PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Esteban Toledo held off 66-year-old Tom Watson by a stroke Sunday at Pebble Beach in the Champions Tour’s First Tee Open.

The 52-year-old Mexican player shot a 3-under 69, rebounding from a bogey on the par-3 17th with a par on the par-5 18th for a 9-under 206 total. He also won twice on the 50-and-over tour in 2013.

Watson was trying to break Mike Fetchick’s record as the oldest winner in tour history. Fetchick won the 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational on his 63rd birthday.

Watson finished with a 67. The Hall of Famer moved into a tie for the lead at 9 under on the par-4 16th with his seventh birdie of the round, but bogeyed the 17th after hitting his tee shot into a bunker and missing a 10-foot par putt. He parred the 18th.

After opening with a 75 at Poppy Hills, Watson had a 65 on Saturday at Pebble Beach. He won the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and took the PGA Tour’s Bing Crosby event at the course in 1977 and 1978.

Second-round leader Colin Montgomerie closed with a 73 to tie for third at 7 under with Vijay Singh and Woody Austin. Singh finished with a 69, and Austin shot 70.

Canadian Rod Spittle finished with a 4-under 68 for a share of 11th place while Stephen Ames closed with an even-par final round to sit T23.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  – Canada’s Mary Ann Hayward shot a two-day total of 1-over 145 and earned medalist honors at the 2015 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, being conducted at the 5,857-yard Hillwood Country Club.

Hayward, 55, carded four birdies and four bogeys during Sunday’s second round of stroke play for an even-par 72, following Saturday’s 1-over 73. This marks the second time Hayward has been the stroke-play medalist at a USGA championship, joining the 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

“I played a little better than yesterday. I don’t think I had a three-putt today, which is good,” said Hayward, who manages the sports development program for the Golf Association of Ontario. “The pins were tough today. You just had to pick your spots, and I think I did a pretty good job of that.”

Martha Leach, 53, of Hebron, Ky., finished solo second at 3-over 147. Leach, who carded a 1-over 73 on Saturday, played her first 13 holes at 1 over par. However, a string of three disappointing bogeys over her last five holes dropped her to a 2-over 74 for Sunday.

“I’m not thrilled about the way I finished,” said Leach, a realtor and part-time substitute teacher. “I think I need to go to the driving range and putt some. I like to be hitting the ball really well going (into match play) to get that confidence.”

Hayward and Leach are already USGA champions, with each having taken a U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur title. Hayward won the 2005 Women’s Mid-Amateur at Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Texas, while Leach captured the 2009 title at Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club in Florida.

Caryn Wilson, 54, of Rancho Mirage, Calif., earned the third seed at 5-over 149. Wilson, a former professional tennis player, survived what she termed a “roller-coaster” day that featured three birdies, three bogeys and one triple bogey en route to a 3-over 75.

“I just kind of checked out in the middle,” said Wilson, who reached the semifinals of the 2013 Senior Women’s Amateur. “I was feeling a little wonky today. I think I got out there and I hadn’t eaten much and I hacked around.”

Two-time U.S. Senior Amateur champion Ellen Port, 54, of St. Louis, Mo., recorded two birdies and three bogeys on Sunday for a two-day total of 6-over 150. Port, who has also four U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur titles, tied for fourth with 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur runner-up Laura Coble, 51, of Augusta, Ga.

Four players tied for sixth at 7-over 151, led by three-time Senior Women’s Amateur champion Diane Lang, 60, of Weston, Fla. She is joined by Lynne Cowan, 52, of Rocklin, Calif.; Leigh Klasse, 56, of Woodbury, Minn.; and Sue Wooster, 53, of Australia. Sherry Herman, the 2009 Senior Women’s Amateur champion, and Kim Eaton round out the top 10 at 8-over 152.

First-round leader Ginny Burkey, 60, of Eugene, Ore., followed Saturday’s even-par round with a difficult 9-over 81 on Sunday, a round that included six bogeys and one triple bogey. However, her two-day total of 9-over 153 earned her a tie for 12th and easily moved her into the match-play portion of the championship.

For the third consecutive year, the 36 holes of stroke play concluded with exactly 64 players advancing to the match-play bracket. No playoff was needed to determine any match-play berths.

Notables to miss the cut include 1972 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Mary Budke, 61, of Palm Springs, Calif. (164), 1989 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Robin Donnelley, 62, of Palm Beach, Fla. (165) and 2011 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Terri Frohnmayer, 59, of Salem, Ore. (164).

The 2015 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship is open to female amateur golfers who reached their 50th birthday on or before Sept. 26, 2015, and have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 18.4. It consists of 36 holes of stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the championship scheduled to conclude with an 18-hole final on Thursday, Oct. 1.

The U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship is one of 13 national championship conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.

Tournament results can be found here.

EL DORADO, Ark. – Jackie Stoelting won the El Dorado Shootout on Sunday for her first Symetra Tour title, closing with a 2-under 20 for a three-stroke victory.

The 29-year-old former Florida Southern player finished at 3-under 213 at Mystic Creek and earned $15,000 – after making only $7,475 in 18 events this year on the LPGA Tour.

“I just woke up this morning and had this feeling that I could win today and that’s an awesome feeling,” Stoelting said. “It’s been a long time coming and I’m so excited to be the champion today.”

She birdied the par-3 12th and par-4 13th and closed with five pars.

“It’s a tough golf course,” Stoelting said. “It’s all about placement. You’ve got to be able to hit good approach shots and then you have to make putts and fortunately I came out on top this week, which is everything that I could ask for.”

Stoelting finished third on the Symetra Tour money list last season to earn her LPGA Tour card, but make only two cuts this year and is preparing for the final stage of LPGA Qualifying School.

“It was a tough, tough year out there,” Stoelting said. “I actually made more money today than I did all year out on the LPGA so I really just wanted to play a couple of events to gain my confidence back because I know that I’m a good player. To be honest it helped a lot not having to worry about a money list and just play golf. It doesn’t mean that the nerves weren’t there but it means everything to me that I had the chance to come out here and preform and play well. This is definitely the boost that I needed.”

Ally McDonald was second after a 71.

Chie Arimura and Daniela Iacobelli tied for third at 1 over. Arimura shot a 71, and Iacobelli had a 72.

ATLANTA – Jordan Spieth treated the Tour Championship as if it were a major. He played like it was, too.

Looking for a fitting finish to a sensational season, Spieth poured in putts from all over East Lake and never gave Henrik Stenson or anyone else much of a chance Sunday. His final stroke was an 8-foot par putt that was right in the heart for a 1-under 69, and he leaned back with a smile of pure satisfaction.

The 22-year-old Texan became golf’s first $22 million man – a PGA Tour record with just over $12 million in prize money, and the $10 million bonus for the FedEx Cup.

“This is incredible,” Spieth said. “This is an event where we approach it like a major championship because we know this is possible at the end of it.”

Even when he missed back-to-back cuts to start the FedEx Cup playoffs, Spieth spent the month trying to peak for the most important event in the lucrative series. He was the first to show up at East Lake on Monday to start grinding on his game. And with a one-shot lead going into the final round Sunday, he was on the putting green three hours before his tee time for what caddie Michael Greller called the “early grind.”

“We only do this at the majors,” Greller said.

It all paid off so handsomely, especially that putter.

Spieth made three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn, and they were demoralizing for Stenson. Spieth made a 20-foot birdie on No. 8 for a two-shot swing that he never gave back. He made an 18-foot birdie on the par-5 ninth with Stenson already at tap-in range for birdie. And with Stenson just over 3 feet away for birdie on No. 11, Spieth curled in a 45-foot birdie putt.

“Eleven was a dagger,” Spieth said.

At that point, Stenson could only smile and bump fists with Spieth.

“You can’t expect him to make it,” Stenson said after a 72. “You’re feeling like you got a good chance to make up some ground. But he just poured that one in the middle. It’s fun to watch and just say, `Well done.’ The best player this week won the tournament, won the FedEx Cup.”

Spieth closed with seven pars for a four-shot victory over Stenson, Danny Lee (65) and Justin Rose (66). His fifth victory of the year, which includes the Masters and the U.S. Open, was worth $1,485,000 million and gave Spieth $12,030,465 for the year.

The previous record was $10.9 million by Vijay Singh in 2004.

And if that wasn’t enough, Spieth went back to No. 1 in the world.

The first person to greet him was his little sister, Ellie, who keeps Spieth and the entire family so grounded in light of so much success. His parents, girlfriend, grandfather and a tight group of high school friends from Dallas were there to watch another amazing performance in a year filled with him.

Spieth became the youngest player since Horton Smith in 1929 to win five times in a season, and the youngest to claim the FedEx Cup title.

“It’s been a phenomenal year for him,” Stenson said. “I watched it firsthand at the first two rounds at Augusta, and he played phenomenal and putted phenomenal. And it was the same putting display, really, today – just an exhibition on the greens, to be honest.

“His putting and mental focus is the best in the world. It’s hard to argue that.”

And there’s no longer an argument for PGA Tour player of the year.

Jason Day had five victories, including his first major at the PGA Championship, and there was talk a sixth win and the FedEx Cup might put the Australian in the discussion. Not anymore. Spieth made a spirited bid for the Grand Slam and joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to finish no worse than fourth in all the professional majors. Along with the money title, he won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest adjusted scoring average.

The only question he couldn’t answer was what he will do for an encore.

“This is one I cannot wait to celebrate,” he said.

Stenson made a $1 million putt of his own, though it was the least he could do. He was three shots behind when he shanked his shot from the 17th fairway and made double bogey. That dropped him into a four-way tie for fourth and cost him a spot in the FedEx Cup ranking. But he bounced back with a 60-foot birdie putt on the 18th to go back to No. 2 in the FedEx Cup to earn a $3 million bonus (instead of $2 million for third).

Stenson had three runner-up finishes in the postseason, and he has five for the year without winning. He still has events left on the European Tour.

But this week – and year – was all about Spieth.

“It’s the greatest season I’ve ever had, obviously,” Spieth said. “But it’s one where I believe we took our game on course and off course to a level that I didn’t think would be possible at different times in my life.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Andrew Loupe won the Web.com Tour Finals’ Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship on Sunday to earn a PGA Tour card.

Loupe closed with a 1-under 70 for a two-stroke victory. The 26-year-old former LSU player finished at 5-under 279 on Ohio State’s difficult Scarlet Course.

“I knew what I had on the line,” Loupe said. “I just kept telling myself to take it on this week.”

Loupe birdied the par-4 14th to take the outright lead.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve won,” Loupe said. “I guess I’ve got to cherish these moments. It’s hard to win in golf. But I always believed. I’ve been telling myself for a long time that I could do this. To be honest, this course stood out to me. I thought that it was probably my best chance to get one just because you can use length as an advantage a little bit out here.”

Loupe earned $180,000 to jump from 30th to third on the series money list with $190,642 with one event left. He finished 198th in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings to drop into the four-event series for the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list, Nos. 126-200 in the FedEx Cup standings and non-members who earned enough money to have placed in the top 200 had they been eligible to receive points.

The top 25 players on Web.com Tour regular-season money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on series earnings.

Third-round leader Roberto Castro, Tom Hoge and Bronson Burgoon tied for second. Castro finished with a 75, Hoge had a 69, and Burgoon shot 70. They also secured PGA Tour cards, earning $74,667 each.

Castro, 188th in the FedEx Cup standings, is fourth on the series money list with $110,979.

“I’m playing the PGA Tour next year,” Castro said. “I’m playing good. Next week, I can go try and win a golf tournament. It’s a positive step forward.”

Hoge, 132nd in the FedEx Cup, is seventh with $77,384.

“I think we’re all thinking about that the whole time,” Hoge said about trying to lock up a tour card. “I knew that I probably had to finish top 10, and so that was the whole focus.”

Last year, Eric Axley took the 25th card with $36,312.

Burgoon earned a card with a top-25 finish on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list and has moved up to No. 9 with $263,320.

BAD GRIESBACH, Germany – Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand shot a bogey-free 67 to win the European Open by one shot on Sunday.

Jaidee, the overnight leader, had four birdies to add to his rounds of 68, 68 and 64 for a 17-under 267 on the Bad Griesbach course in southeastern Germany.

“It is the third time I have won outside of Asia, so I’m very excited about that,” Jaidee said after claiming his seventh European Tour title. “I didn’t make many mistakes this week – only one bogey all week. I played very nicely and 17 under is some score for me.”

The 45-year-old Jaidee became the oldest player to win the European Open since Colin Montgomerie in 2007 at age 44.

Graeme Storm of England had five birdies in his round of 67 to finish second with a 16-under score of 268.

Pelle Edberg of Sweden was third at 14 under after a mixed round of 69 with four bogeys and six birdies.

Veteran golfer Bernhard Langer carded a 69 to finish as the highest placed German at 8 under.

“I hit some of the best shots I have ever hit,” the 58-year-old Langer said. “I just couldn’t make the putts … Putting is a big part of the game, but my putter was ice cold this week.”

Langer won the European Open in 1985 and 1995.

Toronto’s Albin Choi finished the competition 4-over 288 in 65th place.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Colin Montgomerie settled for a one-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s First Tee Open after bogeying the final hole Saturday at Pebble Beach.

The 52-year-old Scot finished with a 5-under 67, missing a 6-foot par putt on the par-5 18th to fall to 8-under 135. He opened with a 68 on Friday at par-71 Poppy Hills.

Second behind Jeff Maggert in the Charles Schwab Cup points race, Montgomerie is coming off a victory two weeks ago in England in a European Senior Tour event. All three of his Champions Tour victories have come in majors, the last a successful title defense in the Senior PGA Championship in May.

Olin Browne has second after a 65 at Poppy Hills.

Mexico’s Esteban Toledo was third at 6 under after a 66 at Pebble Beach.

Fred Couples birdied the 18th at Pebble Beach for a 66 to join Woody Austin at 5 under. Austin had a 70 at Pebble Beach, the site of the final round.

Tom Watson was 3 under after a 65 at Pebble Beach. The 66-year-old Watson birdied the first four holes and six of the first seven. He added birdies on 14 and 15, but dropped a stroke on 16. Watson won the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and took the PGA Tour’s Bing Crosby event at the course in 1977 and 1978.

First-round leaders Tom Byrum and Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik struggled. Byrum had a 73 at Poppy Hills to fall into a tie for ninth at 3 under, and Parnevik was tied for 15th at 2 under after a 75 at Pebble Beach.

Maggert was even par after a 69 at Pebble Beach. He leads the tour with four victories, winning three of his last six starts.

Davis Love III was 2 over after a 70 at Pebble Beach. He won the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship last month to become the third-oldest champion in tour history at 51 years, 4 months, 10 days.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames sits T6 at 4-under while fellow Canadian Rod Spittle finished 1-under on the day to reach T21 at even-par.

EL DORADO, Ark. – On a day when the field average was 77.04, Sara-Maude Juneau (Quebec, Canada) fired a stellar, 69, to take a one shot lead at the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by PepsiCo at Mystic Creek Golf Club.

“I was really excited about it,” Juneau said. “I just went shot-by-shot and I still can’t believe it because that golf course to me feels really hard but I went shot-by-shot and tried to hit the green and when I was in trouble I got up-and-down.”

Play was suspended due to darkness at 7:35 p.m. with eight players still out on the course. Second round play will resume tomorrow at 7:45 a.m. and the final round will begin no earlier than 9:00 a.m. from split tees. Leaders will tee off last from the first tee.

“I’ll have to think about it a little bit,” Juneau said about her game plan going into the final round. “I was in this exact position a few weeks ago. I’ll think about it tonight. I don’t know it’s just going to be keep griding it out. What I learned two weeks ago is that I don’t have any control over what any of the other girls do. Someone shot a really low round when I was leading so I’ll just have to stay patient.”

Juneau birdied three holes en route to a bogey-free round, the lone bogey-free round of the week at Mystic Creek. The Louisville grad, who sits at 2-under for the tournament, has some extra support this week in the form of a caddie who used to play on Tour.

“My friend Laura Nochta is on the bag,” Juneau said. “She actually played on this tour for a while and she lives in Arkansas now and it worked out that she could come and caddie so it’s been fun.”

Chasing Juneau down will be Jackie Stoelting (Vero Beach, Fla.) who is a shot back at 1-under 143 and Heather Bowie Young (Ft. Worth, Texas) the first round leader who is two back at even par.

UCA GRAD JULIA ROTH THREE BACK

University of Central Arkansas grad Julia Roth (Karlskrona, Sweden) sits in a tie for fourth heading into the final day of Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by PepsiCo.

“It’s been really solid,” Roth said of her play. “I have all of my coaches here today and we had a good talks before the round. I just really kept it simple out there. I didn’t really try to fight for birdies out there because you can’t really do that on this course. You’ve got to play smart and I feel like I did that for the most part.”

Roth, who still needs to finish her 18th hole tomorrow morning, had a large contingent of UCA friends and fans following her throughout her round.

“It was awesome,” Roth said with a smile. “On the front nine, the whole team was actually out there. I know they’re really close to me. For me, living over here, with a lot of my family and friends back in Sweden, this feels like playing at home for sure. It was awesome out there.”

JACKIE STOELTING BACK ON SYMETRA LOOKING TO REGAIN CONFIDENCE

Jackie Stoelting (Vero Beach, Fla.) is one of only two players to sit under par heading into the final round of the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by PepsiCo.

“I’ll take it,” Stoelting said with a smile. “It’s a tough course. It’s a really good golf course. It reminded me a lot of what I played this year out on the LPGA. I think being out on the LPGA prepared me to play a course like this really well.”

Stoelting, who finished third last season on the Volvik Race for the Card money list to earn her LPGA Tour card and competed full-time on the LPGA this season, shot a second round 70 (-2) to move from T13 into solo second.

“It’s really about the greens,” Stoelting explained. “The greens are sloped and you need to know how to hit on them but it’s also placement off the tee so you can give yourself a good shot into the green. You can’t be scared out there because it’s really easy to be scared on these greens. You’ve just got to play your game and hope the putts fall but the greens are running so well and so smooth to where if you feel like you can make a putt then you will.”

While Stoelting didn’t have the season she would have envisioned out on the LPGA she is hoping that a few tournaments on the Symetra Tour will give her confidence going into the final stage of LPGA Qualifying School in December.

“It was a long year and a tough tough year,” Stoelting admitted. “I learned a lot of patience. The scores out there are so low every week. Out there, I made a lot of silly mistakes and didn’t make enough birdies to offset the bogeys and that’s what the great thing is about today. If I can have a double and shoot 2-under. I’ll take that every day. I think that was my problem on the LPGA is that I’d make mistakes and then put pressure on myself like ‘ oh my gosh I just made a bogey I’ve got to make a birdie’. I didn’t play my game like I did last year out here where I never thought about the cut line and out on LPGA I thought about the cut line too much. I’m playing a couple of events out here to get my confidence back and know that it wasn’t just a fluke that I made it. I know I’m a good player. I just had to learn a lot out there.”

SPONSOR INVITE ALLY MCDONALD STAYS IN THE HUNT

Sponsor invite Ally McDonald (Fulton, Miss.) Remains in the hunt at 1-over par through two days at the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by PepsiCo.

“I try not to get numbers in my head but starting out this tournament I knew with the golf course how it is that anything around even par would leave me in contention,” McDonald explained. “I’m really happy with how I played other than one hole. Definitely have a lot positives going into tomorrow.”

McDonald, who is competing in her first event on the Symetra Tour, tallied three birdies, three bogeys and a triple on her way to a second round 75 (+3).

“When you’re playing and are in contention nothing really changes,” McDonald admitted. “Especially out here you can’t start firing at pins because that’s when you get into a lot of trouble. Tomorrow nothing really changes. I’ll just continue to put the ball in a good place off the tee and then use good strategic planning in my approaches and hopefully get some putts to drop.”

While she sits only three strokes back of Sara-Maude Juneau don’t expect the Mississippi State grad to stress too much about anything other than the Bulldog’s game at Auburn.

“I’m going to hit a few balls, hit a few putts and then watch some college football of course.”

EL DORADO NATIVE MCCURDY ENJOYS HER WEEK

El Dorado native Amanda McCurdy may have missed the cut at the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by PepsiCo at Mystic Creek Golf Club but she enjoyed being back in her hometown.

“I get here maybe once a year so it’s pretty exciting,” McCurdy said. “I work pretty hard on my businesses trying to build my instruction program and I’m really proud of that. To be able to come back here, I don’t think anyone expected me to win anything, so I hope that I respected the game and showed respect to those around me while I enjoyed being here for a few days.”

The Arkansas grad finished with a two-day total of 162 (+18) after rounds of 85 and 77.

“I didn’t expect a lot of great golf from me,” McCurdy admitted. “I teach seven days a week so I knew the expectations weren’t incredibly high especially coming to a course that’s this type of challenge. I was more so here for being around the community of El Dorado and giving support to the event. I was walking up the last tee and couldn’t believe that eight years ago there would be a Symetra event here and it’s very crazy that there is and I’m so proud of everyone who did all of the work for it.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Roberto Castro shot a 3-under 68 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead in the Web.com Tour Finals’ Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.

Castro birdied the par-4 15th and 16th holes and closed with two pars to finish at 7-under 206 on Ohio State’s Scarlet Course. The 30-year-old former Georgia Tech player has played the PGA Tour the last four seasons, but slipped to 188th in the FedEx Cup standings to drop into the series that replaced Q-school.

The tournament is the third of four events for the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings and non-members who earned enough money to have placed in the top 200 had they been eligible to receive points.

The top 25 players on Web.com Tour regular-season money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on series earnings, with Castro entering the week tied for 11th with $30,118. Last year, Eric Axley took the 25th card with $36,312.

Harold Varner III, Robert Garrigus and Zack Fisher were tied for second at 5 under. Varner had a 66, Garrigus shot 67, and Fisher 69.

Varner finished 25th on the Web.com Tour money list to earn a PGA Tour card and has made $22,902 in the finals to jump to 20th.

Garrigus, the winner of the PGA Tour’s 2010 Children’s Miracle Network Classic, was 174th in the FedEx Cup standings. He missed the cuts in the first two series events.

Fisher was 48th on the Web.com Tour money list and has earned $2,630 in the series.

ATLANTA – Jordan Spieth was so consumed with trying to make birdies and save pars on a rugged, rainy afternoon at the Tour Championship that he didn’t realize until after he signed for a 2-under 68 that he had a one-shot lead.

He knows exactly what’s at stake Sunday in what was shaping up as a dynamic end to the season.

Spieth made four big par saves and ended with a 20-foot birdie to overtake Henrik Stenson for the lead at East Lake. Already with the best year in golf, the Masters and U.S. Open champion is now one round away from the richest year in golf history.

A victory would push him over a record $12 million for the season, and give him the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup.

“No matter what, it’s a dream-come-true season,” said Spieth, who was at 8-under 202. “So I don’t need tomorrow to justify it. I’m not going to sit here and say $10 million doesn’t mean anything to me, because it does. It’s a fantastic bonus that I don’t even know where it came from … but all of a sudden they just want to give us more money. So it’s fine with me.

“I’ll work hard for the win tomorrow because I want to win this golf tournament,” he said. “It would be special to get your name on that trophy.”

He’s not the only one who feels that way. And he’s not the only with that chance.

Stenson had another ordinary day by his standards with his ball-striking, though he held it together for a 72. It was his first time in seven rounds that Stenson was over par, and the first time in his two trips to the Tour Championship that he was no longer in the lead.

“We’re still at the races,” Stenson said. “I would have liked to have gone a few better, but we’re still up there and yeah, it’s all going to be decided tomorrow.”

Don’t overlook Rickie Fowler.

He shot 31 on the back nine for a 67, the low score of the third round, and was four shots behind.

Spieth, Stenson and Fowler are among the top five seeds in the FedEx Cup, and only have to win the Tour Championship on Sunday to claim the FedEx Cup.

Starting the FedEx Cup playoffs, Spieth always knew that the Tour Championship was the only event that really mattered for winning golf’s biggest bonus. He looked at East Lake like the final major of the year, and it played like that on Saturday.

A light, steady rain made the course so long that Stenson had to hit fairway metal twice into par 4s, and he couldn’t reach one of them. Spieth narrowly cleared the water to the lay-up zone on the par-5 ninth.

“What is that race called, `Tough Mudder?’ That’s what it felt like,” Stenson said.

As tough it was in the third round, the FedEx Cup finale might be even more difficult – if not because of the course, then the competition and what’s at stake.

Six players were separated by five shots, which includes Paul Casey (71) who was tied with Fowler at 4-under 206. Casey is unlikely to win the FedEx Cup and might have least amount of pressure on him. Stenson already has four runner-up finishes this year – two in the FedEx Cup playoffs – and is determined to win.

“I’m very pleased with where we stand going into tomorrow, and Henrik’s going to come back very strong,” Spieth said. “This was his off day, and so I’m going to have to play even better.”

Spieth says he doesn’t feel any pressure at all. Win or lose, his year is tough to beat. But over the last two days, the 22-year-old Texan is looking like the guy who was tough to beat in the biggest events this year.

He has made only two bogeys all week, and he has produced an array of amazing par saves. The most timely were on Saturday.

Spieth saved par with a long bunker shot on the par-3 second, and he got up-and-down from 70 yards on the par-4 fifth hole, even after blasting a driver and a 3-wood. He was four shots behind and in the front bunker on No. 8, a flat lie facing a steep hill, and he had resigned to make bogey. Stenson was about 10 feet away for birdie. Spieth picked it clean and got up-and-down from 5 feet, while Stenson missed.

“I could have easily been 3 over through eight,” Spieth said.

The other big save was on the 16th, when Spieth blocked it so badly off the tee he called out, “Holy, right!” It missed by a foot going into the bushes, he drilled a line drive through the pine trees to the first cut, hit wedge to 20 feet and holed it for par.

“A miracle save on 16,” Stenson called it.

Stenson’s three-shot lead began to vanish with back-to-back bogeys to start the back nine, and he fell into a tie with a bad miss on the 17th into a bunker that left him no choice but to play away from the flag about 25 feet away. The lead was gone when Spieth made his birdie on the final hole.

“It’s just like a major championship. That’s what it feels to me like out there,” Spieth said. “And we’re in another position to do some fun stuff.”