Rory McIlroy falters down the stretch, leaves BMW Championship with positive momentum

ST. LOUIS – Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark set up on opposite ends of Bellerive Country Club’s driving range.

On one side, McIlroy unleashed booming drives on repeat, touching 189-mph ball speed on command. Clark’s driver was cruising at 164 mph on the other, working on a fairway-finder drill.

Miles of space separated them on the range, on the leaderboard and in their impending strategies. It was representative of what was about to take place – McIlroy required heroics to chase down Clark, who was just trying to protect a five-shot lead.

Both strategies worked, at points. McIlroy pulled even with Clark by the 11th hole, but failed to secure the one extra birdie to nudge himself in front. That gave Clark enough time to settle and rattle off three straight birdies to close – his only birdies of the day.

That proved to be the difference, as Clark notched his third victory of the year in an eerily similar fashion to his U.S. Open win.

“I always felt like I needed to just get my nose ahead to really try to put the pressure on Wyndham, and I couldn't,” said McIlroy, who shot 69 and finished at 13 under and four back of Clark. “We were tied there for a few holes, and then when he made that putt on 16 for two and I couldn't answer, that was obviously a huge moment in the round and in the tournament.”

That McIlroy contended at all was improbable four days ago. The reigning Masters champion admitted his game was not where he wanted it to be to begin the week. The results indicated that, too. He finished 66th in a 69-man field a week ago in Memphis.

McIlroy returned home to Florida on Monday for a practice session with 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. That provided the positive momentum he needed. He rode it all week in St. Louis.

“I felt like most of my game held up today,” McIlroy said. “Obviously going out in the final group and you're working on some stuff, you know, you're just hoping that everything stays the way it is. But, yeah, I hit it well on the back nine. I gave myself plenty of chances. I just couldn't get a putt to drop there those final few holes.”

McIlroy felt he was patching holes in his game throughout. His driver caused him issues on the weekend, his iron play was solid except for Friday and the putter went cold on Sunday. Finishing third despite that only reinforced that he’s headed in the right direction.

“It's nice to know even when I'm not super happy with everything I can still, you know, piece it together and get it around and still give myself a chance to win tournaments,” McIlroy said.

That said, McIlroy will rue a missed opportunity to win. He was shaky on the front nine but made birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to make the turn under par. Meanwhile, Clark made a pair of bogeys and no birdies on his outward nine, cutting his lead down to only two strokes. Clark dropped another shot at the 10th and McIlroy birdied the 11th and suddenly the two were tied. But McIlroy couldn’t sink makeable birdie putts at the 14th, 15th and 16th holes, which gave Clark enough time to collect himself and pull ahead.

The nail in the coffin came at the par-5 17th. McIlroy missed the fairway and hit his second into a fairway bunker while attempting to lay up. His next shot found the greenside bunker, leading to bogey.

“I was expecting him to stuff it there,” Clark said. “It is difficult to hit a wedge shot inside a hundred yards from a bunker. But when he then put it in the next bunker, I knew he was in a tough spot.”

McIlroy won’t have to wait long for redemption. He is looking for his record fourth FedExCup victory.