{"id":55567,"date":"2026-08-24T23:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/55567\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T23:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:37:15","slug":"wyndham-clark-wins-2026-bmw-championship-holds-off-mcilroy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/55567\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyndham Clark Wins 2026 BMW Championship, Holds Off McIlroy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article SummaryWyndham Clark closed with three straight birdies on 16-18 to win the BMW Championship at 17 under, his sixth PGA TOUR title.Patrick Cantlay leapfrogged Rory McIlroy for second place, while Scottie Scheffler kept his FedExCup points lead despite a T12 finish.No player aced the par-3 16th, so neither hole-in-one prize (BMW X5 or iX3) was awarded, but last year’s ace still funded a college scholarship.<\/p>\n

Wyndham Clark closed out a tense final round Sunday to capture the 20th BMW Championship, finishing at 17 under par for his first career Playoff title and sixth PGA TOUR victory. The 32-year-old American had led the tournament from the opening round and carried a five-stroke cushion into Sunday\u2019s final round over Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland. That lead narrowed considerably as McIlroy mounted a charge, pulling within striking distance after a birdie on the 11th hole. Clark, meanwhile, had yet to make a birdie of his own and had bled three shots off his advantage.<\/p>\n

The turning point came at the 16th green, where Clark \u2014 already a two-time U.S. Open champion, having won in 2023 and again this year \u2014 made the first of three consecutive birdies to close out the tournament and seal the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t make anything on the greens and just tried to get myself going,\u201d Clark said afterward, adding that the late run let him \u201cfinish strong\u201d after a season he called his best yet following a rough 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/a><\/p>\n

McIlroy finished at 13 under and was overtaken down the stretch by Patrick Cantlay, who carded 14 under to edge into second place. Cantlay previously won the BMW Championship in 2021 and 2022. Collin Morikawa, Gary Woodland and Chris Gotterup tied for fourth at 12 under. Defending champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 7 under to finish tied for 12th but held onto the top spot in the FedExCup standings, ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick in second. Clark now sits third in the season standings.<\/p>\n

The tournament, held in St. Louis, drew a field limited to the top 50 players in the FedExCup rankings and featured BMW\u2019s traditional showcase of new vehicles, including the new BMW X5<\/a>, the facelifted 7 Series<\/a>, and the all-electric iX3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Hole-in-One That Wasn\u2019t<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/a><\/p>\n

For the first time in tournament history, players had a choice of two hole-in-one prizes on the par-3 16th: the new X5 or the electric iX3. No player made an ace this year, so neither car was awarded. But last year\u2019s ace still delivered a scholarship. Akshay Bhatia\u2019s hole-in-one during the third round of the 2025 BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club triggered a BMW Hole-in-One Scholarship, which was awarded this week to Juliya Tabaka of Manchester, Missouri. Tabaka, the seventh recipient of the award, will receive a full four-year Evans Scholarship covering tuition and housing at the University of Missouri.<\/p>\n

The BMW Championship has funneled all of its proceeds toward the Evans Scholars Foundation, run by tournament organizer Western Golf Association, since its debut in 2007. The event has raised more than $63 million and funded over 4,000 full college scholarships for caddies, not counting this year\u2019s proceeds.<\/p>\n

BMW of North America President and CEO Sebastian Mackensen marked the tournament\u2019s 20th anniversary as title sponsor, saying the event\u2019s reach \u201cextends well beyond the course\u201d through the scholarship program.<\/p>\n

Moving To New Jersey In 2027<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/a><\/p>\n

The tour\u2019s next stop for a hole-in-one shot at a BMW \u2014 and another named scholarship \u2014 will come next year when the 21st BMW Championship moves to Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey, running August 16\u201322, 2027. It will mark the tournament\u2019s first appearance in the New York metropolitan area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article SummaryWyndham Clark closed with three straight birdies on 16-18 to win the BMW Championship at 17 under,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1443,20151,44,399],"class_list":["post-55567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rory-mcilroy","tag-bmw-championship","tag-bmw-golf","tag-golf","tag-rory-mcilroy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}