The FedExCup Playoffs forges ahead to Chicagoland for the BMW Championship, the second within the sequence of three season-ending competitions to find out the winner of the FedExCup. The North Course at Olympia Fields Nation Membership located 25 miles south of town hosts for the second time (2020).
How Olympia Fields will check, what’s on the road and extra will be discovered under the rating of projected contenders.
Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton and Collin Morikawa will likely be among the many notables reviewed in Golfbet Insider. For a learn of my Energy Rankings for the FedExCup Playoffs, click/tap here.
They will really feel the end from right here, and for twenty-four within the discipline on the BMW Championship, it’s a well-recognized expertise after having gone by the identical simply three years in the past. Certainly, one shy of one-half of this week’s discipline pegged it at Olympia Fields in 2020. The highest 30 within the FedExCup on the conclusion of the match advance to the season-ending TOUR Championship in Atlanta.
It’d be tough to determine a greater match of the slogan of a title sponsor with the prerequisite to prevail on the inventory par 70, as a result of one have to be an final driving machine simply to contend. That stated, sheer driving pleasure – contained in the ropes – will serve purely in a retroactive capability within the sense that splitting fairways is the meant final result, however the expectation for it’s tempered. Olympia Fields was the stingiest in fairways hit in the entire 2019-20 season, permitting for a mean of simply 6.74 (of 14) on common per spherical.
Provided that the course can stretch to 7,366 yards, the complete bag will likely be wanted. When precision from tee to inexperienced is at a premium, distance performs up, however Olympia Fields is not any bomber’s paradise. When it hosted 69 golfers in 2020 (Webb Simpson certified however rested), the typical distance of all drives was a really common 299.3 yards. In the meantime, each greens in regulation (10.41 per spherical) and proximity to the opening (38’5”) ranked contained in the hardest prime 10 amongst all programs. The greens common simply over 5,200 sq. ft, significantly lower than the standard TOUR cease.
With a scoring common of 71.815 in 2020, Olympia Fields was the second-hardest par 70, simply behind PGA Nationwide’s Champion Course, then host of The Honda Traditional. Jon Rahm outlasted Dustin Johnson in a playoff for which “solely” 4-under 276 was required to qualify. They have been amongst simply 5 guys who beat par throughout 72 holes.
All tough, which is all bluegrass, is trimmed to 2 inches, and the mix Bentgrass-Poa greens are able to push to 12 ft on the Stimpmeter. Regardless of appreciable rain in current weeks throughout what’s been an uncharacteristically extreme season within the area, putts mission to problem that distance this week. A principally dry sample will take maintain midweek and prolong all through. There’s an opportunity for rain on Thursday nevertheless it’s not going to be an all-day occasion. Daytime highs progressively will rise into the higher 80s by Sunday. As common, winds will likely be rather more unpredictable, however they’ll affect membership choice most in the course of the opening spherical.
Oh, about that end line… The par-4 18th stood up for a mean of +0.326 strokes to par in 2020, making it the third-most difficult closing gap amongst 41 that season. It slotted simply behind the long-lasting nearer at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Membership & Lodge, host of the Arnold Palmer Invitational offered by Mastercard. So, strolling off with an mixture par for the week on 18 could have meant beating the sphere.
As soon as the mud settles, not solely with the sphere of 30 be set for the TOUR Championship, however all of these qualifiers will earn exemptions into the 2024 editions of the Masters, the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. Additionally, for advancing to the finale, every will likely be outfitted with a two-year membership extension by 2025 if not already eligible. After all, the 20 who fall quick gained’t be too sad, for they’ve already secured exemptions into all eight Signature Events next year.
There’s additionally the not-so-insignificant matter of eligibility for the Ryder Cup. The BMW Championship is the final match earlier than the top six in Ryder Cup points mechanically qualify for the USA squad.
PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews each match from quite a few views. Search for his following contributions as scheduled.
WEDNESDAY: Golfbet Insider
SUNDAY: Payouts and Factors, Qualifiers, Reshuffle
* – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Professional Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which additionally publishes on Tuesday.
