RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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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 he started with big leads and watched them vanish. And both times, there was no mistaking who the gallery wanted to win.
Only when it was over Sunday at Bellerive, silver trophies of the BMW Championship and the Western Golf Association at his side, did Clark repeat what one of his friends told him.
“Darth Vader had more fun,” Clark said with a big smile.
Clark embraced the pressure of a tense back nine at Bellerive and accepted what his place in the game — “I’ve kind of been the underdog in all of my wins,” he said — by 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 said. “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.”
This puts him squarely in the conversation for PGA Tour player of the year considering one was a major and the other 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’s putt from 15 feet to stay tied missed.
“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 said after a 69 to finish third.
Patrick Cantlay comes through to advance
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 captures the FedEx Cup.
“I’m coming to a golf course that I played really well at next week,” said 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.”
Woodland’s big year to continue
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. He closed with nine straight pars and fought back tears as he returns to the Tour Championship for the first time since 2019 while recovering from brain surgery three years ago.
He said Saturday, when he was in the final group, took a lot out of him with the noise, the energy and the 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,” he said. “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. Those falling out of the top 30 were Rickie Fowler, Bud Cauley and Kurt Kitayama. British Open champion Ryan Fox nailed down the final spot.
Clark’s big finish at Bellerive
Clark didn’t face near the vitriol he did at Shinnecock Hills, when the New York crowd went from pulling for Scottie Scheffler in his bid for the career Grand Slam to openly rooting against Clark. There was one voice that shouted, “Get in the bunker!” when Clark hit to 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 said. “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 who 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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