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BMW Championship: Expert Picks

Bryson DeChambeau has a win here, but not as a professional.

THE NORTHERN TRUST - Round One Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images

2nd round of the Playoffs – field is cut from 125 players down to 70.

Tournament Information:

BMW Championship
Date: August 27th – 30th
Course: Olympia Fields Country Club
Purse: $9.5MM ($1.7MM to winner)
FedEx points: 1,500 to winner
2019 Winner: Justin Thomas (-25)

Course

Olympia Fields Country Club. Built in 1915, this par 70 course is 7,343 yards with a course rating of 76.6 and a slope rating of 150. Designed by Willie Park Jr, this course has trees lined through it’s lengthy holes. Bunkers are strategically placed to keep golfers placing their shots accurately. One of the tricky parts to this course are the wooded areas opening up into open land after hole six where wind will become a larger factor. While the course requires some strength, accuracy is key here. Since this will feature the 70 best golfers, I imagine many will have both in their game.

2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

My Starting 4

Bryson DeChambeau (3rd selection this year) – When the US Amateur event was held here in 2015, guess who won that event! Bryson missed the cut last week at the Northern Trust but the last two times he missed a cut this season he rebounded with a 13th place finish and a 30th place finish.

Collin Morikawa (2nd selection this year) — The PGA Champion has finished in the top 2 in three of the last eight tournaments. He missed the cut at the Northern Trust, and the last time before that he missed the cut was at the Travelers Championship where he rebounded to win the Workday Charity Open the next week. Since he started on the tour in 2017 he has missed exactly three cuts.

Webb Simpson (5th selection this year) — He’s 23rd in driving accuracy and finished in the top 15 in three of the last four tournaments. He’s 5th in total strokes gained.

Matt Kuchar (2nd selection this year) – Matt finished in the top 25 in two of the last three tournaments. He’s 33rd in driving accuracy, and while his distance is below average, he’s 4th in strokes gained putting, and 28th in total strokes gained.

My Bench 2

Tyler Duncan (1st selection this year) – Tyler had a decent finish at Northern Trust where he finished 29th. He has missed one cut in his last nine tournaments and is among the most accurate drivers on tour (6th). He isn’t very powerful and his work around the green holds him back.

Corey Conners (1st selection this year) — Corey missed two cuts with PGA Championship and Wyndham Championship but bookended around that are a handful of finishes in the 20s and 30s. Corey is 21st in driving accuracy and 5th in greens in regulation percentage. He’s 19th in strokes gained tee to green and 12th in strokes gained off the tee.

Fun Fact: The last PGA event held here was the 2003 US Open (won by Jim Furyk) since then it held US Amateur (2015) and Women’s PGA Championship (2017)


2020 Stats

Starting 4: Avg finish 42nd (30th percentile)
Bench 2: Avg finish 58th (42nd percentile)