Scottie Scheffler rallies from 4
shots down and wins BMW Championship for 5th victory of the year
[August 18, 2025]
By DOUG FERGUSON
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The numbers Scottie Scheffler is compiling
have been drawing comparisons with Tiger Woods. The world's No. 1
player had a Tiger-like moment with the trophy on the line and a
club in his hand Sunday in the BMW Championship.
His 82-foot chip on the 17th — the hardest hole in the final round
at Caves Valley — landed about 60 feet short and rolled the rest of
the way, picking up speed, losing speed dropping on the final turn.
The birdie all but wrapped up another win, his fifth PGA Tour title
this year.
It was reminiscent of Woods delivering magic to overshadow his
sublime skill, his chip-in from behind the 16th green at the
Memorial, his chip-in for eagle in the World Cup in Japan.
Scheffler already had erased a four-shot deficit against hard-luck
Robert MacIntyre in five holes. He was clinging to a one-shot lead
on the 17th, a daunting par 3 with a back right pin and water right.
Scheffler was in the left rough, the safe spot, facing a shot that a
dozen players had chipped over the green.
“I knew it was just going to be really fast, and do my best to get
it down there and give myself a good look for par,” he said. "When
it came out, it came out how we wanted to and then it started
breaking and it started looking better and better.
“And yeah, it was definitely nice to see that one go in.”
Scheffler closed with a 3-under 67 for a two-shot victory and became
the first player since Woods — there's that name again — in 2006 and
2007 to win at least five times on the PGA Tour in consecutive
years.
MacIntyre didn't make a birdie until the 16th hole but stayed in the
game after losing his big lead, mostly when Scheffler began missing
short putts.
MacIntyre pulled within one shot of the lead going to the 17th when
Scheffler worked his magic and had to settle for another runner-up
finish to a memorable shot, just like he did at Oakmont when J.J.
Spaun holed a 65-foot birdie putt to clinch the U.S. Open.
MacIntyre was in the scoring room when he watched Spaun and
applauded it. He was alongside Scheffler at the BMW Championship,
staring in disbelief but angry at his poor play off the tee that
cost him the big lead early.
“When he’s pitched that in on 17 and then he’s hit the perfect tee
shot on 18, it’s pretty much game over just then. You’re playing for
second place at that point,” MacIntyre said.
“He's the better player on the day. I’m just really pissed off right
now,” he said. “Right now I want go and smash up my golf clubs, to
be honest with you.”
MacIntyre made 18 birdies in the first 45 holes of the tournament
and only two over the last 27 holes. He closed with a 73 and got
some consolation prizes that didn't mean much in the moment. He
cracked the top 10 in the world for the first time, going to No. 8.
Scheffler's chip-in elicited the loudest cheer of the day. The most
satisfying shot came on the 15th, when his lead was down to one shot
after a three-putt. MacIntyre from the fairway hit into 7 feet.
Scheffler was in a deep bunker and hit 8-iron to 6 feet.
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Scottie Scheffler celebrates on the 18th green after winning the BMW
Championship golf tournament Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Owings Mills,
Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
MacIntyre missed. Scheffler made.
“That was a really important shot in the tournament, one that I
think will fly a little bit under the radar,” he said.
The season is not over for Scheffler, who leads the 30 players who
advanced to the Tour Championship at East Lake with a chance to
become the first repeat FedEx Cup champion since the series began in
2007.
All 30 players at East Lake can win the $10 million first-place
check. The field includes Harry Hall, the only player who played his
way into the top 30 on Sunday, and even that was tense. Hall made
bogey on the par-5 16th — the easiest hole on the course — and then
went long and left at the 17th. He also chipped in for birdie and
was safe going up the 18th.
Rickie Fowler was on the verge of getting back to East Lake only to
twice miss the green from the fairway on the back nine, leading to
bogey on the 14th and double bogey on the 15th, and knocked him out
of the top 30.
Fowler finished with a 5-foot par putt — had he missed, Michael Kim
would have been in the Tour Championship. Instead, the 30th spot
went to Akshay Bhatia, despite making four bogeys on the back nine
and feeling as though he had blown it.
MacIntyre squandered a big chance, too.
He showed plenty of grit on Saturday playing in the final group with
Scheffler. But on the opening hole, Scheffler drilled his drive down
the middle and hit to 6 feet for birdie, while MacIntyre missed the
fairway and a 6-foot par putt. It was an early statement.
MacIntyre missed another fairway at the second and made bogey. He
went from the fairway to a bunker on the short par-4 fifth, a
two-shot swing when the Scotsman failed to get up-and-down for par
and Scheffler made birdie.
And then Scheffler took the lead with a wedge to 6 feet for birdie
on No. 7.
It looked like it would be a runaway at that point as Scheffler
never seemed to miss — except when he had a chance to extend the
lead. He missed birdie chances of 5 feet at No. 8 and 8 feet at No.
10. He botched a simple up-and-down at the 12th and three-putted
from 18 feet on the 14th. Each chance kept MacIntyre in the hunt.
And then came one chip on the 17th, a knockout punch.
Scheffler, who finished at 15-under 265, has 18 career titles in the
last three years and six months since his first PGA Tour title in
Phoenix.
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