A wild ride leaves DeChambeau tied with Cantlay for BWW lead
OWINGS MILLS, MD. » Baltimore delivered a big crowd for its first PGA Tour stop in nearly 60 years, and Bryson DeChambeau delivered a big dose of entertainment.
That covered a lot of territory Saturday at the BMW Championship.
DeChambeau had backto-back eagles with sheer strength and a remarkable touch with the putter. And then he had consecutive holes with shots into the water that cost him a fourshot lead.
“It was definitely colorful,” DeChambeau said.
He had to settle for a share of the lead with Patrick Cantlay, whose classic style and unwavering patience in the wake of DeChambeau’s wild ride worked equally well.
So crazy was this action that DeChambeau went from a one-shot deficit to a three-shot lead in the span of two holes with his long eagle putts, only for Cantlay to go from a four-shot deficit to a one-shot lead in two holes on the back nine with his birdies and DeChambeau’s blunders.
DeChambeau steadied himself over the final three holes for a 5-under 67. Cantlay didn’t drop a shot until the final hole when he drove into deep rough and an 8-foot par putt caught the left side of the hole. His lone bogey gave him a 66.
“It was another day on an easy, soft golf course, so you needed to make a bunch of birdies. I thought I played really well, all in all. I didn’t make too many mistakes,” he said. “I thought it was a good day and I’m in a good spot for tomorrow.”
They were at 21-under 195, and Sunday had the trappings of a two-man race.
Sungjae Im birdied his last two holes for a 66 and was three shots behind. The group four shots back included Rory McIlroy, who had a bogey-free 65 and only made up two shots on the lead.
Crisp-hitting Abraham Ancer of Mexico (66), Sam Burns (65) and Sergio Garcia (67) also were in the group four shots behind.
The biggest disappointment belonged to Jon Rahm, the world’s No. 1 player, who had three bogeys and no birdies over the last six holes and shot 70.
He fell five shots behind. That’s not typically a massive deficit, it just seems like one on a course where birdies are available to everyone at any time.
Rahm was doing his best to keep up, three shots behind, when he missed the 13th green to the left for bogey, missed the fairway to the right on the 14th for another bogey and had to settle for par on the par-5 16th. He closed with a bogey from the fairway bunker.
On this course, on this day, that meant losing ground quickly.
Cantlay was one shot ahead early with an eagle on the par-5 second hole — DeChambeau’s shot into the green hit a sprinkler pinhigh in the collar and shot over the green into shaggy grass in a hazard that led to par — and matching birdies into the par-3 third.
This was all about DeChambeau, who charged up the sun-baked gallery with a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-5 fourth hole and then drove onto the front of the green on the 322-yard fifth and made a 55-foot putt that looked good when it was halfway to the hole.
Sunday has more than just the trophy at stake. The top 30 in the FedEx Cup advance to the final event at the Tour Championship next week.