After a blowout win by Dustin Johnson to kick off the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the PGA Tour heads to Chicago for the BMW Championship with another 1,500 FedEx Cup Points up for grabs as we wind down a truly unforgettable season.
Olympia Fields Country Club will host the penultimate event of the 2019-20 season, a 7,366-yard, par 70 last seen on the PGA Tour when Jim Furyk won his lone major championship back in 2003. The top 70 players advance to the BMW, so we'll have no cut this week as the top players try to qualify for the TOUR Championship and a shot at the Tour's biggest prize.
They'll contend with tree-lined fairways, almost 100 fairway and greenside bunkers, and small, fast greens. The opening hole is probably the best birdie chance of the round, whereas most in the field will hope to escape the closing stretch without a bogey. Straight hitters are the play here, with several holes set up with either blind tee shots or blind approaches, and even landing in the fairway could be trouble if your line is clouded by overhanging branches.
Rain is in the early forecast for both Thursday and Friday, but with a small field, there won't be too much difference in wave/tee time. Wind can be a factor at Olympia Fields, as summer winds in Chicago can really get up there. Golfers out early should fare better in that department.
Let's dig into the course and see what stats we can use to build our daily fantasy lineups this week.
Course and Tournament Info
Course: Olympia Fields Country Club
Par: 70
Distance: 7,366 yards
Fairways/Rough: Bentgrass, poa annua
Greens: Bentgrass with some poa annua
Fret not at the sight of a long par 70. The field will be going low again this week. The BMW setup is typically more scoring friendly, with the winner cracking 20-under par in each of the past five years, though notably the winner was the only man to reach that number in two of those seasons.
Midwest courses we've seen the most over the years include TPC Deere Run in Illinois, Muirfield Village in Ohio, and the now out of rotation Firestone Country Club in Ohio. The John Deere Classic does not command the type of field we'll see this week, but both the Memorial and the old WGC-Bridgestone fields would compare well. We also have the prior BMW courses in Illinois, Medinah GC (No. 3) last year and Conway Farms GC in 2015 and 2017.
The targets are going to be big names who probably qualified in prior years, so looking at past BMW results is not entirely without merit given the proximity in geography and both the strength and makeup of the field.
Key Stats
These stats will be the keys to success in the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club.
| Key Stats for BMW Championship at Olympia Field Country Club |
|---|
| Very Recent Form (Total Strokes Gained Last 8-12 Rounds) |
| Strokes Gained: Off the Tee |
| Strokes Gained: Approach |
| Birdies or Better Gained |
We'll run it back with the same stat profile as last week. With the field condensing each of the past few weeks, only the players who are in good form are continuing to qualify save for early season winners now at the very back of the field.
We expect friendly, aggressive scoring once again this week. Ballstriking will reign supreme once more, and hopefully we don't see a runaway like Johnson but birdies will be out there even for a par 70.
Course History Studs
We are pretty lean here. Bryson DeChambeau won the 2015 U.S. Amateur Championship at Olympia Fields, though the match play element and DeChambeau's recent transformation render that result mostly moot. Jon Rahm, who at the time was the top ranked amateur in the world, fell in the quarterfinals.
Furyk did not qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and Justin Rose (T5 at the 2003 U.S. Open) failed to advance beyond the first leg. The only golfers in the field who played in that event are Tiger Woods (T20), Paul Casey (missed cut), and Adam Scott (missed cut).
Mike Rodden is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Rodden also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mike_rodden. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.