The PGA Tour’s middle leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland, signaled the end of the road for a chunk of the Tour’s postseason field.
The FedEx Cup playoffs is a three-week event with 20 golfers being eliminated after the first two events. The first event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, began with 70 players. The top 50 advanced to the BMW, and only the top 30 survive to reach the Tour Championship, meaning 20 players’ seasons came to an end at Caves Valley.
FedEx Cup Playoff: 20 Players Eliminated at BMW Championship
Here are the 20 players who were eliminated:
Michael Kim
Taylor Pendrith
Rickie Fowler
Matt Fitzpatrick
Kurt Kitayama
Lucas Glover
Si Woo Kim
Sam Stevens
Ryan Gerard
Denny McCarthy
Jason Day
Xander Schauffele
Ryan Fox
Thomas Detry
Daniel Berger
Brian Campbell
Bud Cauley
Tom Hoge
J.T. Poston
Jhonattan Vegas
Close Calls for Michael Kim, Rickie Fowler
The biggest bubble heartbreak belongs to Michael Kim. The fan favorite made a charge over the first two rounds, 68-66 to set himself up well for the weekend. A third-round 70 kept him in the hunt, and at points in his final round, he looked like he was going to secure a spot in the top 30.
However, a bogey at 14 and another at 17 ultimately cost Kim a chance to move on. That being said, he was positioned to get help from the rest of the field, most notably playing partner Viktor Hovland, who had already secured his spot in the Tour Championship. However, a 7-foot birdie putt on the 18th closed the door on Kim, who wasted no time sounding off on social media with a tongue-in-cheek post about Hovland.
Kim wasn’t the only one who got painfully close to advancing at the BMW Championship. Rickie Fowler improbably made a run into the playoffs. The Oklahoma State product registered a top-10 finish at the St. Jude and played another helluva tournament at the BMW, finishing 7-under, and tied for seventh place.
The real back-breaker for Fowler came on the par-4 15th. He hit his second shot over the green, leaving an uncomfortable short-side shot back up a steep hill. He chunked the chip and ended up making double bogey, effectively ending his comeback bid.
Next up: The Tour Championship
What’s especially frustrating for the players who failed to reach the final tournament of the season is that the PGA Tour tweaked the Tour Championship format for this season. In the past few years, the Tour used a staggered start for the title tournament. The leader coming into the week started at 10-under, second place was 9-under and so on through the top 10.
This year, however, it’s back to a complete reset. Everyone will start at the same point at East Lake in Atlanta, and whoever shoots the best score wins the tournament — and the FedEx Cup.
Asked about the changes earlier in the year, defending champion Scottie Scheffler — who will go to East Lake miles above the rest of the field in FedEx Cup points — said he preferred the 2025 format.
“(The Patriots) had a great year (when they went undefeated in 2007), and they didn’t win the Super Bowl,” Scheffler said in May, per Golf.com. “At the end of the day, you have to perform when it matters the most. I think now with the format we have, we have a great format of a 72-hole golf tournament. If I want to win the FedEx Cup, I have to play well at the last week of the season, and it’s just simple as that.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post How Many Golfers Are Eliminated After the BMW Championship? appeared first on Heavy Sports.