BMW Championship 2012: Rory McIlroy Surges To Win

Rory McIlroy is No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings, which is where he has stood since winning the PGA Championship. McIlroy has been surging since that big win, as he’s also won the Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship. Those victories, which came in back-to-back weeks, helped to solidify his position atop the rankings.

Related: BMW Championship 2012: Rory McIlroy Finishes At 20-under, Wins Tournament

Rory McIlroy sits atop the PGA Tour 2012 money list with a projected $7.84 million earned so far this season.

McIlroy has four wins in 2012 along with 10 top 25 finishes. McIlroy leads the list by almost a full $2 million over Tiger Woods. Woods has won three tournaments and made a projected $5.88 million this season. Jason Dufner, Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson round out the top 5 with earnings of $4.71 million, $4.34 million and $4.32 million, respectively. Phil Mickelson sits in sixth place.

Rory McIlroy is on his way to proving Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington were spot on when they proclaimed last year that their young mate was the “next Tiger Woods.” Heck, after his new favorite playing partner left him and other members of golf’s elite in his dust on the way to his second straight tour win -- the first time a PGA golfer has notched back-to-back victories since some guy name Eldrick did so in 2009 -- even Tiger Woods could not avoid the comparisons.

“Yeah,” Woods, 36, said Sunday about whether he saw something in his youthful rival’s game that was reminiscent of his own. “He’s going out there and is up near the lead and posts a good number. He’s doing the things he needs to do, and as he said yesterday, he’s feeling very confident about his game.

Rory McIlroy is atop the World Golf Rankings as of Monday, when the latest list was released. The ranking system is built on points, determined by tournament wins throughout a PGA season.

The full rankings can be found here.

Rory McIlory only served to build on his lead in the 2012 FedEx Cup after his come-from-behind victory at the BMW Championship, his second straight victory in the playoffs after winning the Deutsche Bank Championship a week ago.

McIlory used a 5-under final round on Sunday to overtake Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood for the top spot in the tournament and pulled further away in the FedEx Cup standings, despite playing in just 15 events this year.

Rory McIlroy will take home $1,440,000 for winning the 2012 BMW Championship on Sunday. The 23-year-old ranks No. 1 on the 2012 PGA Money List, earning over $7.8 million this year alone.

Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood will each earn $704,000 for finishing in a tie for second place. Tiger Woods, who became the first professional golfer in history to exceed $100 million in career earnings last weekend, will add $352,000 to his total. Robert Garrigan, who finished in a tie for fourth place with Woods, will earn the same amount.

Rory McIlroy is the winner of the 2012 BMW Championship after finishing Sunday’s final round at 5-under, and completing the tournament at 20-under overall. McIlroy’s victory was his third PGA Tour win in the last five weeks.

McIlroy, who finished strong on Saturday to get himself to within a shot of the leaders, continued his momentum into Sunday, as he finished with the third-best score of the day. He finished two shots of head of Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson, who were both under par on Sunday, but weren’t able to keep pace with McIlroy.

Rory McIlroy, at 19-under, holds a one-shot lead over playing partner Lee Westwood as the final groups make their way through the Sunday back nine at the 2012 BMW Championship. McIlroy is looking to go back-to-back on Tour and take total control of the FedExCup and the $10 million prize at the end of the four-tournament playoffs. Through 14 holes on Sunday, McIlroy has not made a bogey while carding four birdies on a soft Crooked Stick layout that is yielding low numbers once again.

Pushing McIlroy is his playing partner Lee Westwood, who’s at 18-under after bogeying No. 14 to fall one off the pace. Westwood and McIlroy have a bit of a complicated history, with the Englishman Westwood critical of McIlroy’s departure from Chubby Chandler’s management group last year. There was also a bit of a contretemps when McIlroy unfollowed Westwood on Twitter, but by all accounts, the two are still cordial. It’s shaping up to be a classic final four-hole battle between the two Euros.

Phil Mickelson has taken a one-shot lead early during Sunday’s final round of the 2012 BMW Championship. Mickelson picked up a birdie on the par-4 second hole to move to 17-under for the championship, one shot ahead of playing partner Vijay Singh, Rory McIlroy, and Robert Garrigus. Mickelson shot up the leaderboard with a moving-day Saturday round of 64 and he’s looking to capitalize on that with a win Sunday that would put him in a prime spot for the $10 million FedExCup final in Atlanta.

Rory McIlroy, who it seems has been on the first page of leaderboards for a month now, is keeping pace with Phil by also carding a birdie on the second hole. He’s at 16-under and looking to go back-to-back, a win that would put a stranglehold on the overall standings.

Geoff Ogilvy surged up the leaderboard early Sunday at the 2012 BMW Championship in Carmel, Ind. The Australian is 6-under par through 13 holes of the final round of the tournament, and he’s moved up 31 spots to find himself tied in 18th at 9-under for the tournament.

Ogilvy is currently ranked 53rd in the FedEx Cup point standings.

Going into Saturday’s play, Tiger Woods was just one back of Vijay Singh for the lead at the BMW Championship 2012. After a dreadful start on Saturday that saw him bogey four time on his first eight holes, Tiger now sits tied for eighth.

Phil Mickelson had a far better day shooting a round-high 64. Where Tiger had bogeys, Phil had birdies in seven of ten holes. Lefty is now tied for the lead with Singh at -16. Right behind Singh and Mickelson are Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy at -15. Adam Scott may be tied for fifth, but he shot a -6 on Saturday, only two back of Mickelson’s -8 in the third round. Another good day for Scott could push him over Westwood and McIlroy to be in contention for the win.

Phil Mickelson shot a round-best 64 on Saturday to shoot to the top of the leaderboard at the BMW Championship in Carmel, Indiana. A string of seven birdies in ten holes boosted Mickelson past Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and many others.

The lefty’s eight-under round was two strokes better than anyone else on the day, bringing his tournament total to 16-under par. That mark ties him with Vijay Singh, who shot three under par on the afternoon.

Phil Mickelson has pulled even with Vijay Singh at 16-under, putting both at the top of the leaderboard at the 2012 BMW Championship.

It’s a fine ending to Mickelson’s day, which saw him shoot the low round for the field at 8-under and pick up 10 birdies, including a run of four straight from hole No. 6 to No. 9. Singh has shot par on seven of his 14 holes and is 3-under through 14 holes, currently good enough to hold on to the lead.

The leaders are halfway through the third round at the 2012 BMW Championship, and Vijay Singh has managed to stay ahead of a very tight field.

Singh is 3-under through 10 holes and 16-under overall. Phil Mickelson has moved into second at 14-under through 15. Three men are tied for third at 13-under. Dustin Johnson is through 13, Adam Scott is through 14 while Graeme McDowell is on hole No. 11.

Phil Mickelson has been known to tinker a bit with his clubs but, with four straight birdies on his front nine and two more more after the turn in Saturday’s second round at the BMW Championship, it would appear that The Claw will remain in Lefty’s repertoire for some time.

Mickelson started the day something of an afterthought -- what with the Tiger Woods-Rory McIlroy tandem capturing the golf world’s imagination, and 49-year-old Vijay Singh putting on a show with opening rounds of 7-under 65 and 66 to take the 36-hole lead. By the time he canned his seventh birdie of the day on No. 13, Mickelson had jumped into a share of the lead, thanks to new-found confidence with his putter.

The top of the leaderboard at the BMW Championship is crowded but Vijay Singh is holding on at 15-under par as the third round continues.

Dustin Johnson is hot on his tail at 14-under and Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Graeme McDowell are still in the hunt at 13-under

The leaders are making their way through the front side at the third round of the 2012 BMW Championship and mid-point leader Vijay Singh is now tied with playing partner Rory McIlroy for the lead. Three more inches of rain were reportedly dumped on Crooked Stick overnight and the best players in the world are taking aim at the flagsticks. There should be plenty of rounds in the mid 60s again, and long hitter Dustin Johnson is setting the pace early.

The wet conditions lengthen the course for everyone and Johnson is taking advantage. He’s carded three birdies through his first five holes, jumping seven spots up the leaderboard to 12-under and one shot back. Aside from Rory McIlroy, Johnson may be playing better golf than anyone in the world. He’s been at the top of the leaderboard at all three FedExCup stops and is playing well again with the Ryder Cup weight off his shoulders.

But for severe weather expected later Friday afternoon and night in Carmel, Ind., golf’s new power couple, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, would be meeting at the first tee on Saturday for their third consecutive golf date at Crooked Stick. Instead, though the two biggest stars in the game matched birdies on the 18th hole and finished in a tie for second with Ryan Moore at 12-under, each will hit breakfast balls with two other guys in the morning.

In place of the twosomes that mark weekend play on tour, golfers on Saturday will go off the first and 10th tees in threesomes starting at 11 a.m. ET.

The second round of the 2012 BMW Championship has come to a conclusion, and the two biggest names in the spotlight are living up to all the hype.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlory are currently tied for second place at 12-under, one shot behind Vijay Singh. Both golfers have been playing stellar golf over the past few weeks, most recently with McIlroy winning last week’s Deutsche Bank Championship while Tiger finished two-shots back in third place. Both players now have three tournament wins on the season, and it would appear that golf fans everywhere finally have a full-fledged rivalry to witness.

Vijay Singh fired a 6-under 66 in the second round of the 2012 BMW Championship on Friday, putting himself atop the leaderboard at 13-under at Crooked Stick Golf Club.

Singh started off the back nine this morning, carding seven birdies including his last hole of the day, and just one bogey after dropping a shot on the par-4 fourth hole.

The third leg of the 2012 FedEx Cup Playoffs gets underway this week from Crooked Stick Golf Club outside Indianapolis. The BMW Championship, formerly known as the venerable Western Open, typically stops in the Chicago area but with the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah just weeks away, the Tour moved it to the nearby Pete Dye course in Indiana. Until this week, the layout is best known for being the scene of John Daly’s improbable PGA Championship win in 1991, when the unknown bomber burst onto the public scene as an alternate.

This week the course will host the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings, serving as the last test to trim the playoff field down to 30 for the Tour Championship in Atlanta. The first two playoff events have produced top-flight champions, and there’s no reason to think this week will be any different. The drama of the Ryder Cup rosters is now settled, and the American team members figure to be a factor at Crooked Stick.