The American carried a healthy lead into the final round and quickly made a statement of intent with birdies at each of the first two holes, and while two bogeys followed on the front-nine none of his closest challengers were ever quite close enough.

Birdies at holes 12 and 13 restored his cushion and DeChambeau was able to par his way to the clubhouse for a round of 69 and an 18-under winning total, with Tony Finau edging second place on 14-under.

Billy Horschel landed followers of our golf tips an each-way payout as he shared third place with Cameron Smith on 13-under, with Ryan Palmer, Aaron Wise and Adam Scott all a shot further back and tied for fifth.

Brooks Koepka missed out on the opportunity to take over at the top of the world rankings in finishing eighth alongside Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, with current number one Dustin Johnson just a shot further back.

But while there were sub-plots including the battle for a top-100 place in the FedEx Cup which saw rookie Sam Ryder agonisingly miss out by a single shot, this really was all about DeChambeau who must now be selected for next month's Ryder Cup in Paris.

This third PGA Tour title came a week late in terms of automatic qualification, but DeChambeau was just one spot outside the team and will expect to be handed a wild card by Jim Furyk at the conclusion of next week's Dell Technologies Championship.

"I said I was a man on a mission," DeChambeau said of his ambition to win a Ryder Cup place.

"Hopefully he (Furyk) can see I've got some grit and grind, and even when I don't execute certain shots I can get it done."

Finau did his prospects no harm whatsoever with second place and as things stand it appears that those two will join Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods in completing a strong American side.

Mickelson shared 15th place as he showed signs of a return to his spring form and while Woods was down in 40th, that was due largely to a cold putter as he began to show signs of control off the tee.

Furyk will select three of his four wild cards next week, saving one for the conclusion of the BMW Championship, but on this evidence there's little anyone else can now do to alter his plans as DeChambeau moved to the top of the FedEx Cup Playoff standings and took another step forward in his burgeoning career.

Day three report

Bryson DeChambeau moved four shots clear of the chasing pack as the overnight leaders struggled on day two of The Northern Trust.

The American, who missed out on an automatic Ryder Cup spot by just one place, continued his scoring improvement for the week with a round of 63 to add to an opening 68 and Friday's 66.

With his sole third-round blemish coming at the difficult seventh hole, DeChambeau was by far the most productive of the late starters with the likes of Brooks Koepka, Jamie Lovemark, Adam Scott and in particular Dustin Johnson all struggling on a tricky day at Ridgewood Country Club.

DeChambeau has a third PGA Tour title within his sights

Johnson started the day with a 30-foot birdie putt but a double-bogey at the eighth followed by further dropped shots at holes 10, 12 and 16 looked to have ended his hopes of a third success in the event he won in a play-off 12 months ago.

Koepka entered the second round as favourite but while he too made an early move in the right direction, the three-time major champion dropped shots at holes five, nine and 14 with a birdie at the 17th keeping his slim title prospects alive on nine-under, some seven strokes adrift of DeChambeau.

With Lovemark and Scott also failing to maintain the standards they'd set over the opening 36 holes, it was all change at the top of the leaderboard as Keegan Bradley's sensational 62 saw him move into second after a round in which he found all 18 greens in regulation.

Cameron Smith and Billy Horschel posted matching 65s to move four and five shots back respectively, with Tony Finau positioned alongside the former after a tidy 66 which included an eagle at the driveable 12th hole.

That came in the company of Phil Mickelson, who carded his third successive round of 68, and it could well be that Finau, Mickelson and leader DeChambeau have done enough already to earn Ryder Cup wild cards, with the other set to go to Tiger Woods.

Woods carded his best round of the week, a bogey-free 68 which ended with a birdie but could have been so much lower but for another quiet day on the greens.

Not so DeChambeau, whose final birdie try at the 18th hole found the cup to extend his lead to four as he seeks a third PGA Tour title, second of the season and, with it, surely a first Ryder Cup appearance.

When you know, you know.@Keegan_Bradley had this for 6️⃣2️⃣.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/k2bhNtyBW1
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 25, 2018

Day two report

Ian Poulter and Paul Casey saw their hopes of qualifying automatically for next month's Ryder Cup dealt a blow during the second round of the Northern Trust as Brooks Koepka moved into a share of the lead.

US Open and US PGA Championship winner Koepka joined fellow American Jamie Lovemark at the top of the leaderboard on 10 under with a six-under-par 65 in New Jersey, where Tiger Woods narrowly made the cut.

Automatic qualification for Thomas Bjorn's side ends next week, and with Thorbjorn Olesen - the current occupant of the eighth and final spot on the European team - taking a week off, 10th-placed Poulter and 11th-placed Casey have a chance to put themselves in pole position for a place at Le Golf National.

Casey moved to within two shots of the lead with three birdies on the front nine, but had four bogeys and a double-bogey on his back nine, with a 73 leaving him eight shots off the pace in a share of 44th.

Fellow Englishman Poulter also had a tough finish, tangling with a bunker at the eighth - his last - and running up a double bogey six to make the cut on the mark at level par alongside Woods, who was round in 71.

Koepka and Lovemark, who carded a 66, are a shot ahead of Adam Scott.

The Australian enjoyed the day's best round with a 64 that took him to nine-under and into third overall.

He is followed by America's Dustin Johnson, who had another round of 67 to sit two shots back, despite making two triple bogeys this week.

Day one report

Matusyama, picked out as a 50/1 tip by our golf tipster Ben Coley, carded five birdies and just one bogey in his round of 67 to place him just one shot off the lead. He's now 16/1 to win the first FedEx Cup event.

Englishman Fleetwood carded an opening four-under-par 67 in The Northern Trust at Ridgewood Country Club to lie one behind four men on five under, with Woods battling to a level-par 71.

Starting from the ninth due to the layout of the composite course, Fleetwood birdied the 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th to cover the back nine in 32 and picked up another shot on the fourth before dropping his only shot of the day following an errant drive on the seventh.

"I've not swung it great in practice and was a little scrappy early on but holed some great putts in my first 10 holes and then it kind of dried up a bit on the front nine, our back nine," Fleetwood told PGA Tour Live.

"Then I started playing better so overall, on a course where the scoring seems okay today but if you're hitting it out of position it's not that easy, I'm happy with the start.

"It's cool being in the FedEx. I had goals at the start of the year when I knew this was my first year with full status on the PGA Tour and it's really nice to be a part of it. Coming towards the end of the season it's a good time to be in form if you can get there."

The overall winner of the FedEx Cup title wins a bonus of USD10 million - a feat Woods is the only player to achieve more than once, in 2007 and 2009.

The 42-year-old, who is appearing in the play-offs for the first time in five years, carded two birdies and two bogeys in his first start since finishing runner-up to Brooks Koepka in the US PGA Championship.

Koepka, world number one Dustin Johnson, Matsuyama and Paul Casey were among the players to match Fleetwood's 67 to lie a shot behind leaders Kevin Tway, Vaughn Taylor, Sean O'Hair and Jamie Lovemark.

"It felt good to come back and play as well as I did," three-time major winner Koepka said. "I'm pretty pleased with it. My iron play is really solid and I'm making the putts you need to make so I just need to keep grinding away."

Phil Mickelson produced some of his trademark escapology to card a three-under-par 68, while Ian Poulter, Justin Thomas and Tyrrell Hatton were among a large group on two under.

Jordan Spieth ended the day on one under while a frustrating day on the greens saw Justin Rose finish one over.