ST. LOUIS — It wasn’t an ideal start to his third round but Wyndham Clark responded from a double bogey on the first hole at Bellerive Country Club with an impressive front nine that included two birdies and an eagle at the par-5 8th.
He then opened his back with four birdies out of his first five holes to extend his lead at the BMW Championship to five shots entering Sunday’s final round.
Gary Woodland, the “Kansas boy” who has been loving playing in front of the Missouri crowds this week, couldn’t keep up with his playing partner Clark and sits six shots off the lead. Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay are five back, sitting T-2 at 12 under.
Clark, who was as imposing on the back nine as he’s been all week at the BMW Championship, had been bogey-free through his first two rounds.
“I don’t even know how I doubled No. 1, I didn’t even hit that bad of a tee ball — I got kind of screwed where the ball ended up,” the two-time U.S. Open champ said after the round. “I tried a little bit of a hero shot and then made a couple of mistakes and then said to myself, ‘Well, that kind of sucked.’”
Clark said a par putt on the second hole, along with birdie putts at No. 4 and No. 7 helped him regain his confidence.
And then came the eagle.
“That’s when I really got into a groove,” he said.
In a tournament that lacked separation for two days, Clark was the Moving Day winner even if he didn’t move at all on the leaderboard.
His attempt for a third consecutive 6-under 64 was denied by another bogey at the par-4 18th but by that time he had already surged out to the biggest lead the tournament.
“Unfortunate how I finished but I just have to go out and play my game [tomorrow],” Clark said.
The performance comes at a perfect time for Clark, with Presidents Cup qualifying at stake and the Player of the Year debate now seemingly revived after Scottie Scheffler’s win in Memphis a week ago.
Could Clark win the player’s vote with a win in St. Louis and another at the Tour Championship next week in Atlanta? Anything seems possible now.
“It’s trending in a better direction than any part of the year,” said Clark when asked how he felt about his game this last late in the season.
McIlroy, who pared every hole on his back nine Friday, birdied three, Nos. 15 through 17, on Moving Day to help post a 5-under 65.
It was an effort good enough to get him into the final pairing with Clark.
“It’s good to be in the final group, but when you start six, seven back, that’s a lot make up,” McIlroy told reporters. “If I focus on myself, go out there, try to shoot a good score — I shot a 64 and a 65 this week — shoot something similar tomorrow, you never know.”
Because of Bellerive’s size, McIlroy believes he has the ability to chase on Sunday.
“I think you can be aggressive here,” he said. “I think it’s a better place to chase than say Southwind last week.”
Three in, three out
Woodland is fighting to make it to East Lake. He entered the week No. 31 in FedExCup points but now projects to be inside the top 20. He heads into the final round T-4 with Chris Gotterup, who bogeyed the par-5 17th on Saturday after playing the first 16 holes without a mistake.
A considerable way outside of the bubble entering the week at No. 43, Cantlay, also appears primed to play the role of party crasher.
Outside of the top five on the leaderboard is Colin Morikawa, who sits in solo sixth at 10 under after putting together a bogey-free back nine at Bellerive.
“We all want to be there, and this year the format is anyone can win,” said Morikawa of guys trying to play themselves into the Tour Championship field. “You got to believe that you can do it in four days. No matter how much grinding you got to do, you’re going to put it all in to see if you can pull it off.
Sungjae Im, who like Woodland and Cantlay, is fighting to extend his season one more week, had a chance to be T-6 with Morikawa but bogeyed his final hole and is at 9 under after 54 holes.
Im was No. 40 entering the week and projects to be the final man in the field at East Lake, ahead of Kurt Kitayama, Bud Cauley and Rickie Fowler.
Those three players are currently set to be bounced from the Tour Championship field for Woodland, Cantlay and Im.
“It’s a long year — it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said Cantlay. “I feel like I’ve done a good job pacing myself this year and pacing myself this last month or so, which has been a busy month.”
