The Barclays: Jason Day wins golf tournament in his 4th victory of season

Australian golfer Jason Day romped to victory at The Barclays on Monday, winning back-to-back starts to take an early lead in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Day, who won the PGA Championship earlier this month, assumed top spot in the overall standings, overtaking Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, and Jimmy Walker.

World number three Day dominated the first of four Playoff events following on from his major breakthrough at the PGA Championship. Day shot 62 en route to a six-stroke victory, which gave the Aussie golfer his third win in four starts.

"I'm just excited right now. I'm ecstatic. I got off to a good start in the playoffs and I'm looking forward to next week,” Day said, reports ABC.

Day, third in world golf rankings, finished at 19-under for the championship and will head to the second event at Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston as the favourite to win the bonus prize of $US10 million ($AU13.96 million). Day grabbed the $US1.485 million ($AU2.07 million) winner’s purse and also collected 2000 FedEx Cup points for his recent triumph to claim the top spot in the FedEx Standings.

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson was a distant second after posting 66 on 13-under, while two-time Masters winner Watson finished solo third with 69 and was two strokes further adrift. Fellow Australians Steven Bowditch, Matt Jones, Marc Leishman, and John Senden also moved to the next round of the four-tournament playoffs.

Meanwhile, Spieth tumbled at 106th and missed his first cut in more than three months. The former world No. 1 will also lose his spot atop the Official World Golf Rankings on Tuesday from Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy.

Spieth only made four bogeys in a five-hole stretch starting on the fourth, where his approach from 70 yards failed to spin back toward the hole and he three-putted. The 22-year-old Spieth, however, could regain the top spot depending on how McIlroy plays at next week’s event, where both players will be in the field.

“I've reached that peak already and I know it's going to be close enough to where if I just get the job done next week, I'll be back in that ranking,” Spieth told PGA Tour’s official website. “In my mind, it's just about trying to win the FedExCup at this point.”

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