LUMBERTON — William McGirt will join rare company in nine days at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
For the first time in his six seasons on the PGA Tour, the Fairmont native is one of only 30 players competing in the season-ending Tour Championship, the finale of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
“It’s a pretty awesome feeling,” McGirt told The Robesonian. “It’s hard to put into words.”
The 37-year-old finished in a tie for 20th on Sunday at the BMW Championship, cementing his spot in the final event of the four-series playoffs.
McGirt, who won his first PGA title at The Memorial in early June, enters the tournament No. 23 in FedEx Cup standings. His previous high finish was 50th in 2011.
His 12th top-25 finish of the season earned $99,025 on Sunday, extending his career-high season earnings to $3.45 million, ranking 16th on the money list.
Making the event comes with plenty of perks for McGirt, including automatic berths in the U.S. and British Opens. It also includes spots in The Masters and PGA Championship, though he had previously qualified for those tournaments earlier in the year with his Memorial win and top-10 finish at Baltusrol.
A $10 million prize will be on the line in Atlanta, with last place set to earn nearly $150,000 and the minimum $175,000 bonus for finishing no worse than 30th in the standings.
Dustin Johnson sits in the top spot after his victory in the BMW Championship on Sunday. Johnson finished at 23-under for a three-shot win for the third time this year, including his first major at the U.S. Open.
