Getty
Rory McIlroy can join Tiger Woods in golf history Sunday at the BMW Championship, giving him a milestone to chase in the final round.
Rory McIlroy sits five shots back of Wyndham Clark entering Sunday, keeping alive his bid to match a Tiger Woods feat unseen since 1997.
Clark’s five-shot cushion is the largest 54-hole lead at the BMW Championship since 2019, but McIlroy has posted rounds of 64 and 65 already this week and insists Bellerive Country Club still gives him room to charge.
McIlroy is chasing a piece of history that has stood since Woods’ prime. No player has won the Masters Tournament and the BMW Championship, then known as the Western Open, in the same calendar year since Woods pulled off the double in 1997, according to PGA Tour Communications. McIlroy, a past BMW Championship winner and three-time FedExCup champion, is making his 16th start at the event, the most of any player since the FedExCup era began in 2007.
He built the Masters half of the equation in April. McIlroy held off Scottie Scheffler by one shot to win his second consecutive green jacket, closing at 12 under for his sixth career major, according to Golf Channel.
“I just can’t believe I waited 17 years to get one green jacket,” McIlroy said, as quoted by Golf Channel.
Rory McIlroy’s BMW Championship Position
GettyTiger Woods in 1997.
McIlroy opened with a bogey-free 6-under 64 at Bellerive, sharing the first-round lead with Clark, Gary Woodland, J.J. Spaun and Chris Gotterup after an uncharacteristic tie for 66th the previous week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. A 1-under 69 in round two dropped him off the pace as Clark matched his own opening 64.
McIlroy answered on Moving Day, closing with three straight birdies on Nos. 15 through 17 for a 5-under 65 that pushed him into Sunday’s final pairing alongside Clark, according to Golf Channel. Clark, meanwhile, survived an opening double bogey, made an eagle at the par-5 eighth and ripped off four birdies in five holes on his back nine to reach 17 under.
Patrick Cantlay joined McIlroy at 12 under, five shots adrift. Gotterup and Woodland sit at 11 under, with Collin Morikawa at 10 under and Sungjae Im at 9 under. Defending champion Scheffler, who has already clinched the FedExCup points lead, is well back at 5 under.
“I think you can be aggressive here,” McIlroy said of Bellerive’s layout, as quoted by Golf Channel.
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP — ROUND 3 LEADERBOARD
Bellerive Country Club, Saint Louis, MO; August 20–23, 2026
After Round 3
Pos
Player
Score
R1
R2
R3
Total
1
Wyndham Clark
-17
64
64
65
193
T2
Rory McIlroy
-12
64
69
65
198
T2
Patrick Cantlay
-12
67
65
66
198
T4
Chris Gotterup
-11
64
67
68
199
T4
Gary Woodland
-11
64
65
70
199
6
Collin Morikawa
-10
68
65
67
200
7
Sungjae Im
-9
67
64
70
201
T8
Eric Cole
-8
67
68
67
202
T8
Ryo Hisatsune
-8
65
70
67
202
T8
Maverick McNealy
-8
67
66
69
202
T8
J.J. Spaun
-8
64
66
72
202
T12
Michael Brennan
-7
69
65
69
203
T12
Russell Henley
-7
67
66
70
203
14
Jacob Bridgeman
-6
66
72
66
204
T15
Alex Noren
-5
71
69
65
205
T15
Robert MacIntyre
-5
68
69
68
205
T15
Scottie Scheffler
-5
72
65
68
205
T15
Cameron Young
-5
71
65
69
205
T15
Ludvig Åberg
-5
66
70
69
205
T15
Ryan Gerard
-5
70
66
69
205
T15
Akshay Bhatia
-5
67
68
70
205
T15
Justin Thomas
-5
67
67
71
205
T23
Sepp Straka
-4
73
68
65
206
T23
Aaron Rai
-4
68
71
67
206
T23
Sam Burns
-4
71
67
68
206
T23
Matt Fitzpatrick
-4
65
72
69
206
T23
Viktor Hovland
-4
71
63
72
206
T28
Alex Smalley
-3
69
68
70
207
T28
Matthew McCarty
-3
70
67
70
207
T28
Adam Scott
-3
68
68
71
207
T28
Xander Schauffele
-3
70
66
71
207
T28
Michael Thorbjornsen
-3
66
66
75
207
T33
Kurt Kitayama
-2
72
68
68
208
T33
Kristoffer Reitan
-2
67
67
74
208
T35
Nicolai Højgaard
-1
73
71
65
209
T35
Tom Kim
-1
72
69
68
209
T35
Ben Griffin
-1
68
73
68
209
T35
J.T. Poston
-1
70
70
69
209
T35
Rickie Fowler
-1
71
69
69
209
T35
Si Woo Kim
-1
70
69
70
209
T35
Alex Fitzpatrick
-1
66
72
71
209
T35
Justin Rose
-1
69
67
73
209
T43
Bud Cauley
E
73
69
68
210
T43
Hideki Matsuyama
E
72
68
70
210
T45
Sahith Theegala
+1
71
72
68
211
T45
Min Woo Lee
+1
69
72
70
211
T45
Ryan Fox
+1
71
69
71
211
48
Tommy Fleetwood
+2
69
69
74
212
49
Jake Knapp
+5
67
72
76
215
50
Nicolas Echavarría
+6
69
74
73
216
Leaderboard subject to change. After Round 3.Scores through 54 holes.
McIlroy’s Career Arc Against Tiger Woods at 37
McIlroy turned 37 in May. Woods was the same age when he collected his 14th major at the 2008 U.S. Open and had piled up roughly 74 career PGA Tour wins, a pace McIlroy has never approached. McIlroy enters Sunday with six majors and 30 career Tour titles, a milestone he reached at this year’s Masters, according to Golf Channel.
Still, McIlroy’s recent stretch has closed some of that gap. He completed the career Grand Slam in 2025, then became the fourth player in Masters history to win back-to-back titles this April.
The BMW Championship itself, the second leg of the FedExCup Playoffs, traces its roots to the Western Open, first played in 1899, according to PGA Tour. This week’s $20 million purse and $3.6 million winner’s share are on the line at Bellerive, hosting the event for the first time since 2008.
Clark needs one more solid round to complete a wire-to-wire runaway and boost his case for PGA Tour Player of the Year. McIlroy needs something closer to a 64 to force the issue and keep the Woods comparison alive into next week’s Tour Championship.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist who covers MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, boxing, golf, and Olympic sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Newspaper and Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering the Olympics, pro baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin