A five-shot lead nearly gone
Wyndham Clark three-putted the first green on Sunday and the BMW Championship stopped looking finished.
He had begun the final round five clear at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. Rory McIlroy birdied the same hole Clark bogeyed. Three shots, gone in twenty minutes. Gary Woodland then birdied three of his first five and closed to two. Clark missed the green on the par-3 sixth, failed to get up and down, and dropped another.
He lipped out a birdie try on the ninth and turned in 2-over 37, still without a birdie on his card. Fifteen under par, two ahead of McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay.
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Level with four to play
The tenth took the last of the cushion. Clark bogeyed it, fell to 14 under, and McIlroy drew level with four holes left. McIlroy then burned an edge on the 14th that would have put him in front on his own.
Clark found his birdie on the par-3 16th, his first of the day, and moved one ahead. On the 17th McIlroy bogeyed and Clark birdied, a two-shot swing that settled the tournament with a hole still to play. He birdied the last as well, three in a row to close, and signed for an even-par 70 and 17-under 263.
Cantlay took second, three back. McIlroy finished solo third, a shot behind Cantlay. Clark collected $3.6 million out of a $20 million purse and a third win of the season.
The rest of his week is worth remembering here. Clark posted two bogey-free rounds of 64 at Bellerive earlier in the tournament. Sunday’s 70 was his worst round of the four by some distance, and it still held.
Thirty spots settled
The BMW is the second of three FedEx Cup Playoff events, and it decides who travels to East Lake. Thirty players advance to the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Twenty see their season end in Missouri.
Bud Cauley started the week 29th in the standings and Rickie Fowler 30th. Both were projected outside the top 30 as the final round played out.
The tournament carries some age. It was first played in 1899 as the Western Open, which makes it the third-oldest non-major event on the PGA Tour. BMW has sponsored it since 2007. Cantlay, runner-up on Sunday, has won it twice. Scottie Scheffler took the 2025 edition at Caves Valley.
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