BMW Championships, Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois

So after a week’s break we resume the FedEx Championships at the BMW Championships at Conway Farms Golf Course, Lake Forest in Illinois. This course is making its debut on the PGA and this will be a new test for all the golfers trying to get to the last event and that $10m prize money come a week on Sunday. It has held top golf tournaments here before, the last being the US Mid-Amateur Championships in 2012 and was a US Qualifying course for the 2007 US Open. Other than that this course hasn’t been around for very long. This place first opened its gates to golfers back in 1991 and is an invitation non-profit club...

The most notable member is a certain Luke Donald who first started playing the Tom Fazio-designed course when he was a student at Northwestern in the late 1990s. He has since joined the club and alternates his practice sessions between Conway Farms, which is about 20 minutes from his Chicago home, and North Shore Country Club, which is slightly closer. This has to give him an advantage going into this weekend’s event…

Sitting at 7,149 yards for its par 71, it has a wide, open feel to the course with the wind being the main contribution to shooting high scores. Of course we are in the state of Illinois, only 20km from ‘The Windy City’, Chicago, so we know that the wind can get up, and it will over the next four days. The last 5 holes will certainly keep us entertained, with the 14th and 18th both par 5’s, a reachable par 4 on the 15th – its only 334 yards long, and a par 3 on the 17th. Designed by Tom Fazio, this man has more courses designed by him in the top 100 US tracks than anybody else, it should be a good 4 days of golf for us to enjoy. Fazio is noted for his designs but more noted for hi non-negotiable fees. He charges a minimum $2m to design and create your course. Nice work if you can get it...


So let us see who can win here in Illinois…

With a field of only 70, and the best 70 of the year for that matter, you wouldn’t have thought that you could pick a winner from outside the top 15 in the list. But find them we will, and hopefully with a win or a top 5 finish…


I wouldn’t usually go with a player who is as low in the betting market as this but I really think that Matt Kuchar is worth it as he is one of the most likely to win here, or even next week. Just a super consistent player who this year has returned with 2 Tour wins, twice runner up and 8 top 10’s, he has the game to win any of the FedEx events. Shot 66, 66, 69 and 66 in the Barclays last week so he will be looking to continue that form here. Even though this maybe new to the players on the Tour, if you’re playing well, you can play well on any course… Currently sits 4th in the FedEx Rankings…

You have got to go with Luke Donald who has a good record here when no one else has had the experience that he has. Has shot a best of 61 here and was brought up on this course for many a year, he would be a popular winner should he do so. I am taking a gamble with him as he has been in poor form recently, and has lost his mojo for getting into the top 10 this year. With only 5 top 10’s to his name this year, a best of 3rd back in April, he is way down on his 10 top 10’s last year. The one factor that will drive him on for me this week is that he has to finish in the top 5 to progress to East Lake next week… Currently sits 54th in the FedEx Rankings…

I am sticking with Keegan Bradley this week, and probably for next week, as he seems to be putting better now than he has done all year. Shot his worse round of the Barclays on the Sunday, a 70, which dropped him out of contention there, but he was threatening the top places all week. He hasn’t actually won a tournament this year so now would be a good time to do it. Unless that is he is saving himself for next week and the big one…!!! Currently sits 11th in the FedEx Rankings…

Graeme DeLaet has impressed me these last 2 weeks or so, finishing solo 3rd and T2nd for his last 2 FedEx events. Currently ranks numero uno for Total Driving, 3rd in GIR and shot 4 rounds under 70 last in the Barclays the other week. Is at the top of his game and has a game that should suit the course if the wind gets up… Currently sits 34th in the FedEx Rankings…

Don't forget only 30 players progress onto next weeks final FedEx tournament...


Matt Kuchar @ 25/1…
Luke Donald @ 33/1…
Keegan Bradley @ 35/1…
Graeme DeLaet @ 40/1…

All done in the usual £2.5 e/w… PadPow pays ¼ odds top 5… Good Luck…

 

Smokin - Ive cut n pasted your selections from your thread... I put mine up by 3mins before yours... Nevermind... Good luck pal...


I'm sure Red will be along with more of his great analysis of this PGA tour event,

However i am off to work so thought i would post my selections before they tee off later this afternoon

Had the good fortune of winning some pennies from footy bets over the week so have invested in some shorter prices and made them win only apart from 1 player.

Jordan Spieth - 28/1 - £10 win
Rory McIlroy - 20/1 - £10 win
Bubba Watson - 66/1 - £5 win
Keegan Bradley - 33/1 - £7 win
Brendon De Jonge - 125/1 - £1.50 e/w

£35 staked, lets see if we can return anything

goodluck all who play

 

Cheers Red

Mods can delete my thread i didnt notice it before leaving the house

Goodluck pal

Keegan winning would be a great result for the forum!

 

Leaderboard after the 1st round...

Leader Brandt Snedeker @ -8

T18 - Graham DeLaet............ -1
T18 - Luke Donald................ -1
T29 - Jordan Spieth.............. E
T29 - Bubba Watson............. E
T29 - Brendon de Jonge ........ E
T57 - Keegan Bradley........... +3
T57 - Matt Kuchar............... +3
T66 - Rory McIlroy............... +7

When a player hits 7 consecutive birdies in his round you know he is playing well. That's what Sned's did yesterday to put an awful lot of light between him and a lot of this top 70 field...

I never thought to pick him but i did have thoughts about picking Zach Johnson, but ultimately I didn't in the end... Looking at our picks so far Smokin we better be looking at next weeks event to get owt back before the end of the golfing season...

 

59... -12 under par... Your kidding me...!!!

Jim Furyk take a bow son...
Back 9
4 - 2 - 3 - 3 - 5 - 3 - 3 - 5 - 3 = 31
Front 9
3 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 2 - 4 - 2 - 4 = 28

Total - 59

Jim Furyk took all the limelight yesterday as he shot a -12 under par round 59 to become the first player to do so in these FedEx events. He shot 11 birdies, 1 eagle and dropped one shot in a round that saw him go from nowhere like being in contention to one of the leaders going into the last 2 days...

Furyk got off to a hot start, shooting 8-under 28 on his opening nine holes, the back nine at Conway Farms, after making six birdies and holing out from 115 yards for eagle on the par-4 15th. He was 11 under par after 13 holes at the par-71 Conway Farms after birdies at Nos. 2-4. His momentum slowed after he three-putted the par-4 fifth hole for his only bogey of the day, but he made birdies at Nos. 7 and 9 to become the sixth player to shoot 59 in a PGA TOUR event. He completed the 59 by hitting his 103-yard approach shot at No. 9 to 3 feet, 3 inches.

He made 4 putts over 10 feet with the longest being a 25 footer on the 3rd, chipped in from 115 yards for an eagle on the 15th and made 5 approach shots land within 5 feet of the flag...

Just awesome golf...


Anyway, we now have Snedeker and Jim tied for the lead @ -12...

T4 - Jordan Spieth............ -6
T15 - Brendon de Jonge ..... -3
T17 - Luke Donald............ -2
T24 - Keegan Bradley........ -1
T28 - Bubba Watson.......... E
T35 - Graham DeLaet......... +1
61 - Matt Kuchar............... +5
70 - Rory McIlroy............... +13

Jordan Speith still continues to impress and sits T4rh at the moment but its not looking good for the rest. Though as ole Jimmy proves, if you get your mojo working on this course you can really do some damage...

 

Off Topic i know but i had to put this up...


Andriy Shevchenko ends 40 shots adrift on pro golf debut

Andriy Shevchenko's professional golf debut ended with the former Chelsea striker missing the cut, 40 strokes off the lead.
Shevchenko shot rounds of 84 and 86 at the Kharkov Superior Cup in his native Ukraine to end 26 over par.
The former AC Milan and Dynamo Kiev forward, 36, retired from football following Euro 2012.
Former world tennis number one Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia also missed the cut on 16 over.
South Korean Sihwan Kim leads on 14 under, six shots ahead of England's Lloyd Kennedy.
But three-time European Tour winner Nick Dougherty and former Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson, both of England, did not make the weekend



Scoring goals for fun was easy for Sheva... Shooting low scores at golf is proving a tad different...

 

Leaderboard after the 3rd round...

Leader Jim Furyk @ -13

T11 - Luke Donald................ -6
T16 - Matt Kuchar................ -5
T18 - Jordan Spieth.............. -4
T18 - Brendon de Jonge ........ -4
T26 - Keegan Bradley............ -2
T26 - Bubba Watson............. -2
T41 - Graham DeLaet............ +2
68 - Rory McIlroy................. +10


So Jimmy boy goes top of the leaderboard after Sned's only shot level par for his round. It seems to me that you either see every shot on the course or not with some of the players this week. Kuchar shot a 61, -10 under par, to take the days best round, but it still leaves him some 8 shots off the lead. It looks a hard one to predict as to who will win this event as there seems to be a really low score out there if someone gets their game going...

It will also be good to see which players are going to just miss out on the top 30 and those who jump into the 30 from a bit back. There will be twist n turns yet...

 

Zach Johnson took the BMW Championship with some ease in the end as he finished 2 shots clear of the charging Nick Watney and the faltering attempts of Jim Furyk and Steve Striker. Johnson's 65, -6 under par round saw him through to his first FedEx win and his first win of the year...

I nearly picked him but with him missing The Barclays to go to his brothers wedding i thought that he wouldn't be totally up for the challenge ahead. Dont forget they didnt play last week so he had only played 1 round of competitive golf in 3 weeks before last Thursday. That was the same reason i was put off Stricker, who has only played 13 events now this year, even Furyk only played 2 events in 5 weeks leading up to the FedEx series...

Strange as you would think you would want a player who was playing well, showing good form, and was set to make an impact sooner or later. As it was, those 3 all made the top 4 placings, and showed that being fresh mattered as they all 3 of them had great weekends...


Anyway were down to the last 30 in the FedEx series and to finding out who pockets the rather substantial prize of $10 million...!!!