Rory McIlroy four-putted on the 12th green for the second time in two days to fall down the leaderboard at the BMW Championship as Billy Horschel claimed a two-shot victory over Bubba Watson.
However, the Northern Irishman is still in the hunt for a $10 million (£6.18 million) bonus awarded to the winner of the season-long FedEx Cup playoff, which finishes this weekend at the Tour Championship tournament in Atlanta.
The Tour Championship is played between the top 30 money-leaders on the PGA Tour. If any of the top five players win this weekend, they will guarantee the gigantic end-of-season payday. Chris Kirk tops the standings, now followed by Horschel, Watson, McIlroy and Hunter Mahan.
Earlier in today’s round, the Northern Irishman had chipped in from 52 yards on the 7th but he admitted after his final round at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado that he had been thinking about the previous day’s putts when he stood over his ball on the 12th.
“I’ve wasted five shots on one green in two days,” he said. “I did think about the previous day’s four-putt when I was over my second putt and said to myself: ‘Don’t give away any more shots to this hole’.
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“But, honestly I don’t know what happened. I actually holed a good putt there to avoid my second five-putt; the first came in an amateur competition way back. I can laugh at myself and won’t beat myself up about it. It just shows everyone out there that we can do the same as them.”
Despite the mini-meltdown, McIlroy birdied the 16th and 17th ensuring that his final round of 66 was his best of the tournament. He finished in a tie for eighth place at eight-under, six shots behind Horschel.
Despite their form this season, neither Kirk nor Horschel were selected in Tom Watson’s US team for the Ryder Cup, which begins on Friday 26.
Horschel shot a one-under 69 in the final round to finish at 14-under 266. The only drama for the American was whether he would have time to visit the toilet after his second shot on the par-four 18th. He sprinted back up the fairway, ducked under the ropes and was back in plenty of time to two-putt and close out the victory.