India's Anirban Lahiri survived some tense moments on the final day to end the Wyndham Championship with an even par 70, which was enough to ensure a full PGA Tour card for the upcoming season.
Lahiri's final Tied-46th placing earned him the 121st spot on the FedEx Cup standings, which ensured his playing rights for 2021-22 season, beginning in September. It also earned him an entry back into the FedEx Cup Play-offs for the first time since 2018.
On a tense final day of the last tournament before the play-offs, Lahiri started with bogey-bogey and was then in danger of falling on the wrong side of the line that separates Top-125 from the rest.
In the end, he played superbly with birdies on 17th and 18th and ended the final day at even par 70 and a total of 7-under for T-46th.
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"It was nice to finish strong. The funny thing is of those three bogeys, every single one of them I was on the fairway," Lahiri said.
"So I think the first six holes it was just going downhill and I had to kind of really gather myself and kind of centre myself and get back to doing what I've been doing well." The 34-year-old, who was relieved to retain his card, said he is getting closer to his "A game."
"I'd be lying if I say I'm not relieved. I played the Korn Ferry Finals in 2019 after losing my card and then I had a horrendous season, I played awful. I feel like I'm getting closer to my A-game, which I know is good enough to compete with the big boys.
"It's a relief that I can at least plan a schedule to some extent, I'm not waiting until Monday to see if I'm going to be first alternate or in and that's been the case a number of times in these last two years," he added.
The top 125 will tee up in The Northern Trust at Liberty National in New Jersey on Thursday, followed by the top 70 at the BMW Championship and the leading 30 at the Playoffs Finale, the TOUR Championship which will crown the new FedExCup champion.
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Shubhankar finishes Tied-9th
India's Shubhankar Sharma got off to a flying start with four birdies in the first seven holes in the last round to finish a creditable tied ninth, only his second top-10 outing of the year, at the Cazoo Classic golf tournament.
Sharma then ran out of birdies and instead dropped a shot on par-4 13th when he went into water but finished with a final birdie for four-under 68. He birdied the first, fourth, fifth seventh and 18th holes.
He registered a total of 11-under and recorded his best finish since his T-8 at Made in Himmerland in Denmark in May.
Four other Indians Gaganjeet Bhullar, SSP Chawrasia, Shiv Kapur and Ajeetesh Sandhu missed the cut.
Sharma, who has been having a modest season with a fair amount of cuts, has been getting a lot of birdies, but has also been giving away a lot of shots, often double bogeys.
This week he had 15 birdies on the front nine alone and nine more on the back nine, but he also gave away four bogeys each on the first and second days. On the third day he bogeyed once and double bogeyed once and on the final day there was just one bogey.
"I feel my game is coming back and this week was a good feel,' said Sharma.
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