THE TOUR Championship.

Tiger Woods has won the FedExCup for the second time, having previously triumphed in 2007. Second place at the Tour Championship was enough to secure the American a well-deserved overall victory. Woods’ compatriot Phil Mickelson won the season finale itself.

Mickelson went into the final day at the East Lake Country Club four shots off the lead before shooting an excellent round of 65 (-5 for the day). Finishing the tournament on 9 under par (73, 67, 66, 65), the left-hander was three shots better than Woods. They were followed by more big names: Sean O’Hair (USA, -5) finished third, ahead of Padraig Harrington (IRL) and Kenny Perry (USA, both -4).

Mickelson had endured a mixed season both on and off the golf course, but the golfing year drew to a very pleasing close with his 37th Tour title and third tournament victory in 2009. Victory at the Tour Championship earned the 39-year-old 1.35 million dollars, plus a further three million dollar bonus for finishing runner-up in the FedExCup rankings. It also took Mickelson back to number two in the world rankings.

Woods was disappointed not to have ended the season on a win. However, the world number one can be happy with his record this year. He may not have won a Major in 2009, but still achieved six tournament victories and the prestigious and lucrative (10 million Euros) title of FedExCup Champion. Since the PGA Tour introduced this ranking system in 2007 there have been only two winners: Woods (2007 and 2009) and Vijay Singh (2008). However, the Fijian’s victory came during Woods’ injury-induced break from the game.

Steve Stricker (USA) finished third in the FedExCup rankings, having once again stepped his game up in the play-offs and lived up to his nickname of “Mr. September”. Behind Stricker were Americans Jim Furyk, O'Hair and Zach Johnson. The highest-placed European was Harrington in seventh place.