Wyndham Clark birdied his last three holes to hold off Rory McIlrory and clinch his third win of the season at the BMW Championship as he staked his claim to be crowned PGA Tour Player of the Year.
Clark held a five shot advantage over McIlroy going into the final round in St Louis but standing on the par-3 16th the pair were level. McIlroy had missed chances on 14 and 15 to go in front and when both players found the 16th green it was Clark who rolled in his first birdie of the day from 16-feet before McIlroy missed. He then birdied the par-5 17th as McIlroy hacked his way to a bogey to move three clear.
Clark, who was third best in putting in round three and at one stage was third worst in round four, finished in style with a birdie on the last to win by three shots ahead of Patrick Cantlay on seventeen-under-par with a 70 as McIlroy settled for third on 13-under after a 69.
“I felt like most of my game held up today,” said McIlroy who is encouraged heading to the Tour Championship in East Lake as he bids for a record fourth FedEx Cup title.
“Obviously going out in the final group and you’re working on some stuff, you know, you’re just hoping that everything stays the way it is. But, yeah, I hit it well on the back nine. I gave myself plenty of chances. I just couldn’t get a putt to drop there those final few holes.
“I always felt like I needed to just get my nose ahead to really try to put the pressure on Wyndham, and I couldn’t. We were tied there for a few holes, and then when he made that putt on 16 for 2 and I couldn’t answer, that was obviously a huge moment in the round and in the tournament. But overall encouraged with how I played this week compared to what it was last week, and certainly something to build ongoing into East Lake.”
McIlroy will rue some close shaves on the greens in the middle of the back nine but in truth, it was a lack of fairways that eventually caught up with him as he hit just five of fourteen, albeit a lot of tee shots ended up in the first cut. But it was a devilish lie in the left rough on 17 that saw his luck run out. An attempted lay up with a wedge was dragged left and into a bunker 113 yards short of the green. He then went bunker to bunker en route to a tournament ending six.
“We talked about it earlier in the week, I tried to get it up a bit too far. I should have been taking that left bunker out of play. If you’re going to lay it up, lay it up. So just another stupid decision with a layup on a par-5 that cost me.”
Although third place is his best finish since winning the Masters in April.
“I’m closer than I was at the start of the week. But I’m still, I’m not in a spot where I’m super happy with where my game is or where my swing is. So I just have to keep working on it. But it’s nice to know even when I’m not super happy with everything I can still, you know, piece it together and get it around and still give myself a chance to win tournaments.”
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