Lucas Glover didn’t make it easy on himself down the stretch.
But after watching his lead slip away in what was a wildly-hot Sunday in Memphis, Glover finished his day perfectly.
Glover tapped in for a par on the first playoff hole at TPC Southwind to beat Patrick Cantlay and claim the FedEx St. Jude Championship in the first leg of the FedExCup Playoffs.
The win marked the sixth of GLover’s career, and his second in as many weeks. It also jumped him up to No. 4 in the FedExCup standings — which is more than 100 spots up from where he sat just two weeks ago.
“You work hard no matter what, whether you’re fighting something or you’re playing great, you just work hard because you never know when it can turn,” Glover said on CBS. “It’s turned very quickly for me, and luckily I’m in a good frame of mind to take advantage of it.”
Glover, who was absolutely drenched in sweat and even dunked his hands into the water cooler at the final tee box in an effort to keep cool, didn’t take any chances in the playoff. He didn’t need to.
Cantlay, who posted a 6-under 64 in his final round, hit his tee shot into the water along the left side of the fairway. Glover’s drive was right down the middle, and he then hit his approach shot about 22 feet from the cup.
While Cantlay’s approach was identical, it didn’t matter. Glover putted down less than a foot from the cup and tapped in for par, while Cantlay missed his par save by a few inches. That sealed the win for Glover.
Glover, 43, is now the first golfer over 40 to win a FedExCup Playoffs event since Tiger Woods did so in 2018. Glover now has more wins in his 40s than he did in his 20s, and he has now won multiple times in a single season for the first time in his career.
Glover grabs back-to-back wins
Glover only made the postseason thanks to his win at the Wyndham Championship. He was No. 112 in the FedExCup standings entering that week in North Carolina, and his win there jumped him up to No. 49 — which was well inside the top-70 who qualified for this week’s event in Memphis.
Glover took a one-shot lead over Jordan Spieth after Friday’s round, and then carded a 4-under 66 on Saturday to maintain his lead. He entered Sunday having made just two bogeys through 54 holes, too, and his round on Saturday was the sixth in his last seven that was a 66 or better.
Yet even with that 66, Glover wasn’t too happy.
“It was scrappy, would be how I would describe that day,” Glover said Saturday. “Parts of it you could remove the ‘S.’ I got a lot out of what I had. Short game bailed me out a lot early, and missed a couple putts I thought I should have made coming in.
“But three months ago if I’d have been mad at 66 or if you told me I’d be mad at 66, I’d say you were crazy.”
Glover’s consistency continued on Saturday, though it took a lot of work on his part to keep that up. He birdied once through his first 10 holes of the day, and managed to save par on the other nine holes despite missing six greens in regulation. He was scrambling once again, but it was working.
It wasn’t until the par-3 14th that Glover made his first real mistake. After making a huge save on the previous hole, Glover’s tee shot landed in the water on the right side of the green. But Glover minimized the damage again after sinking a 30-footer to make his first and only bogey on the back nine all week.
That bogey dropped Glover into second. Cantlay, two groups ahead, had made back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th to take the solo lead for the first time.
Glover, after just missing a birdie chance at the 15th, tapped-in for birdie at the par-5 16th to retake a share of the lead. He scrambled again to save par at the 17th after his drive landed under a tree in the rough, which sent him to the final hole tied up with Cantlay. Though he reached the green in regulation, Glover’s birdie putt was just about a foot short — which sent him to the playoff with Cantlay.
Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood finished in third at 14-under, and Taylor Moore finished in fifth at 12-under on the week.
The top 50 in the FedExCup standings will now advance to the BMW Championship next week, which marks the second of three events this postseason. The top 30 after next Sunday will then move on to the Tour Championship.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.