Max Homa Ties for Fifth at BMW, Advances with Collin Morikawa to Tour Championship

Viktor Hovland shoots 61 to break Homa's two-day old course record and wins the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Max Homa avoided making a bogey over his final 16 holes Sunday, but that consistency didn’t help him challenge at the leaders at the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Illinois.

Homa closed with seven straight pars and shot a 2-under 68 to finish four days at minus-11 and tied for fifth place with Brian Harman. Homa was 2-under for three rounds excluding Friday’s sizzling 62.

The 32-year-old Cal grad wound up in sixth place in the FedEx Cup standings headed into next week’s season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta, where golfers will compete for a first prize of $18 million.

Max Homa wipes his brow after making a birdie on No. 5 / Photo by Jamie Sabau, USA Today

Viktor Hovland won the BMW title after breaking Homa’s two-day-old course record with a 9-under 61 that included 10 birdies and one bogey. He finished with a final score of 17 under.

The 25-year-old Norwegian made seven birdies on the back nine to overtake Scottie Scheffler, who shot a final-round 66 and finished in a tie for second place with Matt Fitzgerald at 15 under.

"That has to be the best round I've ever played," said Hovland, who clinched the win with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18. "Given the circumstances — a playoff event, this golf course — the way I played the last holes was pretty special."

Rory McIlroy also shot a 66 and finished alone in fourth at minus-12, one stroke better than Homa.

Hovland’s payday Sunday was $3.6 million, Scheffler and Fitzgerald each earned $1.76 million and Homa took home $790,000.

Scheffler climbed to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and will start the Tour Championship with a 10-stroke advantage in the staggered scoring system for the second year in a row. Hovland moved from seventh to second in the points standings and gets an eight-stroke headstart next week.

McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Lucas Glover are third, fourth and fifth in the updated standings, and will get seven, six and five strokes, respectively, to start at Atlanta. Homa gets a four-stroke edge.

Collin Morikawa hits out of the sand / Photo by Jamie Sabau, USA Today

Homa’s fellow Cal grad, Collin Morikawa, also made the cut to be among the 30 players at the Tour Championship. He shot a 2-under 68 and finished in a tie for 25th place at minus-3. Morikawa is 24th in the FedEx Cup standings and will start play Thursday at minus-1.

Morikawa, still seeking his first PGA Tour victory in more than two years, earned $179,750.

Cal’s third entry this week, Byeong Hun An, was going to need a near-spectacular round to climb into the top 30 and squeeze his way into the Tour Championship field.

Instead, he blew up, carding four double bogeys on the way to a 6-over 76 — worst score of the day by any golfer. That dropped him 17 spots to 43rd among the field of 50 at the BMW and torpedoed his long-shot chances of advancing in the FedEx Cup playoffs.

An began the day with a projected FedEx Cup standing of No. 38 but wound up at No. 44.

Here’s how the 30-man field will begin play at the Tour Championship:

10 under: Scottie Scheffler

8 under: Viktor Hovland

7 under: Rory McIlroy

6 under: Jon Rahm

5 under: Lucas Glover

4 under: Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick

3 under: Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele

2 under: Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim

1 under: Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor, Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day

Even par: Sam Burns, Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton, Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka

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Cover photo of Max Homa by Jamie Sabau, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo