the fifth time Monday, including his first major three weeks ago at the PGA Championship. He is No. 4 in the world. And barring Spieth running the tables the rest of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the 24-year-old Thomas would seem to be a lock to be voted PGA Tour player of the year.

“I have two events left. I have two more opportunities to win,” Thomas said. “And I’d love to make it six or seven wins.”

Thomas made only two bogeys all week, the last one putting him in a three-way tie with seven holes to play. He won on the back nine at TPC Boston with a sand wedge he gouged out of the rough to 6 feet on No. 13, a gap wedge to 4 feet on No. 15 for another birdie, and a 6-foot par save that kept him two shots clear.

Spieth wasted a start that riled up the New England crowd – birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie – by missing the 14th green with a 5-iron for bogey. Needing an eagle to stay in the game on the par-5 18th, Spieth pushed a 4-iron into a tough lie in the bunker, blasted over the green and made bogey for a 67.

Spieth was runner-up for the second straight week in the FedEx Cup playoffs. He lost a three-shot lead to Dustin Johnson on Long Island. There wasn’t much he could have done to stop Thomas, his best friend in golf since they were teenagers.

“Came out firing, like I said we had to do,” Spieth said. “Eight through 14 is the meat of the golf course. You want to get through even. I got through over par and didn’t get any coming in when I hit some good putts.”

Spieth still moved to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup with one more event before the $10 million prize is decided at the Tour Championship.

Leishman shot 30 on the front to build a two-shot lead, only for it to vanish quickly. He had to save bogey on No. 10 after an errant drive. He three-putted from long range for bogey on the 11th. He found a bunker on the 12th for a third straight bogey. And then he closed with two bogeys that only cost him money. Leishman shot 70.

Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world coming off his fourth victory of the season last week, started the final round three shots behind and was one of the few players who was never in contention. He took two to get out of a fairway bunker and made bogey on the par-5 second hole, and he closed with a 73 to finish 10 behind.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., were the low Canadians at 8 under and tied for 13th. Hughes shot up the leaderboard after a 67 while Hadwin, who started the day two shots back of the lead, struggled to a 73. Nick Taylor (72), also of Abbotsford, finished 2 over and Graham DeLaet (70) of Weyburn, Sask., was 7 over.

Spieth was simply dynamic at the start. He didn’t need to make a putt longer than 12 feet to go 5 under for the opening four holes and briefly take the lead. Leishman, who won at Bay Hill in March, kept stride with six birdies on the front nine to match Spieth’s 30 and move in front.

Thomas did his part to stay in the game.

He could hear the crowd celebrating Spieth’s short birdie on the fourth hole, and then Thomas belted a low slider of a drive that barely cleared the deep bunker, hit into the shaggy collar and hopped onto the fringe. He holed that 30-footer for an eagle, and the race was on.

Phil Mickelson birdied three of his opening four holes. He couldn’t keep pace. Neither could Jon Rahm or Paul Casey.

The final round was so tight that Thomas, Spieth and Leishman were tied for the lead with seven holes to play. But then it all changed when Spieth missed the green at No. 14, did well to hit a flop shot to 15 feet and narrowly missed his par putt.

Thomas steadied himself after his lone bogey on the par-3 11th. Equipped with a one-shot lead because of Spieth’s bogey, Thomas hit a sand wedge to 4 feet on the 15th for a birdie and a two-shot lead. Equally important was his pitch out of deep rough to the right of the 16th to a green that ran away from him. He managed to hit it 6 feet and twice clutched his fist when it dropped for par.

Spieth grazed the edge of the cup with a 10-foot birdie attempt on the 17th, and then lost all hope with his approach into the bunker.

It was the first time Spieth has finished runner-up to Thomas, his best friend in golf since they were teenagers.

Kevin Chappell bogeyed his last hole and still managed to nudge Charley Hoffman by a fraction of a point to earn the 10th and final automatic spot on the U.S. team for the Presidents Cup.

Stewart Cink closed with a 68 to finish 12th, more than enough for him to advance to the third FedEx Cup playoff event outside Chicago for the first time in seven years. Emiliano Grillo and Rafa Cabrera Bello also moved into the top 70 to advance to the BMW Championship in two weeks.