St. Louis, Aug 24 (IANS) Akshay Bhatia produced a spectacular eagle-birdie finish to close with a two-under 68 and tie for 12th at the 2026 BMW Championship, securing his place in the season-ending Tour Championship and retaining 15th position in the FedEx Cup standings.
Bhatia, who started the BMW Championship 15th in the FedEx Cup rankings, finished comfortably inside the top 30, becoming the only one of the three Indian-origin players in the field to qualify for the Tour Championship. The season finale features the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings.
The Indian-origin star made three birdies and an eagle against three bogeys in his final round, saving his best for the finish with an eagle followed by a birdie.
Aaron Rai also ended his campaign with a two-under 68, making four birdies and two bogeys to finish tied 16th. However, the result was not enough to secure a top-30 spot as Rai slipped two places to 39th in the FedExCup standings.
Sahith Theegala closed with a one-under 69 and finished tied 41st. He dropped to 48th in the FedExCup standings and therefore missed out on the TOUR Championship.
At the top, Wyndham Clark completed a wire-to-wire triumph, closing with a 17-under total to win the BMW Championship by three shots. The 32-year-old claimed his sixth PGA Tour title and third victory of the 2026 season, adding the BMW Championship to his earlier triumphs at the CJ Cup, Byron Nelson and U.S. Open.
Clark became the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2016 to win both the U.S. Open and BMW Championship in the same season. The victory also lifted him to third in the FedExCup standings and secured his third Tour Championship appearance.
Clark had held at least a share of the lead after every round and started the final day five shots clear of Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay. He finished emphatically with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 16, 17 and 18, repeating the closing sequence he produced in the opening round.
Cantlay finished runner-up, three shots behind Clark, while McIlroy was third. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler tied for 12th alongside Bhatia and continued his remarkable consistency, recording his 18th top-25 finish in 19 starts this season.
Gary Woodland's tied-fourth finish had major implications for the FedExCup standings. He surged from 31st to 18th and earned his first TOUR Championship berth since 2019. Cantlay climbed from 43rd to 19th, while Robert MacIntyre moved from 36th to 25th.
Kurt Kitayama, Rickie Fowler and Bud Cauley were the three notable players to fall out of the top 30 and miss the season finale.
Scheffler will once again start the Tour Championship as the No. 1 seed, extending his run of five consecutive years at the top of the FedExCup standings. Tommy Fleetwood enters the finale ninth as he bids to become the first player to win the FedExCup in consecutive seasons.
McIlroy extended his streak of Tour Championship appearances to nine, while Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland each qualified for the seventh consecutive year.
Two rookies, Kristoffer Reitan and Alex Fitzpatrick, also earned places in the season finale. Ryan Gerard, Min Woo Lee, Alex Smalley and Ryan Fox will make their Tour Championship debuts alongside Reitan and Fitzpatrick.
--IANS
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