Wyndham Clark led from the first round to the last to take the 20th BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, finishing 17 under par. It is the American’s first win in a PGA TOUR Playoff event and his sixth on tour overall. The anniversary edition also marked 20 years of BMW as title sponsor, with all tournament proceeds going to the Evans Scholars Foundation.
Wyndham Clark has won the 20th BMW Championship, closing out a wire-to-wire victory at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis with a total score of 17 under par. It is the first Playoff title of the 32-year-old American’s career and his sixth PGA TOUR win.
A final round that stayed tense to the end
Clark topped the leaderboard from day one and started Sunday five strokes clear of Rory McIlroy. The gap did not last. Playing together in the final flight, the two major winners traded blows, and McIlroy pulled level in the race after a birdie on the 11th. Clark, meanwhile, had yet to card a single birdie and had dropped three shots.
The turn came on the 16th green, where the 2023 and 2026 US Open champion finally holed one — then repeated the trick on each of the last two holes. That closing run settled the title.
“I didn’t make anything on the greens and just tried to get myself going. The birdie on the 16th got me back, and I jumped right into it,” Clark said. “As much as I would have loved to run away with this, it was fun to get the juices flowing. I’m really proud of myself that I didn’t let it go away. I was still mentally there and finished strong. Three wins in one season – this is my best year yet, coming off my worst season ever. I’m really pleased with where I am right now.”
How the rest of the field finished
McIlroy ended at 13 under and slipped to third, passed by Patrick Cantlay, who signed for 14 under and remains a two-time BMW Championship winner from 2021 and 2022. Fourth place was shared at 12 under by Americans Collin Morikawa, Gary Woodland and Chris Gotterup.
Defending champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler finished tied for 12th at seven under, yet held on to the FedExCup lead ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick, who was three under and tied for 28th. Clark moves up to third in the season standings.
Cars on show, but no hole-in-one winner
BMW used the anniversary week to display the new BMW X5, built at the BMW Group’s Spartanburg plant in the United States, alongside the new BMW 7 Series and the all-electric BMW iX3 — the first model of the company’s Neue Klasse.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, a player acing the 16th could have chosen between two hole-in-one cars, the new X5 or the iX3. Nobody managed it, so neither car was handed over.
Where the money goes
All proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, run by tournament organiser the Western Golf Association. Since the first BMW Championship in 2007, the event has raised more than $63 million — a figure that does not include this year’s tournament — and helped fund more than 4,000 full tuition and housing college scholarships for caddies.
Juliya Tabaka of Manchester, Missouri, was named the latest BMW Hole-in-One Scholar during the week and will receive a full four-year Evans Scholarship covering tuition and accommodation at the University of Missouri. She is the seventh recipient of the award, which BMW funds off the back of Akshay Bhatia’s ace in the third round of last year’s tournament at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland.
What it means
Golf remains one of the longest-running sponsorship platforms in the car industry, and BMW has been attached to the sport for close to four decades. The company says the BMW Championship has been voted the best tournament on the PGA TOUR five times, with a field restricted to the top 50 players in the FedExCup standings.
Sebastian Mackensen, President and CEO of BMW of North America, said the event “brings together the world’s best golfers, passionate fans and valued partners for an unforgettable week of championship golf” and pointed to the Evans Scholars link as its most important element.
The 21st BMW Championship runs from 16 to 22 August 2027 at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, the first time the tournament has been staged in the New York metropolitan area.
Source: www.press.bmwgroup.com