Bogey costs Poulter

Ian Poulter has missed out on the Tour Championship in Atlanta next week by 0.46 points after a shot into water on the final hole of the BMW Championship.

A closing par in Chicago would have kept the Ryder Cup star in the top 30 for the final leg of the FedEx Cup play-offs, but he bogeyed and so exited the series with 1,531 points against Australian John Senden’s 1,532.

Luke Donald did par the last hole and that got him to Atlanta in 29th spot, aided by Senden’s double bogey at the 17th and Brandt Snedeker four-putting the 18th green for a triple-bogey seven.

Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia were the top Europeans in the event in joint sixth place.

But that was not enough to get Garcia into the Tour Championship – while, by moving up to sixth in the points standings, Harrington still has a chance of winning the $10m (€6.9m) bonus.

That will be fought out between top five Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Heath Slocum.