Rory McIlroy vaults into final pairing in remarkable turnaround at BMW Championship

ST. LOUIS – Rory McIlroy has done this before.

Back in 2024, he bombed out of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, upset with his game and uncertain of his immediate future, only to contend the next week at the BMW Championship.

McIlroy has a knack for quick turnarounds. Sometimes it doesn’t even take that long.

Famously, he had lost all feel with his driver during the third round of this year’s Masters. McIlroy went to the range with caddie Harry Diamond afterward and hit balls deep into the night. They found something. He won his second Masters title the next day.

It might be unrealistic to expect a win this Sunday, though.

McIlroy is in the final pairing at Bellerive Country Club but a distant five strokes back of leader Wyndham Clark (17 under). Even still, this tournament has already proven to be a resounding success. A week after looking lost in Memphis, McIlroy is contending while recovering his swing on the fly. After rounds of 64 and 69 in the opening two days, the world No. 2 fired a 5-under 65 on Saturday to vault into a tie for second at 12 under.

“I think I needed to be patient the last three days,” McIlroy said, “because my game has, it's been good in parts, but then it's been a struggle in other ways.”

McIlroy has been patching little holes all week. On Saturday, it was his driver. He didn’t hit a fairway until the 10th hole, but he still managed to play that stretch 1 under. With more control on the back nine, McIlroy shot 4 under to jump into the spotlight.

“(I) feel like the swing syncs up better and matches up when I try to hit that cut off the tee,” he said. “Obviously, with this golf course, it's hard to hit the cut all the time because you're hitting over doglegs and stuff. But I feel like if I can get that feel in the swing a little bit more, I'll hit some better tee shots.”

That feel in question is one he found on Monday. He returned home to Florida after his disastrous week in Memphis for a quick pit stop to see his coach, Michael Bannon. The two found a swing feel and pre-shot rehearsal that helped minimize many of the misses he was seeing. He also started using a new, unique training aid.

With that positive momentum in hand, McIlroy has looked like a completely different golfer. He ranks sixth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and sixth in SG: Putting.

“I'm in a good spot going into tomorrow in terms of where I'm at on the leaderboard, but it's going to take a heroic effort from one of us to catch Wyndham,” McIlroy said.

Therein lies the issue. Clark matched McIlroy’s 5-under 65, breezing past everyone who was around him on the leaderboard. Clark has played well with the lead, most recently at the U.S. Open, when he converted a six-shot lead into victory. He also played alongside McIlroy in the final pairing of the 2023 U.S. Open and held on to win.

Yet given the state of McIlroy’s game and where it was just six days ago, it would be foolish to rule out any heroics on Sunday.