Cal alum Michael Kim faces a do-or-die final round at the BMW Championships on Sunday at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland.
Kim, 32, gave himself little margin for error in his pursuit of one of 30 spots in next week’s final leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the Tour Championship.
With an even-par 70 in Saturday’s third round, Kim dropped from a tie for fifth to a share of eighth place at the BMW. More importantly, he slipped three spots from 26th to 29th in the FedEx Cup projected standings.
The top 30 players in the standings after Sunday’s final round of the BMW qualify to play in next week’s season-ending event at Atlanta with its $40 million total purse and $10 million first prize.
Fellow Cal alum Collin Morikawa solidified his chances of advancing by shooting a 3-under 67, which lifts him to a tie for 24th place at plus-1 through 54 holes. His FedEx Cup ranking is projected at No. 20.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre is projected at No. 3 in the standings after shooting a 2-under 68 which keeps him atop the leaderboard at 16 under par. He has a four-stroke lead over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who carded a third-round 67.
Ludvig Aberg is third at 10 under, Sam Burns and Harry Hall share fourth place at minus-8 and Maverick McNealy and Tommy Fleetwood are tied for sixth at minus-7.
Kim, owner one PGA Tour title in his career, bogeyed on No. 4 Saturday before making birdies on 5, 7 and 9. He went astray with bogey on No. 13 and a double-bogey two holes later before making birdie on the 16th to get even for the day.
Kim is tied with Viktor Hovland and Rickie Fowler for the eighth spot.
Morikawa began the day in 37th place at 4 over par before opening with birdies on Nos. 3, 4,10, 12 and 13 to climb to a tie for 20th place and 20th in the FedEx Cup standings.
With bogeys on 14 and 18, Morikawa ended the day at 3 under, lifting him to plus-1 for three rounds. He moved up three spots in the projected standings and is in solid position to qualify for the Tour Championship.
Akshay Bhatia made a hole-in-one on the 227-yard par-3 17th hole to win a BMW iX M70. BMW also will donate $125,000 to the Evans Scholars Foundation, which operates a scholarship program for caddies.
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