Anthony Kim was tired of whispers on the PGA Tour about what was wrong with him and his game, so he found a patch of grass behind a row of trees down from the practice range at Quail Hollow and hit balls for two hours.

This was where he won his first PGA Tour event in 2008, when he was fearless, brash and backed it all up with an exciting brand of golf. He ended that year by demolishing Sergio Garcia in the leadoff singles match at the Ryder Cup, the last time the Americans won.

Kim referred to Quail Hollow as the start of his career. “Hopefully, I can start a new one here,” he said. Two days later, he shot 74 and walked straight to his car, dumped his clubs in the trunk and drove away.

That was 2012, and he hasn’t been back.

“Golf is a fond memory of mine,” Kim said Tuesday, his first interview in three years. “I’ve been watching more and more. I miss the competition a little bit. Watching these young guys like Jordan Spieth is bringing me back to watch.”

Is it enough to bring him back to play?

Not yet. Maybe not ever.

“Here’s what I’m telling you today,” he said. “I’m going to step away from the game for a little while and get my body pieced together. Instead of going from an Achilles injury to try to go 180 mph and not fixing the problem … I’ve got so much ground to make up from injuries – rotator cuff, labrum, spinal fusion, hand injury. I’ve had six or seven surgeries in the last three-and-a-half years.”

Asked if it was possible that he played his last round on the PGA Tour at age 26, Kim paused, chuckled and said, “Anything is possible. Isn’t that what the slogan says?”

Paul Azinger, the Ryder Cup captain at Valhalla where Kim emerged as a star, was among those who could not believe that someone with so much talent could be done at such a young age.

“His energy and enthusiasm, his killer instinct, it all converged into him becoming our team leader,” Azinger said.

Kim’s immediate future is a business venture with Dallas-based Quality Metrics Partners that was started with longtime friend and caddie Brodie Flanders and two others, including Mike Knall, a former punter for the Oklahoma Sooners. It provides ancillary service management in the health care industry. Kim said he made a substantial investment, which he made back within months.

His joy comes from a stronger relationship with his mother. Kim spent three weeks with her in South Korea, sees her at least once a month and was headed to his native Los Angeles to sign the papers on a house he just bought for her in Beverly Hills.

He said he has not played a full round of golf in nearly 18 months. Physical therapy occupies most of his time.

Kim didn’t entirely disappear, though sightings have been rare and have led to rumors, including one that he was sleeping on the streets of Las Vegas because he was out of money.

He earned just over $12 million in five full seasons on the PGA Tour and says he saved up more money than people realize. The stories and photos on social media over the years painted a wild side to Kim. He doesn’t deny he lived different than most golfers, nor will he apologize.

“If you don’t like the way I live, change the channel. You’re the one who tuned in here,” Kim said. “A lot of the golf public may not appreciate the way I live, which is by my own rules. But I give everyone respect. I’m not rude to anyone. And I treat everyone the same.”

He said he is getting monthly payments from an insurance policy he took out five years ago in case he was injured. But he denied speculation in a magazine story last fall that the policy was a factor that is keeping him from returning to the PGA Tour.

“I paid well into the mid-six figures for the policy,” he said. “They wouldn’t have paid me every month had I not been to the doctors, showing them all my X-rays, doing all the treatment, the acupuncture, twice a day for physical therapy.”

He also explained his departure from Quail Hollow that day. Kim said he ignored his summons for drug testing when he walked to the parking lot, though he eventually was tested.

“I was mad about how I played. I injured myself again. I ended up coming back and taking the test,” he said. “I’ve never tested positive for anything since I’ve been on the PGA Tour whenever the drug testing started. Never. And they tested me more than anyone.

“These rumors tainted my reputation,” he said, “and I didn’t have a great one to begin with.”

Kim had no idea he would be gone this long. He played golf with Phil Mickelson at the Madison Club in the California desert. He rented a house in San Diego to prepare for the 2013 season. He said he was up at 5 a.m. every day to train when his Achilles tendon popped. Once he recovered from the leg, he had a herniated disc. And the injuries piled up.

Golf moved on without him. He still has a major medical exemption he can use if he ever returns. Kim would have to earn $613,500 in 16 events to keep his card.

But even Kim can’t say that he will return.

He described his health as a “6” on a scale of 1 to 10 and said he was coping with thoracic outlet syndrome. He also said he was in the process of moving, hiring a trainer and getting back to full health with hopes of giving golf one last chance.

“What Spieth and (Jason) Day did this year was ridiculous,” he said. “I’m not going to compete with those boys unless I’m healthy. I’m not playing with 11 clubs. My goal right now for the next year is to get healthy. At this point, I’m happy where I’m at where I’m headed.”

Kim was given a chance to provide his own answer to a question that has been raised plenty over the last two years.

Whatever happened to Anthony Kim?

“Ask me in two years,” he said.

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.”

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.”

ATLANTA – Two years after Henrik Stenson sailed to victory at the Tour Championship, he has another comfortable lead after 36 holes at East Lake and Jordan Spieth is chasing him.

Back then, Spieth was a 20-year-old rookie.

Now he’s the Masters and U.S. Open champion, and he found a spark in a steady drizzle Friday.

Stenson overcame a few mistakes off the tee and was solid on the back nine for a 2-under 68, stretching his lead to three shots over Spieth going into the weekend and moving closer to his first win of the year – and a $10 million bonus for claiming the FedEx Cup.

“I didn’t feel like it was my best day, but I managed to keep it together and 2 under around here is never bad,” Stenson said.

He doesn’t know anything different. This was his sixth straight round under par at East Lake, a course where the Swede has led after every round he has played.

Stenson, who went wire-to-wire in the Tour Championship in 2013, was at 9-under 131.

Spieth has made only one bogey over two rounds, and a pair of par saves on consecutive holes on the front nine felt just as valuable as his four birdies in a round of 66. The average score was 71.6 on a wet day that yielded only four rounds under par.

Spieth went from the right rough to the left rough on No. 5 and still had 60 yards left and a tree in front of him. He took a risk going through the tree to 6 feet for par, and then rolled in a 20-foot par putt for a bunker save on the par-3 sixth.

“It was huge,” Spieth said about the par saves. “I thought I may have to re-tee, and I was just kind of all over the place at that time. And that third shot I hit on 5, I mean, one of 10, maybe. There was no other option, but it wasn’t necessarily smart. And I had to have the wind blowing this branch back and forth, I had to hit it when it blew it this way or else it would have gone up into it.”

He closed with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 18th to get into the final group.

Paul Casey made bogey from the bunker on the 18th for a 70 and was four shots behind, while British Open champion Zach Johnson birdied three of his last four holes to overcome a double bogey on the par-5 ninth. He had a 70 and was at 4-under 136.

Jason Day, in his first event as No. 1 in the world, finally looked human. He felt flat, wasn’t sharp off the tee or into the greens, and shot a 71. It was his third round over par in his last 10 tournaments, and it left him nine shots behind.

Stenson was four shots clear of Adam Scott after 36 holes when he won the Tour Championship two years ago, with Spieth another shot behind. Spieth made a late run on Sunday and tied for second, capping off a remarkable rookie season.

He is looked at differently now – the Masters and U.S. Open champion and looking more certain to be voted PGA Tour player of the year.

“He’s one of the best players in the world as we know, and had a fantastic year behind him,” Stenson said. “So he’s going to be a very tough contender throughout these last two days. He was good already back then, but he’s certainly not any less good now. We know that much. Once again, I’ve got to focus on my game and bring my game and keep my head down and foot down and press on if I want to leave the guys behind me.”

The biggest challenge figures to be East Lake, especially with more wet conditions in the forecast.

The Bermuda rough can be tricky when it’s dry because it can be difficult to judge how far the ball flies out of it. Wet rough is difficult in a different manner. It makes the course longer off the tee, and longer coming out of the thick grass.

Day hit a 3-wood from 195 yards in the rough on No. 5. Had it been dry conditions like Thursday, Day figures he would have hit 8-iron.

Stenson hit a 4-wood and a gap wedge to a front pin on No. 4 in the opening round. On Friday, he hit 3-wood off the tee and still had 6-iron to a back pin.

“That’s a two-club difference when the air is heavy and you’re not getting as much roll,” he said.

With a tougher golf course, Stenson said there will be a premium on making fewer mistakes. Spieth is happy to be on a course of this nature, especially after three weeks of watching players – mostly Day – pour in one birdie after another in low-scoring affairs.

It was demoralizing at times, especially when Day started 61-63 last week at Conway Farms.

“I wasn’t going to catch him last week,” Spieth said. “I say that now. You tell me that at the time and I’ll get mad at you. I don’t accept that, and that’s my personality. This week is a bit different because there isn’t a 22 under out there.”

But there’s still Stenson, and that could prove just as daunting.

ATLANTA – Just getting to East Lake is the challenge for Henrik Stenson. Playing the golf course appears to be the easy part.

Two years after his wire-to-wire victory to capture the FedEx Cup, Stenson was just as dominant Thursday until he stalled at the end and had to settle for a 7-under 63 and a two-shot lead over Paul Casey in the Tour Championship.

Stenson ripped a 4-wood from 288 yards to 25 feet and made the eagle putt on the par-5 ninth to go out in 29. He added two more birdies to reach 8 under through 12 holes until he made pars the rest of the way and his lone bogey on the 17th.

Even so, it was just the start he wanted on a course that he has figured out. Stenson opened with a 64 two years ago, stretched his lead to as many as nine shots in the third round and joined Tom Watson as the only wire-to-wire winners of the Tour Championship.

He missed last year when he failed to get into the top 30 who qualify for the FedEx Cup finale, and knew he only needed to get back to have a chance.

“I wanted to get out of the blocks quickly, and I surely did,” Stenson said.

Jason Day, in his first tournament as the No. 1 player in the world, stayed with Stenson until one shot. Day birdied his opening three holes, but his drive on the par-4 fifth hole sailed through the trees on the right, over the fence and out-of-bounds. He made triple bogey and never really got back on track. He shot a 69 and was six behind.

“I wish I could say that I was a machine and I can hit it straight down the gut every single time, 315 yards,” Day said. “But unfortunately, as humans we’re going to make errors. … To make triple was pretty disappointing, but it’s early on in the tournament, so I can’t dwell on that.”

Rory McIlroy started slowly, finished the front nine with three straight birdies and had a 66 to join British Open champion Zach Johnson.

Jordan Spieth took the stress out of his game and rarely was out of position. He just didn’t hit it close enough for birdie chances, made three of them and shot a 68 to join a large group that included Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker.

For the longest time, Stenson looked uncatchable.

The trouble at East Lake is the Bermuda rough, which is why the powerful Swede leans so heavily on his 3-wood off the tee. He kept it in play, hit iron shots as crisp as ever and made plenty of putts. It was an ideal combination for scoring, until the final hour.

His round stalled with a 4-iron that missed the green on the par-5 15th, and his bunker shot came out hot and left him 20 feet away. He made par, saved par from a tough lie in the rough at the 16th and missed a 6-foot par putt on the 17th.

“I can’t really play the front nine any better – very similar to what I did in 2013 when I started with a good score and shot 5 under on the front,” Stenson said. “So hopefully, the rest of the week can be as successful as it was then.”

Stenson is No. 4 in the FedEx Cup and has been a big topic of conversation this week. He could finish as low as third and still win the $10 million bonus without having won a tournament all year. But the Swede looked at it from a simpler form of math. As one of the top five seeds, he only has to win the Tour Championship to take home golf’s biggest payoff, and that’s all he was thinking about.

“I’ll be happy on Sunday if I were to finish second and win the FedEx Cup,” he said. “I’ll be smiling more if I got two trophies, but I’ll deal with one, as well. But at this point, I’m here to try and win this Tour Championship for the second time, and it would be great to pull that off. Still a long ways to go. We’re only one round down and as we know, a lot of things can happen in 54 holes.”

It was a big turnaround for Casey, who had to pull out of the Deutsche Bank Championship three weeks ago with a sore back. He treated it, worked on his posture and felt as good as new at East Lake.

“It allows me to drive the ball well around here and that was really the key to getting around,” Casey said.

Sixteen players in the 28-man field broke par in easy scoring conditions, with cloud cover and some drizzle late in the day. The biggest buzz was for Day and Spieth, in the same group for the eighth time since the final round of the PGA Championship.

Day’s triple bogey erased those three early birdies and he made only two birdies over his final 13 holes, including a two-putt on the par-5 15th hole.

ATLANTA – Brandt Snedeker is finishing his ninth year on the PGA Tour, and he already has amassed more than $26 million in earnings.

He never really thought about the money and would only know his total if he took time to look it up.

But there was one exception.

On a Sunday afternoon at East Lake in 2012, Snedeker closed with a 68 to win the Tour Championship and beat out Rory McIlroy for the FedEx Cup title. The latter came with a $10 million bonus – $9 million up front, the other $1 million deferred.

Two days later, he went online to check his account.

“That’s the only time I ever checked was that Tuesday,” Snedeker said. “They said it would take until Tuesday. And it was there.”

That’s been the story at East Lake ever since the FedEx Cup began in 2007. It was different the first year when the money was all deferred. Now, it’s 90 percent cash. For most players, especially the top three in the world, this week is more about winning than the money.

Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth have combined for 12 victories worldwide and over $25 million in earnings this year. They have won five of the last six majors. They all are in their 20s. And one of them will leave Atlanta as No. 1 in the world.

For everyone else, it’s a weighted free-for-all starting on Thursday:

THE BIG THREE: Day, McIlroy and Spieth are being dubbed as the new “Big Three” in golf because of their ranking and their majors. Day wants to add Rickie Fowler to the mix, but he’s only No. 5 in the world, and while he won The Players Championship in May with arguably the best finish of the year, he still hasn’t won a major and only has three PGA Tour victories in his career.

Day reached No. 1 for the first time with his six-shot victory last week in the BMW Championship. He’s the most likely to keep the ranking. McIlroy and Spieth would have to win the Tour Championship to get to No. 1.

If that happens, it would be the first time since the world ranking began in 1986 that there was a change at the top for six straight weeks.

THE BIG FIVE: Even though Day has dominated the FedEx Cup playoffs with two victories (Barclays, BMW Championship), the advantage is gone at East Lake. The points have been reset to give everyone a chance at the $10 million, with Day still having the best odds and Harris English (No. 30) the ultimate long shot.

The top five only have to win to claim the FedEx Cup. Day is followed by Spieth, Fowler, Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson.

Stenson was at No. 2 in 2013 when he won at East Lake to claim the big prize. Watson probably stands the least chance this week. He has never seriously contended at East Lake, with his best finish a tie for fifth.

THE BIG ZERO: One player that is sure to make the PGA Tour nervous is Henrik Stenson.

Every year, it seems someone has a chance to win the FedEx Cup without winning a tournament. There has never been a better opportunity than what Stenson has this week. He was runner-up at The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship, moving him from No. 41 to No. 4, and that’s where he is now.

If the other players in the top five falter this week and Stenson finished third, he would have enough points (thanks to the reset) to win the FedEx Cup. It would be the only trophy he takes home from the PGA Tour all year.

“I’m just going to try my hardest this week,” Stenson said. “But if I finish second or third and win the overall, you won’t see me leaving here crying, I know that much. Not out of sadness, anyway.”

THE BIG TASK: Only twice since the FedEx Cup began in 2007 has someone won the Tour Championship and failed to capture the FedEx Cup.

Camilo Villegas won in 2008, but the points system was changed that year and backfired badly. Vijay Singh won the opening two playoff events, and effectively wrapped up the FedEx Cup title by the time he got to East Lake. All the big Fijian had to do was finish 72 holes, which he managed.

The current system – resetting points at the Tour Championship – has been in place since 2009. That year, Tiger Woods was No. 1 and was runner-up to Phil Mickelson, who was No. 14 in the standings. That was quite the image – Woods and Mickelson sharing the stage, each with a trophy. Mickelson won the Tour Championship ($1.35 million and a $3 million bonus for his second-place finish in the FedEx Cup) and Woods won the FedEx Cup and $10 million.

“Let me see if I get this straight,” Mickelson said that day. “I shot 65 and he shot (70), and he gets a check for $10 million … no, I’m just kidding.”

The last five winners of the FedEx Cup also won the Tour Championship. Vijay Singh in 2008 and Tiger Woods in 2009 are the only FedEx Cup champions who didn’t win at East Lake.

Henrik Stenson is in position to make his own brand of history this week – winning the FedEx Cup without winning a PGA Tour event all year.

The Swede started at No. 41, soared up to No. 4 with a runner-up finish at The Barclays, had another runner-up finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship and has held that position going into the final event. He could finish in a tie for third and have a mathematical chance of winning the $10 million bonus.

“I’m just going to try my hardest this week,” Stenson said. “But if I finish second or third and win the overall, you won’t see me leaving here crying, I know that much. Not out of sadness, anyway.”

Stenson would much rather win the Tour Championship and claim golf’s biggest bonus, as he did two years ago at East Lake.

“I still have one more chance and it shouldn’t be too hard to wipe the floor with these guys, right?” Stenson said, shifting into sarcasm mode. “There’s no one that’s playing great and is sky-high on confidence, and no one with a bunch of majors and no one hits it 330 off the tee. So it shouldn’t be that hard.”

Even so, a FedEx Cup title without having won anything on the PGA Tour would make the FedEx Cup an easy target for its points system, or how the PGA Tour has chosen to reset the points at the Tour Championship to give everyone a chance.

Stenson compared it with the world ranking. The year Lee Westwood reached No. 1 in the world, he had won just one tournament in 2010 and had not won in more than four months when he got to the top. It was a product of several good results, including a pair of runner-up finishes in the majors.

It’s not like the year has been a total loss. Stenson twice had the 54-hole lead this year, at Bay Hill and the TPC Boston, and didn’t win.

This is nothing new for Stenson. He was in position to win the Race to Dubai two years ago without having won on the European Tour. But then he won the finale in Dubai and “kind of finished those conversations.”

—

REVOLVING DOOR: The No. 1 ranking hasn’t been this unsettled since Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Ernie were swapping the top spot in 1997.

Jason Day going to No. 1 with his victory at the BMW Championship meant the No. 1 ranking changed five times in five weeks – Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Spieth, McIlroy and Day. That tied an Official World Golf Ranking record set from June 8 to July 6 in 1997 when it went Norman, Woods, Els, Norman and Woods.

Woods then held the No. 1 spot for the next two months.

For the No. 1 spot to change for a sixth straight week, McIlroy or Spieth would have to win the Tour Championship. Day can secure No. 1 by finishing alone in fifth or better.

—

TALE OF THE TAPE: Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson are among those are waiting to see if Jason Day can win the Tour Championship before deciding whether Day or Jordan Spieth gets their votes for PGA Tour player of the year.

Here’s where they stand going into the final event of the year:

– Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open. Day won the PGA Championship.

– Day has five victories. Spieth has four.

– Spieth has wrapped up the money title with $10,545,465. Day has earned $9,174,805.

– Spieth has a 68.99 adjusted scoring average in the race to win the Vardon Trophy. Day is at 69.13.

– Spieth has accumulated 532.31 world ranking points this year, compared with 444.85 for Day. That might be a slight edge for Day, however, because he has played in four fewer events. Spieth has averaged 23.14 points for event, while Day has average, 23.41 points.

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BUBBA’S MISSION: The good news for Bubba Watson is that he’s among the top five in the FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship and has a clear shot at the $10 million bonus. The bad news is still hasn’t quite figured out East Lake.

In five previous appearances at the Tour Championship, his best was a tie for fifth in 2012 and twice he has been outside the top 20.

“It’s just about getting comfortable and getting used to a situation or a place,” Watson said. “It’s a learning process.”

Watson said his wife reminded him that he used to not like Doral until strong finishes in recent years, so there’s hope. Then again, he has no choice. The Tour Championship has been at East Lake every year since 2004.

“This is a tournament I can’t miss and I don’t want to miss,” he said. “I want to be here every year. I would rather struggle here than not be here. But that’s the process of a golfer. You don’t want to be really good at your home course, you want to be good at every golf course. So I’m trying to figure that out as I go and I haven’t figured that out but once. I finished fifth one time. I am guessing that has to do with putting. I am guessing I putted pretty good that week.”

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EARLY START: Rickie Fowler still has plenty of golf on his schedule the rest of the year, including plans for an additional PGA Tour event.

After the Presidents Cup in South Korea, Fowler said he would play the Las Vegas event before heading back to Asia for the HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Las Vegas is the first PGA Tour event that Fowler played as a pro in 2009. He tied for seventh.

Fowler said having played only one time last fall, he felt he had fallen too far behind when he played his next PGA Tour event three months later in the Phoenix Open.

It doesn’t hurt that swing coach Butch Harmon is located in Las Vegas.

“I’ve enjoyed playing there when I go,” Fowler said. “And it’s one more event in the fall schedule.”

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DIVOTS: Jordan Spieth needs a two-way tie for fourth or better at the Tour Championship to set the single-season earnings record on the PGA Tour. … With two events remaining in the Web.com Tour Finals, a couple of PGA Tour players are on the bubble for earning their cards. Former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover is at No. 24, with Jonathan Byrd and John Merrick in a tie for 25th. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship is this week on the Scarlett Course at Ohio State University, followed by the Web.com Tour Championship at the TPC Sawgrass Valley course. … Eight players are in the Tour Championship for the first time – Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner, Danny Lee, J.B. Holmes, Steven Bowditch, Brooks Koepka, Sang-moon Bae and Harris English. Kisner, English and Berger made it despite not winning this year.

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STAT OF THE WEEK: The PGA Tour had 102 players who earned more than $1 million this year.

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FINAL WORD: “To take a 12-year-old kid from nothing and turn him into the best golfer in the world is a pretty nice achievement.” – Jason Day on his longtime coach and caddie Colin Swatton.

ATLANTA – The best three players in golf have combined to win 12 tournaments and over $25 million this year, so the appeal of a $10 million bonus for capturing the FedEx Cup might not be as great as simply winning the final showdown of the season.

But there was a time when money mattered for Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.

McIlroy was an 18-year-old rookie in 2007 playing his second tournament as a pro when he finished third at the Dunhill Links Championship. That not only wrapped up his European Tour card, it paid just over $300,000 (211,332 pounds).

“I remember I wanted this watch,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “And I remember it was the week after the Dunhill Links in 2007, and it was one of the bigger prize funds on the European Tour. At this stage, the money from the European Tour was just going into my debit account, whatever bank I was using in Ireland. And I went to get money out of the ATM the week after and the check had obviously been put in.

“And I wanted to check my balance and it was like 220,000 pounds, and I was like … I mean, I went straight to the store and bought the watch.”

Now they’re more interested in a pair of titles – the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup – along with a single-digit number.

The battle for No. 1 enters its sixth straight week in golf.

Day reached the pinnacle for the first time in his career with no argument. His six-shot victory in the BMW Championship last Sunday was his fourth win in his last six starts. That includes a record score at the PGA Championship and a six-shot win at another FedEx Cup playoff event.

Day also is No. 1 going into the FedEx Cup finale at East Lake, though with a much slimmer margin.

To make the Tour Championship a weighted free-for-all for the 29 players at East Lake (Jim Furyk withdrew with injury), the points have been reset so that the top five players only have to win the tournament to claim the $10 million bonus.

Day is followed by Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson.

McIlroy, who missed two months and one playoff event because of an ankle injury, is No. 11. For him to claim the FedEx Cup, he would have to win the Tour Championship and the top five in the standings would need to finish out of the top six depending on their ranking.

Part of him wonders if he’s due for that to happen. McIlroy was the No. 1 seed in 2012 on the strength of winning two FedEx Cup playoff events, tied for 10th at East Lake and lost out to Brandt Snedeker. He was the top seed going into the postseason a year ago on the strength of his two majors, was runner-up in the Tour Championship and finished behind Billy Horschel, who won the last two events.

“So maybe this time being outside … maybe get the job done a different way,” McIlroy said.

No one has ever won three FedEx Cup playoff events, and that’s an opportunity for Day. The 27-year-old Australian is pounding his driver long and straight, his short game is finally getting its due attention and he’s putting well. It’s an unbeatable combination, as the victories attest. Perhaps even more daunting is that Day is 101-under par in his last seven tournaments dating to the British Open.

No one knows how well Day is playing more than Spieth. They have been in the same group seven of the last nine rounds dating to Sunday at the PGA Championship. Spieth was runner-up at Whistling Straits, missed the cut in the opening two FedEx Cup events and then got his game turned around last week north of Chicago.

Or at least he thought he did.

Spieth opened at 65-66 – and he was still seven shots behind Day.

“What he did … I mean, he destroyed my score in those rounds for lack of a better term,” Spieth said. “It is very motivating because my personality, I don’t like getting beat in anything and I’m very stubborn. It doesn’t make me angry. It makes me want to get back to the level I was playing at this whole year, and see if the top of my game can beat the top of anybody else’s game when they’re at their best.”

That’s the beauty of this Tour Championship. All the best are at their best. The top five in the FedEx Cup are among the top six in the world ranking. Starting Thursday, they get one last chance to battle for at least one trophy (Tour Championship), maybe two (FedEx Cup) and a $10 million bonus.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Jason Day has plenty of rivals at the moment, but very few peers.

Day’s runaway victory Sunday in the BMW Championship vaulted him to No. 1 in the world ranking, backing up a boast the then little-known Australian made during a conference call with reporters in 2007 – and for which he was roasted on more than one occasion since.

“I remember sitting on my mom’s bed and thinking that (predicting he’d be No. 1 someday) might not go over too well,” laughed Day, who turns 28 next month.

It didn’t.

“I expected to get a little bit (of criticism), but not the response that I got from practically everyone,” Day recalled, another championship trophy poised within arm’s reach. “But it’s good to sit in this chair right now.”

His 2-under, final-round 69 and 22-under total at Conway Farms was good for a six-shot victory over rookie Daniel Berger. Scott Piercy finished third, seven strokes back.

The win was Day’s fifth on tour this season and his second in the FedEx Cup playoffs. In addition to leap-frogging Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy to claim the top spot in the world ranking, it made him the front-runner in the 30-man field heading to East Lake in Atlanta next weekend for the series finale.

“Whatever Jason Day is doing, or which course he’s playing, it’s ridiculous,” said Danny Lee, who’s at No. 19.

That was hardly an exaggeration here.

Day zoomed out to a big lead by shooting 61 and 63 in the first two rounds and was never seriously challenged. If he manages a win in Atlanta, it could make the race for Player of the Year – an award Spieth appeared to lock up by winning the Masters and U.S. Open earlier in the summer – closer than anyone would have anticipated just six weeks ago.

But Day has been on an incredible run since narrowly missing at the British Open. In his six starts since, he has won four times – the Canadian Open, the PGA Championship for his first major and the two FedEx Cup events – and played at a sizzling 101-under par clip.

“I think it might change some people’s minds about (player of the year) if I go ahead and win next week,” he said. “But we can’t deny what Jordan has done in the in the major championship this year. For a 22-year-old kid to accomplish what he’s done … that has been an amazing ride.

“I still think,” Day added a moment later, “it’s him.”

His fellow players aren’t so sure. When Rickie Fowler was asked to pick between the two, he replied, “I’m glad it’s not my decision” – forgetting that he’ll have to cast a ballot at season’s end.

But the battle for No. 1 wasn’t the only drama hanging over the tournament. The quest to make the 30-man field heading to East Lake produced its own share of winners and losers.

Berger will be the only rookie and Harris English, who missed earning a spot by a single shot each of the last two seasons, shoe-horned himself into the 30th spot with a birdie at the 18th.

On the downside, Daniel Summerhays finished 31st after dunking a tee shot at the par-3 11th, and Justin Thomas lost his chance to join Berger as the only other rookie in Atlanta when Dustin Johnson birdied the final two holes.

Day, on the other hand, will head to the finale more in control of his fate than he has been in a long time. He and Colin Swatton, who’s been his mentor and coach since age 12 and doubles as his caddie now, set out a plan years ago to have Day reach No. 1 in the world by age 22.

“Six years late,” Day said, stifling a grin. “But, I mean, better late than never, right?”

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., carded a 7-under 64 to vault into a tie for 28th place.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Instead of running away from the field one more time, Jason Day spent most of the third round at the BMW Championship running in place.

He was hardly the only player struggling to cope with the suddenly cool, wet and windy conditions at Conway Farms left behind by a wave of overnight storms. After opening rounds of 61 and 63, the Aussie made his first bogey in 20 holes at No. 6, then piled on three more to offset a half-dozen birdies Saturday en route to a 2-under 69.

“Obviously, the most difficult round that we’ve had this week by far,” Day said.

He was at 20-under 193 and had a six-stroke lead. That’s one shot better than he had at the start of the round, and the biggest cushion any 54-hole leader has enjoyed on tour this season.

“I think a lot of players really understood how hard it was,” Day said. “It was very difficult to get anything going.”

Day has won three times – including his first major, the PGA Championship – and is an aggregate 99 under in tournament play since a narrow miss at the British Open in late July.

While the pack pursuing the FedEx Cup leader got no closer, there was some reshuffling.

Scott Piercy overcame some shaky play early to shoot a 67 and moved up from a tie for fifth into second, and a spot alongside Day in the final pairing Sunday. Brendon Todd, who played in Day’s group Saturday, made a triple-bogey 7 at No. 4, bogeyed the next two and never recovered en route to a 76 that dropped him into a tie for 18th.

World No.1 Rory McIlroy climbed from a tie for ninth to claim fourth place. He will go off in the next-to-last pairing with rookie Daniel Berger, one of the few players who held their ground. Berger shot 70 and was tied with Piercy for second.

“The tournament is in Jason’s hands right now,” McIlroy said, adding a moment later, “he needs to come back to the field a little bit.”

That seemed like a distinct possibility midway through the third round.

Day has been hitting his driver so long and straight that he rarely walks through the locker room these days without someone joking he must be playing off the ladies’ tees. Maybe that’s why his drives at both Nos. 13 and 15 came as such shocks.

Day had barely launched his tee shot at 13 when he turned away in disgust, then headed back to his golf bag for another ball – even as his first one finally came to rest in the front yard of a home across the road from the course.

“Just a poor swing … I’ve fought with that hole in the past,” said Day, who quickly gathered himself and crushed his second drive there, then stuck a short iron from 147 yards out to within 5 feet of the pin and made that for a hard-earned bogey.

At the 15th, he found plenty of trouble on the other side of the fairway, blocking his tee shot into the knee-high rough above a fairway bunker. He hacked a wedge out from there and wound up between two greenside bunkers. He used his putter from there, but wound up missing a 7-footer to save par.

“Just horrible,” he said about the tee shot at 15. “I’m just trying to get something down the fairway and give myself a chance at birdie and ended walking off with a bogey.”

But Day said rolling in a birdie putt from 20 feet at the 18th restored some momentum and that should give his rivals pause – as if they didn’t have enough to worry about.

“You kind of have to look at Jason as an outlier” Rickie Fowler said. “Right now, it’s almost like there’s a secondary tournament going on, for the guys that are 8, 12 under right now.”

David Hearn posts 2-under 69 to sit in a tie for 51st place.