Agony for Michael Kim - Misses Tour Championship Bid By One Spot

One shot here or there might have made all the difference for Michael Kim.

But the 32-year-old Cal fell just short of qualifying for next week’s Tour Championship — the final leg of the three-week FedEx Cup playoffs with its $40 million total purse and $10 million winner’s check.

Kim, who needed to finish in the top 30 of the FedEx Cup standings to secure one of 30 berths next week in Atlanta, wound up at No. 31. He climbed 11 spots from his ranking entering the BMW Championship this week, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Playing in the FedEx Cup for the first time in his career, Kim played the final round in even-par 70. He finished 10th in the 50-player field at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, and took home a check for $560,000.

But for every golfer at the BMW, the big prize Sunday was landing in the top 30 of the FedEx Cup standings.

Kim, who began the week at No. 42, was positioned to advance until Viktor Hovland birdied the 18th hole, knocking him out of the top 30.

“Viktor and I used to be friends . . .” Kim tweeted.

Cal grad Collin Morikawa made it despite a final-round 5-over 75 that left him at 6 over and tied for 33rd place at the BMW. Because he began the week at No. 17 in the standings, the 28-year-old two-time major winner had some wiggle room.

He qualified for next week in the basis of his No. 21 FedEx Cup standing.

Morikawa essentially clinched a spot at Atlanta by shooting a third-round 67. Sunday was a struggle with three bogeys, a double bogey on the 17th and not a single birdie all day.

Kim was at 1 under par through 13 holes Sunday and projected to be at No. 30 in the FedEx Cup standings.

He bogeyed the 14th, rallied with a birdie on No. 16 but bogeyed the 17th and was clinging to the No. 30 spot in the standings, according to the FedEx projections. After a par on the 18th — coupled with Hovland’s birdie — Kim slipped to No. 31, one spot back of the final qualifier, American Akshay Bhatia.

Switzerland’s Ludwig Aberg double-bogeyed the 18th to finish in a tie for seventh. Had he made a triple bogey, Kim would have snuck in the backdoor.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler sunk an 81-foot chip from the rough just off the green on No. 17 to lock up victory. Scheffler began the day four strokes back of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, then shot a final-round 67 to capture his fifth title of the year, by a margin of two strokes at 15 under par.

Scheffler won $3.6 million on Sunday.

Every golfer in the Tour Championship field next week starts even but few will be betting against Scheffler, who will attempt to become the first repeat winner in the 19-year history of the event.

MacIntyre, the leader after each of the first three rounds, finished second at minus-13 after a 3-over 73 on Sunday. Maverick McNealy was tied at 11 under and with Sam Burns and Tommy Fleetwood tied for fourth at 11 under.

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