Henrik Stenson wins Tour Championship by Coca-Cola

Henrik Stenson wins Tour Championship (Getty Images)

published 23 September 2013

Henrik Stenson completed a wire-to-wire victory in the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola at East Lake GC to win, not only the tournament, but also the FedEx Cup and its $10,000,000 first prize.

Stenson battled to a closing round of 68 to win by three shots from a fast-finishing Jordan Spieth and veteran Steve Stricker. It was his second title in the FedEx Cup playoffs after he claimed the Deutsche Bank Championship.

He is the first European to win the FedEx Cup and has climbed to fourth on the Official World Golf Rankings. He walked away from East Lake with $11.44 million.

"Since the Scottish Open, it's been just an incredible run," he said. "I'm speechless. It was a tough day out there. To hang in there the way I did, I'm really satisfied. ... It hasn't quite sunk in yet. I had to fight hard mentally to keep all this aside, and I managed to do that. It's going to feel better as the week goes on. I'm pretty sure about that."

20-year-old Jordan Spieth made a good run at the Tour Championship title. He made four straight birdies on the back nine to get within a shot of the Swede. But, the youngster stumbled to a bogey on the last and had to settle for a 64. Although he finished seventh in the FedEx Cup - the best ever placing by a rookie player - Spieth couldn't conceal his disappointment.

"I was just looking up and seeing that I needed more instead of being satisfied with what happened," he said.

Steve Stricker closed with an excellent 65 and finished third in the FedEx Cup. He missed makeable putts on both the 17th and 18th holes and, if one of those had dropped, he would have claimed second in the FedEx and picked up an extra $1,000,000.

"I knew that putt meant a lot," he said. "I didn't realise it meant that much."

As it was, Tiger Woods held on to second place in the FedEx Cup. He posted a closing 67 to tie for 22nd spot. Although it was his worst ever placing in the Tour Championship, he could console himself with a cheque for $3 million for second in the FexEx Cup.

Tour Championship by Coca-Cola East Lake GC, Atlanta, Georgia Sep 19-22, purse $8,000,000, par 70 1 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 64 66 69 68 267 $1,440,000 T2 Jordan Spieth (USA) 68 67 71 64 270 $708,000 T2 Steve Stricker (USA) 66 71 68 65 270 $708,000 4 Webb Simpson (USA) 68 71 69 63 271 $384,000 5 Dustin Johnson (USA) 68 68 67 69 272 $320,000 6 Justin Rose (Eng) 68 68 70 67 273 $288,000 T7 Billy Horschel (USA) 68 70 70 68 274 $264,000 T7 Zach Johnson (USA) 69 68 69 68 274 $264,000 T9 Roberto Castro (USA) 67 71 72 65 275 $227,733 T9 Jason Dufner (USA) 74 70 66 65 275 $227,733 T9 Sergio Garcia (Esp) 68 71 69 67 275 $227,733

Henrik Stenson: What's in the bag?

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage

Where next? European Tour - Julien Quesne wins Italian Open

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Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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