OWINGS MILLS, MD – This tournament turned into a 2-man dog fight. From the first hole, where both Cantlay and DeChambeau birdied, it was clear the rest of the field did not matter. Before we go into how the battle went between two of the top golfers in the world, let's look over their rounds separately.

Cantlay Goes for His 3rd Win of the Year

Patrick Cantlay came out of the gates firing, carding 4 birdies in his first 5 holes. However, he was unable to keep the streak going after bogeying the 9th hole after a poor performance around the green. Without this bogey, Cantlay could have run away with the tournament right then and there. However, Patrick was able to bring it back by getting birdies on holes 11, 12, and 14. The 10th ranked golfer in the world must just have something for making tournaments dramatic. On the par-3 17th, he put his tee shot in the water but was able to recover quickly and only got a bogey on the hole. At this point, he gave Bryson a one-stroke lead going into the 18th hole.

Yesterday, I said that Cantlay would need to putt much better in round 4 than his 3rd round Saturday to have any chance of winning the BMW Championship. Patrick did just that. After losing strokes to the field on Saturday, he did the exact opposite Sunday. Cantlay gained 3.787 strokes on the field in the final round just by putting. In fact, he gained over 14 strokes putting on the field the entire week, the most in any PGA Tour tournament since they started tracking these stats in 2004.

Bryson Looks for 9th Career Win

Nothing special happened on the front nine for Bryson. He had no bogies and 3 birdies on the card. Luckily after Cantlay's poor 9th hole, we were tied with 9 holes to go in the tournament. When DeChambeau made the turn, he flipped a switch. This is shown by him getting 3 straight birdies on holes 11, 12, and 13. Then after another birdie on the par-5 16th hole, he had a one-stroke lead on Cantlay with only 2 holes to go. This was Bryson's tournament to lose.

DeChambeau once again drove longer than his weekly average on Sunday by 4 yards, but more importantly, he was 7% more accurate with the long stick. Bryson hit 64% of fairways on Sunday, which is exactly what I said he would need to do to stay in the top spot of the leaderboard.

DeChambeau with a One-Stroke Lead on 18

After both players got bogies on the par-3 17th, Bryson kept a one-stroke lead going to the tee box of the final hole. Both players hit the fairway off the tee, and after their approach shots, Cantlay had a 22-foot putt left for birdie while DeChambeau had 12 feet left for the same score. DeChambeau, missed his putt to essentially win the tournament, opening the door for Cantlay to tie. Patrick Cantlay absolutely drained his 22-foot putt, sending this already dramatic day to a playoff.

The Playoff

After 72 holes, Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau were both at 27-under par, 4 strokes above the rest of the field. The playoff ended up going to 6 holes, alternating between both 17 and 18 at Caves Valley Golf Club. In the first 4 holes, we had 8 combined pars between two of the top 10 players in the world. On the 5th, it started to get more exciting, with Cantlay and DeChambeau getting birdies. The 6th playoff hole, however, would be the last. Cantlay was able to put a birdie on his card, making it 2 straight to win the BMW Championship.

Now Cantlay goes in the Tour Championship with 3 wins on the season, and in the top spot of the FedEx cup rankings. With a win next week, he could win the whole FedEx cup, which is rewarded to the player with the most points at the end of the golf season.