In the end, Christiaan Bezuidenhout’s share of 12th in the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship in Wilmington, Delaware, was not enough to see him through to the Tour Championship, but it concluded a very good week for the 2020 South African Open champion.
Bezuidenhout needed to finish well inside the top 10 – at one point, the calculations said eight on his own or better – to get into the top 30 in the FedEx Cup rankings to progress to East Lake in Atlanta for the final event of the season. His two-under-par 69 in the final round took him to 51st on that list, still a good finish for his rookie season on the PGA Tour and more than enough to keep him his card.
Bezuidenhout made two birdies on the front nine, but was unable to pick up any on the homeward nine as he upped his accuracy game by hitting 15 of 18 greens on regulation. That kind of play gave him plenty of chances, but he wasn’t able to convert enough of them to pick up the two or more strokes that perhaps would have seen him progress to the Tour Championship.
In the end, his eight-under-par tournament total left him six strokes behind the winner, Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay also closed with a two-under-par 69, which took him to 14-under and a one-stroke edge over fellow-American Scott Stallings. World number one Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele shared third two shots further back on 11-under.
For Bezuidenhout, it was his second-best finish of the season on the PGA Tour, behind his share of second in the John Deere Classic. He missed four cuts in 24 tournaments played, and finished inside the top 25 on 10 occasions.
With the season behind him now, he will look back on a foundation well laid as he prepares for the 2022-23 season.
