Wyndham Clark holds off Rory McIlroy to win BMW ChampionshipAssociated PressMultiple AuthorsAug 23, 2026, 06:49 PM ET
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ST. LOUIS — Wyndham Clark had Scottie Scheffler with him in the final group at the U.S. Open and Rory McIlroy at his side at the BMW Championship. Both times, Clark started with big leads and watched them vanish. And both times, there was no mistaking who the gallery wanted to win.
With the silver trophies of the BMW Championship and the Western Golf Association at his side, Clark revealed what one of his friends told him after the final round Sunday at Bellerive.
“Darth Vader had more fun,” Clark stated with a big smile.
Clark embraced the pressure of a tense back nine at Bellerive and accepted his place in the game — “I’ve kind of been the underdog in all of my wins,” he stated — delivering a 5-iron that set up the go-ahead birdie and two more birdies that salvaged an even-par 70 and a three-shot victory, his third of the year.
“I know everyone maybe gives me a hard time and roots for other people,” he stated. “But I feel like I’ve kind of come into my own. Three wins in one season is my best year yet — coming off my worst year ever. I’m just really pleased where I’m at right now.”
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This puts him in the conversation for PGA Tour player of the year honors, considering one win was a major and another was a FedEx Cup playoff event.
But just like at Shinnecock Hills, it wasn’t easy.
He lost his five-shot lead to McIlroy in 11 holes, and it was tense the last hour until Clark — without a birdie all day — followed McIlroy’s great tee shot on the par-3 16th with a 5-iron just as good. Clark made his from just outside 15 feet. McIlroy missed his 15-foot putt to stay tied.
“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,” McIlroy stated after a 69 to finish third.
Clark wasn’t the only one with cause to celebrate.
Patrick Cantlay, who came in at No. 43 in the FedEx Cup, showed plenty of moxie. Four times he bounced back from a bogey with a birdie, closing with three birdies in a row for a 68 to finish runner-up and be among the top 30 in the FedEx Cup who advance to the Tour Championship.
The winner next week at East Lake in Atlanta captures the FedEx Cup.
“I’m coming to a golf course that I played really well at next week,” stated Cantlay, who won at East Lake in 2021 to claim the FedEx Cup. “So, I’m really pleased with where my game is at, and I think I’m trending in the right direction.”
Also moving into the top 30 was Gary Woodland, who pulled within one shot of the lead until topping his tee shot into a creek on the ninth hole on his way to a double bogey. Three years after brain surgery, he closed with nine straight pars and fought back tears as he returns to the Tour Championship for the first time since 2019.
Woodland stated Saturday took a lot out of him while he was in the final group because of the noise, energy and drones that triggered the kind of brain activity he tries to calm. On Sunday, he tried to embrace it and pulled through with a 69 to tie for fourth.
“I tried to enjoy it,” Woodland stated. “Outside of topping a ball — I haven’t done that for a long time — I’m just really proud.”
Robert MacIntyre closed with a 65 and tied for seventh, enough to move him into the top 30 for a return to East Lake. Rickie Fowler, Bud Cauley and Kurt Kitayama fell out of the top 30. British Open champion Ryan Fox nailed down the final spot.
Clark didn’t face near the vitriol he did at Shinnecock Hills, where the New York crowd went from pulling for Scheffler in his bid for the career Grand Slam to openly rooting against Clark. One person shouted, “Get in the bunker!” when Clark played the par-3 13th. Otherwise, it was a clear pro-McIlroy crowd.
That was OK with Clark. He overcame three bogeys and a state of mind where he felt like he couldn’t hit the right shot or make any putt. And then, he delivered his best swing — and best putt — on a 232-yard par 3 that yielded only five birdies all day.
“I wasn’t really nervous. I was kind of like … out of it,” Clark stated. “I was making dumb bogeys. I didn’t make anything on the greens. When I made the putt on the par 3, it got me back. As much as I would have loved to run away with it, it was fun to get the juices going.
“I’m really proud of myself that I didn’t let it get away.”
Clark also moved into the top six automatic spots that qualified for the Presidents Cup, joining Scheffler, Cameron Young, Russell Henley, Sam Burns and Collin Morikawa. U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker will have six picks after the Tour Championship. Cantlay surely got his attention.
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