Wyndham Clark lost a five-stroke lead, but he bounced back in the final round to win.
KEVIN C. COX, GETTY IMAGES
From a five-stroke lead over Rory McIlroy to start the final round of the BMW Championship to tied with the 2025 and ’26 Masters champion through 11 holes on Sunday, it looked like the wheels had come off Wyndham Clark’s championship push. The two-time U.S. Open champion was 3-over par through 15 holes in the final round before making his first birdie on the 16th hole at Bellerive Country Club to take a one-stroke lead. He followed with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 holes to clinch his sixth PGA Tour victory and third this year.
“When I made the putt on the par-3 [16th] it kind of got me back and I jumped right back into it,” Clark said. “It was fun actually. As much as I would’ve loved to run away with this it was fun getting the juices going and really feeling the angst coming down at the end.”
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Yuta Sugiura
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Dominic Foos
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Megha Ganne
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Steven Alker
PGA TOUR AMERICAS
Daniel Svärd
Clark shot 64-64-65-70 (17-under 263) and finished three strokes ahead of Patrick Cantlay. Clark is the first player to win the U.S. Open and the BMW Championship in the same season since Dustin Johnson in 2016. With the victory, Clark clinched a spot on the 2026 U.S. Presidents Cup squad and put himself squarely into player-of-the-year conversations.
“I think [this win] shows that I’m one of the best players in the world,” Clark said. “I know everyone maybe gives me a hard time and roots for other people but I feel like I’ve kind of come into my own.”
Through 36 holes, Clark was the only player in the field without a bogey and held the solo lead at 12-under, one clear of Gary Woodland. And despite a first-hole double bogey after hitting his tee shot into a fairway bunker on Saturday, Clark expanded his lead. He made an eagle and six birdies on the way to a third-round 65.
At 17-under, Clark led McIlroy and Cantlay by five strokes. It was the largest 54-hole lead at the BMW Championship since Justin Thomas’ six-stroke cushion in 2019. Thomas went on to win.
But for most of Sunday, Clark was stuck in reverse. A three-putt bogey on the first hole and another bogey on the long, par-3 sixth dropped him to 15-under. Meanwhile, in the third-to-last group, Woodland was making a charge. He birdied the second, fourth and fifth holes and followed up a bogey on the seventh with a fourth birdie on No. 8. In the second-to-last group, Cantlay joined Woodland at 14-under with a birdie on 8, his fourth of the day to pair with two bogeys. Clark’s lead was one stroke.
The ninth hole proved vital. Woodland topped his drive into a creek and made double bogey to drop three back of Clark. Then Cantlay made bogey to give Clark a two-stroke advantage. In the final group, McIlroy made birdie to join Cantlay at 13-under. After Clark lipped out for his own birdie, he was at 15-under at the turn, two clear of Cantlay and McIlroy.
Then the lead disappeared. Cantlay birdied the 10th hole to climb within one before Clark bogeyed it to go 3-over for the day and into a tie. While Cantlay made double bogey on the 11th to drop two back after his approach found the water, McIlroy birdied it with a 9-foot putt and forged a share of the lead with Clark at 14-under.
Clark caught breaks when McIlroy burned the edge of the hole for birdie on 14 and 15. Then on the 16th hole, Clark buried a 16-foot putt for birdie to take a one-shot lead. It was only the fifth birdie of the day on 16.
And on the par-5 17th, with McIlroy making bogey after finding bunkers on each of his first three shots, Clark made a 13-foot birdie putt to go three up and closed it out in style with a 17-footer on the 18th.
After the BMW Championship, the nearly $100 million FedEx Cup bonus money payout to the top 125 in the season-long points race was finalized. The top five finishers were Scottie Scheffler ($23 million), Matt Fitzpatrick ($13 million), Clark ($8 million), Cameron Young ($6.5 million) and Si Woo Kim ($5.4 million).
The 30-man field for this week’s Tour Championship is set. Everyone who will be in the field at East Lake earned berths in all four majors next year. Three players moved into the top 30 with their performances at the BMW Championship: Woodland (31 to 18), Cantlay (43 to 19) and Robert MacIntyre (36 to 25). The three players who dropped out were Kurt Kitayama (28 to 31), Rickie Fowler (30 to 33) and Bud Cauley (29 to 34).
Woodland, who finished T4 at Bellerive, will play in his first Tour Championship since 2019. Since then, he has recovered from brain surgery and battled PTSD.
“I’m going to say it’s impressive from where I've been, for sure,” Woodland said. “There’s definitely weeks out here where I didn’t even think I would be here this week. To get to next week, I haven't done it in six years. With everything I battled this year, I’m super proud of myself, I can tell you that.”
The six automatic qualifiers for the 2026 U.S. Presidents Cup team via the points list were also determined. Representing the United States at Medinah Country Club next month will be Scheffler, Young, Clark, Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Collin Morikawa. Captain Brandt Snedeker is slated to announce his six wild-card picks following the Tour Championship.
Everett Munez
