Golf: Adam Scott concedes lead going into final round of the BMW Championship
Adam Scott lost the lead he held at the halfway mark of the BMW Championship but remains in striking distance of a lucrative payday.
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Adam Scott may have lost his tournament lead but remains a strong chance of booking a place in the PGA Tour’s richest event sitting just two shots off the pace heading into the final round of the BMW Classic.
Scott had a pair of bogeys to go with four birdies in his third round at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware, losing his second-round lead to defending champion Patrick Cantlay, who fired a six under-par 65.
The 42-year-old Australian needs a strong result in the elite 70-man field in Delaware to push his way into the top 30 to progress to the Tour Championship next week.
Cantlay, bidding to become the first player in FedEx Cup post-season history to successfully defend a tournament title, conjured six birdies and an eagle for a 54-hole aggregate of 12-under 201 despite starting the day two shots adrift of Scott.
Cantlay quickly halved that deficit on the opening hole, rolling in a monster 43-foot birdie putt.
Birdies on the third and the seventh - after another long birdie putt from 30 feet - took Cantlay to the turn at three-under for the day.
A bogey on the par-four 11th briefly checked his progress but Cantlay responded with back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th before a magnificent eagle three on the 14th, the American holing out with a sublime lob wedge from 104 yards.
That took Cantlay a shot clear of the field at 12 under but a rare putting blunder on the 17th - missing a three-footer for bogey - dropped him back to 11-under.
Yet once again, Cantlay responded in style, blasting his second shot on the 18th to the back of the green with sharp backspin that left him with just a seven-footer for birdie.
“I hit the ball really well today,” Cantlay said afterwards. “Left a few out there but I think today was really about my bounce backs - after the two bogeys I made which were mistakes, I made birdies on the next two holes and got back into the round and kept the momentum to take into tomorrow.”
Cantlay’s 65 leaves him one clear of close friend Xander Schauffele, who posted a five-under 66 on Saturday to finish the day on 202 alongside fellow American Scott Stallings.
Scott is a shot further back on 10 under where he is joined by world number one Scottie Scheffler, who had threatened to challenge for the outright lead early in the round after four birdies and six pars over the opening 10 holes.
Scheffler’s round came unstuck though down the stretch, with back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes.
Scheffler recovered from that setback with a birdie on the 18th that left him firmly in the hunt heading into Sunday’s final round.
Collin Morikawa will also fancy his chances of making a final-day charge after a 65 propelled him to nine under, three off the pace.
Morikawa pocketed seven birdies and only one bogey and shares sixth on the leaderboard alongside Aaron Wise, who shot a 67.
But Saturday’s third round marked the end of Will Zalatoris’s challenge. The in-form American, winner of last week’s St. Jude Championship, withdrew from the tournament after suffering a back injury on the third hole.
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP OPENING ROUNDS
- Russell Gould
Adam Scott conceded it’s “been a while” since he met his core target of winning but is brimming with confidence after a scorching start at the $21m BMW Championship.
The 42-year-old Australian last tasted victory in 2020 but found some of his best to record a top-five finish at the opening event of the FedEx Cup finals in Memphis last week before taking that red-hot form to Delaware.
Needing a good result to progress to the Tour Championship next week, Scott fired an opening round of six-under 65 to be just one shot behind the leader, his playing partner Keegan Bradley, with the pair ahead of a trio at five-under in the elite 70-man field.
“I think I was drafting off him (Bradley). He shot six-under the front and was running. Sometimes it’s good to see that and you can draft off each other but also just to know that it’s really out there,” Scott said after the opening round at the Wilmington Country Club.
“Keegan made it look easy today, so I tried to take advantage of that as well.”
Solo leader in the clubhouse.@Keegan_Bradley is 7-under after his first round @BMWChampspic.twitter.com/ZLNZoek9EW
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 18, 2022
Scott said he left the St Jude Classic last week chock full of confidence and was able to play without thinking about the need to keep performing to continue his season through the opening two elimination events.
“I think more than anything out of Memphis I got some confidence out of having a result with maybe not my best stuff all four days,” he said.
“It is a nice feeling walking on to any golf course when the confidence is a bit higher, and I certainly felt a sense of ease with that today.
“I really focused more on trying to put myself in to win a golf tournament last week and just play the golf tournament as usual, and that would kind of get it done. It made me only have one focus, and that was on the tournament at hand. I think that’s kind of how I started today.
“I‘ve always prided myself on trying to win tournaments and managed to do that throughout my career, and it’s been a while, and I’d love to get back there later this week, but we’ve got a bit of work to do.”
Scott was the best performer of the four Aussies in the field, with Marc Leishman finishing the opening round at three-under. Cam Davis is two-under and Lucas Herbert one-under.
World No.2 Cameron Smith pulled out of the event, citing a hip injury, but still hopes to be back for the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
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