BMW Championship golf: Marc Leishman clinches title with five shot victory
Marc Leishman secured a wire-to-wire victory to take the BMW Championship by five strokes with a composed 67 in the final round at the Conway Farms Golf Club.
Final leaderboard
-23 Marc Leishman
-18 Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler
-16 Jason Day
-15 Matt Kuchar, John Rahm
Day four report
Australia's Marc Leishman secured a wire-to-wire victory to take the BMW Championship by five strokes with a composed 67 in the final round at the Conway Farms Golf Club.
He held off a spirited late challenge from Ben Coley's 33/1 tip Justin Rose, who produced a fantastic 65 with seven birdies and one bogey to finish on 18 under par alongside Rickie Fowler, while fellow Australian Jason Day was two shots further back.
The 33-year-old started the day at 19 under par but immediately improved his score with a birdie on the opening hole after chipping to three feet.
Leishman dropped a shot on the fifth but regained it at the par-three next with a putt from 24 feet before gaining another birdie at the eighth following an excellent bunker shot to go to the turn at 21 under.
The Warrnambool-born golfer dropped a shot at the 13th to give Rose a glimmer of hope as the lead was cut to two shots but Leishman responded with back-to-back gains on the 15th and 16th before a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the last secured his second win of the season after taking the Arnold Palmer Invitational title in March.
Leishman began the tournament in seventh place in the FedEx Cup standings but his success means he has moved up to fourth ahead of the Tour Championship finale at East Lake Golf Club next week, where the overall leader will take away 10million US dollars.
Leishman told Sky Sports: "Unbelievable. There were a couple ups-and-downs during the day. Rosey made a real good run at me towards the end. It was nice to roll in that birdie on 18 so just an exciting day."
In the battle to get into the top 30 in the FedEx Cup rankings and make it to next week's final event, Masters winner Sergio Garcia moved up from 34th to 25th, with Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay also moving into a precious spot.
Major winners Louis Oosthuizen and Henrik Stenson dropped out of the top 30 along with Americans Brendan Steele and Bill Haas.
Open champion Jordan Spieth will head to Atlanta next week leading the standings after finishing in a tie for seventh.
Final round collated scores
(USA unless stated, par 71)
261 Marc Leishman (Aus) 62 64 68 67
266 Justin Rose (Eng) 67 68 66 65, Rickie Fowler (USA) 65 64 70 67
268 Jason Day (Aus) 64 65 70 69
269 Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 68 65 67, Matt Kuchar (USA) 67 68 67 67
271 Tony Finau (USA) 65 72 70 64, Jordan Spieth (USA) 65 70 71 65
272 Patrick Cantlay (USA) 67 65 70 70, Webb Simpson (USA) 66 73 65 68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 67 71 68 66
273 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 65 72 68, Brooks Koepka (USA) 71 70 69 63, Cameron Smith(Aus)66 68 69 70, Pat Perez(USA)70 67 67 69, Lucas Glover(USA)68 70 65 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 68 68 68 69, Kevin Chappell(USA)69 67 70 67, Chez Reavie(USA)68 67 67 71
274 Phil Mickelson (USA) 66 69 69 70, Luke List (USA) 68 70 67 69, Scott Brown(USA)69 66 67 72, Sean O'Hair(USA)70 69 66 69, Xander Schauffele(USA)72 70 65 67, Zach Johnson(USA)67 71 72 64, Ryan Moore(USA)69 66 67 72
275 Keegan Bradley (USA) 65 72 68 70, Bud Cauley (USA) 69 66 71 69, Charley Hoffman(USA)64 71 67 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 73 66 67, Gary Woodland(USA)67 67 72 69, Stewart Cink(USA)67 66 70 72
276 Daniel Berger (USA) 68 68 69 71, Dustin Johnson (USA) 71 72 69 64, James Hahn(USA)68 68 69 71, Bryson DeChambeau(USA)68 70 69 69, Paul Casey(Eng)69 67 71 69, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 65 71 70 70, Jamie Lovemark(USA)64 70 71 71
277 Hudson Swafford (USA) 68 66 73 70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 69 70 69, Brian Harman(USA)69 69 70 69, Adam Hadwin(Can)71 71 70 65
278 Brendan Steele (USA) 68 66 72 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 73 69 70 66, Mackenzie Hughes(Can)67 68 69 74
279 Justin Thomas (USA) 67 70 71 71, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 72 68 70 69, Kyle Stanley(USA)70 68 71 70, Russell Henley(USA)66 71 70 72
280 Grayson Murray (USA) 71 70 71 68, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 66 69 73
281 Kevin Na (USA) 73 73 72 63, Bill Haas (USA) 71 69 71 70, Sung Kang(Kor)73 68 68 72, Kevin Tway(USA)73 70 66 72, Robert Streb(USA)67 69 75 70
282 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 70 72 72 68, Rory McIlroy (Nirl) 72 69 70 71, Jason Dufner(USA)74 66 72 70, Si Woo Kim(Kor)72 71 72 67
283 Billy Horschel (USA) 68 74 71 70
284 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 77 74 66 67, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 71 68 74 71
285 Patrick Reed (USA) 72 72 71 70
286 Ollie Schniederjans (USA) 73 70 66 77
287 Kevin Kisner (USA) 71 71 75 70, Charles Howell III (USA) 68 76 69 74
288 Wesley Bryan (USA) 76 71 72 69
Day three report
Marc Leishman will take a five-stroke lead into the final round of the BMW Championship after producing a superb 68 on Saturday and he is now 4/9 favourite with Sky Bet to lift the trophy on Sunday.
The Australian, who sat seventh in the FedEx Cup rankings before the tournament began, mixed five birdies with two bogeys in his third round to move to 19 under par.
Fellow Australian Jason Day (11/2) and American Rickie Fowler (5/1) were Leishman's nearest challengers on 14 under par, with Englishman Justin Rose (33/1) a further two strokes back in fourth.
Beginning the day three shots clear of the chasing pack, Leishman rolled in his 14-foot birdie putt at the third but gave a shot back at the next.
Another birdie from 20 feet at the fifth took the 33-year-old back to 17 under but he dropped a shot at the seventh to return to where he started the day.
Leishman then made gains at the eighth, 13th and 18th to extend his advantage to five shots.
After his round, Leishman told Sky Sports Golf: "I'm feeling good. The game's in a really good spot but the way the course is getting, you've got to be right on your game. It's very easy to have bogeys out there.
"Hopefully the putter stays hot like it has been and when I give myself some chances I can make them."
Day two report
Marc Leishman remains the man to catch in the BMW Championship after another fine display saw him remain clear of his rivals both on the course and in Sky Bet's market where he is the 15/8 market leader.
The Australian opened with a round of 62 and briefly looked like carding another on Friday, only for a bogey at the 17th to ensure that the chasing pack remain on his coat tails entering the weekend.
Still, it was an excellent day's work for the 33-year-old, who tapped in for birdie at the last and a round of 64. In 36 holes played, he has made a remarkable 18 birdies, his relentless pace stringing out the field in behind.
Compatriot and former BMW winner Jason Day (10/3) leads the pursuers along with Rickie Fowler (3/1), the pair locked together at 13-under and three back of Leishman.
Day was just two-under for the day heading to the par-five 14th, but chipped in for eagle to ignite what would prove to be a stunning finish.
The 2015 US PGA champion, who won at this course by six shots later the same year, went on to make a hole-in-one at the par-three 17th to leap to the top of the leaderboard until his fellow Aussie resumed control.
Fowler also produced back-nine fireworks, playing a five-hole stretch from the 13th in five-under, and the trio have daylight on the chasing pack which is headed by Ben Coley's tip Patrick Cantlay (22/1) on 10-under.
The youngster, one of the success stories of the season as his climb from outside the world's top 1000 to the verge of the top 50 continues, is one ahead of Italy's Francesco Molinari (40/1), who needs a top-eight finish to make the final event of the FedEx Cup.
Rory McIlroy's (300/1) hopes of making it to next week's finale at East Lake appear slim, but a two-under back-nine had him moving in the right direction albeit 15 shots behind the pace-setter.
Overnight favourite Jordan Spieth (18/1) struggled with the putter and will start the weekend nine shots behind Leishman, who is seeking to land his second PGA Tour title of the season and biggest of his career.
Day one report
Marc Leishman fired a nine-under 62 to grab a two-shot lead at the BMW Championship, where Jason Day and Rickie Fowler also made impressive starts.
Leishman, who is now Sky Bet's 6/1 third favourite, was the star performer on a day of low scoring in benign conditions at Conway Farms Golf Club, where only 14 of the 69-man field finished the day over-par.
Fellow Australian Day (5/1), Charley Hoffman (16/1) and Jamie Lovemark (25/1) were his nearest challengers on seven under, while Fowler (7/1) lies in the group a further shot back after birdieing six of his final seven holes.
Fowler is joined three off the pace by FedExCup leader Jordan Spieth, who is the 7/2 favourite for glory, as world number one Dustin Johnson (50/1) began with a level-par 71 and Rory McIlroy (100/1) stuttered to an opening-round 72.
Leishman birdied three of his opening four holes and cancelled out a bogey-five at the sixth with a hat-trick of gains from the seventh to reach the turn in 30.
The Australian drained a 20-footer at the 11th and picked up another shot at the next, with back-to-back birdies from the 14th helping him set the clubhouse target.
"I hit the ball well and the putter cooperated," Leishman said. "It's nice when you can get on a run like this and hopefully I can keep it going."
Day nailed a 20-footer at the 10th and added four more birdies over his final six holes, with Hoffman later joining him in joint-second after finishing with back-to-back gains.
Lovemark completed a blemish-free card with a final-hole eagle to make it a trio on seven under, while Fowler racked up six consecutive birdies from the 12th - including a 65-footer at the 17th.
Ben Coley's 70/1 pick Phil Mickelson lies tied-10th following a five-under 66 and he's now 33/1 while PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas posted a four-under 67, with Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Jon Rahm all seven strokes adrift.
McIlroy, needing a top-four finish this week to give him a chance of defending his FedExCup title, double-bogeyed his opening hole and carded a three-putt bogey at the last in an inconsistent display.