PGA Tour: Patrick Cantlay defends BMW Championship title to bolster FedExCup hopes

Patrick Cantlay bolstered his hopes of back-to-back FedExCup victories after claiming a one-shot victory and successful title defence at the BMW Championship.

The world No 4 posted a two-under 69 during a gripping final round at Wilmington Country Club, with a birdie on his penultimate hole and closing par enough to see him finish a shot clear of PGA Tour veteran Scott Stallings.

Victory sees Cantlay become the fifth player this season to successfully defend a title on the PGA Tour and lifts him to second in the FedExCup standings heading into the season-ending Tour Championship, an event he won 12 months ago.

• BMW Championship: Final scores
• Recap: Final round as it happened

Stallings narrowly missed out on a first victory since 2014 but jumped from 46th to 12th in the season-long standings, booking him a last-minute invite to East Lake, where world No 1 Scottie Scheffler moved top of the FedExCup rankings after finishing tied-third with Xander Schauffele.

Starting one ahead, Cantlay opened with back-to-back pars and found himself in a share of the lead when Stallings - playing in the group ahead - took advantage of the par-five third, only for the reigning FedExCup champion to hole from 20 feet at the fourth and edge back ahead.

The advantage briefly became two until Stallings cancelled a missed par-save from eight feet at the fifth by making a tap-in birdie at the next, while Cantlay failed to get up and down from the rough at the eighth to make bogey and leave them tied at the turn.

Cantlay missed from 10 feet to save par at the 10th and briefly fell two behind when Stallings hit the pin with his approach into the 11th and set up a 10-foot birdie, but the world No 4 responded to also birdie the same hole and pull level to Stallings when he three-putted from the fringe at the 13th.

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Stallings temporarily edged back ahead with a two-putt birdie at the par-five next, where Cantlay also got down in two from 80 feet to move to 13 under, while three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the 13th by Scheffler lifted him within one of the lead.

Scheffler's slim hopes ended when he missed from three feet and bogeyed the last to slip back to 11 under, as Stallings two-putted each of his final four holes - including from nine feet at the par-four last - to set the clubhouse target at 13 under.

Cantlay took advantage of a fortunate break off the 17th tee to flick a wedge to inside six feet and make to give him a one-shot lead to the par-four last, where he almost holed from 50 feet and left a tap-in par to secure an eighth PGA Tour title.

Schauffele posted a level-par 71 to finish two strokes back, while tied-fifth finishes for K.H Lee and Adam Scott saw them finish alongside Corey Conners on 10 under and also secure them late entry into next week's season finale in Atlanta.

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Rory McIlroy birdied his last three holes to finish in a share of eighth also containing Jon Rahm, while a tied-12th finish and final-round 68 from Shane Lowry saw him end the season in 31st spot to see him miss out on a Tour Championship place.

Viktor Hovland fired a hole-in-one at the par-three second on his way to a round-of-the-day 65, as Collin Morikawa followed a four-putt double-bogey at the 11th by racking up a quintuple-bogey at the par-five next - the worst hole of his PGA Tour career - to close a final-round 79.

Who will win the FedExCup? Watch the season-ending Tour Championship live all week on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins Thursday from 5.30pm on Sky Sports Golf.

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