Key Takeaways
- Scottie Scheffler collected his fifth victory of the season at the BMW Championship this weekend.
- Robert MacIntyre unraveled in the final round and was visibly upset after losing to Scheffler, while Akie Iwai won her first LPGA title in Portland.
- RG's Brendon Elliott breaks down all the action in his latest instalment of “The Starter".
Akie Iwai wins first LPGA title (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
In this week's 'The Starter,' PGA professional Brendon Elliott, a three-decade industry veteran, gives his thoughts on World Number One Scottie Scheffler doing Scottie Scheffler things once again at the BMW, and everything else from the week that was in golf.
PGA TOUR: When the World's Best Shows Why He's the World's Best
Four shots back heading into Sunday at the BMW Championship. For most players, that's a mountain. For Scottie Scheffler, it was Tuesday.
The world's No. 1 player torched Caves Valley Golf Club in the final round, turning what looked like Robert MacIntyre's breakthrough moment into another reminder of why Scheffler sits where he sits. His comeback was sealed with an 82-foot chip-in on the 17th hole that will live on highlight reels forever.
The chip shot from 82 feet rolled perfectly into the cup for birdie, and MacIntyre's shoulders dropped right there. Game over.
"It looked good when it landed, looked good when it was rolling, and it was nice to see that one go in," Scheffler said afterward, because of course he did. The man chips in from 82 feet and talks about it like he made a 3-footer.
MacIntyre had opened with back-to-back bogeys, shrinking that four-shot cushion to almost nothing before he'd broken a sweat. Scheffler smelled blood and pounced. This was his fifth win of the season, making him the first player since Tiger Woods to win five or more PGA Tour titles in consecutive years.
Here's the kicker: Scheffler did all this without Ted Scott, his longtime caddie who was dealing with family matters. Fill-in caddie Michael Cromie got thrown into the fire and somehow didn't get burned.
"Cromie did a great job this week," Scheffler said. "It's not easy stepping in and trying to fill in for Ted. Those are some big shoes to fill, but he did a great job."
Now Scheffler heads to the Tour Championship with a chance to become the first repeat FedEx Cup champion since the series began in 2007.
The Cruelest Game Claims Another Victim
Robert MacIntyre is too good to keep losing like this.
The Scotsman led after every single round except the one that mattered. He made 18 birdies in the first 45 holes, then just two in the final 27. That's golf in a nutshell — beautiful and brutal in equal measure.
MacIntyre now holds a record nobody wants: most top-10 finishes without a win since 1983. Forty-four top-10s across 163 starts. The numbers would be impressive if they weren't so heartbreaking.
"I'm just really pissed off right now," MacIntyre said. "Right now I want go and smash up my golf clubs, to be honest with you."
You can hear the frustration bleeding through those words. This isn't a player making excuses — this is a guy who knows he's good enough and can't figure out why the golf gods keep saying no.
MacIntyre did crack the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time, reaching No. 8. Small consolation when you've just watched another win slip away.
Playoff Picture Crystallizes
Harry Hall played his way into the Tour Championship with the most stressful Sunday imaginable. He made bogey on the easiest hole (the par-5 16th), then went long and left at the brutal 17th before chipping in for birdie. His sixth-place finish catapulted him from 45th to 26th in the standings.
Lucas Glover? Not so lucky. A tie for 40th dropped him from 30th to 36th, ending his season six spots short of golf's richest prize.
Maverick McNealy's third-place finish earned him his first Tour Championship appearance after six years of grinding. That's the beauty and cruelty of professional golf — careers can change direction in a single afternoon.
Team USA Takes Shape For Bethpage
The BMW Championship's conclusion didn't just shake up the FedEx Cup standings — it also locked in the first six members of Team USA for the 2025 Ryder Cup. With the automatic qualification period now closed, captain Keegan Bradley has his core group set for the September showdown at Bethpage Black.
Unsurprisingly, Scottie Scheffler leads the charge as the world's No. 1 player, bringing his dominant 2024 season and steady Ryder Cup experience to Long Island, New York. He'll be joined by U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, whose breakthrough season has earned him his first Ryder Cup appearance at age 34.
Xander Schauffele rounds out the marquee trio, despite sitting at No. 42 in the FedEx Cup standings — a reminder that major championship victories and world ranking still carry significant weight in Ryder Cup qualification. His perfect 4-4-0 record in previous appearances makes him a valuable veteran presence.
The supporting cast brings an intriguing mix of experience and fresh faces. Russell Henley, at 36, finally gets his first Ryder Cup call-up after years of consistent excellence, while Harris English returns after his 2021 debut. Most fascinating is Bryson DeChambeau's inclusion, marking his return to Team USA after his LIV Golf departure created eligibility questions that have since been resolved.
The automatic qualifiers leave Bradley with some difficult decisions for his captain's picks, with notable names like Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, and Ben Griffin sitting just outside the top six. Most intriguingly, Bradley himself sits at No. 10 in the standings, creating the unusual scenario where he could potentially pick himself for the team he's captaining.
With the Tour Championship still to come, these six players can now shift their focus from qualification to preparation for what promises to be a raucous home crowd advantage at Bethpage Black.
LPGA Roundup: Twin Magic on the LPGA Tour
Akie Iwai shot a bogey-free 66 on Sunday to win her first LPGA title at The Standard Portland Classic. The best part? Her twin sister Chisato rushed onto the green with champagne after the final putt dropped.
Both sisters are having breakthrough rookie seasons. Chisato won earlier this year, then tied for third while watching her sister claim victory No. 1. You can't script family stories better than that.
Amateur Kiara Romero from the University of Oregon tied for seventh in her first LPGA start. The home crowd loved every minute of it.
LIV Golf: History Made at LIV Golf Indianapolis
Sebastian Munoz shot 59 in the second round and managed to break multiple records in the process. Not just any 59 — this one included a double bogey and 14 birdies, something that had never been done in professional golf.
From his final 14 holes Friday through his first four holes Saturday, Munoz made 17 birdies in 18 consecutive holes. Another world record that might stand forever.
The mental game required for that performance is staggering. This is the same player who missed a crucial short putt in U.S. Open qualifying, but when faced with a short putt to secure his 59, he buried it cold.
Looking Ahead
Scheffler heads to East Lake as the heavy favorite for good reason. He's won five times this year and looks unstoppable when he's on. But golf has a funny way of humbling everyone eventually.
Can anyone in the field of 30 challenge the world's best player? Will MacIntyre and the other nearly-men finally break through?
This much is certain: if you didn't watch golf this week, you missed some magic. And if you did watch, you saw exactly why this game never gets old.
