The 50 players who will tee it up at BMW Championship at Castle Pines have accounted for more than 200 PGA Tour wins; Denver native Wyndham Clark will come ‘home’ after top-10 showing Sunday in Memphis
By Gary Baines – 8/18/2024
The field is finally set for the BMW Championship, the first PGA Tour event held in Colorado since 2014 and just the second since 2006.
And, in terms of PGA Tour career victories by the 50 players who will tee it up at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock starting on Thursday, it’s a doozy.
All told, those 50 players account for202 PGA Tour victories all time. The top five on that wins list — who are in the BMW Championship field — are Rory McIlroy (26), Justin Thomas (15), Adam Scott (14), Jason Day (13) and Scottie Scheffler (12).
The number of major championships earned by 2024 BMW Championship participants checks in at 20. All of the top eight players in the Official World Golf Rankings are also headed to Castle Pines. Winners of three majors in 2024 — Xander Schauffele (2) and Scheffler (1), plus the Olympic champion (Scheffler) will tee it up in Castle Rock.
One Colorado native will come into the BMW Championship on a good roll. Valor Christian graduate Wyndham Clark, who estimates he’s played Castle Pines 25-30 times over the years, tied for the best scoring total over the last three rounds of the Olympics en route to a 14th-place showing, then on Sunday he soared up the leaderboard to finish seventh at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis.
Picturesque Castle Pines Golf Club is set to take center stage for the BMW Championship, which starts on Thursday.
A three-time PGA Tour winner — including the 2023 U.S. Open — Clark shot a bogey-free 6-under-par 64 on Sunday to record his seventh top-10 of the year, a total that includes a victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.
The showing leaves Clark sixth in the FedExCup standings, behind Scheffler (first), Schauffele (second), Hideki Matsuyama (third), Collin Morikawa (fourth) and McIlroy (fifth). Matsuyama jumped into the top three with his victory Sunday at the St. Jude.
Denver native Wyndham Clark closed with a 64 on Sunday to earn a top-10 finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis.
Among those joining Clark in the BMW Championship field are three golfers who have won big-time events in Colorado: Billy Horschel, champion at the 2014 BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club; Nick Dunlap, who has won twice on the PGA Tour since capturing the 2023 U.S. Amateur title at Cherry Hills; and Will Zalatoris, who claimed the title in the Korn Ferry Tour’s TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes in 2020.
Three golfers played their way into the BMW Championship after being outside the top 50 going into the St. Jude Championship. That includes Viktor Hovland, the 2023 BMW Championship winner, Dunlap and Eric Cole.
Besides landing spots in the BMW Championship, those playing at Castle Pines this coming week earn spots in all eight PGA Tour Signature Events in 2025.
Meanwhile, Denver native Mark Hubbard couldn’t get anything going in the FedExCup Playoff opener, finishing 61st in the 70-player field in Memphis (72-72-68-70). That left him 68th in the season-long FEC standings, well back of the 50th-or-better necessary for him to compete this coming week in the state where he grew up, in the BMW Championship.
Players who started the St. Jude Championship inside the top 50, but fell out by Sunday night were Tom Kim, Mackenzie Hughes and Jake Knapp.
Here are the players scheduled to compete this coming week at Castle Pines, with their career PGA Tour win totals, and number of major titles. (Note: The golfers are listed in the order of the season-long FedExCup point standings.)
1. Scottie Scheffler (12 PGA Tour wins, with 2 majors)
2. Xander Schauffele (9 wins, with 2 majors)
3. Hideki Matsuyama (10 wins, with 1 major)
4. Collin Morikawa (6 wins, with 2 majors)
5. Rory McIlroy (26 wins, with 4 majors)
6. Wyndham Clark (3 wins, with 1 major)
7. Ludvig Aberg (1 win)
8. Sahith Theegala (1 win)
9. Patrick Cantlay (8 wins)
10. Sungjae Im (2 wins)
11. Shane Lowry (3 wins, with 1 major)
12. Robert MacIntyre (2 wins)
13. Akshay Bhatia (2 wins)
14. Tony Finau (6 wins)
15. Byeong Hun An (0 wins)
16. Victor Hovland (6 wins)
17. Russell Henley (4 wins)
18. Sam Burns (5 wins)
19. Billy Horschel (8 wins)
20. Matthieu Pavon (1 win)
21. Aaron Rai (1 win)
22. Justin Thomas (15 wins, with 2 majors)
23. Christian Bezuidenhout (0 wins)
24. Sepp Straka (2 wins)
25. Jason Day (13 wins, with 1 major)
26. Davis Thompson (1 win)
27. Taylor Pendrith (1 win)
28. Tom Hoge (1 win)
29. Brian Harman (3 wins, with 1 major)
30. Denny McCarthy (0 wins)
31. Tommy Fleetwood (0 wins)
32. Chris Kirk (6 wins)
33. Corey Connors (2 wins)
34. J.T. Poston (2 wins)
35. Stephan Jaeger (1 wins)
36. Matt Fitzpatrick (2 wins, with 1 major)
37. Will Zalatoris (1 win)
38. Austin Eckroat (1 win)
39. Cameron Young (0 wins)
40. Thomas Detry (0 wins)
41. Adam Scott (14 wins, with 1 major)
42. Adam Hadwin (1 win)
43. Max Homa (6 wins)
44. Si Woo Kim (4 wins)
45. Alex Noren (0 wins)
46. Eric Cole (0 wins)
47. Max Greyserman (0 wins)
48. Nick Dunlap (2 wins)
49. Cam Davis (2 wins)
50. Keegan Bradley (6 wins, with 1 major)
Notable This Week on Tour: Shane Bertsch of Parker recorded his best finish of 2024 on PGA Tour Champions — and his third top-10 of the year — in tying for seventh on Sunday in the Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary in Canada. Bertsch, a one-time winner on the Champions circuit, went 65-68-66 for an 11-under-par total, leaving him six strokes behind winner Ken Tanigawa. … Lauren Coughlin, who won the Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open in 2016, claimed an LPGA Tour title for the second time in 22 days, this time prevailing by four at the ISPS Handa Scottish Open.
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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: THE ESSENTIALS
What: The BMW Championship, the second of three PGA Tour FedExCup Playoff events in 2024.
When: Aug. 22-25 championship rounds (Thursday-Sunday). Aug. 20 practice round (Tuesday). Aug. 21 pro-am (Wednesday). Note: Closed to the public on Aug. 19 (Monday). Gates open at 7 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and 6:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Where: Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, opened in 1981 and designed by Jack Nicklaus. Castle Pines GC hosted the PGA Tour’s International from 1986 through 2006. Colorado Sports Hall of Famer Jack Vickers founded Castle Pines GC and The International.
Purse: $20 million, with the winner receiving $4 million.
Beneficiary: All the net proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation for caddies. Evans Scholarships, worth an estimated average of $125,000, are awarded by high-achieving teenage caddies with significant financial need.
Defending Champion: Viktor Hovland.
Course Setup: A PGA Tour-record length (since at least 1983) of 8,130 yards (Par-72). Green speed on Stimpmeter: 13. 77 bunkers and 10 water hazards.
Junior Clinic: 4 p.m. on Aug. 21 (Wednesday).
History of Event in Colorado: The BMW Championship has been held once before in the Centennial State, in 2014 at Cherry Hills Country Club.
Tickets/Military Honors: For information, CLICK HERE. Note: Kids 15 and under receive complimentary grounds admission when accompanied by a ticketed adult (2 juniors per adult). Also, active-duty military, along with military retirees, active reserves and veterans can also be admitted free to the tournament after obtaining passes at bmwchampionship.com . On Aug. 22 (Thursday), an opening ceremony on the first tee at 8 a.m. will feature singer/songwriter Amanda Hawkins performing the national anthem and a flyover by four F-16 fighter jets from the Colorado Air National Guard. Spectators with military tickets for Tuesday and Wednesday will have access to the Nicklaus Club, a climate-controlled lounge equipped with a PXG golf simulator, complimentary food and drinks and seating overlooking the iconic par-3 16th hole.
Format: 50-player field. No cut. The top 30 in the season-long point standings after the BMW Championship will advance to the Tour Championship.
TV Schedule: Aug. 22 and 23 (Thursday and Friday): noon-5 p.m., Golf Channel; Aug. 24 and 25 (Saturday and Sunday): 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Golf Channel; 1-4 p.m., NBC. Dan Hicks, Kevin Kisner, Terry Gannon and Brad Faxon will call the action at different times from Castle Pines.
General Information about BMW Championship: CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com