Lowry and McIlroy finish on positive note at BMW as Schauffele laments 'playing like ass'
FEELING THE HEAT: Rory McIlroy hits from the rough on the first hole during the final round of the BMW Championship golf tournament Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Owings Mills, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Well out of contention and operating in the half-light of early tee times, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy spent their respective Sundays in the sweltering heat of Maryland tuning up for next week's Tour Championship. The work was at least somewhat productive.
Lowry rebounded from a Saturday of struggles at the BMW Championship to shoot a closing 67 on Sunday, fully eight shots better than his score the previous day. It left the Offaly man on one-over for the tournament and hovering around a tie for 23rd with the destination of the $20m purse still up in the air, Ryder Cup teammate Robert MacIntyre and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler battling for the biggest prize in a topsy-turvy battle which opened the door for Sam Burns, Tommy Fleetwood and others.
Lowry opened birdie-birdie and found two more on the back nine with just a single bogey on the tricky par-3 17th at Caves Valley, the second stop on the FedEx Cup Playoffs schedule. With the top 30 making it through to next week's season finale in Atlanta, Lowry was comfortable inside that cohort 23rd as some of those on the bubble fought for the precious last places.
McIlroy's position was even more secure, so much so that he skipped last week's opening Playoff tournament. He closed his BMW campaign with a even-par 70 but it was far from a mundane Sunday, the scorecard featuring plenty of splashes of colour.
McIlroy birdied the short third hole but with his driving proving erratic, back-to-back double bogeys arrived on the fifth and sixth. The Holywood man found his first fairway on the eighth but then suffered from a mud ball and skewed his approach into the rough for another bogey. However McIlroy dug in and found five birdies and just one more blemish on the way home, his 70 leaving him on three-under overall, inside the top 15.
"The game was awful for the first six holes and then actually felt like I found something, especially on the back nine there. So definitely something to build off going into next week," said McIlroy afterwards.
"This week was my three weeks off. I really didn't do anything in those three weeks. I was probably expecting too much to get in contention, but there was glimmers of really good stuff in there this week.
"As I said, I felt like I found a bit of a groove over the last nine holes, so certainly something to build off going into the Tour Championship next week."
At least McIlroy has next week to continue his Ryder Cup build-up. The man directly behind him in golf's global rankings, world No.3 Xander Schauffele, will miss the Tour Championship for the first time in eight years after a closing 66 wasn't enough to help him pull off an unlikely climb into the Top 30.
After winning two majors in 2024, Schauffele has been out of sorts this season, without a win since his Open triumph in Troon last July. "There's nothing worse than trying your hardest and playing like ass," the Californian said. "It's the worst combo. Some of us do it, some of us don't. It's been a while since I have, and I did it for a few weeks now, and it sucked.
"It was mentally a long season for me even though it was short. So physically I feel a lot better, which is a plus. No sort of recurring injury, which is a plus.
"I feel like I just need to sort of reset a little bit, cool off a little bit, and just get back to a healthy mental place where I want to sit down and work really hard again. Right now I'm mentally a little tapped."
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