J.J. Spaun wins BMW PGA Championship by 2 strokes - ESPN

VIRGINIA WATER, England — J.J. Spaun responded to his disappointment of being left off the U.S. Presidents Cup team by winning the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday, making four birdies on the last five holes for a 5-under 67 and a two-shot victory in his debut at the European tour's flagship event.

Spaun, last year's U.S. Open champion at Oakmont, made it three Americans winning at Wentworth in the past six years. It was his second victory of the year, having won the Texas Open in April.

«I played with a huge chip on my shoulder,» Spaun said of being overlooked as a captain's pick for the Presidents Cup next week outside Chicago. «I definitely had something to prove this week, but everything happens for a reason.»

As well as he finished, Spaun needed plenty of help from Manuel Elvira.

The 30-year-old Spaniard made a 9-foot eagle on the par-5 17th to tie Spaun for the lead and head to the par-5 closing hole needing birdie to win. Elvira chose iron off the tee, leaving him 254 yards from the green. He decided to lay up but hit that into a bunker. He hit his next shot over the green, dumped a chip into a bunker and finished with a double bogey for a 70.

«Devastating that I hit the wrong shot at the right time on the layup and left myself the toughest shot in the fairway bunker and wasn't able to pull it off,» Elvira said.

Elvira wound up in a four-way tie for second with Rory McIlroy (68), Adam Scott (68) and PGA champion Aaron Rai (66).

All of them were in the mix in the final hour at Wentworth until Spaun raced to the top. It started with a tee shot to 3 feet on the par-3 14th. He holed a pair of 15-foot birdie putts on the 15th and 16th and two-putted for birdie on the 18th to post a 17-under 271.

Spaun loves bringing his