This week’s BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club presents an incredibly unique challenge — it’s a first time venue for any PGA Tour event, much less a FedEx playoff event.
And that means no one in the 68 player field has any local knowledge advantage, or at least the advantage of having played there in competition.
Last week’s St. Jude Championship shows how precarious things can get this time of year. Two of the world’s best — Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy — fell on their faces after three-week layoffs and missed the 36-hole cut.
Perhaps Scottie needs to look back and see what happened to Collin Morikawa last year. Morikawa came into the playoffs as the FedEx points leader. By the time Patrick Cantlay emerged as the grand winner — Collin had fallen all the way down to 26th. Talk about stinking things up.
The top 70 were supposed to be here but when play starts Thursday morning, there are 68. Tommy Fleetwood is taking some family and personal time away from the game, Cam Smith is resting his newly-revealed hip injury, one that never came up in any of his numerous press conferences this season. For the record, Smith’s trainer, Nic Catterrall described the problem as an “inflamed sciatic nerve.” No mention of what nerve that Saturday/Sunday rules violation might have hit.
Which brings us back to the 68 who are in attendance and will be greeted by a very long (can measure 7,500 yars) golf course that will offer up some penal rough without the array of water hazards that came into play last week in Memphis. Add some very undulating greens and unless you keep the ball in the fairway, things could get testy — much the way they did last week at TPC Southwind.
Will Zalatoris is now No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings after earning 2,000 points in Memphis.
With the new venue and the long and straight requirement, it could be a week for Matthew Fitzpatrick, who has gained considerable length off the tee combined with accuracy and great putting, all of which he showed off on his way to winning the U.S. Open at Brookline last June.
Can Scheffler and McIlroy bounced back after the missed cut. Scheffler’s No. 1 in the world, McIlroy’s No. 3. No. 2 Cam Smith is home nursing his hip problem that came as a result of too many LIV questions last week in Memphis along with some taunting from a few spectators.
Patrick Cantlay’s run to the 2021 FedEx Cup began at last year’s BMW, where he won at a different venue. Cantlay then went on to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup the following week at East Lake.
TV Broadcast Schedule:
Thursday, Friday: Golf Channel 3 p.m-7 p.m. (EDT)
Saturday: Golf Channel 12 p.m.-3 p.m. (EDT); NBC: 3 pm.-6 p.m (EDT)
Sunday: Golf Channel 12 p.m-2 p.m. (EDT); NBC: 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (EDT)
Streaming: ESPN-Plus
Korn Ferry Tour Finals Get Underway In Boise:
It’s back to work for the PGA Tour players who finished below the Mendoza line (aka No. 126 on FedEx list) in attempt to regain some PGA Tour status for next season.
The Korn Ferry Tour finals provide that avenue — as the first of three events begins this week at the Boise Open.
Hillcrest Country Club will host them along with regular season Korn Ferry players. The top 25 earned their PGA Tour cards last week but will have a chance to increase their standing on next season’s priority list.
The top 25 points-earners from the three-event series earn Tour cards.
That will give a mulligan to some high profile Korn Ferry players who were outside the top 25 including Pierceson Coody, Chris Gotterup and Akshay Bhatia.
TV Broadcast Schedule (All Tape Delay):
Golf Channel:
Thursday 8 p.m.-10 p.m. (EDT); Friday: 10 p.m.-midnight (EDT); Saturday: 9 p.m.-11 p.m. (EDT); Sunday: 8 pm.-10 p.m. (EDT)
