PGA power rankings: The 2019 BMW championship
The FedEx Cup Playoffs continue, and we are down to 70 golfers! Welcome to FanSided Fantasy’s PGA Power Rankings for this week’s BMW Championship, taking place at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois.
This PGA Power Rankings article will cover the top 20 golfers for this week’s event, and with each golfer will come a short blurb with some justification to their respective rankings. Before we do that, let’s talk about last week, and touch briefly on the history of this event.
PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 BMW Championship – Course and History
And then there were 70. Two weeks left to go in the 2019 season as the PGA FedEx Cup continues this week at Medinah CC, just northwest of Chicago, Illinois. There was not much movement in the overall standings after the conclusion of the Northern Trust, as just four players who were outside the top 70 last week were able to move into the top 70 for this week.
Joaquin Niemann, Wyndham Clark, and Troy Merritt were among the four who gained eligibility to play another week, and Kevin Streelman, Sergio Garcia, Matthew Wolff, and Danny Lee saw their seasons come to an end.
Patrick Reed was able to hold on to a Saturday lead to capture a win at last week’s Northern Trust, holding off Abraham Ancer by one stroke.
The 2000 FedEx Cup points sent Reed surging up the standings, as he is now in 2nd place behind Brooks Koepka. Ancer helped himself tremendously as well, moving into 8th place from 105th, and securing his spot in the finals at East Lake Golf Club in two weeks.
Moving on to this week, the BMW Championship was established in 2007 and has been the staple FedEx Cup second-to-last event of the season since it’s inception. 2019 will be the first time Medinah Country Club will host the event, and the first championship golf action this course has seen since the 2012 Ryder Cup.
I am sure some of you will remember the “Miracle at Medinah” in which the European team orchestrated an insurmountable comeback.
The U.S. squad led 10-6 heading into the final day, and the European team was able to finish the comeback and win 14.5 to 13.5. The course will play long overall at around 7,600 yards and is a par 72, but it does have two relatively short, score-able par-fives, and a drive-able par four at around 330 yards.
The BMW Championship was held at Cog Hill Golf Club in Lemont, Illinois for four of its first five years before it became a fully rotating event. Since then, it has been held at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill. three times, with the last time coming in 2017.
While primarily a Midwest event, the BMW Championship went further east last year to Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, PA., where Keegan Bradley defeated Justin Rose in a playoff to capture the victory.
There is no cut this week, as all 70 players will battle evenly for four days for a shot to move into or stay inside the top 30.
FedEx Cup points are once again quadrupled, so a top ten finish for someone right at that 50-60 mark might be enough to get them into the coveted final week, with a chance to play at the prestigious TOUR Championship. Without further ado, let’s see what the top-20 PGA Power Rankings look like this week.