BMW Championship Week 2
Last Week’s Recap
Well, golf fans we got a nice treat at The Northern Trust last weekend. Dustin Johnson put on an absolute clinic at TPC Boston. With a flawless 30 under par DJ captured The Northern Trust by 11 shots. His play not only got him the win but Johnson has moved to number one in the FedEx Cup points surpassing Justin Thomas and The World Number One spot, passing Justin Thomas as well. I was fortunate enough to be available to watch most of the event and let me tell you it was remarkable. Johnson started off the week strong with a four under 67, what happened next was incredible. Friday morning rolled around and Johnson got off to a record breaking start, he was nine under through nine holes, firing a 27, the lowest nine hole score on the PGA. He ultimately cooled ff and fired an 11 under 60. The hot play continued as he fired a Saturday round of 64 and closed off the weekend with a flawless Sunday 63, to win by 11 shots over Harris English. Over four rounds Johnson had 23 birdies, 5 eagles, and only 3 bogeys. He was the only other player besides Tiger Woods to lead all par 3’s, 4’s and 5’s in scoring over the week. It was truly a week when every single part of Johnson’s game clicked, I truly don't believe he could have done any better than that. To put Johnson’s play into perspective, Harris English’s highest round all week was 69 and he still lost by 11. Perfection is the only word that comes to mind when talking about Johnson’s play last week. As for the rest of the playoffs, this win shakes things up. With Johnson’s victory he moves atop the FedEx Cup standings, finally dethroning Justin Thomas who previously held the lead for most of the year. As of now the top five points holders are Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson, Daniel Berger, and Collin Morikowa. The BMW Championship, the second leg of the playoffs will set the stage for these players going into the Tour Championship. While DJ blew away the competition, there is one player that is not playing to his capabilities and it's showing. (Mike)
My glaring takeaway from last week is that Dustin Johnson made golf look way easier than anyone should be able to. Many people complained the course was too easy, but runner-up, Harris English would have won any event held at TPC Boston other than last week and he ended up losing by 11 strokes. There are numerous stats that point to how good DJ was last week, but my takeaway from last week is that golf is the only sport where people get upset at greatness. People were not mad Usain Bolt set a world record in the 100 meters when he did so why are people upset that DJ played some of the best tournament golf we have ever seen. Start to appreciate moments like this, not ridicule them. (Tyler)
Even the Greats Will Fall
One of the blog’s favorite players and the fan favorite across most of the world, Rory McIlroy. The struggles that we’ve seen from McIlroy have been hard to watch. A player of his caliber has gone from playing some of the best golf we have ever seen to just barely making the cuts. Since the restart, McIlroy only has one top 15, all of his other finishes have been 30th or worse and last week at The Northern Trust finishing at 65th. McIlroy has speculated on what could be preventing him from playing well but at this point he probably doesn’t have the slightest clue on where his game went. McIlroy has been quoted saying “it's hard for me (McIlroy) to get pumped up and motivated without fans.” While that could be the case what is the difference from him struggling to make cuts and players like Morikow, Berger, Thomas and the various other winners during the restart? That’s a question McIlroy needs to dig deep and answer for himself before his game gets worse. With that being said, McIlroy still has the BMW Championship and The Tour Championship to figure his game out, who knows in two weeks time he could be the FedEx Cup Champion. Golf is kind of funny like that. (Mike)
Week Two Intro
The second leg of the playoffs, The BMW Championship will be held at Olympia Fields Country Club. Olympia Fields is a gem located in Olympia Fields, Illinois. This historic golf course has hosted events ranging from The Western Open to the PGA Championship and everything in between. Olympia Fields will prove to be a tough test for the players this week. Olympia Fields is a strong, lengthy par 70 golf course with seven par 4’s between 450-500 yards. This weeks driving accuracy and distance will be key so look for the long bombers like Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Champ to thrive off the tee. Not only is long, accurate drives vital, but long irons are crucial as well. With the length being such a big factor players will find themselves with more mid, too long irons than usual. Proximity to the hole with mid, to long irons will be another crucial stat to look at when deciding you’re picks for the week. Lastly, scrambling. The players who can scramble the best will thrive because the length of this course will force players to be able to scramble and get up and down from all areas of the golf course. This week we have a true bombers course on our hands, let's see how our big hitters will fair opposed to the shorter, more precise players. (Mike)
Mike Pick’s
This week’s winner goes to Daniel Berger. Daniel Berger has been a top 5 player since the restart and has shown no signs of slowing down. Berger is a long enough hitter so the length won’t prove to be much of an issue for him. On top of that Berger has been putting well so don’t be surprised if he gets hot and brings home a nice playoff win!
In this event there is no cut after 36 because the field is already down to 70 players based on FedEx Cup Points. After this week the top 30 players move on to East Lake for the Tour Championship where there is not a cut there either.
My sleeper this week is Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay has underperformed in my opinion. He missed the cut last week and has only one top 10 finish since the restart. With that being said Cantlay is a long hitter and a pure ball striker. If he can get something going the first two rounds and make it to the weekend look for him to make a strong charge over the weekend. (Mike)
BMW Championship Lookahead
None of my picks worked out last week so hopefully this week will be a different story for the BMW championship this week. My pick to win this week is Patrick Cantlay. The popular pick is DJ after what he did last week, but it is extremely hard to win back to back starts on tour and I think Cantlay is due. I think Cantlay has all of the tools to be one of the best in the world, he just has not put it all together consistently yet. My dark horse for this week is going to be Matt Kuchar. He can get streaky and ride the wave to a victory. It would not surprise me to see him in contention come Sunday afternoon. (Tyler)
One final thought
This is a golf blog, not just a PGA Tour blog and it would be criminal if we did not talk about what happened last week in the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Troon. Sophia Popov won the major without having status on the tour and being ranked outside of the top 300 in the world. This was a monumental achievement and the nerves she showed down the stretch made it look like she had been there many times before. What a life altering weekend for her. Winning a major against those odds is something we have almost never seen. Ben Curtis winning the US Open is the only comparable thing we have seen in modern golf history. Sophia’s win paired with DJ’s dominance led to a thrilling week in golf. Very excited to see what happens this weekend. (Tyler)