And then there were 50.
The PGA Tour’s postseason stops down at St. Louis’ Bellerive Country Club for the BMW Championship, where the top-50 players on the FedEx Cup standings will look to book their tickets to the Tour Championship.
Last week, just one golfer - Korea’s Sungjae Im - did enough in the playoff opener to move into the field at the BMW, gaining 10 spots up to 43rd on the points list.
Im was in deep contention all tournament long, firing rounds of 66-66-67-74 to secure the T5 finish and jump up into the top 50.
The three Canadians that qualified for the event in Memphis last week - Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Corey Conners, and Nick Taylor - were unable to achieve their respective finishes to move on, and are now headed home early from the postseason.
It comes as a missed opportunity for the trio, who would have gained automatic qualification for all of next season’s Signature Events with a top-50 finish in this year’s standings.
This week, the playoff field will be trimmed down from 50 to 30 ahead of the Tour Championship.
There are a number of big-name players currently on the outside looking in for the playoff finale, including Gary Woodland (31), Jake Knapp (35), Robert MacIntyre (36), Aaron Rai (37), Patrick Cantlay (43), and Justin Thomas (44) who will need good showings if they are to play in Atlanta. Rickie Fowler is currently on the bubble at No. 30.
Scottie Scheffler enters the week as the reigning BMW Championship winner, and is coming off of his first win since January at the St. Jude.
The World No. 1 blew away the field with rounds of 68-61-68-66 to secure a eight-shot victory as he finally returned to his winning ways following a season of close calls and painstaking runner-ups.
Scheffler appears to be finding his game at the perfect time as he chases his second career FedEx Cup title in two weeks’ time.
The same cannot be said for Rory McIlroy, the world No. 2, after a poor showing that saw him fail to break par over the course of four rounds last week.
McIlroy struggled mightily in his first tournament since the Open Championship, revealing that he felt “lost” with his golf swing.
“The swing wasn’t in sync and obviously I didn’t do a ton of practice coming in here. I’m so far away from where I need to be to even feel like I have a chance. I’ve just got to keep working and hope it turns around a little bit.
“I guess nice to shake the rust off a little bit, but I’m going to have to work pretty hard between now and next Thursday to feel like I have any sort of golf game to compete next week,” he said.
McIlroy, now a two-time Masters winner after his triumph in April, enters the week in 13th on the FedEx Cup standings despite making just 12 starts on Tour this season. He is already assured a spot at the Tour Championship as he goes for a record-fourth title at the playoff finale.
How to watch BMW Championship with TSN Standard, TSN Premium
You can watch the BMW Championship from Bellerive Country Club all week long on TSN Premium, while TSN Standard coverage begins on TSN5 Saturday afternoon.
Thursday and Friday’s coverage begins at 10 a.m ET / 7 a.m PT on TSN Premium, with two bonus feeds also available for viewing each day at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT and 11:15 a.m. ET and / 8:15 a.m. PT.
The action on Saturday starts on TSN Premium at 9:15 a.m. ET/ 6:15 PT, with bonus feeds at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT and 10:15 a.m. ET / 7:15 a.m. PT. Things then shift over to TSN5 at 3 p.m. ET / Noon Pt for the remainder of the round.
The final round also gets underway on TSN Premium (9:15 a.m. ET / 6:15 PT), with two bonus feeds starting later in the morning (10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT and 10:15 a.m. ET / 7:15 a.m. PT).
TSN3/5 will then begin airing coverage at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT until a winner is crowned.
Here is a look at the full broadcast schedule.
