Thursday, August 15, 2019

BMW Championship

Of course, we should have the PGA Championship this week -- or maybe it would have been last week.  Anyway, we don't, because the powers that be want us to watch the FedEx Playoffs instead.  I don't really care that much about who wins the playoffs -- to me, Brooks Koepka is the number one player of the year because:  (1) he's the top-ranked player in the world, (2) he won the PGA Championship to give him four major titles in three years, and (3) he beat Rory McIlroy head-to-head a few weeks ago at their big showdown in Memphis.  So I'm not going to get caught up on who wins the playoff.

Having said that, I do like the BMW Championship -- this week's playoff tournament -- for several reasons.  It's got 70 players, which means that we are pretty much dealing with all the big stars, and we don't have to deal with so many long shots.  Also I think everyone makes the cut.  The BMW Championship is the descendant of the old Western Open, which was one of my favorite tour stops, and it's pretty easy for me to ignore the playoffs and pretend that I'm watching the Western Open.  And it's usually played at really interesting courses.  This year we are at Medinah, near Chicago, where Tiger won the PGA in both 1999 and 2006.  (Tiger was always great in the Midwest -- he won three Western Opens near Chicago, and whole host of tournaments over in Akron.)

Anyway, rather than worry about the FedEx Cup rankings, here are the Official World Golf Rankings, which will give you a better sense of how everyone's doing:

1.  B. Koepka (won the PGA and the WGC-St. Jude Classic this year)
2.  D. Johnson (won the WGC-Mexico)
3.  R. McIlroy (NIR) (won the Players Championship and the Canadian Open)
4.  J. Rose (ENG) (won the Farmers Insurance Open)
5.  J. Rahm (ESP) (his team won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans)
6.  T. Woods (won the Masters)
7.  F. Molinari (ITA) (won the Arnold Palmer Invitational)
8.  B. DeChambeau
9.  P. Cantlay (won the Memorial Tournament)
10.  J. Thomas

Tiger and Phil Mickelson both won official PGA Tour events this year.  They also did so in 1996.  My guess is that 2019 will be the last year that we see this particular double, but I would be happy to be proven wrong.

6 comments:

  1. Justin Thomas has the early lead with a 7-under 65. J.B. Holmes also had a good day, shooting a 3-under 69. Tiger is 2-under through 12.

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  2. Rory's finished with a 69. Tiger is still 2-under through 14.

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  3. Jim Furyk shot a 6-under 66 today, and is one shot off the lead. Furyk has won 17 times on tour, including the 2005 Western Open.

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  4. Mickelson and Speith both shot 2-under par 70's.

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  5. Tiger finishes with a 1-under par 71. He's tied for 49th.

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