Tour Championship

And to think that the myriad FedEx Cup permutations were jumbled at the Tour Championship's outset. Check it out now. But grab a calculator. Humdrum starts by the top four names on the FedEx points list only nudged the door open a little wider for someone from off the pace to capture the $10-million bonanza that goes to the PGA Tour's points champion. That is, if Paul Casey doesn't create his own little transatlantic whirlwind by winning the thing. "I'm not getting wrapped up in any sort of extra motivation," said Casey, whose omission from Europe's Ryder Cup roster looks more controversial each day. The English pro is the only man in the top third of Thursday's leaderboard who can take home the FedEx Cup without any outside help.

ATLANTA — Brandt Snedeker caught his mind wandering to the FedEx Cup and its $10-million bonus just twice Sunday. The first time, Snedeker nearly slapped himself back to reality as he walked down the 15th fairway. Then at No.18, he airmailed his tee shot into the grandstand. "An awful shot," Snedeker said. "That shows you what that does for you. " At that point, though, it mattered little. A four-shot lead at the Tour Championship offered more than enough cushion to finish off his richest payday — and one that might redefine his career.

ATLANTA — Brandt Snedeker caught his mind wandering to the FedEx Cup and its $10-million bonus just twice Sunday. The first time, Snedeker nearly slapped himself back to reality as he walked down the 15th fairway. Then at No.18, he airmailed his tee shot into the grandstand. "An awful shot," Snedeker said. "That shows you what that does for you. " At that point, though, it mattered little. A four-shot lead at the Tour Championship offered more than enough cushion to finish off his richest payday — and one that might redefine his career.

ATLANTA - No statement was necessary. At the same time, Jim Furyk sure didn't mind writing down all those 3s. "To be able to write '3' on your card nine times in the first 11 holes was a lot of fun," Furyk said after Friday's six-under-par 64 propelled him to a one-stroke lead over Justin Rose at the midway point of the Tour Championship. Furyk strung together seven 3s to begin his day at East Lake Golf Club, then tossed in a pair of 4s as he made the turn in six-under 29. Heading to the back nine, the 42-year-old pro began with two more 3s before the momentum stalled.

The year that started with 21-year-old Tiger Woods winning the first event with a near hole-in-one in sudden death ended with 25-year-old David Duval taking the Tour Championship at Houston for his third consecutive victory. "This is the best group of young players we have had in our history," Commissioner Tim Finchem said Sunday at the Champions Golf Club, where Duval picked up the $720,000 first prize and denied Davis Love III a chance to edge out Woods for the season money title.

The NASCAR Southwest Tour and Winston West Series will be holding season-ending main events this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. The Southwest Tour will run a 186-lap race on the track's one-mile paved oval today at 1:15 p.m. The Winston West will follow with a 312-lap race Sunday at noon. Points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale, in pursuit of his first Southwest Tour championship in five tries, holds a 57-point advantage over Doug George of Atwater, Calif.

Craig Stadler relinquished his advantage on the scoreboard, but he might have one in the weather. Stadler's three-putt bogey on the last hole dropped him into a tie with Russ Cochran for the lead Saturday after three rounds of the season-ending, $2-million Tour Championship at Pinehurst, N.C. They shared the top spot at 208, five under par, going into today's final round.

Anthony Kim and Sergio Garcia did enough Friday at the Tour Championship to set up a Ryder Cup rematch. Kim had to settle for a one-under-par 69 on Friday at Atlanta, making bogey from the bunker on the final hole, to take a two-shot lead over Garcia and put them in the final pairing only six days after their leadoff singles match at the Ryder Cup. Kim won that match, 5 and 4, and the Americans followed him to victory at Valhalla.

Billy Mayfair looked as though he was ready to succumb to par at the Tour Championship, just as so many others had before him on a Southern Hills course that punishes the slightest of errors. He stood over his 25-foot par putt on the par-five 13th hole, looking at it from above and below the hole, until he decided that getting it close would be good enough. It turned out to be better than that.

Just as in the PGA, John Daly was the last man in the field for the season-ending Tour Championship. Just as in the PGA, Daly turned that surprise appearance into a share of the lead. And, as he did in the upset victory in the PGA that made him a national sensation two months ago, Daly used his power as the key ingredient. He birdied all the par-five holes on the No. 2 course at Pinehurst en route to a three-under-par 68 Thursday in the new, $2-million event.

Serena Williams overcame a shaky start and two service breaks to beat lucky loser Coco Vandeweghe , 7-5, 6-3, on Sunday at Palo Alto for her second straight Bank of the West Classic title. Eight days after winning Wimbledon, Williams saved a set point and won the final four games of the opening set. It was the 43rd WTA Tour championship of Williams' career, tying older sister Venus for the most among active players. The first all-American WTA final on home soil in eight years was hardly a one-sided affair.

The way Kyle Stanley expresses himself with words is monotone. Although his voice doesn't rise or fall much, his golf ball does — because the way Stanley expresses himself with a club is breathtaking. He hit a 342-yard drive on the par-five 13th hole Saturday at Torrey Pines, and if Stanley didn't give himself an inner "ooh," the gallery gave him one. Stanley has a five-shot lead on the field after three rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open. He birdied that 13th hole on his way to a second consecutive round of four-under-par 68. Stanley is 18 under after three rounds with a 198 total, the lowest third-round score since Tiger Woods in 1998.

Reporting from Atlanta — On his final hole of regulation, Bill Haas blasted his tee shot into a row of spectators. He did it again to start the playoff. The next hole sent him trekking through both sand and water. No one would call it the most conventional — or safest — way to capture the FedEx Cup. When it comes to edge-of-your-seat escapism, though, Haas certainly got his $11.4 million worth out of Sunday's adventures. "This is very unexpected, I guess," the 29-year-old pro said after completing an improbable rush that saw him grab a three-shot lead with three holes left at East Lake Golf Club, watch it vanish, then scramble his way through the richest playoff in golf history.

Reporting from Atlanta -- After three bogeys in his first six holes Friday, Adam Scott faced a personal moment of truth. Either the Aussie was going to reverse the slide, or he was going to let a second consecutive week slip away and reach the FedEx Cup season's finish line with a sense of underachieving. Scott willed himself to the first option. By the end of the day, he walked away with the Tour Championship lead. A birdie-birdie finish completed a five-under-par 65 that vaulted Scott past K.J. Choi to the front of the pack, taking a one-stroke lead at the midway point of the FedEx Cup finale.

Reporting from Atlanta The permutations flew fast and furious for a time, some stretching the bounds of credibility on the most tangled final Sunday since the FedEx Cup became the PGA Tour's version of the postseason. One perfect storm could have given the Cup to a man who opened the week 28th on the points list. Another might have crowned points leader Matt Kuchar with a 25th-place finish. Paul Casey could have been the season champion without a tournament win. By the end, though, the formula was pretty simple.

ATLANTA -- Jim Furyk shot an even-par 70 on Sunday to win the Tour Championship and the 2010 FedEx Cup. Furyk finished at eight-under 272 and won by a stroke over Luke Donald, who also had a 70 on Sunday. Furyk became the first player this year to win a third PGA Tour title, the first time he's won three times in a season in his career, but the big win was the year-long FedEx Cup win, which pocketed him $10 million. After back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 16 and 17 cut his lead to a single stroke, Furyk walked up to the par-three 18th tee. He promptly dumped his tee ball into the bunker on the right side, but Furyk, one of the best bunker players in the world, blasted it inside two feet of the pin. In miserable, rainy conditions, Furyk turned his cap backward so the raindrops wouldn't impact his ball.

Simon Hobday, chain-smoking to try to calm his nerves, took advantage of mistakes by his opponents for a two-shot victory Sunday in the Senior Tour Championship. While Dave Stockton and Larry Gilbert found trouble, Hobday won with a bogey-free closing round of five-under-par 67 and scored the second victory of the season with a 199 total, 17 under par on the Dorado Beach Resort course. The victory was worth $150,000--the largest check of Hobday's career--from the purse of $1 million.

And to think that the myriad FedEx Cup permutations were jumbled at the Tour Championship's outset. Check it out now. But grab a calculator. Humdrum starts by the top four names on the FedEx points list only nudged the door open a little wider for someone from off the pace to capture the $10-million bonanza that goes to the PGA Tour's points champion. That is, if Paul Casey doesn't create his own little transatlantic whirlwind by winning the thing. "I'm not getting wrapped up in any sort of extra motivation," said Casey, whose omission from Europe's Ryder Cup roster looks more controversial each day. The English pro is the only man in the top third of Thursday's leaderboard who can take home the FedEx Cup without any outside help.

As Dustin Johnson waited for a television interview to begin by the 18th green Sunday afternoon, a woman from the gallery hollered: "Class act, Dustin!" Johnson grinned and waved. It was a nice capper to a perfect day at the BMW Championship. All those complaints about Cog Hill's greens melted away under sun-kissed blue skies. "We opened up parking lots today we haven't used in years," said a beaming John Kaczkowski, president of the Western Golf Assn. "This was a great crowd, a great ending and a great champion.