PGA First Look: BMW Championship
The PGA First Look is complete with a course preview, odds, salaries, Official World Golf Rankings, and course history.
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Deutsche Bank Championship Recap
We had a strange week of missed cuts at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, and Charley Hoffman were a few of the notable names that failed to make it to the weekend. The real story of the week was Rory McIlroy. Despite starting the day six shots behind Paul Casey, he came from behind to win his first PGA Tour event of the season. Once it was announced that Nike was getting out of the golf game, many expected Rory’s struggles on the greens to subside. He can now use any putter that he wants and with the help of a new putting coach, we are already starting to see the dividends. With the win, McIlroy jumped up to fourth place in the FedExCup standings.
BMW Championship Preview
We are down to the final 70 in the FedExCup Championship (and in the Fantasy Golf World Championship). This week presents the steepest cut in the playoffs, as only the top 30 will move on to play in the Tour Championship. This event rotates courses each year, so make sure to keep that in mind when looking at course history. This year the event will be held at Crooked Stick Country Club in Illinois. The only recent PGA Tour event played here was the BMW Championship back in 2012.
This is one of the longest courses the players have seen all season. It is a Par 72 that measures over 7,500 yards. Despite its length, this was one of the easiest courses on tour back in 2012. Rory McIlroy walked away with the win at 20-under par. There were 23 golfers in the field with a score of at least ten under, so expect a ton of birdies to be made this week. This is a Pete Dye design (cough, cough – Matt Kuchar – cough, cough) that features bentgrass greens, 90 bunkers, and two ponds.
As for the player profile that I am targeting this week, it’s hard to avoid playing the bombers. Eight of the top 15 finishers here in 2012 were near the top in driving distance for the week and length obviously isn’t going to hurt at such a long course. From the sounds of it, these greens are very easy to read and putt on, so I’m not going to focus on the strong putters. Instead, I want to target the strong tee to green types that are going to give themselves plenty of birdie opportunities. Without a cut this week, we can afford to take a few more chances in our lineups.
Cut Rule: With only 70 golfers in the field, there is no cut this week.
Recent Winners of this Event: Jason Day (2015), Billy Horschel (2014), Zach Johnson (2013), Rory McIlroy (2012), Justin Rose (2011)
Key Statistics
1) Strokes Gained Tee to Green
2) Driving Distance
3) Birdie or Better %
4) Par 5 Scoring
Salaries, Odds, and Course History (2011-2015)
| Golfer | Salary | S-Rank | Odds | O-Rank | + / – | OWGR | Cuts | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rory McIlroy | $11,900 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1/1 | 1 |
| Jason Day | $11,600 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Dustin Johnson | $11,300 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1/1 | 6 |
| Jordan Spieth | $10,500 | 4 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Adam Scott | $10,200 | 5 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 1/1 | 6 |
| Justin Rose | $10,000 | 6 | 23 | 7 | -1 | 10 | 1/1 | 16 |
| Patrick Reed | $9,700 | 7 | 21 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Sergio Garcia | $9,500 | 8 | 31 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 1/1 | 24 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | $9,300 | 9 | 34 | 10 | -1 | 18 | 1/1 | 16 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | $9,100 | 10 | 34 | 11 | -1 | 16 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Rickie Fowler | $8,900 | 11 | 33 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 1/1 | 41 |
| Phil Mickelson | $8,800 | 12 | 38 | 12 | 0 | 14 | 1/1 | 2 |
| Ryan Moore | $8,700 | 13 | 45 | 16 | -3 | 37 | 1/1 | 10 |
| Bubba Watson | $8,600 | 14 | 43 | 15 | -1 | 7 | 1/1 | 12 |
| Emiliano Grillo | $8,500 | 15 | 47 | 18 | -3 | 26 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Gary Woodland | $8,400 | 16 | 51 | 19 | -3 | 50 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Paul Casey | $8,300 | 17 | 38 | 13 | 4 | 22 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Matt Kuchar | $8,200 | 18 | 52 | 20 | -2 | 17 | 1/1 | 54 |
| Jimmy Walker | $8,100 | 19 | 41 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 1/1 | 64 |
| Brooks Koepka | $8,000 | 20 | 46 | 17 | 3 | 20 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Billy Horschel | $7,900 | 21 | 74 | 28 | -7 | 69 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Daniel Berger | $7,800 | 22 | 61 | 23 | -1 | 40 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Russell Knox | $7,800 | 22 | 56 | 21 | 1 | 19 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Brandt Snedeker | $7,700 | 24 | 60 | 22 | 2 | 24 | 1/1 | 37 |
| Kevin Chappell | $7,700 | 24 | 64 | 25 | -1 | 32 | 0/0 | 500 |
| J.B. Holmes | $7,600 | 26 | 77 | 29 | -3 | 21 | 1/1 | 34 |
| Si Woo Kim | $7,600 | 26 | 86 | 33 | -7 | 59 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Tony Finau | $7,600 | 26 | 77 | 30 | -4 | 70 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Jason Kokrak | $7,500 | 29 | 89 | 34 | -5 | 89 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Jhonattan Vegas | $7,500 | 29 | 128 | 45 | -16 | 76 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Branden Grace | $7,400 | 31 | 62 | 24 | 7 | 13 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Brendan Steele | $7,400 | 31 | 145 | 49 | -18 | 82 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Charl Schwartzel | $7,300 | 33 | 70 | 26 | 7 | 28 | 1/1 | 28 |
| Justin Thomas | $7,300 | 33 | 73 | 27 | 6 | 34 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Zach Johnson | $7,300 | 33 | 81 | 31 | 2 | 25 | 1/1 | 12 |
| Kevin Kisner | $7,200 | 36 | 98 | 37 | -1 | 33 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Bill Haas | $7,200 | 36 | 116 | 38 | -2 | 36 | 1/1 | 45 |
| Marc Leishman | $7,100 | 38 | 121 | 40 | -2 | 48 | 1/1 | 65 |
| Hudson Swafford | $7,100 | 38 | 163 | 54 | -16 | 193 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Scott Piercy | $7,100 | 38 | 124 | 41 | -3 | 31 | 1/1 | 37 |
| David Lingmerth | $7,000 | 41 | 153 | 52 | -11 | 54 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Brian Harman | $7,000 | 41 | 127 | 44 | -3 | 127 | 1/1 | 41 |
| Luke Donald | $7,000 | 41 | 139 | 48 | -7 | 65 | 1/1 | 28 |
| Jason Dufner | $6,900 | 44 | 84 | 32 | 12 | 57 | 1/1 | 28 |
| Charles Howell | $6,900 | 44 | 132 | 46 | -2 | 98 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Sean O’Hair | $6,900 | 44 | 146 | 50 | -6 | 78 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Jamie Lovemark | $6,900 | 44 | 193 | 57 | -13 | 97 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Billy Hurley | $6,900 | 44 | 161 | 53 | -9 | 123 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Ryan Palmer | $6,800 | 49 | 95 | 36 | 13 | 68 | 1/1 | 45 |
| Kevin Na | $6,800 | 49 | 89 | 35 | 14 | 35 | 1/1 | 26 |
| Smylie Kaufman | $6,800 | 49 | 151 | 51 | -2 | 81 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Fabian Gomez | $6,800 | 49 | 200 | 59 | -10 | 67 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Aaron Baddeley | $6,800 | 49 | 266 | 65 | -16 | 140 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Harris English | $6,700 | 54 | 132 | 47 | 7 | 60 | 0/0 | 500 |
| David Hearn | $6,700 | 54 | 126 | 43 | 11 | 116 | 1/1 | 65 |
| Vaughn Taylor | $6,700 | 54 | 321 | 69 | -15 | 108 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Chris Kirk | $6,600 | 57 | 120 | 39 | 18 | 75 | 1/1 | 12 |
| Kevin Streelman | $6,600 | 57 | 228 | 63 | -6 | 106 | 0/0 | 500 |
| William McGirt | $6,500 | 59 | 170 | 55 | 4 | 42 | 1/1 | 68 |
| James Hahn | $6,500 | 59 | 194 | 58 | 1 | 58 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Graeme McDowell | $6,500 | 59 | 224 | 62 | -3 | 83 | 1/1 | 34 |
| Charley Hoffman | $6,400 | 62 | 125 | 42 | 20 | 49 | 1/1 | 54 |
| Brian Stuard | $6,400 | 62 | 263 | 64 | -2 | 128 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Roberto Castro | $6,300 | 64 | 211 | 61 | 3 | 101 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Ben Martin | $6,300 | 64 | 206 | 60 | 4 | 115 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Daniel Summerhays | $6,200 | 66 | 185 | 56 | 10 | 56 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Kyle Reifers | $6,200 | 66 | 282 | 67 | -1 | 113 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Jim Herman | $6,100 | 68 | 268 | 66 | 2 | 85 | 0/0 | 500 |
| Jon Curran | $6,100 | 68 | 309 | 68 | 0 | 99 | 0/0 | 500 |
Color Coding
Course history in BLUE indicates a top ten finish.
Course history in GREEN indicates a top 25 finish.
Course history in YELLOW indicates a made cut with a finish outside of the top 25.
Course history in RED indicates a missed cut.
Legend
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| S-Rank | Each golfer’s salary rank compared to the field, with one being the most expensive. |
| O-Rank | Each golfer’s odds rank compared to the field, with one the biggest favorite. |
| + / – | The difference between a golfer’s salary and odds rank. The bigger the number, the better. |
| OWGR | Official World Golf Ranking |