Leishman leads by five at BMW Championship

Following a closing birdie and a Saturday 68 at Conway Farms, Marc Leishman will take a five-shot lead over Rickie Fowler and Jason Day into the final round of the BMW Championship. Here’s how things stand through 54 holes at the penultimate event of the PGA Tour season.

Leaderboard: Marc Leishman (-19), Rickie Fowler (-14), Jason Day (-14), Justin Rose (-12)

What it means: Leishman is 18 holes from his third PGA Tour victory and his second this year, following his win at the Arnold Palmer in March. Then a PGA Tour rookie, a 25-year-old Leishman played this event in 2009 and was paired in the final round with Tiger Woods, who went on to win while Leishman tied for second. Leishman will be chased on Sunday by two of the top 10 players in the world in Fowler and Day. Like Leishman, Fowler also won earlier this year in Florida, at the Honda Classic, while Day is looking to snap a winless streak that dates back to last year’s Players as he breaks in a new caddie, his long-time friend Luke Reardon.

Round of the day: Four players – Jon Rahm, Lucas Glover, Webb Simpson and Xander Schauffele – posted 6-under 65. Schauffele, who followed up a tie for fifth at the U.S. Open with his first win at The Greenbrier, is now trying to make his first Tour Championship. He is currently projected 34th in the FedExCup standings.

Best of the rest: Six more – Rose, Sean O’Hair, Charl Schwartzel, Ollie Schniederjans, Kevin Tway and Louis Oosthuizen – signed for 5-under 66. Oosthuizen started the week 24th in the standings but is currently projected outside the top-30 cut, at 32nd.

Shot of the day: Fowler’s driver off the deck from 264 yards at the par-5 eighth.

@RickieFowler interrupts this broadcast for a DRIVER OFF THE DECK alert pic.twitter.com/8WsFdCyed9

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) September 16, 2017

As good as it was, the shot was made slightly less special after Fowler went on to three-putt for par

Storyline to watch Sunday: The top 30 players on the FedExCup Playoffs points list will advance to the season-ending Tour Campionship at East Lake. Gary Woodland enters the final round in 30th, followed by Jason Dufner, Oosthuizen, Phil Mickelson and Schauffele.