Cal Sports Report

Two Cal Golfers Advance in FedEx Cup Despite Collin Morikawa's Quintuple Bogey 10

Max Homa will be seeded No. 16, Morikawa No. 20 next week at the Tour Championship.

Jeff Faraudo

Only 30 golfers will advance to the Tour Championship next week with a chance to win $18 million on the final leg of the three-week FedEx Cup playoffs, and two of those 30 are Cal alums.

Max Homa, 31, will be seeded 16th beginning Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta after finishing the BMW Championships on Sunday in a tie for 23rd place. It's his first trip to the season-ending FedEx Cup finale.

Collin Morikawa also will be there, but only after a turbulent Sunday that included the worst hole of his PGA tour career.

Morikawa made the road ahead tougher than it needed to be. The 25-year-old had a two-hole blowup Sunday at Wilmington, Delaware, carding a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 11th hole, then a gruesome quintuple-bogey 10 on the par-5 12th hole.

Morikawa, who was tied for sixth place through after a birdie on No. 5, ballooned all the way to a share of 44th place, which is where he finished the tournament after an 8-over 79 in the final round.

Collin Morikawa's Sunday scorecard
A sad Sunday scorecard / ESPN.com

He still qualifies among the top 30 for the Tour Championship, but will be seeded No. 20. After carding a 65 on Saturday, he was projected to be the No. 15 seed a week from now.

That matters because players are given stroke advantages to begin play Thursday based on their place in the standings. Scottie Scheffler, by virtue of his spot atop those standings, will begin the four days at 10 under par. Patrick Cantlay, who won the BMW title at 14 under, will be the No. 2 seed and opens Thursday at 8 under.

Will Zalatoris, who was the FedEx Cup points leader entering this week, had to withdraw from the BMW due to a back issue. He will enter the Tour Championship as the No. 3 seed with a 7-under head start.

Homa, by ranking in the 16 through 20 window in the standings, gets a 2-under start at East Lake. But Morikawa, who was projected to be No. 15 and would have received a 3-under start, will get a 2-under opening score..

Thus, his back-nine collapse Sunday cost him one stroke a week from now.

Morikawa was on his game Saturday, posting seven birdies against a single bogey and was just 3 strokes off the pace.

But he made bogeys on Nos. 3 and 4 Sunday before a birdie at No. 5 that elevated him into a 12-way tie for sixth.

He bogeyed No. 9 and birdied No. 10 before the roof caved in on 11 and 12. On No. 12 Morikawa hit two balls into the water, then four-putted the green for the highest single-hole score of his young PGA career.

Max Homa's tweet
Max Homa / Twitter

Homa, enjoying his best season on the PGA tour, finished strong Sunday to get to 1 under for the day. He had birdies on 14 and 16 and carded a 70.

Cantlay won the BMW title for the second straight year, getting a great bounce on No. 17 to set up a short birdie putt.

Stallings, who has played 238 events since his most recent tour victory eight years ago, shot in the 60s all four rounds to finish second. He might have ended his victory drought but he missed four birdie putts inside 18 feet, including a 10-footer.

Masters champion Scheffler strung together three birdies in a stretch of four holes on the back nine to secure a share of third place. 

Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Bill Striecher, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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Jeff Faraudo
JEFF FARAUDO

Jeff Faraudo was a sports writer for Bay Area daily newspapers since he was 17 years old, and was the Oakland Tribune's Cal beat writer for 24 years. He covered eight Final Fours, four NBA Finals and four Summer Olympics. 

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