2026 BMW Championship: Three players in precarious playoff position after Bellerive

ST. LOUIS — It’s Wyndham Clark’s tournament to lose during on Sunday as the reigning U.S. Open winner carries a five-shot lead over the field at Bellerive.

That doesn’t mean there’s any shortage of drama at the BMW Championship, where as many as three players could see themselves get bounced from the Tour Championship field.

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Those names are Bud Cauley, Kurt Kitayama, and Rickie Fowler — who entered the week ranked Nos. 28 through 30 in FedExCup points.

Cauley is done with his final round, in with a 1-over 281. He’ll finish outside the top 40 at the BMW and is currently No. 35 in projected the nail-biting FedExCup race.

To be clear, it’ll be less nail-biting for Cauley — ditto for Fowler, who bogeyed his final hole of the tournament to finish at 1 under and now is No. 33 in FedExCup projections.

The most stressful afternoon hands goes to Kitayama.

He sits No. 31 in the projections, one spot behind Robert MacIntyre for last man in the field. MacIntyre, who withdrew from last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship after an opening round 82, is currently playing his back nine and inside the tournament’s top 10.

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Kitayama is done at Bellerive, too, posting three straight sub-70 rounds (all 68s) to finish his tournament at 4 under. He was mistake free through 13 holes but recorded squares at the par-4 14th and par-3 16th to limit his movement up the leaderboard.

An opening round 72 could be what ultimately undoes him — but only time will tell.

Sungjae Im, who was the only player able to get himself into this week’s playoff field in St. Louis, is trying to repeat the same leap into East Lake. Although three front nine bogeys have him in a precarious spot (all the way back to No. 39 in the projections after entering the day at No. 30).

In addition to MacIntrye, the other two contenders to play spoiler are Patrick Cantlay and Gary Woodland — both of who sit inside the top 5 on the BMW Championship leaderboard and seem primed to steal the spots previously set for Cauley and Fowler.

Tour Championship bubble tracker: How Nos. 25-35 are faring at BMW Championship

The top 30 players will qualify for the PGA Tour’s playoff finale. Here’s how those around the cut line are faring at Bellerive.

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  Golf Channel Staff,

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  Golf Channel Staff,