ST. LOUIS – (Wire Service Report) – Wyndham Clark pulled off his second consecutive bogey-free 64 Friday to establish a one-stroke lead at the BMW Championship at the Bellerive Country Club.
Clark is 12-under-par 128 at the halfway mark of the FedEx Cup playoffs’ middle event. The top 30 in the points race after Sunday will qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship.
Clark entered this week fifth in points thanks to a two-win season that included his second U.S. Open. He admitted a playoff win would look nice in his trophy case.
“Obviously majors are the No. 1, and then any time you can win any tournament’s big, but a signature event or a playoff event is massive,” Clark said. “I’ve been close in this event a couple times, so it would be nice to pull through and get a W.”
Clark made three birdies on each side Friday. He has hit 31 of 36 greens in regulation this week, leading the field, while getting up and down from the sand in all three attempts
While Clark is safely booked for Atlanta next week, Gary Woodland has everything to play for as No. 31 in the standings, currently the first player out. He birdied his last two holes to shoot a 5-under 65 and take sole possession of second at 11 under.
“I played nicely. I didn’t hit it as well as I did yesterday, where I was in complete control,” Woodland said. “The key for me was, I lost it a little bit on the back nine, lost some shots to the right, and I was able to adjust, kind of take a step back. … I checked my grip and hit four really great shots coming in on 17, 18, so proud of the adjustment I made there.”
J.J. Spaun (66) is third at 10 under. Sungjae Im of South Korea fired a 64 to tie Chris Gotterup (67) for fourth at 9 under, while Patrick Cantlay carded a 65 to join Michael Thorbjornsen (66) at 8 under.
Im (No. 40), Cantlay (No. 43) and Thorbjornsen (No. 41) are all vying to play their way into the Tour Championship field. Per the PGA Tour’s live standings, Thorbjornsen is projected to move into the 30th and final spot and Cantlay would only get to No. 31.
“I would say almost regardless of where I’m at, top of the FedEx Cup or on the bubble, I don’t really think about it,” said Cantlay, the 2021 FedEx Cup champion. “I definitely know the best way to move up that board is to play well this week and so I just put all my attention there.”
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy dropped from a share of the lead to a tie for eighth at 7 under after posting a 69 Friday. He’s joined by Collin Morikawa (65), Russell Henley (66) and Maverick McNealy (66).
World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler bounced back from an opening 72 to post 65. That moved him to 3 under for the week, tied for 25th. There is no 36-hole cut in the three playoff events.
Scheffler carded two bogeys and two bounce-back birdies on the front nine before coming home in 5-under 30.
“Yesterday I had a couple nasty lip-outs and the greens were pretty chewed up late in the day,” Scheffler said. “Today get out there a little earlier on fresh greens, see a couple go in early, and things just start to look a little simpler when there’s not a lot of stuff in your way.”
–Field Level Media