University of California alumnus Michael Kim faces a high-stakes final round at the BMW Championship, with his qualification for the season-ending Tour Championship hanging in the balance.
After an even-par 70 in Saturday’s third round at Caves Valley Golf Club, Kim dropped from a tie for fifth to a share of eighth place. More critically, the performance caused his projected FedEx Cup ranking to slip from 26th to 29th, leaving him with little margin for error.
Only the top 30 players in the standings after Sunday’s final round will advance to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, which features a $40 million total purse and a $10 million first prize.
Kim’s unsteady third round included three birdies on the front nine, but he was set back by a bogey on the 13th and a double-bogey on the 15th before a final birdie on the 16th hole. He is currently tied with Viktor Hovland and Rickie Fowler.
In contrast, fellow Cal graduate Collin Morikawa strengthened his position with a 3-under 67. The round moved him up to a tie for 24th place in the tournament and solidified his projected FedEx Cup rank at No. 20, comfortably inside the cutoff.
At the top of the leaderboard, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre shot a 2-under 68 to maintain his lead, now sitting at 16-under par. He holds a four-stroke advantage over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Ludvig Aberg is in third place at 10-under.
Saturday also featured a highlight from Akshay Bhatia, who made a hole-in-one on the 227-yard par-3 17th hole. The ace won him a BMW iX M70, and BMW will also donate $125,000 to the Evans Scholars Foundation, which provides scholarships for caddies.
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