Scheffler erases four-shot deficit to win BMW Championship by two strokes

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — For the world’s No. 1-ranked player, Sunday at Caves Valley Golf Club was another coronation amid the best year in golf.

Scottie Scheffler overcame a four-shot deficit to Robert MacIntyre and held on with a sensational, chip-in birdie at the par-3 17th to record a 3-under, final-round 67 and finish -15, winning the BMW Championship by two strokes.

“I was starting four shots back but got myself into the tournament pretty quickly there on the front nine and did a lot of good stuff out there and would have liked to have had a few less mistakes, but overall great battle all the way through,” Scheffler said. “Did a good job of staying patient and executing when we needed to.”

The win is his fifth of the season to go along with two major titles at the PGA Championship and Open Championship and his 15th top 10 finish in 17 starts this year. Scheffler is firmly in the driver’s seat atop the FedEx Cup standings as he defends his Tour Championship title next week at East Lake.

The four-shot margin narrowed immediately and evaporated quickly. MacIntyre’s tee shot on No. 1 missed right of the fairway, and he left his approach out of the thick, uncut grass short of the green. After missing a nine-foot putt for par, he bogeyed the hole for the second straight round, while Scheffler birdied for a two-shot swing. 

“I needed to get off to a good start today, and Bob gave me a couple gifts there early in the round,” Scheffler said.

MacIntyre then bogeyed the second and the fifth after only recording three the entire week before Sunday, with two of them coming in his blistering first-round 62. Scheffler gave back a stroke of his own after missing a 6-foot putt on the par-3 third, but made his nearly 13-footer for birdie on the par-4 fifth.

“My golf ball was going miles today. I don’t know why. I need to work that out,” MacIntyre said.

As they headed toward the tee at No. 6, the two were tied at -13, and MacIntyre’s lead was gone — a byproduct of his undoing.

“I got off to an absolutely horrific start … I wasn’t even expecting to be over par, to be honest,” MacIntyre said. “I was really expecting to go out there, foot down, and perform the way I have the last couple days.”

By the time they walked off the next hole, and after Scheffler made a 6-foot birdie putt, the World No. 1 had the lead all his own.

“All of a sudden, I went from being four back to we were standing on the third tee and I’m only one back, and all of a sudden, it’s like, all right, it’s game on now. No more cushy lead. It’s time to go get it,” Scheffler said. “We did some good things there on the front nine and then kept him at bay there on the back nine.”

Scheffler’s lead at the turn waxed and waned on the back nine, but held, even with two bogeys at Nos. 12 and 14. MacIntyre birdied the par-5 16th, his only one of the day, giving him a chance down only a stroke with two holes to play.

That’s when Scheffler snatched it away with the shot of the day.

At the par-3 17th, after MacIntyre missed long past the green and the back-right hole location, Scheffler missed in the left rough — the common miss of the round.

“I missed it on the correct side. I think that’s the most important. It was a chip we practiced. I knew how fast it was, and basically it was just trying to get it on the green,” Scheffler said. “It was kind of a bowl pin back there to where everything kind of funnels towards it, and I knew it was just going to be really fast, and do my best to get it down there and give myself a good look for par.”

From just shy of 82 feet away, his chip landed softly on the green, gently tumbling across the putting surface and slowly falling into the cup for birdie, causing the encircled grandstands to erupt in a Tiger Woods-esque roar.

“When it came out,” Scheffler said, “it came out how we wanted to and then it started breaking and it started looking better and better, and yeah, it was definitely nice to see that one go in.”

“If he doesn’t get up-and-down there, my ball didn’t fly two yards long, it may have been a different story,” MacIntyre said. “But look, he’s the better player on the day. I’m just really pissed off right now.”

MacIntyre parred the 18th to finish at 3-over for his round, and Scheffler did the same to continue his 2025 tear.

“Walking up, I think it’s 15, I’m talking to myself. I wasn’t nice to myself up until that point,” MacIntyre said. “Scottie has missed a putt, and then I’m like, right, if you were given one shot back going up 15 at the start of the week, would you have taken it? 100%, I would have taken it. Yes, I had the lead, but it doesn’t matter until the final putt on the 18th green and the 72nd hole.”

As local organizers had hoped, Caves Valley stood up and proved to be a demanding test. The winning score was lower, of course, on a track that had lost two strokes since the first time the event was held here in 2021. The longest par-70 course for a non-major on the PGA Tour since 1983 — at 7,601 yards, nearly 200 longer than in 2021 — saw 26 players over par, compared to just 18 golfers who were in the red.

“I think it definitely played more difficult this week than it did a few years ago. Greens definitely had a lot of pitch to them,” Scheffler said. “The golf course changed significantly.”

Away from the top of the leaderboard, the battle to make the top 30 cut for the Tour Championship provided intrigue on the final day, as Akshay Bhatia held on for the final ticket to East Lake. Michael Kim, who finished -6 and in 10th, and Rickie Fowler, who finished tied for seventh at -7, were the first two on the bubble and left out.

Additionally, Russell Henley, Bryson DeChambeau, and Harris English locked in the final three of six automatic spots on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, which did not change from last week. Captain Keegan Bradley will finalize his six selections for the team — which may include himself — after the Tour Championship.