This year has seen plenty of surprise victors on the PGA Tour and although you wouldn’t class a victory by Adam Scott as a surprise, the Australian finds himself in command of the BMW Championship after a stunning second round which sees him lead by three shots.
Without a win since 2020, Scott showed exactly why he is regarded as a legend of the game yesterday. With his silky smooth swing, his putter was in fine working order as he posted the best round of the week.
Overnight leader Keegan Bradley is still within touching distance of the lead and trails by three, then comes a Swedish smattering with Ludvig Aberg in third and Alex Noren fourth.
With the leaderboard looking completely different as to how many predicted at the start of the week, the final two rounds look set to be incredibly exciting. With plenty to play for, here are our main talking points of the second round.
Hideki Matsuyama withdraws despite his strong position
The second round started in dramatic fashion when it was revealed that Hideki Matsuyama was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a back injury.
The Japanese star who won last week’s St Jude Championship was only one shot off the lead after the first round and looked in a great position to exert pressure on both Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler.
With his withdrawal, Matsuyama will still be able to take his place at next week’s Tour Championship but it means that this year’s FedEx is likely to be won by either Schauffele or Scheffler.
Scott powers his way into predicted Tour Championship lineup
Sitting outside of the top 30 rankings before the action teed off this week, Adam Scott needed a big week to muscle his way into next week’s Tour Championship and that is exactly what he is delivering.
Having started his round two shots behind first round leader Keegan Bradley, Scott showed why he has won over thirty times as he put on a clinic to power his way to a second round score of -13.
With the altitude of Castle Pines making every shot tricky, the Aussie was dialled in as he scored four birdies on his front nine and a further five on the back.
Keeping his card blemish free, he powered past the other challengers on the leaderboard to put himself in a brilliant position to win one of the biggest tournaments.
Scott has been knocking on the door in recent months with a second place finish at the Scottish Open and a tenth placed finish at the Open. Without a win since 2020, all eyes will be on him to see if he can end that drought here.
Bradley scraps, as Swedes emerge
For much of yesterday’s second round it looked like Scott would hold a commanding lead in today’s third round, but first round leader Keegan Bradley showed that he was up for the fight as he produced four birdies on his back nine to limit Scott’s lead to just three.
It would have been better for the newly appointed American Ryder Cup Captain had it not been for a bogey on the final hole.
Having started the week in 50th place and having the most work of everybody in the field to make the season ending Tour Championships, Bradley will need to finish strong to be assured of his place in Atlanta next week.
Trying to make further moves up the leaderboard today are the Swedish duo of Ludvig Aberg and Alex Noren.
Aberg, who is competing in the playoffs for the first time, would have learnt a huge amount at last week’s St Jude and will have wanted to put in a much better showing this week.
With the huge altitude right up his street and the ability to drive the ball a mile clearly suiting, the super laid back Swede was able to match Scott’s round of 63 and put himself right into the thick of things.
An eagle on the 14th ensured that he would finish the day in the top three on the leaderboard, four off the pace set by Scott. He will hope to make further moves today.
Alex Noren lies alone in fourth place and he will start today one shot behind his countryman.
Noren is another surprising name at the top of the leaderboard. The veteran Swede has had a couple of up and down seasons but this year has seen him return to his best. Swinging the club consistently, Noren has enjoyed a steady year on Tour and is another who is trying to make a late dash to make next week’s Tour Championship.
Usually cool, calm and collected he could be a player to watch today.
Scheffler and Schauffele will hope for a big weekend
Heading into the weekend both Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler sit outside of the top twenty and finding themselves 11 and twelve shots off the lead, it’s unlikely that either player will win. Instead, this weekend is likely to turn into a giant game of cat and mouse.
Before we head to the Tour Championship, Scheffler currently enjoys a 1,000 point lead over Schauffele and with the Californian unlikely to eat into that lead in his current position, it is the Texan who could start next week with the two stroke advantage that fishing top of the standings affords.
With the current standings of both players suiting Scheffler, the pressure is on Schauffele to flip the narrative. Starting one shot ahead of his rival, the two time major winner this season will need to step up the gas and go pin seeking.
Knowing that if he can somehow barge his way into the top five, the pressure will then be on Scheffler to respond. For Scheffler, he heads into the weekend in a strange spot. Most likely too far back to lay down a serious challenge for the title, he can instead focus purely on Schauffele and try to match what he scores.
Scheffler will head out first and has the ability to lay down a marker, it will be up for Schauffele to respond.
BMW Championship betting odds
If you want to place a bet ahead of the third round teeing off, here are all of the latest odds.
Adam Scott - 13/8
Ludvig Aberg - 18/5
Keegan Bradley - 11/2
Alex Noren - 14/1
Patrick Cantlay - 20/1
Taylor Pendrith - 20/1
Correy Connors - 25/1
Sungjae Im - 25/1
Collin Morikawa - 35/1
Xander Schauffele - 40/1
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
