BMW Championship: Expert Picks

BMW Championship
When: September 8^th -€” 11^th
Where: Crooked Stick Golf Course
2015 Winner: Jason Day (-22)

This is the third event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs

The format of this will go: I will select golfers based on the Yahoo format. I will select one A golfer, 2 B golfers, 1 C golfer and one dark horse pick, this should space out the selections and provide a vast field to select from for anyone who is in a format where you are limited to 10 starts per year.

Crooked Stick Golf Course -€” Built 1964 by Pete and Alice Dye, this course hosted the BMW championship in 2012. It is a Scottish links-style course running on two main characteristics: it has a fair amount of dog legs, and it's long. Irons will be important as players look to play into the dog legs and approach the green in a strong fashion. One of the favorites is hole 4 which has a scenic water riding along the left side of the 400 yard hole.

A: 
Adam Scott -€” Given the longevity of this course and importance on irons I like Adam Scott. Jordan and Jason Day are popular picks but Adam has the distance advantage with his shots which he will need on this course. Add in his back to back 4^th place finishes and the fact that he's putting among the best on tour and he has a good chance at a top 10 finish here.

B: 
Rory McIlroy -€” Why not pick the guy who just won the Deutsche Bank Championship AND was the winner during the last Major event hosted at Crooked Stick (2012). He has not played on a lot of the PGA tours this year -€” especially since July (only 4 tournaments: 5^th place, Missed Cut, 31^st and then 1^st last week). I'm banking on him riding the confidence from that 6 stroke come back.

HIdeki Matsuyama -€” I got burned by him a few times this year but strategic courses like this are usually in his wheelhouse. He's got the powerful drive and iron to succeed here. Top 20 finishes in 3 out of his last four starts.

C:
Emiliano Grillo -€” I'm doubling down on Grillo, he still looked good at the Deutsche Bank Championship. He has now finished in the top 15 in 5 of his last 7 tournaments. He has a solid greens in regulation percentage (33^rd) and it's funny to think of his finish as 33^rd as a "down week" last week.

Sleeper Pick:
Hudson Swafford -€” Career year for the  5 year vet out of University of Georgia. He's 30^th on the tour in greens reached in regulation, he finished 15^th last week and works great with his irons as well as his drive distance for the non-dog-leg holes.

Last tournament results -€” Deutsche Bank Championship (97 total) -€” Day, Reed, Stenson, Grillo, O'Hair
A: 15^th place
B: 41^st place; 5^th place
C: 33^rd place
Dark Horse: 53^rd place

YTD Avg: (Average field of 134 people)
A: 35^th place 
B: 34^th place
C: 49^th place
Dark Horse: 49^th place

Fun factoid about this tournament: Like Bethpage Black, Crooked Stick returns to the rotation for just the second time.