WILMINGTON, Del. WILMINGTON, Del. – This Thursday will see the top PGA TOUR players play in the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club. It is the middle of a three week stretch that will decide the FedExCup winner. With his win in the Playoffs-opening FedEx St. Jude Championship, Will Zalatoris is now leading the race for the Cup. He is just 124 points behind Scottie Scheffler, the four-time winner of this season. Despite missing the cut last week, the Masters champion is still in good shape to be the FedExCup champ. Andrew Putnam, Wyndham Clark and Adam Scott all made it into the FedExCup’s top 70 to keep their seasons alive, but they are still outside the top 30 who will be making it to East Lake to the TOUR Championship. This week is your last chance to make it to Atlanta and to gain your seeding advantage. Here are Five Things You Need to Know Before the BMW Championship Gets Underway. 1. ZALATORIS & SCHEFFLER STANDING THE PACE Will Zalatoris took over Scottie Scheffler’s top spot in the FedExCup standings following his win in Memphis. Scheffler’s failure to make the cut at TPCSouthwind combined with the work that saw Zalatoris enter Playoffs in 12th place despite not winning, allowed him to get 124 points ahead his rival. Scheffler was previously No. Scheffler had been at No. 1 in the FedExCup after his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented to Mastercard in March. This was his second win of the season. He has remained there since then. There’s still a lot of golf. Zalatoris stated that he is in a good spot but there’s still a lot of golf to play. I would love to be in my place next week and have a lead of two shots, but we have the best players around the world. “Just because I won last week doesn’t make it any easier. So I’ve got to go out there and do this again.” While both players are guaranteed to be in the TOUR Championship, the two former Texas junior champions will battle for their place at East Lake. The TOUR Championship will begin at 10-under. Second place (8-under), third (7-under), fourth (6-under) and fifth (5-under) will be determined. There is a lot at stake in Wilmington. The seedings will continue to apply with 6-10 at 4-under and 11-15 at 3-under as well as 16-20 at 2-under and 21-25 at 1-under. 26-30 at even par is the starting stroke. Although Zalatoris is the theoretical top player, there are only 13 players who could overtake him. Zalatoris will be heading to Atlanta as one the top three seeds. Cameron Smith will be a curious observer from home, having had to withdraw due to a hip injury. This leaves his East Lake seed at the mercy of other players. After his wins at The Sentry Tournament of Champions, where he scored the lowest score relative to par in TOUR history), Smith is now third. The PLAYERS and The Open At St. Andrews Smith will hope for little damage to his seeding. After his three-win campaign, Sam Burns is now 1,251 points behind Zalatoris. Tony Finau moved from seventh to fifth last Wednesday after his recent form, while Sepp Straka rose from 36th to 8th in the standings. 2. TOP 30 OR BUST You must make it to East Lake to be eligible to win the $18million FedExCup. Only the top 30 will advance to the BMW Championship. This is possible if you look in from the outside. J.J. Spaun is the current bubble boy at 30th. Spaun laments a final round collapse at Memphis, where a round 78 brought him from the 54-hole lead down to T42. Spaun missed the chance to secure a spot at East Lake, but it is still possible to get close enough. Only two players were able to make it into the top 30 at the BMW Championship from outside the mark in 2021 and 2020, with three more making it in 2019. The five most vulnerable players to falling out are 26th-seeded Davis Riley, 27th-seeded Sahith Theegala and 28th-seeded Kevin Kisner. 29th seed Corey Conners, 31st seed Spaun, and 30th seed Sahith Theegala. 30. 31st seed Aaron Wise and 32nd seed Maverick McNealy are the closest players to burst into the bubble. 33rd Seed K.H. Lee, 35th seed Denny McCarthy, and 34th seed Lucas Glover are the closest players to bursting into the bubble. Spaun is just 2.29 points behind Wise, so the expression “Every Shot Matters” has never been more appropriate for these players. Only 96.893 marks separate 25th seed Joohyung “Tom” Kim and Wise. Glover (34), Wyndham Campbell (70), Adam Scott (45) and Andrew Putnam (47) all played their way into the top 70 FedExCup standings. They now seek to replicate Erik Van Rooyen’s efforts of a year ago, who was the only player to burst through the bubble twice in a row to reach East Lake. 3. PRESIDENTS Cup Betths Lock In The BMW Championship is the last tournament that players can play to automatically qualify for the U.S. and International Presidents Cup Teams. It will be played at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club from Sept. 22-25. Six players will be selected by Captain Davis Love III to make the U.S. Team on points. He will pick his six picks at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club on Sept. 22-25. Scottie Scheffler (Scottie), Patrick Cantlay (Sam Burns), Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas are the top six positions in the standings. However, Will Zalatoris’ win at FedEx St. Jude Championship would make it seem like they are locked in. Jordan Spieth may have a mathematical chance of making it into the top six with a win, but that will depend on a pick. Next in the standings is Collin Morikawa and Max Homa. Billy Horschel and Cameron Young are the next. J.T. Hoge and Tom Hoge are the closest players to the top 12. Poston and Kevin Kisner. Who will receive the call? Eight automatic qualifiers will be locked in by the International Team, with four Captain’s Choices due Aug. 29. Cameron Smith, Hideki Makatsuyama, Sungjae Im and Joaquin Niemann are the top eight current qualifiers. Four Captain’s Picks will be made on Aug. 29. K.H., a two-time AT&T Byron Nelson champion, is now out of the picture. Lee, Marc Leishman and Anirban Lehiri, former Presidents Cup participants, Si Woo Kim, Marc Leishman and Marc Leishman; and former TOUR winners Sebastian Munoz and Mackenzie Hughes jockeying for four of the picks. 4. CLEAN SLATE COURSE The BMW Championship will be held on a course that has never hosted any competitive rounds. This is the second consecutive year. The BMW Championship was held last year at Caves Valley, Maryland. Wilmington Country Club will host the event. The event marks the first time that the PGA TOUR has held an event in Delaware. The course will measure 7,534 yards. It is a par-71 layout with narrow fairways and long, lush rough. Five modern-day USGA events have been held at Wilmington CC, including the 1965 U.S. Amateur and 1978 U.S. Amateur. Junior Amateur, 1971 U.S. Amateur, the 1978 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 2003 U.S. Mid-Amateur. Patrick Cantlay, the current FedExCup champion, believes that distance could play a significant role. “This course is very distance-biased, just as last year.” Cantlay believes that you need to get as far as possible and hit as many fairways as possible. This course is slightly narrower than last year. I believe most men win because they get hot with the putter. A good recipe is one that puts the ball in the hole first in driving and second in putting. These greens are in great shape and you can get it online and it will go in almost every shot. The 2013 Palmer Cup was held in Wilmington. Justin Thomas, a young American, participated in the event. However, there have been many changes to the Robert Trent Jones’ course. “This place, it’s bizarre. There are a lot of holes. It has a lot of holes that, if the wind is right, can be driven in front of the green. Thomas stated that you can go for 30, 40, and 50 yards. But that’s not necessarily great. You can’t hit it as close if the pins aren’t in the right places. Then, you have a hole where I hit driver, driver, driver, and 5-iron into. You have many options… I am terrible at guessing the winning score… but I can tell you that it will be somewhere in the 12-15 range (under).” A more in-depth look at the course is available here, with nuggets and an exhibition match featuring Arnold Palmer & Jack Nicklaus. 5. THOMAS SPORTING PALMERVIBES Justin Thomas, a former FedExCup winner and BMW Championship winner, is the only player who has some experience on the course. He is currently ranked 10th in the standings, but he has positive vibes thanks to his college trip almost a decade ago. Thomas spoke fondly about the time he spent with Arnold Palmer, a legend in the game, who provided information about Paul, his grandfather, and he surprised him with some details. “We had an amazing team. Our coach was Coach Seawell, which was quite cool. “Mr. Palmer, that was probably his last Palmer Cup. Seeing him and greeting him at the first Tee was an amazing experience,” Thomas said nine years later. “I can remember talking to him here about my grandpa. He said that he had played with my grandpa. He and my grandpa were on TOUR together, and Arnie put my grandpa in the background. It was an amazing picture. These little things were very inspiring and interesting to hear. “I think it was during the 2013 tournament, when he instructed me to write my signature in order to make it legible… My mom and aunts got to meet Mr. Palmer, and took a photo with him… These are small things and will be my memories.”
By: Ben Everill
Title: Five Things to Know before the BMW Championship
Sourced From: www.pgatour.com/needtoknow/2022/08/17/five-things-to-know-before-bmw-championship-fedexcup-playoffs.html
Published Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0400
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