The FedEx Playoffs continue this week with the top-50 golfers teeing it up at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado. This is a course I know well. I got to play this course a few times when I was stationed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. I used to attend the Western Open when it was played at Castle Pines between 1986 and 2006. The altitude is going to make the driving distances insane, but could hurt some players who cannot get the yardage correct. It should be fun to watch the best golfer in the world play this course for the first time.
The top-50 golfers on the PGA Tour will play the BMW Championship this week with the top-30 advancing to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. There is a lot of money on the line this week and next week. Some of the pressure was taken off the field this week by simply advancing to the BMW Championship. All of the golfers in the field this week have a guaranteed spot in all eight of the signature events next year and likely all four majors. That guarantees that the 2025 PGA Tour season will be a profitable season if they simply stay healthy.
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
COURSE BREAKDOWN
Unlike the St. Jude Championship (played last week) and the Tour Championship (played next week); the BMX Championship switches courses every year. The BMW Championship was played at Olympia Fields, just outside of Chicago, last year. Now the tournament makes the trip to Castle Pines Golf Club (between Denver and Colorado Springs).
Castle Pines Golf Club was designed by Jack Nicklaus. The course is 6,500 feet above sea level, so the ball will fly about 10% further than it does on a normal course. The course is a par-72 that will play 8,078 yards in length. This will be the longest course ever played on the PGA Tour, but every golfer in the field should be able to bomb it off the tee this week.
Castle Pines Golf Club has a lot of bunkers, a lot of rolling hills and some water. It was designed to be the “Augusta National of the West.” Do not be surprised if we see a deer running through the fairways this week. This course really comes down to which golfers can dial in their yardage to play the course correctly. It make take some time for some golfers to figure it out, the golfers who are good at the Masters should play well this week.
Click here to see the course: Castle Pine Golf Club
KEY STATS FOR BMW CHAMPIONSHIP
– Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green
– Strokes Gained Approach
– Strokes Gained Putting (Bent Grass)
– Par 4 Scoring 450-500 Yards
– Birdie of Better %
TOP 20 GOLFERS
STRATEGY FOR THE BMW CHAMPIONSHIP
There is no cut this week or for any of the tournaments in the FedEx Playoffs. That means we know we will get four rounds from each golfers. The field is stacked, since only the top-50 golfers on the PGA Tour are playing the BMW Championship. That means, even the lowest priced golfers are in play this week.
This tournament is very top heavy. It may be hard to win without a couple of the golfers priced over $10K in your lineup. My strategy for both Cash Contests and Tournament Contests this week is to build “stars and scrubs” lineups. Even the cheapest golfers in this field are some of the best golfers in the world. That means you will essentially be building “stars and stars” lineups, even though three of your golfers will be very cheap.
CORE GOLFERS FOR BMW CHAMPIONSHIP
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
XANDER SCHAUFFELE ($11,600): I would love to start my Cash Contest lineup with Scottie Scheffler, but I will take the $1,200 savings in salary and play Schauffele. He has been just as good as Scheffler over the last month. Schaufele finished 2nd last week in the St. Jude, 9th at the Olympics, won the Open Championship, finished 7th at the U.S. Open and won the PGA Championship. Schuaffele can jump Scheffler in the rankings with a win this week. I would not be surprised if Schauffele was holding the trophy Sunday.
BILLY HORSCHEL ($9,300): I like golfers who have good recent form in my Cash Contest lineup and it is hard to find anyone playing as well as Horschel now (expect Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele). Horschel finished 10th last week at the St. Jude, 7th at the Wyndham Championship and 2nd in the Open Championship. Horschel has won the PGA Championship before. He may get hot and win a lot of money over the last two weeks of the season.
WYNDHAM CLARK ($9,200): Clark is my pick to win this week, so of course I am going to play him in my Cash Contest lineup. Clark is a Colorado native (he lives in Scottsdale, Arizona now) and his parents live in Castle Rock, Colorado. He has the most experience playing at altitude and playing Castle Pines Golf Club. He looked good last week with his 7th-place finish at the St. Jude. His experience at this course should be a huge advantage this week.
TAYLOR PENDRITH ($7,300): Pendrith has a lot of reasons to play well this week. First, there is a lot of money to be won in the final two tournaments in the FedEx Playoffs. He needs a good finish this week in order to advance to the Tour Championship next week. Also, Pendrith is playing for a spot on the President’s Cup Team in his home country of Canada. He will be a lock for the team if he can advance this week. Pendrith finished 5th in two of his last three tournaments. He has the form to play well again this week.
ERIC COLE ($6,500): Cole started out the season on fire, then he went into a slump and now he is starting to heat up again. Cole finished 18th last week at the St. Jude, 7th at the Wyndham Championship and 7th at the John Deere. He ranks No. 8 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 8 in SG Approach, No. 3 in Scrambling and No. 7 overall in the key stats. Cole is one of my favorite plays in the $6K price range this week.
AUSTIN ECKROAT ($6,300): Eckroat does not have the big name, but he does have the big game to play well this week. He finished 18th last week at the St. Jude and 6th the prior week at the Wyndham Championship. He ranks in the top-15 in all of the key stats over the last eight rounds. Eckroat does not need to do much to return value at $6,300. He should have a good chance to finish in the top-20.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PATRICK CANTLAY ($9,800): The easiest path to the top of your Tournament Contests is to fade Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele. Their chances of playing poorly are slim, but if they have an off-week, you will leap ahead of 80% of the field. That is what I will do with this lineup (I will have plenty of lineups with Scheffler and Shcauffele in the Multi-Entry Lineups). Cantlay may be the lowest owned of the golfers priced above $9,500. He has won two BMW Championships before and he is start to round into form. I expect Cantlay to score well at the top of your lineup.
TONY FINAU ($9,200): I like the golfers who are used to playing golf at high elevations, so I will take a chance with the golfer from Utah. Castle Pines was designed to play like Augusta National and Finau has one of the best records at the Masters. He also ranks 2nd in the field on Jack Nicklaus designed courses. Finau ranks No. 3 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 4 in SG Approach, No. 2 in Scrambling and No. 3 overall in the Key Stats. Finau has a good chance to play well in Colorado.
WYNDHAM CLARK ($9,200): I do not like to play a golfer in both the Cash and Tournament Contest lineups, but I really like Clark this week and his price fits this lineup perfectly. Adding Clark to Tony Finau gives me two mountain men in my Tournament Contest lineup.
AKSHAY BHATIA ($8,400): Bhatia finished 12th last week at the St. Jude. He is a streaky golfer and I will count on his hot play carrying over to the BMW Championship this week. He ranks No. 10 in SG Approach and No. 11 in SG Putting (Bent Grass). His ball-striking and hot putter could get Bhatia into the top-10 Sunday.
NICK DUNLAP ($6,900): I will take a chance with the youngest golfer in the field. He won the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club. That course is only 12 miles from Castle Pines, so he proved he can play well in the mountains. Dunlap finished 5th last week and he won earlier this year at the Barracuda Championship. That tournament was played in the mountains in Lake Tahoe (Another Tournament in the Mountains). Dunlap is a good value pick at $6,900.
STEPHAN JAEGER ($6,000): I will use Jaeger as my “punt play” this week. I used Jaeger a lot early in the season, but I have faded him over the summer. Jaeger played his college golf at Tennessee Chattanooga (in the mountains) and he won on the Korn Ferry Tour in Boise, Idaho. I know his form is not great, but maybe this is the week Jaeger figures it out at elevation.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the 11th tournament of Segment 4. The final two tournaments are going to have stacked fields. Just play the best golfers you can because there is no guarantee they will be in the field next week.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: BILLY HORSCHEL (BMW)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Tommy Fleetwood (22nd), Aaron Rai (Win), Cam Davis (19th), Ludvig Arberg (27th), Xander Schauffele (7th), Viktor Hovland (15th), Rory McIlroy (4th), Colin Morikawa (3rd), Books Koepka (26th), Wyndham Clark (47th), Tom Hoge (41st), Matthew Fitzpatrick (28th), Jon Rahm (45th), Hideki Matsuyama (7th), Will Zalatoris (74th), Maverick McNealy (45th), Justin Thomas (MC), Scottie Scheffler (Won), Russell Henley (41st), Tony Finau (13TH), Sahith Theegala (37th), Sam Burns (3rd), Max Homa (66th), Jason Day (MC), Taylor Montgomery (61st), Corey Conners (57th)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: XANDER SCHAUFFELE (BMW CHAMP)
One & Done picks used so far this season: Billy Horschel (10th), Cameron Davis (MC), Jon Rahm (5TH), Taylor Pendrith (5th), Brian Harman (9TH), Hideki Matsuyama (6th), Byeong Hun An (22nd), Rory McIlroy (4th), Colin Morikawa (3rd), Bryson DeChambeau (2nd), Max Homa (8th), K.H. Lee (59th), Adam Hadwin (10TH), Patrick Cantlay (3rd), Jon Rahm (45th), Corey Conners (25th), Keith Mitchell (MC), Sam Burns (MC), Shane Lowry (19th), Matthew Fitzpatrick (MC), Eric Cole (MC), Nicolai Hojgaard (52nd), Adam Scott (19th), J.T. Poston (MC), Jordan Spieth (39th), Keegan Bradley (43rd), Andrew Putnam (47th), Russell Henley (4th), Sungae Im (5th), Alex Noran (Won), Beau Hossler (15TH), Min Woo Lee (6th), Adam Schenk (MC), Eric Cole (35TH), Sahith Theegala (Won)
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP BEST BETS
PATRICK CANTLAY (18-1)
WYNDHAM CLARK (28-1)
TONY FINAU (28-1)
BILLY HORSHEL (35-1)
AARON RAI (40-1)
AKSHAY BHATIA (55-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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