Lucas Glover emerged victorious at the FedEx St. Jude Championship after a thrilling playoff. He stood tall above a field of the best golfers in the world. The playoffs officially began with an exceptional weekend of golf, and it ended with Glover earning his second-ever playoff victory.
Lucas Glover, who ended up winning on consecutive weekends to do something no PGA Tour player has done all season, took home a stunning $3.6 million of the total $20 million prize purse. He had to enter a playoff after a furious comeback from Patrick Cantlay, who ended up shooting poorly to start off the short-lived playoff.
Cantlay, to his credit, still earned $2.16 million for his efforts. Both these golfers were competing for a difference of about $1.4 million, which is more than the payout that the third-place golfers earned.
What did Lucas Glover and others win at St. Jude Championship?
Here are the rest of the top placements at the St. Jude Championship:
- T-3: Rory McIlroy, -14, $1,160,000
- T-3: Tommy Fleetwood, -14, $1,160,000
- 5: Taylor Moore, -12, $800,000
- T-6: Corey Conners, -11, $584,285.71
- T-6: Adam Schenk, -11, $584,285.71
- T-6: Cam Davis, -11, $584,285.71
- T-6: Sungjae Im, -11, $584,285.71
- T-6: Russell Henley, -11, $584,285.71
- T-6: Jordan Spieth, -11, $584,285.71
- T-6: Max Homa, -11, $584,285.71
Lucas Glover has now earned a combined almost $5 million in payouts over the last two weeks. His two wins, which hasn't been done all season, earned him quite a lot of money. The playoffs, naturally, carry a much higher prize purse than most events.
Glover was also the first player over 40 years old to win back-to-back events since Vijay Singh in 2008. Glover will hope his recent form pushes him into the conversation for the Ryder Cup.
Glover said via Yahoo! Sports:
“You work hard no matter what, whether you’re fighting something or you’re playing great, you just work hard because you never know when it can turn. It’s turned very quickly for me, and luckily I’m in a good frame of mind to take advantage of it.”
He also talked about getting to the playoff, which he said he was fortunate to do. He had to withstand quite the comeback by Cantlay in the final round:
“Keep fighting, keep fighting. The closing holes here aren’t easy birdies and aren’t easy pars under pressure... I was fortunate to get into a playoff. I said yesterday the guns would come and they came. I was the last man standing this week.”
If his hot play continues, it will be very difficult for US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson to ignore him. He's the first back-to-back victor on the Tour this year, doing something not even Ryder Cup locks Scottie Scheffler, Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark have been able to do.