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Wyndham Clark might have a good argumentr for POY (James Gilbert/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
We may have a horse race for PGA Tour Player of the Year after all.
A few days after Rory McIlroy conceded the title to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark would like to say “not so fast.”
Clark is doing to the 50-man field at the BMW Championship this week what Scheffler did to the 70-man field a week ago at the FedEx St. Jude Championship — which is leave everyone else seemingly playing for runner-up.
Despite a gruesome opening double bogey that included two bunkers and a cold top from one of them into the rough, Clark still managed to separate himself from the field with a 5-under 65 at the Bellerive Country Club. His first two 64s came bogey free on Thursday and Friday, but on Saturday he gave away three strokes on 1 and 18 but came back with six birdies and a eagle in between.
Click here for full BMW Championship leaderboard
Suddenly the conversation about who deserves to be POY doesn’t seem so clear cut in favor of the world No. 1. While Scheffler can tout his two wins and remarkable consistency with four runner-ups plus five more top-four finishes in 18 starts this season, he doesn’t have a major win.
So don’t sleep on Clark and his comeback-player-of-the-year season that includes beating Scheffler head-to-head on the last day to win the U.S. Open at Shinnecock and an epic Sunday charge to sail past Scheffler in his hometown and Si Woo Kim and win the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Also in today’s DD …
Who’s projected to move in or out of the Tour Championship?
Projected U.S. Presidents Cup standings on the eve of automatic six deadline
If Clark is able to take care of business with a five-shot lead going into the final round of the BMW Championship, he and Scheffler might both be sporting dominant playoff wins as they head to East Lake and the Tour Championship next week. A win there to claim the FedEx Cup by either one of them might settle any debate.
“That I have not thought about,” Clark said this week regarding his POY case. “Obviously everyone says, you know, focus here on the moment. That would be amazing. I probably would have to get a win here or next week to I think really be considered. But I’m really focused on playing good this week and hopefully making the Presidents Cup team.”
It could come down to Scheffler and Clark at the Tour Championship (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Of course, McIlroy will be paired with Clark in the final round at Bellerive and might have more juice in the POY debate than he’s willing to admit if his rallies to win and add that to his second consecutive green jacket. The three-time FedEx Cup champion and 30-time PGA Tour winner won the BMW once in 2012. It’s McIlroy’s 16th start in the BMW Championship, the most of any player since the FedEx Cup began in 2007.
“I’m in a good spot going into tomorrow in terms of where I’m at on the leaderboard, but it’s going to take a heroic effort from one of us to catch Wyndham,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy poo-pooed the notion of POY ahead of the BMW when he was asked “if a player’s won the Masters and the Tour Championship, is that a player-of-the-year résumé?”
“No, I’m not the player of the year. No chance. Scottie is,” McIlroy said. “Well, sorry, there’s two weeks to go, but I firsthand watched him for the first two days last week, and he if he keeps playing like that — if he gains nine strokes on the greens every week — we’re all f—d.”
There’s also Chris Gotterup, who sits tied for fourth this week and with a big Sunday could claim a tour-leading fourth win of the season.
“Frankly, it doesn’t totally matter,” Gotterup said. “I’m trying to play the best I can. If it works out, it works out. If not, I’ve had a pretty good year regardless. Really just trying to play well this week and see what happens. But, yeah, I haven’t really thought too much about it.”
Other guys are just trying to get to the Tour Championship next week, and that is shaping up to be a compelling subplot to Sunday’s final round.
As of now, three players are projected to move into the top 30: Gary Woodland (T4) from No. 31 to No. 19; Patrick Cantlay (T2) from No. 43 to No. 22; and Sungjae Im (7th) from No. 40 to right on the bubble at No. 30.
Players projected to fall out of the top 30 are: Kurt Kitayama (T33) from No. 28 to No. 31; Rickie Fowler (T35) from No. 30 to No. 32; and Bud Cauley (T43) from No. 29 to No. 33.
With the six automatic selections for the U.S. Presidents Cup team getting locked in after the BMW, here are the current projected standings.
