Matt Fitzpatrick of England may not have come away with the BMW Championship trophy on Sunday, but his stellar week at Olympia Fields (Ill.) Country Club did something perhaps more important: It assured him entry into next week’s Tour Championship, where the FedEx Cup is on the line.
Fitzpatrick entered the week No. 40 in the FedEx Cup points standings and vaulted to No. 10 by tying for second at the BMW behind winner Viktor Hovland of Norway. Only the top 30 players after Sunday’s action advanced to the season-ending Tour Championship.
Hovland, who fired a 61 that included a 7-under 28 for his back nine, moved from seventh to second in the standings. Scottie Scheffler — the 54-hole co-leader with Fitzpatrick — moved past Spaniard Jon Rahm into the top spot.
That means Scheffler will begin Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta at 10 under par, with a two-stroke advantage over Hovland in the staggered-start format.
The last man into the field of 30 was Austria’s Sepp Straka, and the first man out was Sahith Theegala. Both Straka and Theegala bogeyed their final holes on Sunday, but it came at a greater cost to Theegala, who began the week No. 31 in points and failed to surpass any of his peers. Straka tied for 37th place (2 over) at Sunday’s tournament to drop from 24th to 30th in the points standings. Theegala tied for 15th place on Sunday with a round of 67 and 6-under total.
Rahm tied for 31st at the BMW, his second straight below-average week to open the three-week FedEx Cup playoffs. That dropped him from first to fourth for East Lake.
The full Tour Championship field of 30 and each player’s starting scores are below:
1. Scottie Scheffler, 10 under
2. Viktor Hovland, 8 under
3. Rory McIlroy, 7 under
4. Jon Rahm, 6 under
5. Lucas Glover, 5 under
6. Max Homa, 4 under
7. Patrick Cantlay, 4 under
8. Brian Harman, 4 under
9. Wyndham Clark, 4 under
10. Matt Fitzpatrick, 4 under
11. Tommy Fleetwood, 3 under
12. Russell Henley, 3 under
13. Keegan Bradley, 3 under
14. Rickie Fowler, 3 under
15. Xander Schauffele, 3 under
16. Tom Kim, 2 under
17. Sungjae Im, 2 under
18. Tony Finau, 2 under
19. Corey Conners, 2 under
20. Si Woo Kim, 2 under
21. Taylor Moore, 1 under
22. Nick Taylor, 1 under
23. Adam Schenk, 1 under
24. Collin Morikawa, 1 under
25. Jason Day, 1 under
26. Sam Burns, even par
27. Emiliano Grillo, even par
28. Tyrrell Hatton, even par
29. Jordan Spieth, even par
30. Sepp Straka, even par
–Field Level Media