Tag: Olympia Fields North

FedEx Cup bubble watch, Americans vying for Ryder Cup spot and more from BMW Championship

Catch up on Saturday’s action here.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Matt Fitzpatrick was so frustrated with his game a week ago that he didn’t even want to play this week. Scottie Scheffler is right where he’s been almost all season – right in the thick of another high-stakes PGA Tour event.

Fitzpatrick and Scheffler are tied for the 54-hole lead at the BMW Championship at 11-under 199 with one round remaining. Fitzpatrick was bogey-free until the final hole but posted 4-under 66 at Olympia Fields, while Scheffler scrambled well and got help from his putter to shoot 64, the second-best score of the day in the 50-man field.

Ever since Fitzpatrick won the RBC Heritage in April, his game has fallen off sharply. Most notably, he has struggled off the tee, so much so that his caddie Billy Foster asked him in June, “How the hell have you finished top 20 in the U.S. Open driving the ball like me?”

“That’s what it feels like,” Fitzpatrick said this week. “Feels like I’ve been hitting driver like Billy.”

But last Saturday, he and swing coach Mike Walker found something simple on the range – he was overswinging so Fitzpatrick shortened his swing and it has been more in sync ever since. Problem solved.

“Why didn’t you tell me this three months ago?” Fitzpatrick cracked to Walker.

The Englishman was desperate for a strong week. Fitzpatrick is projected to improve all the way to fifth should he go on to win the BMW on Sunday.

“I like it when it’s windy and tough and it’s obviously getting firmer out there, as well,” Fitzpatrick said. “I just think tomorrow is supposed to be really, really hot. Obviously sort of playing very late, as well, again. So yeah, it’ll be very firm.”

[pickup_prop id=”34458″]

Gambling spectators yell at Max Homa, Chris Kirk during play at BMW Championship

“I got to the back of my back stroke, and he yelled, ‘pull it’ pretty loud,” Homa said.

[anyclip pubname=”2122″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8224″]

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Max Homa can do without fans shouting while he’s trying to make a critical birdie putt.

But on the 17th hole during the third round of the BMW Championship on Saturday, he heard a spectator who had a $3 bet with his buddy deliberately yell, “Pull it,” and it set Homa off.

Homa holed the short birdie putt nonetheless and posted a 1-over-par 71 at Olympia Fields, nine strokes more than his course-record 62 a day earlier. Homa chalked it up to a fan who overindulged in drinking during the day.

“Or else he’s just the biggest loser there is, but he was cheering and yelling at Chris (Kirk) for missing his putt short, and he kept yelling that he had – one of them had $3 for me to make mine, and I got to the back of my back stroke, and he yelled, ‘pull it’ pretty loud[ly], and I made it right in the middle, and then I just started yelling at him, and then (caddie) Joe (Greiner) yelled at him.”

Asked to recall what he yelled back at the fan, he said, “That he’s a clown, with maybe another word. I don’t know what Joe yelled. He was a lot meaner, I think. It just was — I don’t know. Long day, I guess. Hope he has a nice night, but it just sucks when that happens, but I was happy I made it. It was rude what he did to Chris. Whatever.”

Homa said he has no problem with fans gambling on golf but he is concerned that fans could attempt to impact the result in a negative fashion.

“That is the one thing I’m worried about,” Homa said. “I don’t know what he had to lose. He got kicked out probably, and we were the last group.”

Homa noted that his heckler at 17 was the exception and not the rule.

“It’s just always something that’s on your mind. It’s on us to stay focused or whatever, but it’s just annoying when it happens,” Homa said. “It’s like the one thing we have in this game, fans are so great about being quiet when we play. I think they are awesome. When anybody ever talks, it’s so unintentional. They don’t know we’re hitting. It just sucks when it’s incredibly intentional, and his friend specifically said it was for $3, so that was — not that the money matters, but that’s a frustrating number.”

Homa, who was the 36-hole leader, will enter the final round in fourth place. He’s battling for a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup and positioning in next week’s Tour Championship, the one event that has a staggered start. In short, every shot matters in crunch time, not to mention that the purse at the BMW is a whopping $20 million.

“It doesn’t matter what we’re playing for,” Homa said. “We’re working so hard, and I grinded my tail off to get that thing back to near even par, and had I missed that I would have just been a pain, but it was nice to make it right in the middle and hopefully he had to pay his buddy that $3 immediately on the way out of the property.”

Sam Burns lights up BMW Championship with course record-tying 62

“I didn’t want to tie him, I wanted to beat him,” Burns said. “But I’ll take it.”

[anyclip pubname=”2122″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8224″]

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Max Homa has company as the course record holder at Olympia Fields Country Club.

Sam Burns matched Homa’s 62 of a day earlier, making four birdies on each side en route to a bogey-free round.

“I didn’t want to tie him, I wanted to beat him,” Burns said. “But I’ll take it.”

Burns had only made six birdies through his first 36 holes of the BMW Championship and shot 71-70 to trail by 11 and teed off early on Moving Day. At the midway point, he was projected to be one of two players to be bounced out of the top 30 and go from Atlanta bound to booking a one-way ticket home on Sunday. Before the round, he told caddie Travis Perkins and his team, “I just want to come out here and play a confident round of golf, whether that’s 72 or whatever it was today. I just want to go out there and play with confidence, play free, and see what happens.”

That strategy worked like a charm on Saturday as Burns made birdie on the first hole, went back-to-back at Nos. 4 and 5 and peeled off four more in a five-hole stretch starting at the ninth. His favorite of the bunch? Holing a sand shot at the par-3 13th from the front-right greenside bunker.

“It was pretty easy,” he said. “It was on the up slope. Had enough green, a little back into the wind. Just had to clip it, and I did.”

Burns’s rise up the leaderboard has him projected to be No. 18 in the FedEx Cup and on his way to the Tour Championship next week in Atlanta. But Burns said he isn’t too concerned about that.

“If I make it, great. If I don’t, I get to go home and be home an extra week,” he said. “Whatever happens, I know the Lord has already planned it out, and I can be good with whatever happens.”

But making the U.S. Ryder Cup team is another story.

“I want nothing more,” he said.

Chicago dog, skyline and Olympia Fields clock give local feel in BMW Championship merchandise shop

Check out some of the best BWM Championship merchandise here.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – The BMW Championship merchandise shop is just steps away from the media center this week, so, I can report with full confidence that it is a popular spot this week and I’m told they’re expecting the shelves to be empty by the time a champion is crowned on Sunday.

It’s easily one of the best mixes of gear – with big-name brands such as Peter Millar, Foot Joy, Adidas and Under Armour represented as well as some smaller labels and specialty favorites such as Ahead and Imperial Sportswear (hats), Nexbelt (belts), Goodr (sunglasses), Stance (socks) and Foray (women’s apparel).

There are some fun alternative logos such as the Chicago Dog with a golf ball and Olympia Fields Country Club’s iconic clock. There is a good mix of local Chicago flare and BMW tournament staples. The FedEx Cup Playoffs deserve to be treated like a big deal and the BMW merchandise delivers.

[pickup_prop id=”34465″]

Check out the photo gallery of gear here.

Max Homa’s course record, FitzMagic needed for Atlanta and more from BMW Championship

Catch up on Friday’s action here.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – At the 2020 BMW Championship, Max Homa failed to make 10 birdies at Olympia Fields for the week and said of the course, “it kicked my butt.”

On Friday, Homa kicked butt. In the second round alone, he carded 10 birdies, a career high on Tour, en route to a course-record 8-under 62.

“I knew I was making a lot,” Homa said. “I heard the standard bearer say something about how he’s getting tired because he had to change the numbers on our (scoreboard) so much because Pat (Cantlay) was making a lot, too. It was just a crazy day.”

Crazy good. His 36-hole total of 10-under 130 was good enough for a two-stroke lead over Chris Kirk. His sizzling 62 on a sunny day when the temperature barely reached 80 degrees, was two strokes better than Jon Rahm’s 64 at the 2020 BMW and one better than Vijay Singh (2003 U.S. Open), Rickie Fowler (2007 Fighting Illini Invitational) and Thomas Detry at the same event eight years later. Homa said he was aware of the course record because he noticed an electronic scoreboard that noted that Kirk was challenging the mark. He settled for 66, but the messaging put the seed in Homa’s head.

“Then I had to think about it,” he said.

Homa hit 16 of 18 greens and made 135 feet of putts – his 4.32 Strokes Gained: Putting led the field and was a season best. But it was actually his driving that he singled out as the secret for his successful day.

“I felt like I was able to attack kind of all day. Obviously the greens are still really soft, so being in the fairway as often as I was, it felt like I was able to be aggressive when I wanted to, and if I didn’t, I could just play to the middle of the green,” he said. “I think that out here when you’re in the fairway, it becomes significantly easier, more so than other golf courses.”

Homa’s also thinking about securing a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team as well as making a good impression on U.S. captain Zach Johnson in case he needs a pick – the top six in the standings automatically qualify and Homa enters the week ranked sixth.

“I told Zach last year I was kissing up to him, but then he also said, ‘Well, I’d like to not have to pick you,’ and I said. ‘All right, there’s my promise, I’ll try to get an automatic.’ That would be really cool. That’s been kind of my goal since these Playoffs started, to get into that top six.”

Hideki Matsuyama withdraws from BMW Championship, will miss Tour Championship

Matsuyama’s streak of nine straight Tour Championships will come to an end.

[anyclip pubname=”2122″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8224″]

Hideki Matsuyama opened the 2023 BMW Championship with a 1-over 71 Thursday at Olympia Fields’ North Course outside of Chicago.

However, due to a back injury, Matsuyama withdrew before the second round of the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The Japanese star has suffered through several injuries over the last few seasons and this just adds to the list.

Currently ranked 47th in the point standings, Matsuyama will miss the Tour Championship at East Lake next week, as only the top 30 earn an invitation.

He’s made the last nine Tour Championships, the longest active streak of any player.

In 24 events this season, Matsuyama recorded just two top-10 finishes with his best week coming in March when he grabbed solo fifth at the Players.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1375]

Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman, Grandma Susie highlight first round at 2023 BMW Championship

Here’s what you missed from the first round at Olympia Fields.

Storms blew through the Windy City on Thursday and delayed the first round of the 2023 BMW Championship for two hours.

When the clouds vanished and the sun came out, so did the PGA Tour’s best as nearly half the field was under par at Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course in near Chicago.

The second of two FedEx Cup Playoffs events, the BMW saw a handful of players on the bubble make an early move up the standings and featured the usual suspects in the mix at the top of the leaderboard. From a Lucas Glover heat check to 103-year-old Grandma Susie, here’s what we learned from the opening round of the 2023 BMW Championship.

Check the yardage book: Olympia Fields North, host of 2023 BMW Championship

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine we can see the challenges the players face this week.

Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course near Chicago – site of the PGA Tour’s 2023 BMW Championship – opened in 1923 with a design by Scotsman Willie Park Jr.

The BMW Championship is the second of three events in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The North Course ranks No. 67 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S. It also ranks No. 6 in Illinois on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in each state.

The layout will play to 7,366 yards with a par of 70 for the BMW Championship.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face this week.