ATLANTA -- Just three weeks ago, Billy Horschel had every reason to start looking ahead to next season.
He had missed the cut in the first FedEx Cup playoff event to fall to No. 82 in the standings. He only had two top 10s all year, scant evidence that he was on the verge of something special. He was weeks away from becoming a father.
What followed was the best golf of his life, and a payoff that was more than he could grasp.
"I'm not sure life can be better than this," Horschel said.
Horschel capped off his improbable playoff run Sunday at East Lake by pulling away from Rory McIlroy early and holding off Jim Furyk late. He posted his 12th consecutive round in the 60s -- a 2-under 68 -- to win the Tour Championship by three shots and claim the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus.
Horschel went to a level these last three weeks that only Tiger Woods can appreciate. No one had ever won the FedEx Cup starting the playoffs lower than No. 19. Horschel started at No. 69. But he was the runner-up in Boston, a winner in Denver and he cashed in big in Atlanta.
Those weeks of prize money and the FedEx Cup bonus were worth nearly $13.5 million.
"I remember flying home and talking with my wife and she said, 'You're probably just waiting for the season to be over and start a new season.' I sort of was," Horschel said. "But at the same time, I knew my game was in the right shape and I just needed to get out of my own way. I needed to allow my golf game to show."
It was just too late to show Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson.
Horschel's timing was perfect for the FedEx Cup, not so much for the Ryder Cup. Watson made his three captain's picks after the Deutsche Bank Championship -- Horschel was the runner-up -- and he had no reason to select a guy whose only PGA Tour victory was last year in New Orleans.
Now the Americans head to Scotland without the hottest hand in golf.
McIlroy will have to settle for a year worth more than $10 million -- two majors, a World Golf Championship and undisputed No. 1 in the world. He lost his way with a tee shot into the water for double bogey on the par-3 fifth, and self-destructed with three sloppy bogeys around the turn. Three consecutive birdies late in the round gave him a 71 and a tie for second place with Furyk, who closed with back-to-back bogeys for a 69.
This was the Billy Horschel show all week -- nearly all month.
Clinging to a one-shot lead, he calmly sank an 8-foot par putt on No. 13 to avoid his first three-putt of the week and stay one shot ahead of Furyk. The biggest blow came at the 16th hole when Horschel drove right into the trees, wisely pitched back to the fairway and saw his approach spin back 30 feet short of the cup.
The putt never looked as if it was going anywhere but in.
"It came off and got up on top of that ridge and I said, 'This looks good.' And it went in, and it was huge," Horschel said. "I knew Jim was nipping at my heels and everything, and that was a big, big putt."
Furyk came up short with his approach on the 17th and made bogey to fall two shots behind, and he three-putted the 18th trying to force a birdie.
That made things easy on Horschel, who drilled his tee shot onto the green for a two-putt par to finish at 11-under 269.
LPGA
Teenager wins major
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France -- South Korean teenager Hyo-Joo Kim beat Australian veteran Karrie Webb by one shot on Sunday to win the Evian Championship and become the third youngest major winner at 19 years, 2 months.
Kim trailed the 39-year-old Webb by one shot heading into the final hole. But she turned the tables with a superb birdie from 12 feet out, and Webb then missed a chance to force a playoff when a difficult attempt for par from the same distance drifted left of the hole.
Kim led Webb by one shot overnight and they both posted 3-under rounds of 68 in perfect playing conditions, with no clouds or wind to disrupt them.
Webb was looking to win her eighth career major and first since Kraft Nabisco in 2006.
Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot a 2-over 73 on Sunday, finishing in a tie for 16th place at 1 under to win $42,329.
WEB.COM
Thomas holds off Sterne
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Justin Thomas won the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, beating Richard Sterne with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff after Sterne blew a late three-stroke lead.
Thomas hit a wedge from 79 yards to 2 feet to set up his winning birdie on the par-4 18th. Sterne missed a birdie putt after leaving his approach 20 feet short and right.
Playing the four-event Web.com Tour Finals for PGA Tour priority after wrapping up a tour card with a top-25 finish on the Web.com regular-season money list, Thomas earned $180,000 to jump from fifth to third with $470,470 with one event left.
Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot a 1-under 70 and finished in a tie for 12th to win $22,000. David Lingmerth (Razorbacks) and Sebastian Cappelen (Razorbacks) were 1 over for the tournament, finishing in a tie for 14th and winning $15,500 apiece.
EUROPEAN
Casey hangs on
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands -- Paul Casey shot a four-under 66 Sunday to win the KLM Open at 14 under, a single shot ahead of fellow Englishman Simon Dyson.
Casey looked to be cruising to victory before recording his only bogey of the day at the par-three 15th. He followed that with a wild tee shot on the 16th but his second shot out of the rough landed wide and bounced onto the green, giving him two putts for par.
Dyson, looking for his fourth KLM Open title, birdied the 18th to move within a shot of the lead, but Casey comfortably closed out with pars on the 17th and 18th for his 13th European Tour title.
Sports on 09/15/2014