Tag: Caves Valley Golf Club

PGA Tour announces future, familiar host sites for BMW Championship in 2025 and 2026

The penultimate event of the FedExCup Playoffs is returning to familiar ground in a few years.

The penultimate event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs is returning to familiar grounds in a few years.

Ahead of the 2022 BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware, on Tuesday the PGA Tour announced the event will be held at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, in 2025 and Bellerive Country Club, in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2026. Dates have yet to be finalized, but both events are scheduled for August.

“We are excited to bring the BMW Championship back to these iconic venues, giving the amazing fans of the greater Baltimore and St. Louis areas a chance to see the best players in the world up close,” said Vince Pellegrino, the Western Golf Association’s Senior Vice President of Tournaments. “When we consider potential hosts, we look for challenging layouts that can deliver an unmatched experience for fans and our PGA Tour partners. Caves Valley Golf Club and Bellerive Country Club are the perfect additions to our championship lineup.”

Caves Valley hosted last year’s BMW Championship, won by eventual FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, and helped contribute a record $5.6 million to the Evans Scholars Foundation for caddie scholarships and to establish the Caves Valley Evans Scholars Scholarship House at the University of Maryland.

“It is a tremendous honor for Caves Valley Golf Club to once again host this prestigious championship,” Caves Valley Golf Club President Steve Fader said. “We are still buzzing from last year’s finish and the spotlight that was placed on the Baltimore area. The club will continue its Long-Range Strategic Plan, working with the Fazio Design Group to enhance competitive and agronomic conditions for its membership and all involved with the 2025 BMW Championship.”

Bellerive Country Club previously hosted the 2008 BMW Championship, where Camilo Villegas earned his first PGA Tour win. The club also hosted the 1965 U.S. Open, when Gary Player completed his career grand slam, as well as the 1992 and 2018 PGA Championships. Bellerive will also host the Presidents Cup in 2030.

“Bellerive is thrilled to host the 2026 BMW Championship and welcome the FedExCup Playoffs back to St. Louis,” said Bellerive Country Club President Rick Walsh. “Our club has a storied history of major championship golf. We expect to present a formidable test for the players while celebrating our incredible and supportive community.”

The tournament dates back to 1899, when it debuted as the Western Open, and is the third-oldest tournament on the Tour’s schedule behind only the British Open and U.S. Open. Since 2007, the BMW Championship has raised more than $40 million for caddie scholarships and has helped to send more than 3,300 men and women to college.

The BMW Championship heads back to Olympia Fields Country Club in Chicago in 2023 and will debut at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado, near Denver in 2024.

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Report: Bryson DeChambeau confronts fan who chirped ‘great job Brooksie’ after BMW Championship

“You know what? Get the (expletive) out!” DeChambeau yelled at a fan after the BMW Championship.

He had just lost a highly emotional and mentally taxing six-hole playoff, one that offered him multiple chances to win, and Bryson DeChambeau just wanted to exit the golf course.

As he made his way up the hill to the clubhouse, with Patrick Cantlay basking in the glow of victory back down on the 18th green, an overzealous fan went too far, according to a report by ESPN’s Kevin Van Valkenburg.

This fan decided to wait for DeChambeau to pass by and then offered up the now unoriginal and over-played “Great job, Brooksie” jab.

For DeChambeau, it was the last straw. He whirled around, according to the report, and started walking towards the offender.

“You know what? Get the (expletive) out!” DeChambeau yelled. Van Valkenburg then wrote that DeChambeau “had rage in his eyes.”

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Despite TV announcers over the weekend trying to downplay the amount of chirping DeChambeau had to deal with for four days, Van Valkenburg writes that he heard it “dozens of times.” He also says fans openly cheered when DeChambeau hit a drive into a creek.

The PGA Tour declined comment when asked about the incident by ESPN.

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Bryson DeChambeau’s sudden plunge turns rout into barnburner heading into final round of BMW Championship

Bryson DeChambeau was totally in control of the BMW Championship, and then the tournament turned into a dog fight.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Heading to the 12th tee in Saturday’s third round of the BMW Championship, Bryson DeChambeau’s destruction of defenseless, soft Caves Valley Golf Club was threatening to turn the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs into a rout.

After coming up a 6-foot putt short of shooting 59 in the second round and settling for a career-low 60, DeChambeau was on another 59 watch as he made back-to-back eagles on the fourth and fifth holes and was 7 under on the day through 11 holes.

At 23 under, he was four clear of the field and two par 5s were coming up.

His battering of Caves Valley was mindful of what Tiger Woods did to Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open when he won by a record 15 shots.

“It’s just not a fair fight,” NBC analyst Roger Maltbie said 21 years ago.

And then the tournament turned into a dog fight.

As alarming as DeChambeau’s annihilation of Caves Valley was over two days – he was 19 under in his last 29 holes going to the 12th and was on pace to rewrite a couple PGA Tour scoring records – his sudden plunge back to the field was stunning.

He found water on consecutive holes and made his first bogey in 31 holes on the par-5 12th and then doubled the par-3 13th when he dunked his tee shot into the water. With Patrick Cantlay making birdies on the 12th and 13th, the five-shot swing suddenly gave Cantlay the lead.

A couple more birdies and bogeys from the two coming in and they ended atop the leaderboard at 21 under, with Cantlay shooting 66 and DeChambeau 67.

“We saw it all,” Cantlay said. “It was a little bit of a crazy day.”

PGA: BMW Championship - Second Round
Patrick Cantlay plays his shot from the second tee during the second round of the BMW Championship golf tournament. (Photo: Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports)

Plenty of star power and firepower will be chasing Cantlay and DeChambeau.

Sungjae Im birdied his last two holes to come home with a 66 to get to 18 under.

Rory McIlroy (65), Sam Burns (65), Abraham Ancer (66), and Sergio Garcia (67) are at 17 under. World No. 1 Jon Rahm (70) is at 16 under.

“You’ve just got to shoot a low one and just see what happens,” Ancer said. “I should be 20-, 22-under. I feel like I made the most out of my rounds for the most part, and just hoping for a really low one tomorrow and just see what happens.”

Despite DeChambeau basically doing Superman things – he was blasting tee shots to the wide-open fairways; his iron work was spot on and he was brilliant on the greens – Cantlay remained focused.

“I’m just trying to stick to my game plan,” he said. “I know there’s birdies out there, and every day you play, you might play with someone that’s on a tear. I’m just trying to stay in my own little bubble out there. I feel like that’s the best way I can go about doing my thing and gives me the best chance to succeed.”

Cantlay knows he’ll need another low one to hold off DeChambeau and the others.

As for DeChambeau, he didn’t speak to the print media again, instead opting to only meet up with Sky Sports and Golf Channel.

“Front nine I played really good. On 7, I hit one right off the drive and it just didn’t feel right, and from then on just the driver seemed like wasn’t really in tune,” DeChambeau said. “But that’s OK. I scraped it around.”

And he has but one goal for Sunday’s final round.

“Winning a golf tournament,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about. That’s why we play golf. Obviously I talk about the long drive stuff that I’m doing, and all these are the facets for the Ryder Cup, but it’s ultimately about winning no matter what.

“Hopefully I can go get the job done tomorrow. I’ve done it eight times; hopefully I can make it my ninth.”

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After launching his 3-wood toward the New Jersey Turnpike, a refreshed Rory McIlroy used three new clubs to tie the BMW Championship lead

“It’s nice to get driver in your hand and be able to feel like you can let it fly a bit.”

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Rory McIlroy seems to have found a good 3-wood.

And a second wind.

And a new putter and driver.

Three days after he tried to throw his 3-wood to the Jersey Turnpike in the final round of the Northern Trust, McIlroy used an old 3-wood he had in his garage to lace a shot 285 yards to 10 feet on the 16th hole and knocked in the putt for his first eagle in 516 holes in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, one of the many highlights during Thursday’s first round of the BMW Championship at soft, hot Caves Valley Golf Club.

And McIlroy looked to be on the energetic side after saying on Wednesday that he had played too much golf this season and was exhausted and looking for some time off. Now he’s looking to take the lead in the FedEx Cup race.

McIlroy shot an 8-under-par 64 to grab a share of the lead alongside world No. 1 Jon Rahm and Sam Burns. A shot back was Sergio Garcia. Two back were Abraham Ancer and Patrick Cantlay. Among those three back were Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Northern Trust winner, Tony Finau.

“I’ve went through playoff stretches before where you’re always in that lead group. You’re either one, two or three in the FedExCup, and that can sort of take its mental toll over the few weeks,” said McIlroy, who is 28th in the standings (only the top 30 advance). “Where now I’m in a position where I need to play well just to play next week. There is an element of free-wheeling, I guess.

BMW Championship: Leaderboard | Get to know Caves Valley

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“And the energy thing; I was super tired yesterday. But you get a good night’s sleep and you feel a little bit better the next day and you can go out and play well. Another good night’s sleep tonight and get up, get back out on the golf course, and try and do the same stuff that I did today.”

McIlroy spent hours on the driving range at Caves Valley trying to find a new 3-wood and a new driver (his old one was making the ball spin too much). He also switched out putters, going with a Spider model.

“I went home, I went down to Florida after Northern Trust on Monday night, went into the garage and rummaged through a few different things, got my old putter back out, got my old 3-wood, brought a few shafts out, tried different shafts in the driver, went to a new shaft in the driver, and it seemed to work out today,” McIlroy said. “It’s not as if I was driving the ball badly. Like I just had a driver I felt was spinning a little too much, so a couple of times last week into the wind I’d hit it and it would balloon up in the air and then if I wanted to try to hit a cut off the tee, I was not comfortable doing it because I felt like I was losing too much distance by hitting the cut. Getting a driver that just spins a little less makes it more comfortable for me to aim up the left side and peel it off if I want to.”

And this course lets the big dog eat, which McIlroy eats up.

“It lets you hit driver, first and foremost,” said McIlroy, who hit 13 of 14 fairways. “I think there’s a lot of courses we play nowadays where a lot of fairways pinch in at 300, 310 (yards). It doesn’t allow the long hitters to hit driver a lot; last week being a pretty good example of that. Whenever you get a big golf course like this that allows the big hitters to hit driver, that’s usually a big advantage.

“It’s nice to get driver in your hand and be able to feel like you can let it fly a bit.”

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Thinking like a fish helps Jon Rahm get past disappointment as he grabs share of lead at BMW Championship

Didn’t take Rahm long to get over his disappointing finish on Monday in the Northern Trust.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Didn’t take Jon Rahm long to get over his disappointing finish on Monday in the Northern Trust.

It helps to think like a fish.

Three days after the world No. 1 staggered home with two bogeys in his last four holes to squander a 2-shot lead with four to play in the Northern Trust, Rahm showed he’ll be a force to deal with this week in the BMW Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

On the hilly, massive layout at hot and steamy Caves Valley Golf Club, Rahm didn’t make a bogey and shot an 8-under-par 64 on Thursday to grab a share of the lead with Sam Burns. Rahm offered no hints that his setback in the Northern Trust would keep him down this week.

“I must say, for all those ‘Ted Lasso’ fans out there, be a goldfish,” Rahm said, alluding to the wildly popular sitcom. “Basically the happiest animal in the world is a goldfish. You know why? He’s got a 10-second memory.

“I played great golf last week, just a couple bad swings down the stretch, and that’s the most important thing to remember.”

Rahm and Burns don’t have much breathing room as Abraham Ancer shot 66 and a large group of players at 67 included gold medalist Xander Schauffele, world No. 2 Dustin Johnson and Northern Trust winner, Tony Finau.

It should come as no surprise that Rahm rebounded so quickly. Basically, this has been the year of the bounce back for the Spaniard.

BMW Championship: Leaderboard | Get to know Caves Valley

He led by six shots through 54 holes at the Memorial but was forced to withdraw because of a positive COVID-19 test. He won the U.S. Open 15 days later.

Then, after finishing seventh in the Scottish Open and in a tie for third in the British Open, he tested positive again for COVID and was forced to withdraw from the Tokyo Summer Games. He rebounded by finishing third last week and putting himself into contention this week.

Turns out all the time he was forced to take off because of COVID proved beneficial in one area. He’s rested, which will help as players are battling not only the heat but the mountainous terrain.

“Luckily I had a month off, so it helps. Those guys that went to the Olympics and played Memphis and played more events than me may be a little bit more tired, but really that shouldn’t be an excuse in my case,” Rahm said. “Just rest and recovery, knowing what to do properly.

“What I’m doing yesterday and today and tomorrow, and every single day and this afternoon is going to help me be able to stay in good form, so I think that’s the most important key. Eating enough calories and drinking enough, as well.”

For some time now Rahm has been doing most everything on the golf course very well. Despite two battles with COVID, he hasn’t been worse than seventh in his last four starts, and prior to that, he had five top-10s in seven starts. And that doesn’t include what would have been a likely victory in the Memorial.

So, Rahm was asked, how do you practice? Do you try to maintain what is working well or try to look for ways to make things even better?

“Just always trying to get better. That’s all I can say,” he said. “I think the bigger thing has been the putter. I found a putter that really works for me that I’m comfortable with. I would say ball striking is probably not that different before and after Memorial, but my putting stats are guaranteed to be a lot better, and that’s the key difference. When you’re hitting it as good as I have the last few months, giving myself plenty of opportunities, if the putter gets a little hot, you’re going to put some good low scores.”

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Jordan Spieth’s BMW pro-am round goes swimmingly with Olympics legend Michael Phelps

Jordan Spieth said his team “hammed and egged” it but there were plenty of good shots, plenty of good laughs.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The thermometer reached 95 on Wednesday, the long walk on mountainous Caves Valley Golf Club was on the arduous side, and the pro-am round ahead of the BMW Championship lasted more than five hours.

And Jordan Spieth had a blast.

“A lot of times when you have an 18-hole pro-am, you don’t know who you’re going to play with, and you’re somewhat kind of, not regretting the day, but more just kind of, OK, we’ve got to go out there and play 18, it’s going to be a long day, how do we save energy, that kind of stuff,” Spieth said. “But with this situation I was very excited.”

It helped to be grouped with Michael Phelps.

The most decorated Olympian of all time, the swimmer winning 23 gold medals among the 28 he collected in all, enjoyed the day, as well. The Baltimore native, who calls himself a “tremendous nerd of the golf game,” said it is “kind of sad, but I obsess about this game.”

So who better to have a round with than Spieth, right?

Spieth and Phelps have been associated with Under Armour for years. Also in the group with Spieth and Phelps was Kevin Plank, founder of Under Armour, whose headquarters are in Baltimore.

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Spieth said his team “hammed and egged” it and had to yell “Fore,” more than a few times. But there were plenty of good shots, plenty of good laughs.

“When the pressure was most on, to no surprise Michael stepped up and hit his best shot of the day,” Spieth said. “Some of the shots he hit were not his best and then he’ll step up in that situation and put it to like eight feet and then knocked it right in the hole.”

Spieth and Phelps have done many photo shoots together through their years with Under Armour and built up a strong relationship. Phelps has been open about his mental health challenges, including depression, substance abuse and suicidal thoughts. He has now determined to help others from all walks of life deal with similar issues.

“I pick his brain on the mental side of things now,” Spieth said. “He’s getting very involved in mental health, and it’s been something that I’ve actually worked on a lot in the last few years, and that’s been a space that probably should be talked about more within athletes, their experiences across different sports, too.

BMW Championship
Jordan Spieth and Michael Phelps played together in the BMW Championship pro-am on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021, at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland. Photo by Julio Cortez/Associated Press

“I’ve been really fortunate that he’s lent an ear and bounced ideas off me. Without getting into details that are competitive advantages, I think he’s been a fantastic kind of friend, and we’ve been able to spend time down in Mexico separate from the brand, too, and get to know his family. To have a golf lover be the most decorated Olympian of all time, it’s really good for our sport, and it’s even better that I’m able to access it, as well.”

As for his current form, Spieth, thee three-time major winner who has emerged from a nearly three-year drought with nine top-10s in 17 starts so far this year, including his first win since the 2017 British Open coming in the Valero Texas Open, finished 73rd in the Northern Trust that ended Monday.

The 2015 winner of the FedEx Cup is seventh right now in the playoffs race heading into the BMW Championship. He’s ranked 12th in the world and eighth in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. The top 6 at the end of the BMW automatically make the team and captain Steve Stricker will make six discretionary picks following next week’s Tour Championship.

“I feel good,” said Spieth, who has done some photo shoots at Caves Valley but said he doesn’t have much course knowledge. “This will be nice playing consecutive tournaments. I haven’t done that since Colonial to Memorial, so it’s been a long time. I always feel that I play better as kind of a stretch goes on, knock some rust off, figure it out just hitting more shots, less kind of practice shots at home and more shots on course.”

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Rory McIlroy brings a few new clubs to the BMW because ‘I threw my 3-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike’

Rory McIlroy admitted to some on-course frustration. “If someone wants to go get a 3-wood, there’s one in there somewhere.”

Not since 1962 has the PGA Tour visited the Baltimore area.

This week, the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs brings the top 70 golfers in the points race to Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, for the BMW Championship.

Rory McIlroy got his first look the course on Wednesday playing in the pro-am and came away impressed.

“It’s a big ballpark,” he said. “You can certainly let it rip out here, hit a lot of drivers. I think there’s been a lot of rain in the Baltimore area, so it’s pretty soft, so the ball is not really going anywhere when it hits, which is good. It makes the course play nice and long, which I like.

“It’s a good track, good test. I have a few friends that are members here, and they’ve told me all about it and rave about the place. I can see what they’re talking about.”

McIlroy did spend a good chunk of time on the range on Tuesday. He says he was working with some new clubs, in particular a new 3-wood. Seems that his old one got away from him.

“Yeah, so I needed to try to get into a new 3-wood and into a new driver. I threw my 3-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike off the 9th hole,” he said about his final round Monday at the Northern Trust. “So I was without a 3-wood coming here. The driver I just felt was spinning a little too much last week, so I just needed to get into something that wasn’t spinning as much, and that was really it.

“I feel like I landed on a good driver and got a pretty good 3-wood, too. That was the purpose of yesterday’s range session.”

Hold on, Rory. You said you threw your 3-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike?

“I might not have reached the road but I threw it into the trees off the ninth tee at Liberty National, so if someone wants to go get a 3-wood, there’s one in there somewhere.”

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After last Sunday got washed out, final-round tee times were pushed back three times, making a long week a bit longer. McIlroy finished tied for 43rd, then made the one-hour plane ride south – just one day off before jumping into this week.

“I think I feel like a lot of guys feel right now, a little jaded, a little tired. End of the season, there’s been a lot of golf. Yeah, so a lot of travel. I’m just sort of getting through it, to be honest,” he said. “I’m going day-by-day and just trying to get through it as best I can and try to make it to next week.”

Still 28th in FedEx Cup points, McIlroy is in good shape to advance to the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, where only the top 30 will play, but he admits the close to this season has been a grind.

“The game feels pretty good. Energy levels are somewhat sort of trying to dig deep at this point, but yeah, try and keep going and try and put in a good finish this week to make sure I’m in Atlanta next week.”

There is no tournament the week after the Tour Championship. The PGA Tour’s 2021-22 schedule kicks off the week after that with the Fortinet Championship in Napa, California. McIlroy doesn’t intend to play there so he’ll use the two-week window after East Lake to prep for the Ryder Cup. Then he plans to take another break.

“I’m going to take a bit of time off after the Ryder Cup, and that’ll be nice,” he said. “Since we came back after the sort of COVID halt. … I think this is my 33rd event since then. Next week will be 34 and then Ryder Cup 35. So all that in a space of 15 months, it’s a lot of golf. It’s probably too much for me. I’ve played more than I probably should have and feel like it’s just sort of all caught up with me.”

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Stay hungry, Tony Finau: Northern Trust winner gobbles up supersized order, relishes congratulatory message from Tiger Woods

Tony Finau, starved for victory for nearly five years on the PGA Tour, had quite the celebration when he broke the streak.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – When you’re hungry, you eat.

Tony Finau, starved for victory for nearly five years on the PGA Tour but rarely demoralized as he kept up the hunt, finally satisfied his ferocious appetite by coming up clutch throughout the final round and then defeating Cameron Smith in a playoff to win the Northern Trust this past Monday.

And after 1,975 days of that empty feeling since winning his first PGA Tour title in the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, he filled up his belly.

Finau celebrated his win in the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event with a mid-evening dinner with a few members of his team at Ruth’s Chris Steak House that wrapped up around 11 p.m. Four hours later he went to town at McDonald’s.

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“I couldn’t really sleep. I was still on quite a high, which was cool,” he said. “Then Boyd (Summerhays, his coach) and I got hungry again.

“I ordered a lot.”

Talk about a supersized order. Finau had a Big Mac, double quarter pounder with cheese, 10 chicken nuggets, large fries, an Oreo McFlurry and a bottle of water.

“And I had no problem cleaning all of it up,” he said.

Now Finau is now craving win No. 3. The win moved him to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup race, to No. 9 in the world golf rankings and to No. 6 on the Ryder Cup points list for the U.S. team (the top 6 automatically qualify at week’s end).

“Right back at it this week,” Finau said Wednesday at roasting Caves Valley Golf Club, home to the BMW Championship, the second of three postseason events. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m in great position here in the FedExCup now to make a serious run at winning. My attention needs to turn to that. But I have enjoyed the last couple days soaking in another victory. It’s been five years.”

Pushing him along will be a wave of good vibes after receiving, in his words, more than 1,000 messages after his Northern Trust win. It took him hours to scroll through and listen to all of them.

“It’s been really cool to see the amount of joy a lot of people have for my success,” he said. “Selfishly I want to win, but to be able to see how many people have enjoyed this win for me, my family, my friends, it’s been really, really cool for me.

“I’ve kind of starved, I think, a lot of my fans and supporters of a win for five years, so this one is special in that I’ve gained, I think, a lot of fans in these five years. To be able to share this with so many people has been very, very special.”

One of those fans is Tiger Woods.

“One of the very first (messages) was from Tiger, and that was a very special one,” Finau said. “He was just explaining to me that he was proud of me and the fight and grit that I had. That was obviously a very, very special one for me to see.

“Again, he was one of the first, which means he was watching, which for me is very, very cool. I have to throw that out there as probably right at the top.”

Other messages included those from Utah Jazz basketball players Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley and many of his peers on the golf course.

The win in the shadow of the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty also validated Finau’s handling of the drought.

“I’ve always had an attitude of perseverance,” he said. “I was somehow taught since I was a kid, and something that’s very important to me, is to try and overcome the obstacles, try and learn from your mistakes and overcome.

“I will say it was extremely hard to do that. I have had a lot of disappointment and frustration from those losses, but I took it on the chin. I didn’t get discouraged.

“That was the biggest part, I used it as fuel to do better.”

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Check the yardage book: Caves Valley for the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship

Check hole-by-hole maps for the Tom Fazio design that has been host of a U.S. Senior Open, the U.S. Mid-Amateur and two NCAA Championships.

Caves Valley Golf Club, site this week of the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship as the second FedEx Cup Playoffs event, was designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 1991.

Just north of Baltimore in Owings Mills, Maryland, Caves Valley was recently updated – length was added, bunkers were renovated and the nines were flipped to promote better spectator views on the closing holes. It will play 7,542 yards at a par of 72 for the BMW.

Caves Valley ranks No. 4 in Maryland on Golfweek’s Best Private Courses list and is tied for No. 178 on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list for all layouts built in or after 1960 in the U.S.

The Baltimore area hasn’t been host to a PGA Tour event in decades, but Caves Valley does have a championship track record. Jerry Courville Jr. won the 1995 U.S. Mid-Amateur there, and in 2002 Don Pooley beat Tom Watson in a five-hole playoff there to win the U.S. Senior Open. Caves Valley also was host to the 2005 NCAA Men’s Championship won by Georgia and the 2009 NCAA Women’s Championship won by Arizona State.

Thanks to yardage books provided by Puttview – the maker of detailed yardage books for more than 30,000 courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges that players face this week. Check out each hole below.

World No. 1 Jon Rahm’s abnormal 2021 continues this week in BMW Championship at Caves Valley

“It could have been a lot worse than it’s been; I can tell you that.”

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – From becoming a father for the first time to being the first from his homeland of Spain to win the U.S. Open, from overcoming two bouts with COVID-19 to getting through Hurricane Henri, this year has been anything but ordinary for Jon Rahm.

“I’m not going to lie; I’m looking for just a normal tournament week at this point,” Rahm said Tuesday ahead of his preparations for the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club. “Just one week where it’s just uneventful. Golf aside, uneventful. We don’t have hurricanes, COVID or anything related like that.”

It’s not that Rahm, 26, wants someone to start playing violins in sympathy. The world No. 1 is forever grateful for the riches in his life and in his bank account that have piled up, and he knows the world has and continues to suffer from an infectious disease that took hold in 2020.

But the first eight months of 2021 would have taken down lesser men. Good thing Rahm is built like a brickhouse with a mentality to match.

“Luckily I can say there’s a lot more positives than negatives,” he said. “There were some moments that could have taken me down that, if anything, lifted me up and pushed me towards greater things.

“You know, the overall condition that the world is in with COVID, I can be very glad that nobody in my direct family has had any problems and that hasn’t been a stress, when I know a lot of people have been suffering. And even in my case, right, when I got it, nobody around me got it and everybody is healthy.

“It could have been a lot worse than it’s been; I can tell you that.”

For instance, Rahm, after being told he had COVID just after putting the finishing touches to his third round in the Memorial where he held the 54-hole lead by six shots, might not have recovered in time to win the U.S. Open 15 days later.

And he could have wallowed in sorrow for weeks after another positive COVID test knocked him out of the Tokyo Summer Games a month later.

But considering his year, he’s on the rebound again this week at Caves Valley. His latest drama-filled week ended Monday when he squandered a two-shot lead with four to play in the Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club in storm ravaged New Jersey. Hurricane Henri postponed the final round to Monday and Rahm looked well on his way to victory before bogeys on the 15th and the 18th, coupled by his inability to birdie the drivable 16th, dropped him to third place, a shot out of the playoff between eventual winner Tony Finau and Cameron Smith.

Finau also overtook Rahm for the points lead in the FedEx Cup.

Rahm said Monday he didn’t have much time to digest what happened after he finished playing, especially after seeing his son, Kepa. But he’ll get around to it. Looking at the overall picture, Rahm is in a good place. A great place. And one of his goals this week is to defend a PGA Tour title for the first time.

This will his fourth attempt to successfully defend. Following his maiden PGA Tour victory in the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open, he finished in a tie for 29th in 2018. After winning the 2018 CareerBuilder Challenge, he was sixth in 2019. And then there was the Memorial this year, where he was six clear with 18 to play after winning Jack Nicklaus’ annual bash in 2020.

Last year at Olympia Fields south of Chicago, he curled in a 66-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Dustin Johnson in the BMW Championship.

Thus, he’s motivated and knows he’s playing well.

“I’m confident,” he said. “To be fair, I’m still a little thinking about what I could have done better already yesterday, right; it’s still very fresh. Just think about and analyze what I did, what my thought process was in each moment and what I could have done better and what I did really well.

“I feel like I played better than my score was showing, and at the end just a couple of bad swings really cost me. There’s a lot more positives to take out of it than negatives to be fair. There’s a lot of good things I did last week, and hopefully I can keep those going on, and again, what is life if not a process of learning from one’s mistakes.”

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