BMW Championship
Course: Caves Valley Golf Club (7,601 yards, par 70)
Purse: $20,000,000
Winner: $3,600,000 and 2,000 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
After an exciting week in Memphis that ended with a playoff victory for Justin Rose, the Top 50 players in the FedExCup standings will make their way to Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland for the BMW Championship. Only 49 players will be teeing it up this week after Sepp Straka was forced to withdraw due to a personal matter, but he is expected to return for the TOUR Championship next week. Each player that qualified for the BMW Championship will be exempt into all the signature events on the PGA Tour schedule next season. Every player who is able to crack the Top 30 at week's end will be exempt into all the majors next year as well, and also have a fair shot to win the FedExCup and the $10 million bonus.
The BMW Championship is one of the few rotating events on the PGA Tour schedule. This year it will return to Caves Valley, which previously hosted the event in 2021. The club underwent significant renovations since the last time it hosted when Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau had an epic playoff duel after finishing 72 holes at 27-under-par, which still stands as a tournament record. Caves Valley was a par 72 then, but this year it will be played as a par 70 at 7,601 yards, about 60 yards longer on the card than it was in 2021.
Lucas Glover sits right on the bubble in 30th in the FedExCup standings heading into the week. Not far behind are Sam Stevens and Ryan Gerard looking to make their way to East Lake for the first time. 2025 PGA Tour winners on the outside looking in are Ryan Fox, Thomas Detry, Kurt Kitayama and Brian Campbell. Just like last week in Memphis, FedExCup points will be quadrupled so there will be plenty of movement based on the results at Caves Valley. This is another no-cut event, which allows players to recover on the weekend if they struggled the first couple days. The fight for the victory on Sunday likely will be fun to watch, but the fight to make the Top 30 will bring a lot of drama in its own right. Just sneaking in as the No. 30 seed has never meant more with the new TOUR Championship format in place where just the low 72-hole scores count. In recent years they would have started the final event 10 shots back of the No. 1 seed.
It's going to be another hot week in Owings Mills, Maryland. Temperatures for each of the four tournament rounds are expected to reach 90 degrees and there is not much wind in the forecast either. The most likely time we might see some precipitation affect the tournament would be Thursday afternoon. Caves Valley has taken a lot of steps to try and make their golf course more of a challenge to the top players, but given the forecast it's likely going to get pretty torn up again.
Recent Champions
2024 - Keegan Bradley (-12) at Castle Pines
2023 - Viktor Hovland (-17) at Olympia Fields
2022 - Patrick Cantlay (-14) at Wilmington CC
2021 - Patrick Cantlay (-27) at Caves Valley
2020 - Jon Rahm (-4) at Olympia Fields
2019 - Justin Thomas (-25) at Medinah
2018 - Keegan Bradley (-20) at Aronimink
2017 - Marc Leishman (-23) at Conway Farms
2016 - Dustin Johnson (-23) at Crooked Stick
2015 - Jason Day (-22) at Conway Farms
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
- Proximity 175-200 Yards/200-225 Yards
- Birdie Average
Champion's Profile
The renovation of Caves Valley was no small feat, but it feels like the course is in a much better place to host the best players in the world in 2025 than it was the first time around. All the green complexes were redone to create some more challenging hole locations. The grasses were also changed to try and find something that could thrive better in this climate and create firmer and faster playing conditions. A number of the holes have been lengthened and a few were reworked completely to create more of a strategic challenge. I highly doubt we see 27-under-par again this week, but the scoring is still likely to be fairly good given the lack of wind.
While some of the fairways have been narrowed, it still feels like the bombers will have an advantage here. There is trouble off the tee, but most of that is well off the fairways and players of this caliber won't be too concerned with. The rough is also likely not going to be as penal as the Bermudagrass last week was. Firmer greens and longer shots in should give advantages to your top iron players. Some of the water features on this course and other natural hazards have been brought more into play with some of the green complexes moving. It does seem like a place where your top drivers and iron players are going to be able to separate.
If a player misses a green this week, they will likely find themselves in the rough. There's not a ton of short grass runoffs, which play to the advantage of the top short-game players. I think SG: Around-the-Green won't be something to get very concerned with, and unfamiliar greens like these always tend to favor the top ball-strikers. Players should see a lot of shots in the 175-225 yard range, so that should be a big secondary stat focus along with players who excel at racking up birdies on the scorecard.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($13,100)
He won't have Ted Scott on the bag this week as he tends to a personal matter, but with a full week to prepare I expect Scheffler to fair just fine with Mike Cromie, who normally caddies for Chris Kirk. Scheffler nearly won using a fill-in caddie last Sunday in Memphis, but ulimately finished a shot out of the playoff in T3, his 12th straight top-8 finish. Scheffler's the best ball-striker in the world by a mile and should thrive at Caves Valley.
Ludvig Aberg ($10,600)
The ball-striking has been very strong for Aberg over the last couple months. He has gained both off the tee and on approach in his last seven starts. During that stretch he has five top-25s, including a T9 last week. While Aberg didn't play the last time Caves Valley hosted a PGA Tour event, many in this field didn't either and all the green complexes were redone anyways. I expect the Swede to be in the mix come Sunday afternoon because it's such a great setup for him.
Cameron Young ($10,200)
Young followed up that long-awaited first PGA Tour win at the Wyndham Championship with a strong showing in Memphis in the form of a solo fifth place finish. He led the field in SG: Off-the-Tee and was pretty strong both on approach and with the putter as well. Young's power should shine around Caves Valley as he looks to get a pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup Team. He ranks 17th in birdie average and seventh in SG: Putting this season.
The Middle Tier
Sam Burns ($9,600)
Some of his finishes have tailed off a bit after a hot stretch earlier in the summer that included seven top-20 finishes in an eight-start stretch. Nevertheless, Caves Valley should be a great spot for him to pick up a strong finish and get back in the Ryder Cup discussion. Burns has been driving it extremely well of late and finished eighth last time the PGA Tour was here in 2021. Only four players have made more birdies this year and he can chalk a lot of that up to ranking second in SG: Putting.
Chris Gotterup ($9,100)
I'm expecting a decent ownership break in Gotterup after his three-week top-10 streak came to an end with a disappointing T54 in Memphis. Caves Valley will have more space for the long-hitter to work with. He seemed to figure something out in the final round at TPC Southwind when he posted a 66 and ranked inside the top-15 for the day in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach and SG: Putting. Gotterup is ninth in total birdies, 18th in par-3 scoring and seventh in par-4 scoring this season.
Hideki Matsuyama ($8,900)
I haven't played Matsuyama anywhere for quite awhile, but at this number I think it's a great spot to get him back into lineups. Matsuyama is coming off his fourth straight top-20 finish and has been crushing it on approach of late. He now ranks top-11 on Tour in SG: Approach, proximity from 175-200 yards and proximity from outside 200 yards. The driving has been a struggle at times for Matsuyama this year, but there should be enough room at Caves Valley to get away with it, especially considering how strong his long irons have been.
The Long Shots
Akshay Bhatia ($8,600)
After having to WD at the Wyndham, Bhatia bounced back quickly with a strong T6 showing in Memphis in which he ranked top-15 in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach, SG: Around, GIR's and scrambling. Bhatia's iron play should thrive at Caves Valley as he has gained strokes on approach in nine straight starts and ranks pretty high in all of the proximity buckets through the bag. He is also ninth in birdie average, 12th in par-3 scoring and 23rd in par-4 scoring this season.
Kurt Kitayama ($8,400)
Kitayama is one of the best ball-strikers in the field and is coming off his fourth top-15 in his last five starts in the form of a T9 in Memphis. He ranks 11th in SG: Off-the-Tee, eighth in driving distance, 33rd in SG: Approach and second in proximity. Kitayama leads the Tour in approaches from outside 200 yards, which is a nice thing to have on his side at Caves Valley. He is also fourth in birdie average and fourth in scoring average in 2025.
Harry Hall ($7,800)
The T22 last week was Hall's 10th straight finish of T28-or-better. The PGA Tour leader in birdie average this season is built for a week like this where we are expecting a lot of red numbers. Hall is also basically first in every putting category this season, and top-5 in both par-3 scoring and par-4 scoring. He's got the highest upside in DFS of anyone down here in the $7K range.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
Given the fact that there's only 49 players in this field, I'm actually surprised that Scheffler is only $13,100. I think there's a lot of question marks in the $11K range, so I've got no problem paying up for the undisputed top player in golf and then finding some value in a pretty strong $8K and $9K range. Some other players not mentioned above in those ranges I'll likely sprinkle some action on are Viktor Hovland ($9,500), Ben Griffin ($9,300), Rickie Fowler ($8,500) and Robert MacIntyre ($8,300). Given all the lengthy par-3s and par-4s, the top long iron players should do very well here, which also tend to be a lot of the bombers. That will be the formula I'm relying on most at a bit of an unfamiliar venue.
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