Wyndham Clark was leaking oil badly over the last five holes Sunday at TPC Southwinds. He made double-bogey at the 15th then bogeys at 15 and 16 — his hopes of moving on to the second playoff event were fading.
But he pulled himself together, parred 17 and the difficult 18th and got in the house with a closing 72 — he was five-under par, tied for 28 at the St. Jude Championship. Fortune smiled on him and he ended up right on the number — 70th — which got him into this week’s BMW Championship in Wilmington, Delaware.
The not-so-fortunate No. 71 was Anirban Lahirii. He missed the 36-hole cut last Friday to end his hopes of advancing.
Biggest move over the four days came from former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover. He started the week at No. 121, barely making it into the playoffs. A 66 on Sunday got him to 12-under par and in a tie for third. He went from 121 all the way up to 34th and he’ll have a chance this week to play his way into the Tour Championship if he can finish in that coveted top 30.
Adam Scott also shot 66 on Sunday. Starting the week at 77, he jumped to 45th. Brian Harman made it three in that tie at 12-under thanks to a Sunday 67 and he went from 55th to 23rd.
Trey Mullinax was 70th starting the week but a T5 jumped him to 40th. Andrew Putnam played his way into the BMW, joining Mullinax in that tie for fifth and he shot from 87 to 47.
The madness continues this week — with quadruple points available, anything’s possible.
The Top 70 Heading To The BMW:
Maja Stark, Ewen Ferguson Big Winners In Northern Ireland:
Round of the day Sunday in the world of golf came from LET player Maja Stark. She shot a final round 63 at Galgorm Castle Golf Club and ran away with the women’s side of the ISPS Handa World Invitational.
Stark’s 10-under par career round got her to 20-under par, five shots better than Allisen Corpuz from the United States.
With the win, Stark gained automatic status on the LPGA Tour and she accepted.
“I’ve been dreaming about it for a long time. It’s just been so frustrating when you feel like maybe you could play there, but it feels like the road is so long and you have to go through the Q-School and that’s — I mean, if you have a bad week you’re out, and then you got to wait another year,” said Stark. “So it’s really nice to just skip that part and just go ahead to, yeah, the fun stuff.”
The 22-year-old now can play out the rest of the year on the LPGA Tour as the season’s 33rd rookie, and the seventh first-time winner of 2022. Her 500 Race to the CME Globe points become official as well as her winnings, $225,000, which was equal on both the men’s and women’s events. “I haven’t even processed it. I just went out and played a round of golf and now I’m here,” said Stark. “Yes, great timing.”
On the men’s side of the proceedings, Ewen Ferguson of Scotland went wire-to-wire. He closed with a 69 and his 12-under winning total was three clear of countryman Connor Syme (68) and Virto Borja of Spain.
Ferguson started the week by firing a course-record 61 and although things got tight on Sunday, he held on for his second win of the season.
Ferguson, the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters winner earlier this year, led by three overnight and ended up winning by three.
“It feels unbelievable. I just can’t believe how calm I was out there,” Ferguson said afterward. “It couldn’t have worked out any better playing with Connor (Syme). I felt although I played with him the first two days and he was playing so, so good, and I felt he was my main rival for the day, so managing to play with him and hold each other off and keep up with each other was so good. Just can’t believe I’m a winner again.”
