BMW CHAMPIONSHIP
Purse: $20M
Winner's Share: $4M
FedEx Cup Points: 2,000 to the winner
Location: Owings Mills, Md.
Course: Caves Valley Golf Club
Yardage: 7,601
Par: 70
2024 champion: Keegan Bradley (Castle Pines)
Tournament Preview
When we last saw Caves Valley, the golfers shredded it. No, they destroyed it, obliterated it. Get the picture? Maybe not still?
Well, Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau both shot 27-under before Cantlay won a marathon six-hole playoff. Cantlay's worst score all week was 6-under 66. DeChambeau shot a 12-under 60 on Friday. Cantlay gained more than 14.5 shots on the field in putting, a record for the Strokes Gained era (since 2004). DeChambeau led the field in driving distance at a massive average of 345 yards (talk about the ultimate driving machine!).
Now, you really got the picture.
There were extenuating circumstances -- there was a lot of rain, the course was incredibly soft and preferred lies were in play. But how many shots was all that worth?
This year, the course will look different. And, according to the oddsmakers, it will play different. Golfodds.com out of Vegas posted the winning score at 262.5, whoch is only 17.5 under par.
The 1991 Tom Fazio design underwent a huge renovation in 2023. Virtually all the turf throughout the course was changed. The tree-lined fairways were narrowed -- somewhat. The rough is said to be 3-4 inches. They turned two of the par-5s into par-4s, making the course play as a par-70, while adding a little distance, up from 7,542 yards to 7,601. That's extremely long for a 70 (or a 71 or 72, for that matter). No. 1 was lengthened by more than 100 yards and now plays at 481. There are some large, deep, penal bunkers. There's a new sub-air system, making the greens consistently firmer. The medium-size bentgrass greens, averaging 5,200 square feet, are now closer to the hazards.
The fairway bunkers at next week's @BMWchamps at Caves Valley are deep and massive.
Will be fun to see how the players navigate them if they end up inside. pic.twitter.com/I2CJylOPdX
— BeyondTheClubhouse Podcast (@BeyondClubhouse) August 10, 2025
There will be more hazards on Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7, and water will now come into play on seven holes instead of five, Caves Valley chairman Steve Fader told the Baltimore Business Journal (BBJ) in 2023, according to the website Club and Resort Business.
So how much harder will the course play? The over/under suggests a lot. As Fader told the BBJ, the members still have to play there. We should expect Caves Valley to continue to play into the hands, and clubs, of the bombers. We won't assume anyone will putt the way Cantlay did. And it wasn't like he was exactly short off the tee. While he ranked only 17th in driving distance, he still averaged 311.4 yards.
Caves Valley's two remaining par-5s, are both just under 600 yards. There are eight par-4s of at least 450 yards and two of them over 500. Two of the par-3s are 245 yards and a third is 220. That is a lot of long holes.
For what it's worth, only four holes played over par four years ago, with the 470-yard 18th the hardest.
Okay, on to the field. Scottie Scheffler is of course the overwhelming DFS and betting favorite, though Rory McIlroy is back to give him a challenge. This course should fit them both quite nicely, thank you. While the top 50 in the FedExCup Standings advanced from last week, only 49 will tee it up this week, as Sepp Straka was a Monday withdraw because of a family matter, the Tour announced.
History shows us that the majority of playoff events, including this one played at all its different courses, are won by the top 10-15 guys. We want to get as many of them as possible into our lineup, though it would be almost impossible to include Scheffler coming in at $13,400. Since the field is small and there is no cut, there should be fewer reservations about turning to the lower-priced guys to fill out your lineup. You hope they can sneak their way into a high or semi-high finish.
As for the weather, it should be a typically steamy summer week in the Mid-Atlantic region. Highs in the low 90s and humid with at least some chance of afternoon rain every day but especially on Wednesday. That could slow and lengthen the course even more. There will be little wind to speak of.
BMW Championship factoids: This is technically the third oldest golf tournament in the world, having started in 1899 as the Western Open before going on its meandering BMW road show. Only the Open Championship (1860) and U.S. Open (1895) are older. This will be the 123rd edition. The tournament used to be exclusive to the Chicago area before the PGA Tour started traveling with this venerable event. BMW came on board as the title sponsor when the FedExCup Playoffs began in 2007.
Key Stats to Winning at Caves Valley
The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.
• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in Regulation/Approaches from 175-200 yards
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Birdie Average/Birdie or Better Percentage
Past Champions
2024 - Keegan Bradley (Castle Pines)
2023 - Viktor Hovland (Olympia Fields)
2022 - Patrick Cantlay (Wilmington Country Club)
2021 - Patrick Cantlay (Caves Valley)
2020 - Jon Rahm (Olympia Fields)
2019 - Justin Thomas (Medinah)
2018 - Keegan Bradley (Aronimink)
2017 - Marc Leishman (Conway Farms)
2016 - Dustin Johnson (Crooked Stick)
2015 - Jason Day (Conway Farms)
Champion's Profile
We were flying blind in 2021 and, to some extent, still are. So many changes were made to the course since four years ago.
Do we expect it to get to 27-under? No. But 20 would not be out of the question.
2021 Caves Valley winner Cantlay ranked 15th in SG: Off-the-Tee. Runner-up DeChambeau led the field. Third-place finisher Sungjae Im, four shots back, ranked 11th but was 56th in driving distance. McIlroy finished fourth on the leaderboard and ranked second in both Off-the-Tee and driving distance.
All four of those guys also ranked top-10 in putting, with Cantlay first, DeChambeau second, Im fourth and McIlroy 10th. Cantlay ranked second in GIR and the others were top-25.
Remember, this was a 70-man field four years ago.
Whenever there is any doubt about how a course will play or whom it fits, you can rarely go wrong tabbing strong iron players, good approach guys.
The over/under on the winning score at golfodds.com is 262.5 -- 17.5 under par.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$10,000 and up
Scottie Scheffler - $13,400 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +225)
There are SEVEN guys in five figures. Virtually unheard of. But that's the nature of a small field. We include Scheffler because how can you not? (Though he has won only one of his past five starts!) But at this high price, it will be difficult to field a competitive lineup of five other guys. A young Scheffler tied for 22nd here four years ago after opening with a 73.
Ludvig Aberg - $10,200 (+2200)
With such an expected emphasis on driving, this is Aberg's wheelhouse. He hasn't had a great season by any means. But he has finished top-10 in two of his past three starts, including last week, with a top-25 in the other. Aberg's approach play and putting have gotten far better over the past two months. After the Memorial in early June, he was ranked 119th in SG: Approach, 139th in SG: Putting and 117th in greens in regultion. Now: 70th, 98th and 68th. Enormous, enormous improvement -- and it's not easy to climb that high this deep into the season.
$9,000-$9,990
Cameron Young - $9,800 (+3000)
Young finishing fifth last week was surprising, for two reasons. One, it came right after his maiden Tour victory. Recentering yourself so soon after a life-altering event is not easy. And two, TPC Southwind has some very narrow fairways. Caves Valley should suit Young's game even better and allow him to let fly off the tee. He's very close to locking up a spot on the Ryder Cup team and another good week would likely cinch it.
Ben Griffin - $9,100 (+3500)
There are a number of potential plays in the $9,000s. Griffin is one of them and, since he's at the bottom of this price range, he's the best value. He's shown he can deliver on all sorts of courses in 2025, with eight top-10s (non-Zurich). He surely delivered on long tracks with tough fields -- he finished top-10 in both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open. We don't think of Griffin as a long hitter. But with a ranking of 78th on Tour in driving distance, he's not short, either.
$8,000-$8,900
Hideki Matsuyama - $8,800 (+4000)
Matsuyama still has only one top-10 all season -- and it came in Week 1 with a win at the Sentry. But he has a boatload of top-20s, including four in a row heading into Caves Valley. He's been hurt most this season by his driver, which hasn't been overly long or overly straight. But his iron player remains solid, ranking him 11th in SG: Approach.
Chris Gotterup - $8,500 (+3500)
Gotterup may have played himself out of a Ryder Cup captain's pick with a tie for 54th last week. If he's not careful this week, he could play himself out of the TOUR Championship. Gotterup begins the week in 26th place. He's much better positioned this week than last. The fairways at TPC Southwind are very narrow. Someone ranked 10th in driving distance but only 146th in accuracy should find Caves Valley much more favorable. Gotterup is ranked seventh on Tour in greens in regulation.
$7,000-$7,900
Kurt Kitayama - $7,600 (+4500)
Kitayama waited a long time to get going this season, but he's now one of the hottest players on Tour. In his past five starts, he's won the 3M Open and registered three of his four top-10s on the season, including a T9 last week. That moved him to 37th in points, so he still has work to do to continue his season beyond this week. Kitayama is ranked eighth on Tour in driving distance, 33rd in SG: Approach and 22nd in SG: Total.
Taylor Pendrith - $7,200 (+6500)
Pendrith has had a very good season, one that sees him sitting 35th in the point standings. So he'll need a good week to advance to East Lake. Pendrith is one of the longer hitters on Tour -- ranked 32nd in driving distance -- while also being an accurate iron player ranked 29th in greens in regulation. He just missed a top-25 last week with a T28 at Southwind.
$6,000-$6,900
Brian Harman - $6,900 (+7500)
Ranked 18th in points, Harman will play in the TOUR Championship. Whether that frees him up to play without pressure this week while so many others are filled with pressure, we shall see. After a so-so year that featured a win at the Valero Texas Open but little else, Harman has made a late-season push. In his past four starts, he had top-10s at the Travelers and Open Championship and a top-25 last week at Southwind.
Jhonattan Vegas - $6,100 (+11000)
Vegas is one of the cheapest guys in the field. He's also among the longer hitters, one who tied for 14th last week to move into the top 50. He rides eight straight rounds in the 60s into Caves Valley. Vegas plays the long par-4s extremely well and, since they make up almost half the course, he warrants a big-time dart throw from the bottom of the DK board.
Like what you see in Len's BMW Championship recommendations? See how they stack up alongside other golfers in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.
