The FedEx Cup Playoffs Head To Caves Valley For The BMW Championship
Stan Badz. Getty Images.Baltimore baby!!! My hometown, and a town that hasn't seen a PGA Tour event since 1962.
1962! When the likes of Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer were playing the Eastern Open Invitational at muni tracks like Mount Pleasant and Pine Ridge. If you know you know.
The Northern Trust effectively cut this field down to the Top 70. 69 players are playing this week, with Patrick Reed out battling double pneumonia. Woof. There's no cut here and those in the Top 30 in the FedEx Cup Standings will advance to the playoff finale at the Tour Championship at East Lake, where major paydays and future tournament exemptions await. Ton of middle-of-the-road Tour guys set making East Lake as one of their goals for the season and this is the week they can make that a reality. Should be fun.
Last year Jon Rahm beat DJ in a playoff at Olympia Fields outside Chicago. Not terribly relevant here at Caves Valley, but here's that leaderboard and every winner of the BMW (formerly the Western Open) during the FedEx Cup era:
2020 Leaderboard
Winners
The Course
Caves Valley is the premier country club golf course in the Baltimore area. Cal Ripken's a member. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is a member. Under Armour founder Kevin Plank is a member. If you're a big somebody in the Baltimore area, this is your golf club. It's an exclusive place and I've been passively looking to get on it for a few years now. Consider my efforts no longer passive. My DM's are open to anyone who can get me on #LetBanksPlay.
It's a Tom Fazio design created in 1991. For many years, it measured a little over 7,000 yards from the tips, which is long enough to host things like NCAA Championships, Champions Tour events, and LPGA events. But Caves wanted the best of the best, so in the past couple of years they've tacked on a ton of yardage to attract this event. The official scorecard number this week is 7,542 yards, which is no picnic. This shouldn't simply be a bomb and wedge contest. They had world long drive champion and Maryland native Kyle Berkshire out there in recent weeks to test the design and fairway bunker placement and even he didn't have the length to take them out of play. We had Caves' head golf pro Matt Fuller on our podcast last night to talk about the course:
For this week, they've flipped the nines for tournament play (the routing and scorecard above is the order you'll see this week). The back 9 that the the members play is much more tree-lined than the front, and they wanted more room for grandstands for the home stretch of the tournament. Makes total sense.
That sets up this week's front 9 as the far easier nine between the two. They'll start with a downhill 365 yard par 4 that some of the longest hitters will be able to get close to, and then a reachable par 5 2nd. The opportunities to score continue for the first 7 or so holes before things start to get nasty. Should create some great leaderboard movement as these guys make their way through the course on the weekend.
Everything I'm hearing from people is that the greens are lightning fast, in spite of all the rain this area has gotten in recent weeks. There's a lot of guesswork going on by handicappers and experts about what type of player will thrive here, but I've been told you better be able to roll the rock this week. If you're thinking about shot shape, it probably favors somebody who hits a fade. 7,542 is long enough to probably rule out some of the shortest hitters, but it sounds to me like you're going to need an all-around game to get it done at Caves.
Best Hole - 18th Par 4, 465 yards
photos courtesy of GolfCourseGurus.com
Great finishing hole on what is usually this course's 9th. They've narrowed this fairway a bit and lengthened the hole from a gettable 400 to a more challenging 465 yards. A creek meanders up the right side of the hole and there's bunkering lining the left side as the hole turns left to right. It's almost like a mirror image of Fazio's 18th at Quail Hollow. There's really nowhere to hide and should make for a great finishing hole with guys both battling to make East Lake and to win the tournament.
The Weather
Hot and MUGGY. August is disgustingly humid in this area, so if you're gonna be out there like I am, getcha gold bond ready. It'll cool off a touch over the weekend but there may be some scattered storms in the area Saturday. Weather here can switch on a dime and it's only Tuesday, so something to keep an eye on.
TV Coverage
Thursday: Golf Channel 3-7 PM
Friday: Golf Channel 3-7 PM
Saturday: Golf Channel 12-3 PM, NBC 3-6 PM
Sunday: Golf Channel 12-2 PM, NBC 2-6 PM
Tiger's Silly Highlight
Tiger has won the Western Open/BMW Championship on 5 occasions, two of them as FedEx Cup playoff events. So yeah, there's some highlights, like him hoisting this iron out from trouble to 10 feet for birdie back in 2010. Or him catching one clean off a nasty downhill lie 4 holes later.
Magician.
The Trophy
Andy Lyons. Getty Images.
So uhhhh…. there's two trophies? One is from the Western Golf Association, who has run the Western Open since 1899. That's the trophy on the left that's been around for years and years and years. On the right is the BMW Championship trophy, which is clearly a sponsor driven trophy that got thrown into the mix when this became a FedEx Cup playoff event back in 2007. I'm not sure what to think about this. 2 trophies > 1 right? Kinda a flex but I think that Western Open trophy is good enough for the both of them. The Western Open was/is the 3rd longest running PGA Tour event after the Open and the US Open. When you've got a trophy with the likes of Hagen and Hogan and Sarazen and Snead and Palmer and Nicklaus and Watson and Woods on it…. you've got quite a historic piece of hardware on it. I respect BMW wanting to get their logo on a trophy given all the money they're pouring into this thing, and I also respect the WGA for not budging on putting it on theirs. Great balance of keeping things prestigious and finding room to respect the sponsors. For that reason, this ensemble gets a 9/10.
The Field
As I said, there's a ton of guesswork going into play here regarding how this course will play and who that might benefit. There's a lot of hearsay at play, so we'll have to lean on a few factors besides course fit.
Jon Rahm is the favorite at +550. He deserves it. By all means should have won last week and there's data out there that suggests his current level of play is as good as anyone's not named Tiger in the past couple of decades. Those odds suggest he's nearly 3 times as likely as the next best guy to win this tournament. Kiiiinda outrageous.
I really like Dustin Johnson at +2200. He may have missed the cut at Liberty, but that gave him the opportunity to get down to Caves and check this course out while the rest of the guys were waiting through the rain. I've heard that he was out on the range and playing the course on Monday while the majority of this field was still slogging through the Northern Trust.
You can make the same case for Morikawa, I just like the way this course is going to fit DJ's eye a little more. He's got the gas to get to some of these driveable par 4's. He's a sleeping giant at this time of year and when he turns it on, he's virtually untouchable. With the way this course has been lengthened and at odds that long, I can't lay off DJ.
Other Plays
Brooks Koepka +2500 To Win - Not dissimilar from DJ, he just doesn't have the intel DJ does. Regardless, if I like DJ at a course, I'm probably gonna like Brooks too.
Kevin Kisner +12500 To Win - 7,542 yards is a LOT for a guy like Kiz. But I was also told putting comes at a premium and these odds are way too long for a guy who won just 2 weeks ago.
Kisner Top 10 +750 - He played the 2005 NCAA Championships here btw. Different course, different times, but still a fun lil nugget that not a lot of these guys can claim.
Sam Burns 1st Round Leader +4000 - I've meant to make this pick more of a habit. Sam Burns is Mr. 1st round lead this season.
Scottie Scheffler Group D Winner +350 (over Hideki, Webb, Berger, and Ancer) - Ryder Cup crunch time for Scheff. 14th in the rankings with Patrick Reed potentially on the ropes with pneumonia. He'll be scratching and clawing for every stroke to try to earn a Strick pick.
Tony Finau To Win +2200 - I'm addicted to Tony Finau picks. I need more. Gotta have more. Haloti Ngata's (distant) cousin btw.
I'll be out there every day this week. I'm actually volunteering, transporting BMW courtesy cars around during non-tournament days.
If you're in the Baltimore area, ya gotta make it out to this tournament.
Seriously. This is a massive opportunity for Baltimore to showcase itself as the great sports town that it is. Not just for golf, but for numerous things. Hell, Baltimore/DC is taking a run at the 2026 World Cup. This stuff matters. Showing up for this kind of stuff matters. You're probably not reading this if you're not a golf guy, but I implore you to tell your friends they should go too. Golf tournaments are a blast and you're free to roam around and drink beers and smoke cigars pretty much as you please.
If you see me out there, gimme a holler. Feels like Saturday is going to be a huge day with people showing out at Caves. Let's have ourselves a time out there.