BMW Championship: Justin Rose Holds off John Senden for a Wire-to-Wire Win

Justin Rose held-off Australian John Senden’s charge to go wire-to-wire and win the BMW Championship. Rose shot an even-round today and 13-under for the tournament.

Rose started the round playing tightly, as he made a nervous-looking bogey on the second hole. But he was up five shots after eight holes and looked like he would run away with the title.

Then, on the par-5 ninth, everything started to change. Rose’s tee shot went to the right trees, and was able to get away with a bogey on the hole, but his lead was cut to three as Senden made birdie.

Senden, who went bogey-free, birdied the 10th hole to cut the lead to two shots. At this moment you could sense that a two-shot swing hole could happen at any time.

That moment almost happened at the par-5 16th. After Senden’s tee shot went wide right to the rough between the trees, Rose’s tee shot went terribly off to the tree outline in the right.

Rose had to take a penalty shot on an unplayable lie, and shot his third to the left of the fairway. He was able to reach the green on his fourth shot, and two-putted for a bogey. Senden meanwhile, saved par and was just one shot off the lead.

The 17th hole was the decisive one. After both Rose and Senden hit almost identical tee shots, Senden’s second shot went to the right green-side bunker. Rose left his second shot short, just outside the green, 12 yards from the hole.

Then came the shot of the day for Rose. He chipped in his third shot for a birdie and a two-shot lead.

Both Rose and Senden shot par on the dangerous 18th hole, giving Rose his first title of 2011 and a very important third place on the FedEx Cup point standings heading to East Lake next week.

For Senden, his second-place finish moved him from No. 55 in the FedEx Cup to ninth, and on a plane to Atlanta for the Tour Championship.

Senden and Rose were not the only players making huge leaps and qualifying for the Tour Championship today.

Geoff Ogilvy finished alone in third-place at 10-under and will not only be playing next week at East Lake, but he also qualified for the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.

It was a remarkable achievement for Ogilvy, who had to birdie the last hole at the TPC Boston two weeks ago just to stay alive in the playoffs, and it paid off for him.

The world’s top ranked player, Luke Donald, finished fourth at eight-under. For Donald, it was a great run in the final three rounds after opening with a four-over par.

Rounding out the top five was FedEx Cup standings leader Webb Simpson, who finished at seven-under.

The top-five players going to the Tour Championship are Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Rose, Donald and Matt Kuchar. If any of them win at East Lake, they win the FedEx Cup.

FedEx Cup Tour Championship Final Spots

No other player besides Rose, Senden and Ogilvy was able to qualify for the Tour Championship from outside the top 30.

Camilo Villegas made a valiant run at it, as he tried to qualify from outside the top 30 for the third time in his career. He had the day’s best round at five-under, and was projected 29th after his fifth birdie in the back-nine at the 16th hole.

But a bogey on the 18th hole dashed his hopes and left him finishing 33rd.

Also out of the Tour Championship is the FedEx Cup defending champ Jim Furyk. He bogeyed four straight holes after his par on the first hole, and that sealed his fate.

The players bumped from the top 30 were Rory Sabbatini, Masters champ Charl Schwartzel and Kyle Stanley.

President’s Cup Spots

The last two automatic spots for the United States were locked up by Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk. The other seven players who had already locked up spots were Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Nick Watney, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson.

For the International Team there was no change in its composition. John Senden almost made it with his second-place finish. But Ogilvy’s third-place finish moved him from barely hanging to the 10th spot, to ahead of Ryo Ishikawa who was ninth.

The other eight players on the International Team are Jason Day, Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel, K.J. Choi, K.T. Kim, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els and Y.E. Yang.

Team Captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman will be making their make-two picks after the Tour Championship. Couples has already made public that Tiger Woods will be one of his picks.