BMW Championship Leaderboard 2012: Analyzing Final Round Favorites in Carmel

The final round of the 2012 BMW Championship is underway at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana, where the world's top golfers are competing for one of the year's toughest tournaments. 

A pair of familiar faces were leading heading into Sunday. Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh both came in 16-under and looking to break through at a big-time tournament for the first time in a long time. 

Only one player can win, however.

Here, we take a look at the final favorites Sunday at Crooked Stick.

Phil Mickelson (-16)

Lefty shot a remarkable 8-under in Saturday's third round to take a share of the lead with Vijay Singh at Crooked Stick heading into Sunday.

The good news for Phil Mickelson is that he has gotten stronger in each round in Carmel. After shooting a 3-under, 69 on Thursday, Mickelson shot a 5-under, 67 on Friday to set up a strong start to the weekend. 

Lefty has 23 birdies through 54 holes of play and looks like the favorite to win the BMW Championship on Sunday. It would be Mickelson's first win since he won at Pebble Beach back in mid-February. 

Rory McIlroy (-15)

The 23-year-old golfing sensation opened up at Crooked Stick with a bang on Thursday, shooting an 8-under, 64 to cruise to the top of the leaderboard. 

McIlroy has kept a championship-caliber pace alive throughout the last two days of the tournament, and now finds himself just one stroke off the lead. Although McIlroy will need another astonishing 18 holes of golf in order to win, he could potentially claim his second consecutive tournament win and third win in his last four tournaments.

Rory won the Deutsche Bank Championship last weekend after shooting an impressive 20-under for the tournament, and ran away from the field at the PGA Championship at Ocean Course back in August. 

Tiger Woods (-13)

Tiger Woods has looked like the Tiger of old in 2012, winning three tournaments and being competitive week-in and week-out. But still he has yet to win that elusive 15th major, leading many to question whether he ever will.

Tiger's third round got off to a shaky start on Saturday, as he bogeyed four of the first eight holes. Thankfully for Woods and his fans, he recovered nicely, shooting four birdies on the back nine to finish 1-under for the day.

Tiger will have to take some chances on Sunday if he is to make up ground on the leaders. But there is no doubt that he is capable of pulling off some pretty birdie shots and maybe an eagle or two along the way. 

BMW Championship Top 10 Leaderboard as of Sunday, September 9 at 1:40 p.m. ET

Pos.	Player	Par	Thru
T1	Phil Mickelson	-16	-
T1	Vijay Singh	-16	-
T3	Lee Westwood	-15	-
T3	Rory McIlroy	-15	-
T3	Dustin Johnson	-15	1
T6	Robert Garrigus	-14	-
T6	Adam Scott	-14	-
T8	Tiger Woods	-13	1
T8	Bo Van Pelt	-13	2
T8	Chris Kirk	-13	3

*Click here for full leaderboard.

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