BMW Preview: Is par still a thing?

Writing from Owings Mills, Md.

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Four years ago, when Patrick Cantlay and his pals tooled around Caves Valley Golf Club in about a half-million under par, there was much clucking among the tony membership of this posh suburban Baltimore club about the red numbers painted on the scorecard.

Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau finished at 27-under par, totaling 261 on the par-72 Tom Fazio layout, after which Cantlay won on the sixth hole of sudden death, in which five more birdies were scored. The biggest blow against par was a 12-under 60 by DeChambeau in the second round.

After the club’s moneyed men and dowagers were revived, the decision was made to toughen the layout. Greens were rebuilt, bunkers were shifted and, at least for this week, when the BMW Championship – the 122nd edition of what commenced as the Western Open, with roots planted in 1899 –  finds itself on the layout once again, par reduced to 70 on the 7,601-yard trail, and $20 million in boodle ($3.6 million to the winner) on offer.

And 261, now 21-under, could well be posted again by Sunday evening.

There is no stopping excellent golfers these days. Rory McIlroy, whose 22-under 266 earned him fourth place in 2021, said Wednesday, “It should be more of a test,” citing several of the above changes. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler called it “significantly harder, so should be a good challenge for us this week.”

But, the 18th hole is still driver-wedge if you carry the last bunker, and driver-7 iron if you choose not to, McIlroy said. A 7-iron is a precision instrument to anyone in the 49-man field.

Defending champion and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley sees the 18th as formidable.

“It’s very long, there’s water on the right, it’s uphill and you have to hit two perfect shots to hit the green,” Bradley said.

Cantlay is eager to repeat on a course he tore apart like a kid unwrapping Christmas presents.

“It's much different and it's in very good shape,” Cantlay said. “(The 18th), it's a hole where you have to put the ball in the fairway. I think they made the fairway a little narrower from the last time we were here. It's long and straight uphill. If you hit two good shots, you can have a birdie look. Anything other than that, you're probably scrambling for a par.”

Caves Valley will probably show well this week, but even 15-under 265 would have been 23 under last time. And this course, egos of the members who have to play it the rest of the year aside, isn’t the first course to toughen itself, perhaps unnecessarily.

Another example is Medinah Country Club. After Justin Thomas brought the house down with a third-round 61 on No. 3 in the 2019 BMW, members knew the bulldozers would be coming. The result of that low score was a $30 million renovation that features six new finishing holes.

A tough test compared to “The Monster,” as members called No. 3 a generation ago? Not to member and North Carolina team member Grant Roscich, whose 61 on the new layout – from the member tees, but still – showed how far $30 million goes these days.

“Lucky we’re playing match play,” co-redesigner Geoff Ogilvy reportedly said.

Caves Valley doesn’t have that to hide behind this week.

Run-up to the Ryder Cup

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Bradley’s biggest question remains what many observers seem is a foregone conclusion. As the 10th-ranked player in the Ryder Cup point standings, shouldn’t he pick himself for the team?

“I’ve said all along that you can’t expect to be on the team unless you’re in the top six,” Bradley said Wednesday. “I’m 10th right now, not sixth.”

It’s a 12-man team, so Bradley has six selections and logically should pick himself. He won at Hartford this summer, is the defender this week via his victory last year at Castle Pines, has a victory in each of the last four years, is ranked 12th in the world, and stands eighth among American players in the world rankings. And he has the bulldog mentality perfect for match play. What’s not to like?

“My goal is, whether I’m Ryder Cup captain or not this week, play well and play well next week at the Tour Championship,” Bradley said.

He may just be coy, but someone else would pick him. Even a McIlroy.

“I definitely think he's one of the best 12 American players right now,” McIlroy said. “That’s why everyone is so interested and it's such a compelling case, and it's going to be – I'm just as interested as everyone else to see how it all plays out.”

The point of the playoffs is?

The PGA Tour’s postseason consists of three tournaments, but participation is not mandatory. Thus, three-time FedEx Cup winner McIlroy, with a heavy autumn schedule, skipped last week’s first leg in Memphis, but arrives at Caves Valley sitting second in the standings.

That’s because, as has been the case since when the playoffs began in 2007, regular-season play is factored into the standings. One year, Vijay Singh didn’t play the final week, the Tour Championship, and still won the playoffs. All the tweaks since then have eliminated that possibility, but McIlroy’s conspicuous absence last week shows work is left to be done.

Asked if he feels the playoffs really determine a season-long champion, McIlroy said, “Who knows at this point?”

The Northern Ireland native noted that in most European sports, the full-season determines the champion, and that sometimes, as in Liverpool’s case in the Premier League last season, the champion can be determined weeks in advance.

That can’t happen with the PGA Tour now.

Justin Rose, who captured the FedEx Cup in 2018 without winning a playoff tournament, was pleased by the elimination of the “starting strokes” concept, which gave the top players under-par scores before the first ball was struck in anger. The thumb on the scoring scale made the tournament look like a scramble.

“It’s nice to have 72 holes mean something again,” Rose said. “Before you could shoot the lowest score and get the most world ranking points and not win the tournament. This is a really clean way to finish the season.

“I don’t know if you’d call it the ‘season-long race to the FedEx Cup, but it is the most elite tournament and the one to get into.”

McIlroy concurred.

“I see it more as a one-off rather than a culmination of a season,” McIlroy said.

Besides, the season has a bonus prize system of its own. Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1, copped $8 million a fortnight ago for leading the regular-season standings. And, shades of Singh back in the day, he didn’t even have to play in the Wyndham, the last regular-season tournament.

Around Caves Valley

The Evans Scholars Foundation should benefit to the tune of about $8 million this week, which will help both the caddie program in general and in paying off the new Evans House at the University of Maryland, dedicated a few days ago. Last year’s tournament at Castle Pines near Denver brought in $10.2 million, the 2023 edition at Olympia Fields $5.5 million.  … Even big-time golfers waste money. McIlroy said he bought a “horrific” watch with his first paycheck, spending $20,000. “It had diamonds around it. The worst purchase ever,” he laughed. He wouldn’t divulge the manufacturer, but he said it wasn’t his current sponsor, which is Omega. … Online coverage starts on ESPN+ at 8:15 a.m. CT, in time to watch J.T. Poston play as a single, and expands to four feeds by 9:15 a.m. Golf Channel’s four-hour telecast begins at 1 p.m., when the final twosome of Tom Hoge and Bud Cauley tee off.

– Tim Cronin