BMW Championship | Course Preview, Field, & What to Watch For

The boys are in Chicago this week for the 2nd leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. The top 70 in the standings will tee it up at Olympia Fields CC, hoping to either stay or get into the Top 30 for a trip to Atlanta. Some big names are missing from the field this week, as they didn’t qualify to be there.

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS – AUGUST 20: Tiger Woods of the United States lines up a putt on the 12th green during the first round of The Northern Trust at TPC Boston on August 20, 2020 in Norton, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

A few of these names include Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, and Phil Mickelson. The players who have made the trip to Illinois are in for a challenge, as most have never played this course before.

Course Preview

Olympia Fields CC is a big-boy golf course. It features a Par 70 routing, and will play around 7,400 yards all week. Multiple Par 3’s measure longer than 215 yards, and both Par 5’s can play over 600. The greens are Bluegrass, which is a type of Poa. Olympia Fields hasn’t been part of the PGA TOUR schedule since 2003, when it hosted the US Open. Jim Furyk would go on to win that tournament, as Mr. Woods would finish in a tie for 20th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Olympia Fields Country Club (@olympiafieldscc) on Jul 18, 2020 at 5:45pm PDT

Although it hasn’t seen TOUR action for almost 20 years, some of the guys in the field have played/won here. It has been a normal stop for the NCAA, at a tournament in which Matthew Wolff has won. The year Wolff won, Collin Morikawa finished runner-up. In 2015, for the 100th anniversary of the course, it hosted the US AM.

That tournament was won by Bryson DeChambeau in run-away fashion. He has only added more distance to his game since that day, which will benefit him greatly this week. Statistically speaking, the important areas in order to compete here are very similar to the ones needed  at TPC Harding Park. Getting off the tee well is going to be important, as well as approaches from 175-200.

Field 

Dustin Johnson highlights the field just a few days after his dominating victory at TPC Boston. DJ went -30 and beat the closest man by 11 strokes. 11. It was absurd golf by Dustin, and he’ll look to keep that train moving. With being one of the longest guys on TOUR, this course should fit his game. He also played well at the PGA, and as I said before those same stats are going to be important here. 

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS – AUGUST 20: Justin Thomas of the United States and caddie Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay watch his approach shot on the 13th hole during the first round of The Northern Trust at TPC Boston on August 20, 2020 in Norton, Massachusetts. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Justin Thomas reached No. 1 golfer in the world a few weeks ago, but it was short lived. DJ re-claimed that spot last weekend, which also pushed JT back to 2nd in the FedEx Cup standings. He’s been playing up-and-down golf since his win in Memphis, and he’ll need a really good week to get back to No.1 in the FedEx. 

Tiger Woods is one of the few guys this week that has actually played Olympia Fields. He finished T20 in the 2003 US Open, but needs a higher finish than that this week to keep his season alive. He currently sits at 57th in the FedEx Cup, meaning he will likely need a Top 5 this week to get the the TOUR Championship in ATL. His driver was working in Boston, as he ranked 10th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. If he can get it going on the greens, he’ll have a good shot at getting the Atlanta. 

Rory McIlroy continues to struggle ever since coming back from the break. Another low finish in Boston resulted from bad driver play, and a putter that wouldn’t cooperate. His putting performance last week was the 4th worst of his career, and he lost strokes with his driver all 4 days. On the bright side, he gained over 5 strokes with his irons. I’m not worried about his driver, he’ll have that thing tuned back up this week, so if he can stay hot with his irons, this may be the week he breaks out of his slump. 

What to Watch For 

Kevin Kisner is coming off back-to-back Top 5 finishes, but arrives at a golf course he may not feel comfortable at. He is always very open about playing long golf courses, and how he doesn’t have a shot at winning at a place like this. He did, however, play well at the PGA with a T19, so we will see if Kiz can keep it going. 

Matthew Wolff has not only won at this course before, but is entering this week playing really good golf. A Saturday 77 derailed his plans for a high finish, but he played great the other 3 days. He is also one of the longest drivers on TOUR, and that will help this week.

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Collin Morikawa missed his 2nd cut of his professional career last week at the Northern Trust. But if you remember, Collin did something pretty cool after his 1st MC. He came back and beat JT in a playoff at the Workday. I expect him to bounce back in a big way this week, especially since this course demands similar things to TPC Harding Park, where we won the PGA a few weeks ago. 

Featured Groups 

Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger  1:03 PM EST 

Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Carlos Ortiz 1:14 PM EST 

Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Brendon Todd 12:52 PM EST 

Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Harris English  Thursday: 1:03 PM EST 

My Pick to Win 

Going with Xander. Until he gets a win or stops hanging around the top of the leaderboard, I’m riding with Xander. I think he’s due. Always shows up in the big tournaments. Let’s go Xander.