The BMW Championship is here, and the FedEx Cup continues after a week off. You can now draft several teams or go all in on one lineup. The question is, are you ready to take on the rest of the field with your picks?
Course Features
The BMW Championship is the third of four tournaments that make up the FedEx Cup post season. This week’s event has a limited field comprising of the top 70 players in the standings after the previous qualifying tournament. There is no cut so everybody receives a cheque but the objective is to make the Tour Championship next week for which only the top 30 players are eligible.
The player with the most points after next week’s finale will win the FedEx Cup and a $10 million bonus. Only qualifiers for the Tour Championship can be the FedEx champion and the scoring system was tweaked so that a player must contest the last event of the series to have a chance of winning the bonus. Jason Day and Jordan Spieth already can control their destiny having secured a place in the top five.
The BMW Championship returns to Conway Farms Golf Club on the outskirts of Chicago having hosted the tournament in 2013. Open champion Zach Johnson was the winner that week thanks to finishing in the top six for driving accuracy, greens hit and strokes gained putting. The course has been toughened with newly laid greens, deeper bunkers and a small increase in length.
Putting Your Fantasy Team Together
Jim Furyk ($10,000) has positive mental associations with this week’s host course as he shot a 59 in the second round of the BMW Championship in 2013 at the venue. Furyk had become unreliable at the business end of the tournaments but he won again this year. He combines solid current form and a record of finishing three shots off the pace two years ago. He is a top 20 player for driving accuracy and greens in regulation so can excel in this environment and is not scared by the huge amounts of money on offer over the next two weeks.
Sergio Garcia ($8,600) is still striving to win that elusive first major after several near misses in the four most important weeks of the golfing year. He still has a brilliant long game but putting has often let him down when it matters most. Garcia has had a limited schedule in the last few weeks so comes to the tournament rested and hopefully relaxed. He does not score highly for the accuracy stats on the PGA Tour but has shown in Europe that he has a game suited to this week’s host course.
Brooks Koepka ($8,200) is one of the bright young things of American golf trying to make an impact after spending several years playing on the European Tour. He is now consistently recording high finishes in the States and has the game to score well at Conway Farms. Koepka is a top 20 player for greens hit and strokes gained putting. Before a slight dip in form he had made his last five cuts with something to spare and is set for another good week on a course suited to his profile.
Robert Streb ($8,000) has made 23 of 28 cuts since the start of the season. He is another relative newcomer to leaderboards on the PGA Tour but is proving himself at this level. He is a top 25 player for greens in regulation and strokes gained putting and that is a decent combination in the context of this week’s challenge. He is on a run of four cuts made and lack of course experience should not be a great handicap for this solid performer.
Paul Casey ($7,800) has a career high ranking of number three in the world and after a dip in form is now safely inside the top 50 which brings invites to majors and WGC tournaments. He made four cuts in a row before his latest tournament and has the temperament so stay focused when the pressure intensifies and 10 million dollars is on the table. Casey is a top five player for greens hit and will be finding the right part of the greens to set up plenty of birdie opportunities.
Jimmy Walker ($7,400) finally got the hang of winning and has now won four tournaments since the start of last season. He has made 19 of 22 cuts during the current campaign and has become a solid operator. Walker is the most successful player on Tour this season for strokes gained putting and that skill can compensate for average accuracy. He finished seven shots behind Johnson in 2013 so solid course can help him contend this week.
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