• The Tour Championship, Round Four

Haas holds nerve to scoop $11.4 million

Bill Haas earned a play-off victory © Getty Images

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Bill Haas topped the FedEx Cup standings and picked up a cheque for $11.4 million after clinching the Tour Championship via a sudden-death play-off against Hunter Mahan.

Mahan forced a play-off after holing a par-putt at the 18th but, after two extra holes failed to find a winner, Haas held his nerve to role in for par and clinch glory as Mahan could only make bogey.

Haas putted from the back fringe of the green on the final play-off hole, sliding his ball just four feet past and, after Mahan missed, found the centre of the cup to clinch the win.

The 29-year-old looked to have blown his chance on the previous sudden-death hole, though, when he found the bunker on the 17th with his tee shot before hitting his second into the water. However, a shallow lie allowed him to dink the ball out of the lake to salvage a remarkable par.

On his lucky escape, Haas said: "The second shot, I actually thought I hit a pretty decent shot, I just overhit it a little and maybe pushed it a bit.

"I got an unbelievably fortunate lie, it was basically a bunker shot and it was all or nothing. There was a bit of luck involved - I got some spin on it, I didn't know that. I was very lucky. I hung in there, I was very fortunate and it's pretty unbelievable."

World No. 1 Luke Donald, who was bidding to make history by becoming the first player to top the money list on both the PGA and European Tour in the same season, hit a closing 69 to finish in a tie for third on seven-under. The Englishman got off to a shaky start, missing a makeable putt to bogey the fourth, but he picked up a shot before the turn to head for home level for the day. The pressure told, however, two bogeys in three holes giving him a mountain to climb and, although he played freely in the closing stages, he could not reverse the damage and he finished agonisingly short of joining the ensuing play-off.

The ever-aggressive Jason Day was in contention with two to play but his attacking instinct cost him dear as he finished with consecutive bogeys to sign for a 71, which left the Australian on six-under-par.

A brilliant inward nine on Saturday helped give Phil Mickelson a glimmer of hope coming into the final round. However, the four-time major champion could not reproduce his majestic play, stuttering to a one-over 71 to place 10th, on four-under.

Overnight co-leader Aaron Baddeley appeared besieged by nerves and looked a shadow of the player that had fired three successive rounds of sub-70. The Australian battled to control the ball throughout his round and his 18 holes were littered with uncharacteristic errors - the 30-year-old signing for a 72, which saw him join Donald on seven-under.

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