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McIlroy fightback falls short as Clark rallies to win

RTÉ · RTÉ Sport · 2026-08-23T21:58:53+00:00 · nguồn gốc

Rory McIlroy's hopes of a fightback BMW Championship win came unstuck over the final three holes as Wyndham Clark bounced back to take the title. Clark had entered the final round with a five-shot buffer at Bellerive Country Club, but three bogeys over the first 10 holes brought the chasers into play. Clark actually led by six strokes late Saturday before a bogey on the final hole. He began Sunday's round with a bogey. McIlroy was also one-over par after eight holes, but a run of three birdies around the turn opened up the possibility of an unlikely win. All the momentum appeared to be with the Holywood man as the leaders sat level on 14-under par heading into that final trio of holes. Clark did manage to edge ahead as he birdied the 16th to move to 15-under par and McIlroy's chances came unstuck as he made a mess of the par-five 17th. Left off the tee, McIlroy tried to lay up but got his number wrong and landed in the bunker. He went sand to sand from there, and he was unable to get up and down to save par. Moments later Clark curled in a birdie putt to move three clear heading down the last. It meant that the American had a comfortable walk down 18 having looked so out of sorts for much of Sunday's play. Still, he finished with a flourish with a fine closing birdie seeing him move to 17-over par, four clear of McIlroy, who eventually finished third with Patrick Cantlay closest to Clarke on 14-under par. Collin Morikawa shot 68, aided by an eagle on the 17th hole, to jump up to a tie for fourth place with Gary Woodland (69) and Chris Gotterup (69). Scotland's Robert MacIntyre posted a 65 to tie Jake Knapp for the best round of the day. That left MacIntyre at 10 under and tied Maverick McNealy (68) for seventh place, catapulting him from outside the top 30 to into the field for the Tour Championship next week in Atlanta. Additional reporting: Reuters