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Lemont - Justin Rose carded a two-under-par 69 to open up a commanding four stroke lead after the third round of the BMW Championship on Saturday and give himself a shot at the season-ending $10 million jackpot.
With only the top 30 in the FedExCup standings after Sunday's final round qualifying for next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, Rose arrived at the Cog Hill Golf and Country club sitting in 34th place and needing a good result to secure an invitation.
Adopting an all-or-nothing approach, Rose surged clear of the field with a red-hot putter and some daring shot-making to finish the round at 13-under 200.
Australian John Senden was outright second at nine-under after recovering from a horrendous start to his third round. He bogeyed three of his first five holes but picked up four shots on the back nine for a 70.
Lurking a further shot back is another Australian, Geoff Ogilvy, who needed a birdie on his final hole at the Deutsche Bank two weeks ago just to earn a spot in the 70 man field for the BMW.
The former US Open champion made the most of his opportunity by returning a 68 to join American Bill Haas (69) five shots off the pace.
Rose started the round tied for the lead with American Mark Wilson but after back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth, he had the lead to himself for the rest of the day.
The Englishman displayed his willingness to roll the dice on the par four seventh when his tee shot cut left, bounced off the cart path and rolled to a stop deep in the woods.
Instead of safely punching out, Rose gambled and went for the green landing just on the fringe to save par.
Rose's only miscue on a brilliant late summers day was a bogey at the 12th but he hit back with a birdie at 13, then held steady while his challengers crumbled.
Wilson's day unraveled with back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13 followed by a double-bogey at 16. He finished with a 77 to be tied for seventh with world No 1 Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk and and Brandt Jobe.
The top 30 in the FedExCup standings after Sunday's final round will qualify for next week's season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta, where a $10 million bonus will go to the overall points champion.
Leading scores on Saturday after the third round of the $8 million US PGA Tour BMW Championship (USA unless noted, par-71):
200 - Justin Rose (GBR) 63-68-69
204 - John Senden (AUS) 68-66-70
205 - Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 69-68-68, Bill Haas 70-66-69
206 - Webb Simpson 65-68-73
207 - Keegan Bradley 71-66-70
208 - Sergio Garcia (ESP) 69-72-67, Luke Donald (GBR) 75-66-67, Brandt Jobe 75-64-69, Jim Furyk 68-70-70, Mark Wilson 65-66-77
209 - Martin Laird (GBR) 72-69-68, Chez Reavie 69-70-70
210 - Jason Dufner 71-68-71, David Toms 71-66-73, Brandt Snedeker 71-66-73
211 - Chad Campbell 69-70-72, Zach Johnson 69-70-72, KJ Choi (KOR) 67-71-73, Gary Woodland 70-68-73, Robert Allenby (AUS) 69-67-75
212 - YE Yang (KOR) 70-72-70, Camilo Vilegas (COL) 73-68-71
213 - Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 75-64-74
214 - Carl Pettersson (SWE) 70-72-72, Robert Karlsson (SWE) 69-71-74
215 - Jason Day (AUS) 77-65-73, Fredrik Jacobson (SWE) 72-73-70
216 - Marc Leishman (AUS) 71-71-74, Andres Romero (ARG) 77-66-73, Brian Davis (GBR) 74-70-72
217 - Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 71-71-75, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 73-68-76, Ernie Els (RSA) 72-71-74
218 - Adam Scott (AUS) 74-70-74
219 - Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 72-69-78
220 - Jhonattan Vegas (VEN) 73-73-74
226 - Vijay Singh (FIJ) 76-75-75
