Cal Sports Report

Collin Morikawa in Position to Win BMW Championship

Former Cal golfer just three shots off the lead after three rounds. Max Homa not too far behind

Jake Curtis

Former Cal golfer Collin Morikawa had an outstanding third round at the BMW Championship on Saturday, putting him in position to shoot for his first PGA Tour title of the season.

Morikawa had seven birdies against a single bogey on the Wilmington (Delaware) Country Club South Course to give him a score of 6-under-par 65. That puts him just three strokes behind leader Patrick Cantlay, who is alone at 12-under after a round of 6-under 65.

Morikawa is tied for sixth place, behind Cantlay, Xander Schauffele (11-under), Scott Stallings (11-under), Adam Scott (10-under) and Scottie Scheffler (10-under).

Tied with Morikawa at 9-under is Aaron Wise.

Morikawa has virtually clinched his spot on next week’s TOUR Championship, the third and final leg of the FedEx Cup playoff. He is projected to be in 15th place in the Cup standings with one round of this week’s event to go, and the top 30 in the Cup standings advance to the TOUR Championship. An $18 million bonus awaits the winner of the FedEx Cup.

Morikawa would like to hold his current position in the top 15 because it will benefit his chances next week.

The top seed at next week’s TOUR Championship will start the chase for the FedEx Cup at 10-under, with the second seed starting at 8-under, third 7-under, fourth 6-under, and fifth at 5-under. Starting strokes continue to apply based on seedings with 6-10 at 4-under, 11-15 at 3-under, 16-20 at 2-under, 21-25 at 1-under and 26-30 at even par.

If Morikawa stays at No. 15 he will begin next week at 3-under, seven strokes off the FedEx Cup lead.

Collin Morikawa. Photo by Bill Streicher, USA TODAY Sports
Collin Morikawa. Photo by Bill Streicher, USA TODAY Sports

Will Zalatoris led the Cup standings heading into the BMW Championship, but he withdrew from a event after four holes on Saturday because of a back injury. He has more than enough points built up to be among the top 30 and qualify for the TOUR Championship, but he is unlikely to be the leader, probably falling one or two positions.

Max Homa, the other former Cal golfer in the BMW Championship field, also had a solid round on Saturday. He shot a 3-under 68, leaving him at 4-under for the tournament, which is five strokes behind Morikawa and ……strokes off the lead.

He is projected to be 17th in the FedEx Cup standings, so he is virtually assured a berth in next week’s event as well, although he would like to move up a few notches to get a better starting score for the TOUR Championship. At No. 17 he would begin the TOUR Championship at 2-under in his bid to win the FedEx Cup playoff, eight strokes off the lead.

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Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Bill Streicher, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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