The BMW Championship tees off this week at Bellerive Country Club, with a 50-man field battling for position in the penultimate leg of the FedExCup Playoffs. Round 1 begins Thursday, August 20, with temperatures around 71°F.
Scottie Scheffler heads into the week as the top seed and the clear betting favorite at +300, reflecting his dominant playoffs form. Just behind him in the odds are Xander Schauffele (+1500) and Rory McIlroy (+1600), both looking to climb the standings ahead of next week’s Tour Championship. Sam Burns and J.J. Spaun round out a group of contenders with strong recent play, while Ludvig Åberg (+1500) also sits among the shorter priced names.
Only the top 50 players in the FedExCup standings made the cut to compete this week, with the pressure especially high for golfers clustered near the bottom of that group. Names like Matt McCarty, Maverick McNealy, Eric Cole, and Michael Brennan enter the week ranked in the high 40s, meaning a poor showing at Bellerive could end their season before the Tour Championship field is finalized. On the other end, Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Chris Gotterup, and Xander Schauffele sit at the top of the projected standings and will look to solidify their positions in the top 30 who advance to East Lake.
Notable veterans in the field include Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, and Rickie Fowler, each looking to salvage momentum in the season’s closing stretch. Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, both featured group draws, are among the marquee pairings drawing early attention from fans and broadcasters.
Coverage of Thursday’s opening round begins at 2:00 PM UTC on ESPN and ESPN+, with SiriusXM radio coverage following at 5:00 PM UTC. Tee times are staggered throughout the afternoon, with the final group, featuring Fitzpatrick and Scheffler, not teeing off until 6:33 PM UTC.
As a FedExCup Playoffs event, the stakes at Bellerive extend well beyond this week’s trophy. The top 30 finishers in points after the BMW Championship advance to the season-ending Tour Championship, where the FedExCup title and its accompanying prize are decided. That has turned this week’s leaderboard battle into as much a fight for playoff survival as a chase for the win, with players on the projected cut line, including Sungjae Im, Ben Griffin, and Wyndham Clark, needing a strong week to guarantee their spot in the field for East Lake.
With Bellerive’s tree-lined layout and firm conditions expected to reward accuracy off the tee, the opening two rounds should go a long way toward sorting the contenders from those fighting simply to keep their season alive.