BMW Champs: Dominant Day is Number 1

After a dominant display in winning the BMW Championship by six shots, Jason Day of Australia has moved to Number 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Jason Day burst into an almost unassailable lead at Conway Farms with opening rounds of 61 and 63. He kept the door firmly shut on the chasing pack with a pair of 69s on the weekend.

Day began the final round of the penultimate FedEx Cup playoff event five shots clear of Scott Piercy. He played steady golf over the opening holes, aware there was no need for aggression. He reached the turn in level par, and nobody behind was able to apply significant pressure. The Australian cruised in and added the icing to the cake with birdies at the 16th and 18th holes. He ended the tournament on 22-under-par.

Daniel Berger finished the tournament in second place with Scott Piercy third. In a tense battle to make the top-30 on the FedEx Cup rankings and move on to next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake, Harris English secured the final spot with a birdie at the 18th hole.

Five talking points from the BMW Championship

1 – In the second half of 2015 Jason Day has produced one of the most impressive and dominant runs seen in the modern era of professional golf. Since missing a playoff for The Open Championship by a single stroke, he has won four of the six tournaments he’s contested, including the USPGA Championship. In his last seven starts he’s an astonishing 101-under-par.

2 – Day has moved to Number 1 on the Official World Ranking, making good a boast he made on joining the PGA Tour in 2007. On a conference call with reporters eight years ago, he stated he wanted to be World Number 1, and he received significant criticism for his confidence. “I expected to get a little bit of criticism,” he said. “But it’s good to sit in the chair right now.”

3 – Jordan Spieth had looked a dead-cert for being named player of the year on the PGA Tour after winning The Masters and U.S. Open earlier in the season. Now Day has put this run together, it doesn’t look so set in stone. Spieth has struggled a little in recent weeks and, although he played himself into a strong position at Conway Farms on Sunday, with an opening nine of 31, he fell back again with two bogeys and a double between the 10th and 13th holes.

4 – Spieth has been knocked down to number 2 on the FedEx Cup rankings. The top-five can all win the FedEx Cup with victory next week at East Lake. They are: Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson. Rory McIlroy has moved up to 11th place on the standings. He could still theoretically win the $10,000,000 prize, but he’d need those ahead to falter considerably.

5 – In the fight to make the top-30, Louis Oosthuizen and Harris English snuck in. Daniel Summerhays and Justin Thomas narrowly missed out. Summerhays would have made it if he hadn’t found the water from the 11th tee while Thomas was pushed down when Dustin Johnson birdied the last two holes. Scotland’s Russell Knox would have likely made it through had it not been for a double bogey seven on the final hole.

BMW Championship Conway Farms GC, Lake Forest, Illinois Sep 17-20 Purse: $8,250,000, par 71

1    Jason Day (Aus)        61    63    69    69    262    $1,485,000 2    Daniel Berger (USA)    65    64    70    69    268    $891,000 3    Scott Piercy (USA)    67    65    67    70    269    $561,000 T4    Rickie Fowler (USA)    69    66    66    69    270    $341,000 T4    J.B. Holmes (USA)    70    65    67    68    270    $341,000 T4    Rory McIlroy (NIR)    68    65    67    70    270    $341,000 T7    Dustin Johnson (USA)    71    62    68    70    271    $257,125 T7    Hideki Matsuyama (Jap) 72    63    70    66    271    $257,125 T7    Cameron Tringale (USA) 72    64    69    66    271    $257,125 T10    Kevin Na (USA)        65    66    70    71    272    $206,250 T10    Henrik Stenson (Swe)    71    63    71    67    272    $206,250 T10    Bubba Watson (USA)    65    70    72    65    272    $206,250    

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage