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Money on their minds

Horschel, McIlroy tied atop the Tour Championship field

ATLANTA

Rory McIlroy made up a two-shot deficit on Billy Horschel at the Tour Championship on Saturday, setting up a $10 million showdown to end the PGA Tour season.

McIlroy overcame a pair of three-putt bogeys by rolling in a 25-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole, and he closed with a tough chip from thick grass behind the 18th green that allowed him to save par for a 3-under 67.

Horschel led by as many as three shots during the third round at East Lake, until he dropped two shots on the back nine and had to settle for a 69.

They are at 9-under 201. And they have plenty of company in what is shaped up as one of the most enticing finishes in the eight-year history of the FedEx Cup.

Jim Furyk, winless since he captured the FedEx Cup four years ago, had a 67 and was two shots behind. He would have to win to have any chance of joining Tiger Woods as the only multiple winners of golf’s biggest bonus.

Jason Day (70), Rickie Fowler (67) and Justin Rose (66) are three shots behind.

“It’s going to be an exciting day,” Horschel said after posting his 11th consecutive round in the 60s during the FedEx Cup playoffs.

McIlroy has been losing a little energy since that high-charged performance that carried him to major titles in the British Open and PGA Championship, with a World Golf Championship sandwiched in between. He knows he’s already had the best year, and he would like nothing better than to end it right.

“I’ve come here with the ultimate goal of trying to cap it off and trying to put an exclamation point on it or the icing on the cake or whatever you want to call it,” McIlroy said. “Would it be poetic justice? I’d feel really good about it.”

The top five seeds at the Tour Championship – Horschel is No. 2, McIlroy is No. 4 – only have to win the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup. This is the first time that two top-five seeds are in the final group of the final tournament of the year.

Furyk doesn’t need to do the math. He only knows he has to win, and that was his priority after another year of close calls. Ditto for Fowler (No. 9) and Day (No. 10).

“Really all you can ask for going into the week is to be in a position to win Sunday,” Fowler said. “The tournament is really going to start tomorrow on the back nine. I know pretty much most of the scenarios for me. I know if I win I’ve got a pretty good chance. I know there’s some possibilities of some extracurricular activities if certain things line up properly.”

He was referring to the most bizarre possibility of all – if Fowler and McIlroy are tied at the end of regulation, there would be a sudden-death playoff to determine who wins the Tour Championship. And if Fowler were to win the tournament in that case, there would be another playoff to decide the FedEx Cup and the $10 million.

Fowler first would have to make up three shots on McIlroy, which is not easy under any circumstances. And while McIlroy is running low on fuel, there’s only lap left.

“I just want to win,” McIlroy said.



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