Double win for Hass

American Bill Hass stole all the spoils in Atlanta on Sunday when he won the Tour Championship, The FedEx Cup and a cheque for $11.5 million following an incredible play-off victory over Hunter Mahan.

The pair finished their final rounds at 8-under par, one shot ahead of world number one Luke Donald, KJ Choi and Aaron Baddeley. Donald, who would have won the FedEx Cup had he finished third on his own, just missed out on the $10 million jackpot.

After halving the first play-off hole, the players returned to the par four 17th hole where Mahan’s approach found the green and Hass’ second shot trickled into the water hazard. In a huge stroke of luck for Hass, his ball was only partly submerged in the water and he was able to blast it out like a bunker shot to within three feet of the hole. When Mahan missed his birdie putt, both players tapped in for par and moved on to the par three 18th.

The 18th hole was far less dramatic. When Mahan failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker, Hass calmly two putted for victory to win the Tour Championship. Remarkably, he had no idea that he was also the FedEx cup champion and it was not until the prize presentation that reality actually set in. Hass knew that it was going to be close but it was not until he saw both the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup trophies and ‘no other players around him’ to claim the other one, that he realised what he had done.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the ladies European team lifted the Solheim Cup for the first time in four attempts as they beat American 15-13 at Killeen Castle in Ireland. The Solheim Cup is a biennial competition between the two teams and is named after Karsten Solheim, the driving force behind its creation.

On a final day where the lead changed hands on a number of occasions, it looked bleak for the hosts when the visitors stormed into a 12½-11½ lead. However, strong performances from a number of players saw the side bounce back and grab the title.

In one of the most exciting matches of the day, Suzann Pettersen, who was one down with three holes to play against Michelle Wie, birdied each of her final three holes to snatch an all important point.

The Solheim Cup has now been competed for 12 times and despite Sunday’s win, Europe still trail 8-4 in overall victories. The next staging of the competition, the women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup, will be held in 2013 at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colorado.