Course Guide: We return to Bellerive Country Club which the PGA of America visited for their PGA Championship back in 2018. Bellerive Club is located in the Mid-West of the United States in St Louis, Missouri. An established Country Club with heritage going back to the 19th Century, we’re talking a traditional, old-style, tree-lined golf course. This particular course was built in 1951 and is the original design of the master course architect Trent Jones. It’s also seen a couple of recent re-designs from his son Rees Jones, lengthening and naturally toughening the course. No real work has been done to the course since 2018.
Bellerive is a parkland, tree-lined, classic, which in its current guise is plenty long enough. It also has some particularly quirky aspects, including very severe contoured greens and Zoysiagrass fairways, the likes of which you find in the south-east of the United States.
Bellerive Country Club, St Louis, Missouri: Designer: Trent Jones with 2005-2007 & 2013 Rees Jones renovations; Course Type: Classical, Mid-Score, Long Length; Par: 70; Length: 7,448 yards; Number of Holes with Water In-Play: 6; Number of Sand Bunkers: 76; Acres of Fairway: 30; Fairways: Meyer Zoysiagrass; Rough: Winning Colours Tall Fescue 3”; Greens: 7,600 sq.ft average featuring A4 Creeping Bentgrass.
Fairway Widths (yards): Below are the fairway widths for Bellerive Country Club and how they compare to recent courses that we’ve seen on Tour:
- Bellerive: 26 yards at 300 yards.
- TPC Southwind: 25 yards at 300 yards.
- Sedgefield Country Club: 28 yards at 300 yards.
- Detroit Golf Club: 26 yards at 300 yards.
- TPC Twin Cities: 36 yards at 300 yards.
- Corales GC: 75 yards at 300 yards.
- Hurstbourne CC: 25-30 yards at 300 yards
- TPC Deere Run: 36 yards at 300 yards.
- TPC River Highlands: 29 yards at 300 yards.
- Shinnecock Hills: 45 yards at 300 yards.
- TPC Toronto: 35-37 yards at 300 yards.
- Muirfield Village: 24 yards at 300 yards.
- Colonial: 25-30 yards at 300 yards.
- TPC Craig Ranch: 25-28 yards.
- Aronimink: 30 yards.
- Quail Hollow: 28 yards.
- Blue Monster, Doral: 25-40 yards.
- Harbour Town: 22-25 yards.
- Augusta National: Average 50 yards.
- Oaks Course: 25-30 yards.
- Memorial Park: 30–40 yards.
- Copperhead: Average 20 yards.
- TPC Sawgrass: Average 28 yards.
- Bay Hill: Average 30 yards.
- PGA National: Average 28 yards.
- Riviera: Average 27 yards.
- Pebble Beach: Average 30-33 yards. Spyglass Hill: 25-30 yards.
- TPC Scottsdale: Average 38 yards.
- Torrey Pines South: Average 24-27 yards. Torrey Pines North: Average 24-27 yards.
- Pete Dye Stadium: Average 33 yards.
Course Scoring Average + PGA Tour Difficulty Rank:
- 2018: 70.13 (+0.13), Rank 14 of 51 courses
- 2008: 69.37 (-0.63), Rank 35 of 54 courses
Course Overview: Bellerive has not had another major architectural renovation since the 2018 PGA Championship, at least not one comparable to the 2005–07 Rees Jones overhaul. The course being used for the 2026 BMW Championship is essentially the same Rees Jones layout that hosted the 2018 PGA.
The course will play as a very stiff Par 70 at over 7,400 yards, featuring only 2 par-5s. That’s 132 yards longer than for the 2018 PGA Championship. An old-style, parkland course set in the west of St Louis, Missouri, the course is a Trent Jones original.
Off the tee fairways are of moderate width, with 300 yard landing areas pinched at 26 yards wide. Not too thin, but rough is sure to be penal. However two real features that stand out about the course are the rare Zoysiagrass fairways and the extremely contoured greens.
On the PGA Tour, Zoysiagrass fairways also feature at TPC Southwind (last week’s FedEx St Jude Championship), East Lake (Tour Championship), Narashino CC (ZOZO Championship), Yokohama Country Club (Baycurrent Classic), Hurstbourne Country Club (ISCO Championship), plus CJ Cup Byron Nelson venue TPC Craig Ranch (current) plus with previous host venue Trinity Forest, which was planted from tee to green with Zoysiagrass. These fairways also featured at the Atlanta Athletic Club (2011 PGA Championship; and Valhalla (2024 PGA Championship). This kind of grass is renowned for its springy nature. Plenty of professionals claim it promotes flyers, whilst others like the way the ball tends to sit up on it.
7,600 sq.ft average green complexes featuring A4 Creeping Bentgrass are large. These greens by Rees Jones created small target areas within each huge green complex, where approach accuracy is rewarded with a birdie opportunity. Stray away from those and 3-putt territory is a reality with lot of ridges, swales and contours.
Both 2008 BMW Championship and 2018 PGA Championship tournaments held here were awash with precipitation, so it will be interesting to monitor the turf conditions this week.
BMW Championship Winners: 2025: Scottie Scheffler (-15); 2024: Keegan Bradley (-12); 2023: Viktor Hovland (-17); 2022: Patrick Cantlay (-14); 2021: Patrick Cantlay (-27); 2020: Jon Rahm (-4); 2019: Justin Thomas (-25); 2018: Keegan Bradley(-20); 2017: Marc Leishman (-23); 2016: Dustin Johnson (-23); 2015: Jason Day (-22); 2014: Billy Horschel (-15); 2013: Zach Johnson (-16); 2012: Rory McIlroy (-20); 2011: Justin Rose (-13); 2010: Dustin Johnson (-9).
OWGR of BMW Championship Winners: 2025: Scheffler 1; 2024: Bradley 22: 2023: Hovland 5; 2022: Cantlay 4; 2021: Cantlay 10; 2020: Rahm 2; 2019: Thomas 10; 2018: Bradley 66; 2017: Leishman 23.
Datagolf of BMW Championship Winners: 2025: Scheffler 1; 2024: Bradley 47; 2023: Hovland 6; 2022: Cantlay 5; 2021: Cantlay 9.
Bellerive PGA Championship Lead Score Progression:
2018: Round 1 -6; Round 2 -10; Round 3 -12; Round 4 -16.
Path to Victory: Below are end of round positions of BMW Championship winners since 2010:
- 2025 – Scottie Scheffler: Round 1: 3rd, Round 2: 2nd, Round 3: 2nd.
- 2024 – Keegan Bradley: Round 1: 1st, Round 2: 2nd, Round 3: 1st.
- 2023 – Viktor Hovland: Round 1: 18th, Round 2: 13th, Round 3: 5th.
- 2022 – Patrick Cantlay: Round 1: 13th, Round 2: 6th, Round 3: 1st.
- 2021 – Patrick Cantlay: Round 1: 5th, Round 2: 2nd, Round 3: 1st.
- 2020 – Jon Rahm: Round 1: 51st, Round 2: 39th, Round 3: 6th.
- 2019 – Justin Thomas: Round 1: 1st, Round 2: 4th, Round 3: 1st.
- 2018 – Keegan Bradley: Round 1: 12th, Round 2: 3rd, Round 3: 6th.
- 2017 – Marc Leishman: Round 1: 1st, Round 2: 1st, Round 3: 1st.
- 2016 – Dustin Johnson: Round 1: 3rd, Round 2: 1st, Round 3: 1st.
- 2015 – Jason Day: Round 1: 1st, Round 2: 1st, Round 3: 1st.
- 2014 – Billy Horschel: Round 1: 4th, Round 2: 3rd, Round 3: 3rd.
- 2013 – Zach Johnson: Round 1: 2nd, Round 2: 3rd, Round 3: 4th.
- 2012 – Rory McIlroy: Round 1: 1st, Round 2: 2nd, Round 3: 3rd.
- 2011 – Justin Rose: Round 1: 1st, Round 2: 1st, Round 3: 1st.
- 2010 – Dustin Johnson: Round 1: 6th, Round 2: 4th, Round 3: 2nd.
Shots From the Lead: Below are the shots from the lead during the tournament of BMW Championship winners since 2010:
- 2025 – Scottie Scheffler: Round 1: 4 back, Round 2: 5 back, Round 3: 4 back.
- 2024 – Keegan Bradley: Round 1: 1 ahead, Round 2: 3 back, Round 3: 1 ahead.
- 2023 – Viktor Hovland: Round 1: 4 back, Round 2: 7 back, Round 3: 3 back.
- 2022 – Patrick Cantlay: Round 1: 4 back, Round 2: 2 back, Round 3: 1 ahead.
- 2021 – Patrick Cantlay: Round 1: 2 back, Round 2: 1 back, Round 3: level.
- 2020 – Jon Rahm: Round 1: 8 back, Round 2: 7 back, Round 3: 3 back.
- 2019 – Justin Thomas: Round 1: level, Round 2: 2 back, Round 3: 6 ahead.
- 2018 – Keegan Bradley: Round 1: 4 back, Round 2: 3 back, Round 3: 3 back.
- 2017 – Marc Leishman: Round 1: 2 ahead, Round 2: 3 ahead, Round 3: 5 ahead.
- 2016 – Dustin Johnson: Round 1: 2 back, Round 2: level, Round 3: 3 ahead.
- 2015 – Jason Day: Round 1: 4 ahead, Round 2: 5 ahead, Round 3: 6 ahead.
- 2014 – Billy Horschel: Round 1: 1 back, Round 2: 2 back, Round 3: 3 ahead.
- 2013 – Zach Johnson: Round 1: 1 back, Round 2: 3 back, Round 3: 3 back.
- 2012 – Rory McIlroy: Round 1: level, Round 2: 1 back, Round 3: 1 back.
- 2011 – Justin Rose: Round 1: 2 ahead, Round 2: level, Round 3: 4 ahead.
- 2010 – Dustin Johnson: Round 1: 4 back, Round 2: 2 back, Round 3: 1 back.
Incoming form of BMW Championship winners since 2010:
- Scottie Scheffler: 3rd St Jude/1st Open/8th Scottish Open/6th Travelers.
- Keegan Bradley: 59th St Jude/22nd Wyndham/46th 3M Open/MC Open.
- Viktor Hovland: 13th St Jude/13th Open/25th Scottish Open/29th Travelers.
- Patrick Cantlay: 57th St Jude/2nd Detroit/8th Open/4th Scottish Open.
- Patrick Cantlay: 11th Northern Trust/23rd St Jude/MC Open/13th Travelers.
- Jon Rahm: 6th Northern Trust/13th PGA/52nd St Jude/1st Memorial.
- Justin Thomas: 12th Northern Trust/12th St Jude/11th Open/9th Scottish Open.
- Keegan Bradley: 49th Dell/34th Northern Trust/42nd PGA/4th Canadian Open.
- Marc Leishman: 3rd Dell Tech/MC Northern Trust/13th PGA/41st Bridgestone.
- Dustin Johnson: 8th Deutsche/18th Barclays/MC PGA/2nd Canadian Open.
- Jason Day: 12th Deutsche/1st Barclays/1st PGA/12th Bridgestone.
- Billy Horschel: 2nd Deutsche/ MC Barclays/47th Wyndham/59th PGA.
- Zach Johnson: 27th Deutsche/5th Wyndham/8th PGA/4th Bridgestone.
- Rory McIlroy: 1st Deutsche/24th Barclays/1st PGA/5th Bridgestone.
- Justin Rose: 68th Boston/6th Barclays/MC PGA/33rd Bridgestone.
Tournament Stats: We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s event that are well worth a look. Naturally they’ll help to shape a view on players who could go well this week: Current Form | Tournament Form | First Round Leader | Combined Stats.
My published predictor is available here. Top 10 of my published predictor are: 1) Scottie Scheffler; 2) Sam Burns; 3) Xander Schauffele; 4) Ludvig Aberg; 5) Cameron Young; 6) Rory McIlroy; 7) Patrick Cantlay; 8) Kurt Kitayama; 9) Jake Knapp; 10) Matt Fitzpatrick.
BMW Championship Winning Prices: 2025: Scheffler 5/2F; 2024: Bradley 100/1; 2023: Hovland 18/1; 2022: Cantlay 16/1; 2021: Cantlay 25/1; 2020: Rahm 10/1; 2019: Thomas 16/1; 2018: Bradley 140/1; 2017: Leishman 45/1; 2016: D Johnson 10/1; 2015: Day 15/2; 2014: Horschel 66/1; 2013: Z Johnson 40/1; 2012: McIlroy 7/1; 2011: Rose 66/1; 2010: D Johnson 33/1. Past 5 Renewals Average: 32/1; Average: 38/1.
Weather Forecast: Latest weather forecast for St Louis, Missouri is here. The players will be ecstatic this week with temperatures down to 25-32 Celsius – 77-90 Fahrenheit. Expect gusty winds for the early starters on Thursday. Friday onwards sees nothing more than 10 mph.
Key here is turf conditions on a long golf course. 15mm of rain across the prior weekend plus rain on tournament Wednesday (80% chance) and during play on Thursday (65% chance) is likely to see soft conditions for the early rounds. Bellerive does have SubAir under the green complexes, so the greens aren’t likely to be as receptive for as long as the 2018 PGA Championship. I’d expect the standard -15 to -17 winning score.
Strokes Gained Rankings: These top 25 in the field rankings are based on an 8-tournament window that stretches back to the Travelers Championship / Italian Open which includes both PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, where recorded. Player rankings are based on performance relative to the rest of the field:
- Top 25 SG Off The Tee: 1) Chris Gotterup; 3) Cameron Young; 3) Xander Schauffele; 4) Rory McIlroy; 5) Ryan Gerard; 6) Ludvig Aberg / Kristoffer Reitan; 8) Scottie Scheffler; 9) Alex Fitzpatrick; 10) Rickie Fowler; 11) Sam Burns; 12) Hideki Matsuyama; 13) Matt Fitzpatrick / Ryan Fox / Nicolai Hojgaard; 16) Michael Brennan / Tommy Fleetwood / Jake Knapp; 19) Si Woo Kim / Michael Thorbjornsen; 21) Min Woo Lee; 22) Russell Henley; 23) Kurt Kitayama; 24) Collin Morikawa / Justin Thomas.
- Top 25 SG Approach: 1) Sam Burns; 2) Collin Morikawa; 3) Tom Kim; 4) Viktor Hovland; 5) Scottie Scheffler / Cameron Young; 7) Si Woo Kim; 8) Ludvig Aberg; 9) Tommy Fleetwood / Rickie Fowler; 11) Hideki Matsuyama; 12) Michael Brennan; 13) Alex Fitzpatrick / Ben Griffin; 15) J.J. Spaun; 16) Matt Fitzpatrick; 17) Patrick Cantlay / Jake Knapp; 19) Aaron Rai; 20) Chris Gotterup / Robert MacIntyre / Michael Thorbjornsen; 23) Ryo Hisatsune / Alex Smalley; 25) Kurt Kitayama / Justin Rose / Sahith Theegala.
- Top 25 SG Around The Green: 1) Tommy Fleetwood; 2) Justin Thomas; 3) Michael Thorbjornsen; 4) Hideki Matsuyama; 5) Akshay Bhatia; 6) Si Woo Kim; 7) Eric Cole; 8) Robert MacIntyre; 9) Nico Echavarria / Ben Griffin; 11) J.J. Spaun / Cameron Young; 13) Sungjae Im; 14) Bud Cauley / Wyndham Clark / Ryo Hisatsune / Viktor Hovland; 18) Ryan Gerard / Kurt Kitayama / Alex Noren; 21) Scottie Scheffler; 22) Ludvig Aberg / Patrick Cantlay; 24) Nicolai Hojgaard; 25) Min Woo Lee.
- Top 25 SG Tee to Green: 1) Sam Burns; 2) Hideki Matsuyama; 3) Tommy Fleetwood; 4) Si Woo Kim / Cameron Young; 6) Ludvig Aberg; 7) Scottie Scheffler; 8) Tom Kim; 9) Chris Gotterup; 10) Michael Thorbjornsen; 11) Viktor Hovland / Rory McIlroy / Collin Morikawa / J.J. Spaun; 15) Rickie Fowler; 16) Alex Fitzpatrick; 17) Robert MacIntyre; 18) Michael Brennan / Patrick Cantlay; 20) Ryan Gerard; 21) Kurt Kitayama / Xander Schauffele; 23) Matt Fitzpatrick; 24) Ben Griffin / Justin Thomas.
- Top 25 SG Putting: 1) Russell Henley; 2) Kristoffer Reitan; 3) Sam Burns; 4) Justin Rose; 5) Maverick McNealy; 6) Matt McCarty; 7) Rickie Fowler; 8) Jacob Bridgeman; 9) Collin Morikawa; 10) Scottie Scheffler; 11) Matt Fitzpatrick; 12) Adam Scott; 13) Patrick Cantlay / Ryan Fox; 15) Alex Noren; 16) Robert MacIntyre; 17) Alex Smalley; 18) Tommy Fleetwood / Min Woo Lee / Hideki Matsuyama; 21) Wyndham Clark / Ryan Gerard; 23) Kurt Kitayama; 24) Si Woo Kim; 25) Michael Brennan / Sahith Theegala / Gary Woodland.
- Top 25 SG Total: 1) Sam Burns; 2) Hideki Matsuyama; 3) Tommy Fleetwood; 4) Scottie Scheffler; 5) Russell Henley; 6) Si Woo Kim; 7) Patrick Cantlay; 8) Rickie Fowler; 9) Collin Morikawa; 10) Robert MacIntyre; 11) Tom Kim / Kurt Kitayama; 13) Ludvig Aberg / Ryan Gerard; 15) Jacob Bridgeman / Matt Fitzpatrick / Cameron Young; 18) Chris Gotterup / Michael Thorbjornsen; 20) Michael Brennan / Kristoffer Reitan; 22) Viktor Hovland / J.J. Spaun; 24) Rory McIlroy; 25) Ryan Fox / Xander Schauffele.
Trends & Key Factors: Analysing the Strokes Gained Stats of the winner here at Bellerive Country Club at the PGA Championship in 2018 gives us a little more insight into the requirements for this week:
Strokes Gained Tournament Trends:
- 2018 (PGA), Brooks Koepka (-16). SG Off the Tee: 2nd, SG Approach: 9th, SG Around the Green: 44th, SG Tee to Green: 2nd, SG Putting: 18th.
We’ve only seen one renewal from here and the Strokes Gained numbers were incredible. Across the 15.83 Strokes Gained Total from Brooks Koepka, 11.77 were via Ball Striking. That’s a massive 74% – yes Bellerive was soft and receptive which skews the numbers, but top-level driving and approach looks the recipe for success here.
Koepka (-16), Woods (-14) and Scott (-13) made up the rostrum at the 2018 PGA Championship and all 3 ranked in the top 9 for Strokes Gained on Approach, plus in the top 28 for Driving Distance. Woods was the shortest averaging 306 yards and remember this was 8 years ago.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors: Analysing the final stats of Brooks Koepka here at Bellerive in 2018 gives us a little more insight into the requirements for this test:
- 2018 (PGA), Brooks Koepka (-16). 324 yards (2nd), 73.2% fairways (14th), 75.0% greens in regulation (15th), 77.8 % scrambling (2nd), 1.63 putts per GIR (3rd).
Let’s take a view from players as to how Bellerive Country Club sets up and what skill sets the course favours:
Brooks Koepka (2018): “I like the way the golf course sets up. People talk about it turns right-to-left, but you’ve always got a bunker on the inside of the turn, but I can carry most of them, so it’s not really a big deal that the holes turn right-to-left, you can kind of get away with it with my length.
I said to my caddie on 1, I said this is kind of the shot you make, isn’t it? And it was a perfect yardage, you had a little back stop you could throw it off of in case you did throw it a little far and then it looked like it lipped out, I don’t know what it did, if it just burned the edge or what, but, yeah, it was nice. In these Zoysia fairways they’re so nice to hit some wedges off. You can really control the spin, the flight, and the way these greens are, they’re receptive and you can kind of, you can add some spin if you want or take the spin-off, so it’s nice.
ON Number 1, I mean, I don’t see anything but driver. I don’t know why everybody else is laying up. You see guys hit iron off the tee, and they have got 180 yards. Meanwhile we have got driver, and I think we had 80, 70 and maybe 90. I just don’t see anything but driver. So this golf course, I like the way it sets up. There is quite a few right-to-left holes, but with Zoysia fairways the ball’s not really going to roll out any ways, and especially with a wet golf course, you’re not going to get a bunch of run. So all you have to do is put it in the fairway and you’re fine.
Yeah, you got to be able to scramble. Any time you get in trouble, with this golf course, if you don’t put the ball in the fairway, you’re going to be struggling to make par. If you’re going to miss these greens, you got to be able to get them up-and-down off this Zoysia. It’s quite easy to chip off of because the ball sits up a little bit, but if you’re in this rough, you’re not guaranteed a good lie. We have had some bad ones, and you just got to get on with it and try to make the best of it. But you got to make those 5, 6-footers sometimes. That definitely helps the chipping stats.”
Rory McIlroy (2018): “From what I’ve seen it does remind me of somewhere like a Valhalla type of golf course where there’s quite a lot of mounding. The bunkering is pretty good, but it’s a big, big long golf course.
You’ve got to drive it on the fairway, and even when you do, with how soft the greens are and they’re up on these little ledges, the ball, you have to be so accurate with your irons. Tiger, I thought that his iron play was really good today, and he got a few birdies out of it. You’ve got to be really dialled in with your mid and short irons. If you are and you can put it on the fairway, you can shoot 4, 5, 6 under par.”
Tiger Woods (2018): “Well, right now it doesn’t really favour anyone because it’s playing so soft. The ball is just plugging out there, and if anything, it favours a guy who hits the ball high. Because we’re not going to get any run, it’s not going to dry out the rest of the week. It’s going to be hot, it’s going to be wet, and fortunately, I’m one of the guys who hit the ball high and get the ball up in the air, and you just need to get the ball out there.
Another low round. The golf course is playing soft, it’s gettable, you have to make birdies. Look at that front nine. Seemed like everybody was between 2- and 4- or 5-under par. That’s just the nature of the way it’s playing right now. It’s soft, it’s plugging, we’re able to hold 4-irons, 5-irons, whatever we want, at the flags. Because of that, you got to make birdies.
Well, it takes the creativity of the greens away, for sure. The putts are very straightforward, they don’t break very much, and just go ahead and take a rap at them. So there’s no feeding putts, there’s — there aren’t putts that you’re afraid that they’re going to get away from you. We don’t have any, the greens are too slow and too soft for that.”
Rickie Fowler (2018): “If you hit fairways and greens it’s not hard. But it is playing fairly long and you kind of have to pick and choose which holes you kind of maybe play aggressive on, hit driver, take on some of the corners or bunkers and where you lay back. You start driving it in the rough and missing greens, start scrambling, I feel like that’s where kind of the bogeys come. I hit the wrong club on 16 and luckily ended up kind of paying the price and making bogey there. But I feel like this golf course, it’s fairly generous off the tee, you can definitely play back on some areas to where it’s maybe a little bit wider, but the big thing is definitely hitting fairways and greens out here. And especially this afternoon, because the greens I’m sure will start to get a little beat up as it’s soft out there and it’s something that we’ll deal with tomorrow afternoon as well.”
Justin Rose (2018): “I think the golf course is about hitting it in the sections, the quadrants. Each green is three or four sections. Once you’re in those sections, the putting is fairly predictable. It’s the tough putt when you’re in the wrong section and you’ve got to go up the hill slow and over the top and downhill. Those are the putts I had trouble with today.
I thought the golf course held up better than I thought it would. I thought there would be way more low scores than there were. I thought 3 under par would be running about 20th right now, to be honest with you. To be top five is a testament to this golf course and how soft it is. I actually thought the scoring might be a bit better.
Well, it’s a bomber’s paradise from that point of view. It’s a ball-striker’s golf course. Because it’s soft I think obviously the pins are really, really tucked today, so if you do drive it really well, then you could have wedges to be aggressive into those corners of the greens. Couple more feet of pins today, I think. Yesterday saw some pins up on little knolls and knobs and stuff. But it’s very — a few of the balls you could spin the ball to it and I think that’s why you saw the scoring go low. Especially, obviously, fresher greens this morning, guys able to make some of those more mid-range putts. But I was surprised yesterday that 3-under was fourth or fifth or whatever it was at the end of the day. I felt like the scoring was going to be a bit more indicative of today. The start of the week I felt like this was a 20-under par golf course. It looks like we’re kind of edging in that direction. Some rain this afternoon, yeah, you need this course to firm up pretty quickly for scoring to dramatically change”
First Round Leader Analysis: First round leader(s), their wave and winning score since 2010. Full First Round Leader stats are here.
- 2025 – MacIntyre – Group 20 – 8/62 – 40/1.
- 2024 – Bradley – Group 12 – 6/66 – 60/1.
- 2023 – Harman/McIlroy – Groups 11/10 -5/65 – 14/1 & 40/1.
- 2022 – Bradley – Group 6 – 7/64 – 80/1.
- 2021 – Burns/McIlroy/Rahm – Groups 8/9/21 -8/64 – 45/1, 33/1 & 14/1.
- 2020 – Matsuyama – Group 22 – 3/67 – 40/1.
- 2019 – Kokrak/Thomas – Group 16/Group 7 -7/65 – 55/1 & 20/1.
- 2018 – McIlroy/Woods – Group 9/Group 2 -8/62 – 22/1 & 33/1.
- 2017 – Leishman – AM -9/62 – 40/1.
- 2016 – Castro – AM -7/65.
- 2015 – Day -10/61.
- 2014 – McIlroy/Spieth/Woodland -3/67.
- 2013 – Snedeker -8/63.
- 2012 – DeLaet/McIlroy/Simpson/Van Pelt -8/64.
- 2011 – Rose -8/63.
For the record, here’s the breakdown of pure Bentgrass green PGA Tour victors in the field since 2008:
- 11 – Rory McIlroy.
- 7 – Justin Rose.
- 6 – Scottie Scheffler.
- 5 – Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas.
- 4 – Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele.
- 3 – J.T. Poston, Adam Scott.
- 2 – Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler, Tom Kim, Sepp Straka.
- 1 – Michael Brennan, Sam Burns, Nico Echavarria, Chris Gotterup, Ben Griffin, Harry Hall, Russell Henley, Max Homa, Viktor Hovland, Sungjae Im, Michael Kim, Kurt Kitayama, Matt McCarty, Collin Morikawa, Aaron Rai, Michael Thorbjornsen.
The BMW Championship is the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and has a number of trends that are intriguing. In an event where the focus of the media and watching public is as to who will make it to the Tour Championship, recent champions are split down the middle when it comes to FEC starting position. Keegan Bradley (50th (last) in 2024), Viktor Hovland (7th in 2023), Patrick Cantlay (7th in 2022), Jon Rahm (9th in 2020), Justin Thomas (15th in 2019), Keegan Bradley (52nd in 2018), Marc Leishman (7th in 2017), Billy Horschel (20th in 2014), Zach Johnson (27th in 2013), Justin Rose (34th in 2011) and Dustin Johnson (16th in 2010) all arrived at the BMW with decent enough immediate form, however it didn’t necessarily translate to a top 5 FEC position.
The other 6 BMW champions since the Playoff structure was put in place back in 2009 have all been elite, in hot form, and high in the FEC standings. Tiger Woods in 2009 won his fifth title of the season, at 2/1 when ranked 2nd in the FEC standings. Jason Day and Rory McIlroy were both Number 1 in the FEC standings and had won previous Playoff tournaments at The Barclays and Deutsche Bank prior to winning the BMW at 15/2 and 7/1 respectively. 2016 saw Dustin Johnson, who had previously won the U.S. Open and Bridgestone Invitational, go on to win the BMW at 10/1 when ranked 3rd in the FEC standings. 2021 saw 25/1 chance Patrick Cantlay, who in the season had won the ZOZO plus The Memorial Tournament, enter the BMW ranked 4th in the FEC standings, arriving off an 11th at the Northern Trust. 2025 saw World Number 1 and FedEx Cup Standings Number 1 Scottie Scheffler win as the 5/2 Favourite.
Keegan Bradley – who else – is the only player that breaks a very strong form trend. His win in 2024 came off form of 59th St Jude and 22nd at the Wyndham, and in 2019 entering the BMW Championship he again arrived with moderate direct form of 49th at the Deutsche Bank and 34th at the Northern Trust. Every other BMW winner in the Playoff era has had a top 13 finish within their past 2 Tour outings and this really highlights this comment made by Nick Watney prior to the BMW in 2013, “Out of 70 guys, there’s kind of…there’s a big gap between guys playing really well, like you said, and guys struggling.“
