Patrick Cantlay moves in front at BMW Championship, cold putter halts Rory McIlroy at Wilmington Country Club

Patrick Cantlay, the current champion, rose to the top as Rory McIlroy lost ground during the BMW Championship.

BMW Championship

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McIlroy lost a shot on McIlroy’s first after a disappointing third putt. It set the tone of the day. He missed a second shot on the second, after his approach found trouble in the rough.

McIlroy’s putting has been much improved following work with Brad Faxon, but it was off colour on Saturday as he passed up birdie chances on three and four.

A huge roar greeted McIlroy’s first birdie of the day at six, as he drained a curling right-to-left effort.

The ninth saw his third bogey, as he finished with 37. At this point, his race looked slow. However, he found his form on greens on the back nine. That seemed to translate into the rest of his game.

He was level par with birdies on 12 & 13. He was able to make a spectacular approach from four feet on 16 to score a third birdie. A drive of 370 yards on17 helped him get to two-under for his round.

He split 18 fairway, but his round was ended by three-putts after a bogey. This dropped him to seven under for the tournament.

Third Round Leaderboard

• 1. Patrick Cantlay, 112-under
• T2. Xander Schauffele, 11-under
• T2. Scott Stallings, 11-under
• T4. Adam Scott, 10-under
• T4. Scottie Scheffler, 10-under
• T6. Collin Morikawa, nine-under
• T6. Aaron Wise, nine-under

Cantlay is the man to watch, apparently determined to retain his BMW Championship title as well as FedEx Cup crown.

His iron play and long game were outstanding, while he holed out for an eagle on the fairway and drained several monster putts. He still managed to keep the field alive by missing three short puts in a round 65, moving him to 12-under.

Cantlay is one shot ahead of Xander Schauffele, his playing partner. Scott Stallings brushed aside McIlroy’s attention and managed to get to 11 under.

Collin Morikawa is on the hunt for his first win of the season and a 65 on Saturday put him at nine-under. The 2021 Open champion stated before the event that his swing was returning to normal and he is ready for the Tour Championship.

While McIlroy’s putter was cold on Saturday, Jon Rahm’s was red hot. Despite struggling on the greens over recent weeks, he managed to score five-under with a string of solid putts in a round that was 65. He is likely too far back, but his confidence will be boosted ahead of next week’s Tour Championship.

Jordan Spieth was in a share of first place mid-way through his front nine. But things fell apart when he found water on the fifth.

He fell to four-under with a double bogey, followed by three more on the outward nine.