Tuesday 5 September 2017 01:10, UK
Kevin Chappell earned his Presidents Cup debut by the narrowest of margins after almost throwing away automatic qualification on the final hole of the Dell Technologies Championship.
Chappell claimed the 10th and final spot on Steve Stricker's US team as he finished just 0.073 points ahead of Charley Hoffman, who was 23 points ahead at the start of the tournament but could manage only a share of 47th place at TPC Boston.
That opened the door for Chappell, who looked certain of pipping Hoffman for a place until he chunked a wedge at the 72nd hole which cleared the front hazard by a matter of feet but rolled back into the rough.
He was able to stab his ball to 10 feet, but he missed the putt for par and then faced an agonising wait for the official calculations as Chappell and Hoffman had actually finished level on 4,369 points apiece.
But Chappell was soon declared as the final automatic qualifier, with Hoffman now hoping he will be selected as a captain's pick by Stricker on Wednesday for the contest against the Internationals at Liberty National at the end of the month.
"It's been a range of emotions," admitted Chappell, who is also the course-record holder at the New Jersey venue. "I think I've been able to put some words to what I felt the last few days, just trying to play golf, get to the Tour Championship, but get on The Presidents Cup team.
"Charley is a good friend and I feel for him, but it's a great feeling and my emotions move towards getting ready to win the Presidents Cup for Team USA," added the 31-year-old, who recovered from a poor start to the season with a top-10 finish at the Masters before he went on to clinch his maiden PGA Tour title at the Valero Texas Open.
"The start of the year was so miserable for me, my game just seemed so lost. Probably turned around at the Masters, I was seventh there so that was a big confidence boost for me.
"And then I played San Antonio, a place I'm very comfortable. I went in there with a lot of confidence and left with even more. That kind of validated the goals that I had for the year and made them feel even more attainable. To be able to check this one off is amazing."
International Team captain Nick Price will also unveil his two wildcard picks with Stricker on Wednesday ahead of the 12th staging of the competition, which starts on September 28.
Nine players had already qualified for Price's side, with Canadian Adam Hadwin retaining 10th place following his tie for 13th at TPC Boston.
Team USA qualifiers:
Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Daniel Berger, Brooks Koepka, Kevin Kisner, Patrick Reed, Matt Kuchar, Kevin Chappell.
Internationals qualifiers:
Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day (Aus), Adam Scott (Aus), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Marc Leishman (Aus), Branden Grace (Rsa), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Si Woo Kim (Kor), Adam Hadwin (Can).
