We’ve reached the penultimate week of the PGA Tour season with the 50 top golfers of the year vying for glory in the time-honoured BMW Championship, an event that traces its lineage back 125 years and has produced a stellar list of recent champions including last year’s champion Scottie Scheffler.
Key Stats/Skill Set Required
- Driving Distance
- Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
- Putting Average
- Scrambling
- Bogey Avoidance
Bellerive is a classic course with major pedigree having hosted the 1965 US Open and 1992 and 2018 PGA Championships. It rewards distance off the tee with big hitters dominating the leaderboard at the 2018 PGA Championship. Form around the greens and the ability to sink putts is more than helpful.
Key Correlation Courses/Tournaments
- Baltusrol
- Congressional
- Firestone
- Hazeltine
- Olympic Club
- Spyglass Hill
Rory McIlroy has been woefully out of form with his finish at TPC Southwind last week a lowly 66th. He is better than that though and does find in the big events. Winning The Masters this year and finishing Top 40 in the other three majors. He loves this event as it typically rewards driving, winning in 2012 and finishing Top 12 in the last six years. He ranks 2nd in Driving Distance and 2nd in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee. Ticks every box.
It has been a trying 2026 for Xander Schauffele without a win to his name but he is starting to return to his best with seven Top 10s this year including back-to-back Top 7 finishes. Ranks 7th in Scrambling, 14th in Driving Distance and 14th in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee. Schauffele has finished Top 8 in three of his last four BMW starts.
Cameron Young is a bomber who is perfectly suited to this course. He ranks 8th in Scrambling, 13th in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee and 14th in Bogey Avoidance. He has finished Top 15 in two of the last three BMW Championships. Young is in good form with two Top 8 finishes in his last four starts with a win just around the corner.
Veteran Russell Henley is one of the most underrated golfers in the world and is a huge price this week. He is playing great golf with five Top 20s including a win in the Charles Schwab Challenge in his last seven starts. He has two Top 15 finishes in his last three cracks at the BMW Challenge. He ranks 4th in Scrambling, 8th in Bogey Avoidance and 9th in Putting Average.
Michael Brennan broke through for a long-deserved win in the Wyndham Championship and can make an impact here on a similar course that will reward bombing and putting. Brennan ranks 3rd in Driving Distance and 3rd in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee while he has gained strokes on the green in his last four tournaments. He is a big price this week.
Betting Kim’s short game and form to come to the fore here. He ranks 6th in Scrambling and 6th in Bogey Avoidance. He has been ascendant of late with six Top 20s in his last eight starts including a win in the Scottish Open.