After a brilliant 66 at the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club’s East Course on Saturday, Denny McCarthy was on the verge of something he had never done before on the PGA Tour. If he could finish in the top 30 of the FedExCup playoffs, he would advance into next week’s lucrative Tour Championship which would qualify him for three of the four majors next year plus automatic entry into The Players Championship and other big events.
Starting the day in the 29th spot, the Georgetown Prep alum knew he was in good position but that there was still work to do. A solid final round with a handful of birdies would probably do the trick but his all-of-a-sudden wayward driver did not cooperate. McCarthy missed 10 of 14 fairways forcing him to scramble for pars, bogeys and a damaging double bogey on the par 5 12th. McCarthy ended with a 3 over par 74 leaving him on the outside looking in. In the tournament within a tournament format, he finished the BMW in a tie for 28th but more importantly in 36th place – 6 spots from the magic 30 – in the playoff race.
After the round, a deflated McCarthy told MyMCM, “I need to be a little more consistent. I show flashes of really good play like yesterday – hit a lot fairways, a lot of greens, putted nice. Today, I just didn’t really have it off the tee.”
Rockville’s @_dennymccarthy shot a final round 3 over par 74 at the @BMWchamps missing out on top 30 finish in #FedExCup playoffs and entry into next week’s Tour Championship. Despite his great disappointment, he talked to @mymcmedia pic.twitter.com/qOtXJcZpIr
— Joe Yasharoff (@JYash) August 22, 2022
Patrick Cantlay repeated as the BMW Championship champion with a final round 69 and 14 under overall. Cantlay beat Scott Stallings by one stroke. Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele were three strokes off the lead at 11 under. Cantlay won the BMW last year in a playoff at Caves Valley outside of Baltimore.
