Bubble Drama at BMW Championship as Players Chase Tour Championship Spots
The race to make the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings is creating plenty of drama at the BMW Championship. While Robert MacIntyre leads the tournament, it’s the bubble players who are providing some of the most compelling moments at Caves Valley.
Akshay Bhatia, who entered the week at 29th in the standings, holed out a wedge for eagle and then one-upped himself with a hole-in-one. Rickie Fowler drained a long putt for birdie. Taylor Pendrith’s first tee shot went so far left he had to re-hit.
These shots aren’t just footnotes from players out of contention — they’re potentially season-defining moments for golfers trying to punch their tickets to East Lake.
Bhatia’s tournament has been a rollercoaster. After opening with a disastrous 75, he’s bounced back brilliantly. His third-round 66 featured those two sensational shots and moved him to even par for the tournament. He’s now projected 28th in the FedEx Cup.
“Even when I’m putting, I try and see where my FedEx is projected,” Bhatia admitted. “Something that I’m aware of and need to, again, focus on what I’m trying to do. But just the nature of the game. You just want to know where you’re at.”
After Saturday’s round, the last three players projected in the top 30 were Bhatia, Michael Kim and Sungjae Im. The first three out were Chris Gotterup, Fowler and Pendrith.
Fowler’s entire playoff run has been a series of narrow escapes. He barely finished in the top 70 to reach the first playoff event in Tennessee, then just squeaked into the top 50 to make it to Caves Valley. Now he’s got a shot at the top 30 and a trip to the Tour Championship.
It’s golf’s version of survive and advance.
Fowler came into the BMW Championship 48th in the standings but is now projected 32nd after three rounds. He caught fire on the back nine Saturday with three straight birdies — including that long putt on 15 — and sits in a three-way tie for eighth with Kim and Viktor Hovland.
“Obviously, top five I know will lock it,” Fowler said. “There’s a few other factors outside of that depending on finish from there. But go put together a nice round tomorrow and we’ll be good.”
Kim started the tournament 42nd but has climbed to 29th in the projections. His Saturday round was a microcosm of the bubble battle — making double bogey on 15, then immediately bouncing back with a birdie on 16 and nearly holing out from a bunker on the par-3 17th.
Pendrith’s day began with that horrendous tee shot on the first hole. He managed to hit out of a bunker to 18 inches to salvage a double bogey, and played solid golf afterward. But that one big mistake could be the difference between making East Lake and watching from home.
“Just a little bit of a shock to the system,” Pendrith said. “I have been driving it really nicely all week, and yeah, I don’t really know where that came from. Just a bad swing.”
The margin for error is razor-thin for Pendrith. It was slightly larger for Im, who entered the tournament 25th but shot 75 and 77 the last two days to fall to 30th — right on the bubble.
Harry Hall has made the biggest move this week, jumping from 45th to 25th. He’s tied for fourth in the tournament, eight strokes behind MacIntyre.
As for Bhatia, he’s basically back where he started, but what a journey it’s been. He holed a sand wedge from 93 yards on the par-4 seventh, then aced the 227-yard 17th with a 5-iron. The latter shot won him a BMW, which he said he might give to his caddie.
That opening 75 is now firmly in the rearview mirror.
“Took myself out of the tournament pretty quick,” Bhatia said. “But I felt like if I can kind of go shoot 2 under each day, it’s a nice goal, just because if I get it to 1 under par with how hard this golf course is, you just never know. Again, every shot counts. I don’t want to just shrug it in and not make it to the finish line. I want to try everything I can. Yesterday I finished nice, and today was even better.”
