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Last week, the PGA Playoffs started with a bang with the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind.
This week, the playoffs continue with the BMW Championship at Castle Pines in Denver — the second of this season’s three PGA Tour playoff events. Some iteration of BMW Championship has been played since 1899, making it the longest-running PGA Tour event outside of the four major tournaments.
Like the St. Jude Championship, the winner of the BMW Championship receives $3.6 million of the $20 million purse, along with earning 2,000 FedEx Points. The golfer with the most FedEx points at the end of next week’s TOUR Championship at East Lake in Atlanta will win the FedEx Championship and the $18 million that comes with it.
The top 30 golfers from the BMW Championship advance to the TOUR Championship. It’s a no-cut event.
The PGA Tour playoffs are some of the biggest events on the golf calendar, so it stands to reason that all of our favorite betting sites have plenty of betting markets and wagering opportunities available for the BMW Championship. They also will all boast some kind of welcome offer for new bettors interested in joining ahead of the event.
With all that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about the BMW Championship. along with odds you can find at golf betting sites.
BMW Championship Odds
Here are the golfers with the best odds at DraftKings Sportsbook to win the 2024 BMW Championship.
Note: Odds are subject to change.
- Scottie Scheffler: +320
- Xander Schauffele: +600
- Rory McIlroy: +1000
- Collin Morikawa: +1200
- Hideki Matsuyama: +1600
- Viktor Hovland: +1800
- Ludvig Aberg: +1800
- Patrick Cantlay: +2200
- Tommy Fleetwood: +2500
- Tony Finau: +2800
- Wyndham Clark: +3000
- Sam Burns: +3000
Tournament Stakes
This is the second of the three FedEx Cup Playoff events that will help crown the FedEx champion. Hideki Matsuyama won the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week and gained the 2,000 FedEx Cup points that came with it, which has shot him into the championship conversation.
Entering the BMW Championship, the top five golfers in the FedEx Cup standings are:
- Scottie Scheffler (6,533 points)
- Xander Schauffele (5,037 points)
- Hideki Matsuyama (3,899 points)
- Collin Morikawa (2,596 points)
- Rory McIlroy (2,559 points)
After 75 golfers competed in the St. Jude Championship, the BMW Championship features a field of 50 golfers. This is also a no-cut event, meaning all 50 golfers will play for all four days, with the top 30 advancing to the TOUR Championship.
Whoever comes in first will gain 2,000 FedEx points, while last place will get 34 points.
Viktor Hovland won last year’s BMW Championship on the back of a course-record 61 in the final round.
What’s the Course Like?
This year marks Castle Pines Golf Club’s first time hosting the BMW Championship since it opened in 1981. The course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and is best known for hosting The International from 1986 through 2006.
It used the Modified Stableford scoring system (where accrued points for good holes and lost them for going over par), making it one of two PGA Tour events not to use traditional stroke play. That scoring system was used because the venue is located more than 6,300 feet above sea level.
That, coupled with the fact that it took place after the PGA Championship (the year’s final major) meant that it usually didn’t get some of golf’s top-ranked players. It was permanently canceled in 2007 and replaced by the AT&T National.
From the time it was replaced, the governing body of Castle Pines fought to get back into the PGA Tour, which led to the course being announced as the site of the BMW Championship in 2022.
The course has undergone significant redesigns since. It had several tees pushed back that moved its length to more than 8,100 yards, and six greens have been moved or modified while 70 bunkers have been reshaped or rebuilt.
An interesting storyline for the week will be that whoever finishes in first will shoot a course record, as it’s never hosted stroke play in the PGA. The record for The International is held by Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, both of whom recorded 48 points.
The BMW Championship is the only PGA FedEx Cup Playoff event that rotates its venue. The FedEx St. Jude Championship is always at TPC Southwind, while the Tour Championship is always at East Lake Golf Club.
The BMW Championship has been played four times at Cog Hill Country Club in Lemont, Illinois (and seven total times in Chicagoland), and it’s almost always been played at various locations throughout the Midwest and on the East Coast.
Who Are the Favorites?
It should come as no surprise that Scheffler is the favorite at this tournament, considering he’s been on another planet so far this year and is the No. 1 golfer by FedEx points.
After him, the other favorites are Schauffele and McIlroy, both of whom are in the top five of FedEx points. If Schauffele or Matsuyama (+1600) win the tournament, then they’ll move into first place in the FedEx standings (depending on where Scheffler finishes), while a win from Morikawa (+1200) or McIlroy will move them into second place with just one tournament left to play.
Past BMW Championship Winners
Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Cantlay are the only players to win multiple BMW Championships since the tournament began in 2007. Woods also won three titles at the Western Open, making him the only player to win both the Western Open and the BMW Championship.
Here’s a look at all the golfers who have won the BMW Championship since it was first held in 2007:
- 2023: Viktor Hovland (-17)
- 2022: Patrick Cantley (-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 (-14)
- 2013: Zach Johnson (-16)
- 2012: Rory McIlroy (-20)
- 2011: Justin Rose (-13)
- 2010: Dustin Johnson (-9)
- 2009: Tiger Woods (-5)
- 2008: Camilo Villegas (-15)
- 2007: Tiger Woods (-22)
2023 BMW Championship Recap
Hovland had the round of his life on Sunday in last year’s BMW Championship, carding a 9-under 61 to finish in first at the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago to beat Scott Schefller and Matt Fitzpatrick by two strokes.
After Cantlay and Rahm needed playoffs to win the BMW Championship in 2020 and ‘21, Cantlay and Hovland both won without the need for a playoff in 2022 and ‘23.
Here were the odds for the top 10 players in the field going into last year’s tournament.
- Rory McIlroy: +650
- Scottie Scheffler: +700
- Jon Rahm: +900
- Patrick Cantlay: +1000
- Xander Schauffele: +1600
- Viktor Hovland: +1600
- Tommy Fleetwood: +2200
- Tyrrell Hatton: +2500
- Max Homa: +2500
- Collin Morikawa: +2800
Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
