Tournament Week at the BMW Championship

The FedEx Cup’s BMW Championship rolls into town this week on four imported tires stopping at famed Medinah Country Club with slight tweaks to the usual FedEx Cup series format. Former Indianapolis Colts head coach, Jim Mora, once said “playoffs?” and now PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan says “payoffs!”.

For the 2019 FedEx Cup series there is a healthy increase of $5 million more for the winner of the FedEx Cup and a total season-long bonus pool increase from $35 million to $60 million divvied up for all participants. Previously there were four tournaments comprising the season ending FedEx Cup, but starting this year there are only three playoff tournaments: The Northern Trust (Jersey City), BMW Championship (Chicago), and Tour Championship (Atlanta).

With the new format for the ‘handicapped’ starting score for next week’s Tour Championship, look for a higher performance level from the golfers this week at Medinah. Even outperforming the awesome 2019 BMW M5 Competition, which produces 617 horsepower with its 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 engine?

Thus, there is a new and slightly different ‘numbers game’ at this week’s BMW Championship and the entire FedEx Cup playoffs. Here is a closer look at the digits and integers that are of interest to fans and players this week at Medinah Country Club.

1: The BMW Championship is the ‘number one’ golf event in Chicago this year, featuring the top stars from around the world; it is the first time that this tournament is being held at Medinah Country Club.

2: The BMW Championship is number two of three in the 2019 FedEx Cup playoff tournament schedule. Quite possibly the most scenic and challenging hole at Medinah’s big course is hole number two. For the fans (patrons?), hanging out behind the second green provides a spectacular view of Lake Kadijah, and after the final group finishes with this hole, fans (patrons?) will have just a moderate walk over to Medinah’s finishing hole.

3: The BMW Championship is being played on Course #3 at Medinah CC, which has multiple 18-hole regulation courses. The number 3 course is the longest and most difficult at Medinah Country Club.

4: There are four rounds to this week’s BMW Championship with no cut after 36 holes. The cut comes after the completion of the fourth round reducing the field from 70 players to 30 players.

If fans are looking to follow a particular player, they can follow him on any or all four days.

7: Gates open at 7:00am on Saturday and Sunday (6:30am on Wednesday Pro-AM).

8: Gates open at 8:00am on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

10: There are more than ten luxury and sport model BMW vehicles on display for viewing and inspection at Medinah this week.

13-18: The August dates of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club.

70: The number of golfers in the field for the BMW Championship. The FedEx Cup playoff series started with a field of the top 125 PGA Tour players from the 2018-2019 wrap around season. The competition from last week’s Northern Trust tournament trimmed the field to 70 for the BMW Championship at Medinah. Only the top 30 scores from this week’s tournament will advance to the final tournament next week in Atlanta.

72: Par on the Medinah #3 course.

78.3: Course rating from the gold tees on the Medinah #3 course.

152: Slope rating from the gold tees on the Medinah #3 course.

985: All proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, which awards full tuition and housing college scholarships to deserving caddies from modest means. The current number of student-caddies with tuition assistance provided by the Evans Scholars Foundation is 985; they are enrolled in eighteen universities nationwide.

2,000: “The BMW Championship could not happen without the dedication and enthusiasm of our volunteers,” said Vince Pellegrino, WGA Senior Vice President of Tournaments. “Volunteers are essential to our success and our charitable mission to support the Evans Scholars Foundation …”. Just over 2,000 generous volunteers will donate their time by working at least three shifts of 4-6 hours during tournament week at Medinah. There are 22 volunteer committees handling various duties.

7,657: Nominal yardage from the gold tees on the Medinah #3 course.

1,665,000: The number of dollars in the winner’s portion of the BMW Championship.

9,250,000: The total purse in dollars for the field in the 2019 BMW Championship.

0: Zero is the admission charge to honor the men and women who serve our country in the armed forces; the BMW Championship is pleased to offer Active Duty, Retirees, Active Reserve, and Veterans of any branch of service a complimentary ticket on each day of the BMW Championship, Tuesday through Sunday. To receive complimentary access please present your state issued ID (with veteran designation) at the Admissions Office just outside of the main entrance upon arrival at the tournament. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Identification Cards, or a copy of your DD Form 214 will also be accepted when accompanied with a standard state issued ID. Active duty service members can present their active duty ID card, which states their branch of service, at the Admissions Office outside of the main entrance. These complimentary tickets will be distributed directly to the service members on each date that they are in attendance.

Lastly, given that one picture is worth a thousand words, there is a large photo gallery presented below providing a visual summary of the grounds, infrastructure, and golfers making the BMW Championship Chicago’s number one golfing event of 2019.