The 2027 BMW Championship will be played at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J., it was announced Tuesday ahead of this week’s tournament at Olympia Fields Country Club.

It will be the tournament’s first visit to the New York metro area.

“We’re proud that Liberty can be a part of these types of events, and we’re also equally proud that we can support youth golf as a part of these events, too,” Liberty National co-founder Dan Fireman said at a news conference for the August 2027 event. “We don’t just pick these events for the sake of picking them. We’re very careful about it.”

Famous for its view of the New York City skyline across the river, the Liberty National hosted previous FedEx Cup playoff events in 2009, 2013, 2019 and 2021.

More recently, the course was added to the LPGA schedule, hosting the inaugural Mizuho Americas Open in June, where 20-year-old Rose Zhang won in her professional debut.

The BMW, now the penultimate leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, has moved around since it took the place of the Western Open on the PGA Tour schedule. Often played in the Chicago area at Olympia Fields or Medinah Country Club, it was held at Caves Valley near Baltimore in 2021 and Wilmington Country Club in Delaware last year.

Future sites include Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado (2024), a return to Caves Valley (2025) and Bellerive Country Club outside St. Louis (2026).

The FedEx St. Jude Championship and the season-ending Tour Championship will remain at their respective venues in Memphis, Tenn., and Atlanta through at least next year.

–Field Level Media

The PGA Tour has brought the BMW Championship back to Olympia Fields Country Club in the Chicago suburbs this week for the first time since Jon Rahm made one of the most memorable putts of his career.

The only thing missing was a roaring crowd of fans.

Rahm beat Dustin Johnson in a playoff at the 2020 BMW Championship by making an incredible, curling birdie putt from 66 1/2 feet away at Olympia Fields’ 18th hole.

Rahm’s reaction to the putt — disbelief as it tracked toward the cup on an 90-degree angle, then shouts of excitement and two vigorous fist pumps — was backed by only a handful of spectators allowed on the course, as full crowds were not back that early amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Spanish star had a typically thoughtful response Tuesday when asked where that moment ranked in his career.

“At that moment, I think if there were crowds and I made that putt, it probably would be a unanimous No. 1,” Rahm said. “But because there was nobody there and there was really no reaction besides mine, it’s not that it’s anticlimactic, but it’s a little bit — it’s a bit lackluster because of what you’re used to seeing when you make a good putt like at a moment like the U.S. Open.

“It wouldn’t be No. 1, but it’s definitely top three.”

It’s understandable, as Rahm has gone on to even greater successes since that putt earned him a $1.71 million paycheck. He won the 2021 U.S. Open and the 2023 Masters and held the title of No. 1 golfer in the world for 52 total weeks.

One thing Rahm has yet to do is earn a FedEx Cup, but he enters this week’s BMW Championship first in points with a slight margin over Scottie Scheffler. He’s in control of his own destiny to enter next week’s Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club in the No. 1 spot, which comes with a two-stroke advantage to start the tournament.

“(The) point of coming to the playoffs is to give yourself the best chance to get to East Lake in the No. 1 spot. I’ve done a pretty good job so far,” Rahm said. “Hopefully, this week I can have a good performance like I did last time and earn it and clinch it and give myself the best shot for the win. It’s been a great year so far, so hopefully I can end it off the way I started it.”

There’s another honor Rahm could pick up for the first time in 2023: PGA Tour Player of the Year.

“Player of the Year is earned on the golf course. That’s what I focus on,” Rahm said. “Because of what I’ve done this year, I’ve earned the spot to be considered Player of the Year, but we’ve got to finish it off. I would like to play good this week and next week to leave no, let’s say, questionables in there and just clinch it.”

Because of recent rains, Rahm feels the course will play different than in 2020, when 4-under 276 was enough to put him in a playoff with Johnson.

“I think, was I 6-over par through two rounds?” Rahm said of 2020. “Honestly, it was a very small tweak on the setup of my swing that allowed me to play the way I did on the weekend. Nothing else.”

–Field Level Media

Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.

PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: FedEx St. Jude Championship (Lucas Glover)
THIS WEEK: BMW Championship, Olympia Fields, Ill., Aug. 17-20
Course: Olympia Fields Country Club (Par 70, 7,366 yards)
Purse: $20M (Winner: $3.6M)
Defending Champion: Patrick Cantlay
FedEx Cup leader: Jon Rahm

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 12-2 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Sunday, 9:15 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: @BMWchamps

NOTES: The top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings after last week’s playoff opener qualified for the BMW. At the conclusion of the tournament, the top 30 players in points will make it to the season-ending Tour Championship. … Glover’s second win in as many weeks catapulted him to fourth in the standings, behind only Rahm, Scheffler and McIlroy. Cantlay, who fell to the 43-year-old Glover in a playoff, moved up to fifth. … Cantlay is the two-time defending champion of the BMW, albeit at two different courses: Caves Valley in 2021 and Wilmington Country Club in 2022. … The BMW returns to Olympia Fields for the first time since 2020, when Rahm drained a 65-foot putt to beat Dustin Johnson in a playoff. Johnson had made a 45-footer to force the playoff. … Sam Burns enters the week in the No. 30 spot, while Sahith Theegala is first man out at No. 31. Notable names around the bubble include Tyrrell Hatton (No. 26), Jordan Spieth (No. 27), Sungjae Im (No. 28) and Justin Rose (No. 32). Matt Fitzpatrick (No. 40) and Hideki Matsuyama (No. 47) will need strong finishes to jump into the top 30.

BEST BETS: McIlroy (+700 at BetMGM) used a final-round 65 last week to finish tied for third, one off the pace of Glover and Cantlay. That extended his streak of eight top-10 finishes, starting way back at the PGA Championship. … Scheffler (+700) is the co-favorite with McIlroy despite the end of his own streak of dominance. He had finished in the top 12 of 18 straight official events, and seven straight in the top five, before tying for 23rd at The Open Championship and tying for 31st last week. … Rahm (+1000) not only won the last time the tour came to Olympia Fields, he had a bogey-free, 6-under 64 in the final round. He tied for 37th last week but has a win and two second-place finishes since April. … Cantlay (+1000) will be a popular pick to three-peat after his narrow miss at the St. Jude. Three of his past four wins on tour have come at playoff events. … Viktor Hovland (+1600) hasn’t cracked the top 10 of an event since winning the Memorial Tournament in June, but he tied for 13th last week after finishing with rounds of 64, 65 and 69. … Tommy Fleetwood (+2200) may have never won on North American soil, but starting with his sudden-death playoff loss at the Canadian Open, he has five top-10s and four top-six finishes in six starts, including T3 last week. … Tony Finau (+4000) may be coming off a 64th-place finish at the St. Jude, but the last time the BMW was played at Olympia Fields he placed fifth. He’s won a playoff event once before, the 2021 Northern Trust.
NEXT WEEK: Tour Championship, Atlanta, Aug. 24-27

LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: AIG Women’s Open (Lilia Vu)
THIS WEEK: ISPS Handa World Invitational, Antrim, Northern Ireland, Aug. 17-20
Course: Galgorm Castle Golf Club (Par 72, 6,402 yards) and Castlerock Golf Club (Par 73, 6,546 yards)
Purse: $1.5M (Winner: $225,000)
Defending Champion: Maja Stark
Race to the CME Globe leader: Celine Boutier
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 7:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (GC); Sunday, 6 a.m.-11:30 a.m. (GC)
Streaming (Peacock): Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. ET; Saturday, 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.; Sunday (6-11:30 a.m.)
Twitter: @World_Inv_Golf
NOTES: This event, now in its third year, is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and Ladies European Tour, with 144 men and 144 women playing in concurrent competitions for equal prize money. … The women will play each course once over the first two days before the rest of the tournament is played at Galgorm Castle. There are two cuts — after the second and third rounds — leaving just the top 35 players plus ties to play the final 18 holes on Sunday. … Stark shot a 10-under 63 in her final round to win last year. … Irishwoman Leona Maguire, No. 14 in the Rolex Rankings, is the highest-ranked player in the field. … Among those taking the week off is Lilia Vu. The new World No. 1 won the AIG Women’s Open to become the first American woman since Juli Inkster (1999) to win two majors in a calendar year.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: CPKC Women’s Open, Vancouver, Aug. 24-27

PGA Tour Champions
LAST TOURNAMENT: Boeing Classic (Stephen Ames)
THIS WEEK: Shaw Charity Classic, Calgary, Alberta, Aug. 18-20
Course: Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club (Par 70, 7,086 yards)
Purse: $2.4M (Winner: $360,00)
Defending Champion: Jerry Kelly
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steve Stricker
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV/Streaming: Friday, 4-6 p.m. ET (Peacock), 9-11 p.m. (Golf Channel — Tape delay); Saturday-Sunday, 4-7 p.m. (GC)
Twitter: @ShawClassic
NOTES: Ames is the top Canadian in the field of Canada’s only Champions Tour stop. He is coming off his fourth win of 2023 last week and has moved to third in the Schwab Cup race. … Kelly defeated John Huston in a playoff to win last year. … Stricker is taking another week off. With five victories this year, Stricker has won $3,593,060 — more than double Bernhard Langer, who is second on the Schwab Cup money list. … After this week, six tournaments remain before the Schwab Cup playoffs begin.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The Ally Challenge, Grand Blanc, Mich., Aug. 25-27

LIV Golf League
LAST TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf Bedminster (Individual: Cameron Smith; Team: Ripper GC)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Season Leaders: Individual, Smith; Team, 4Aces GC
NEXT TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf Chicago, Rich Harvest Farms, Ill., Sept. 22-24

–Field Level Media

Lucas Glover and Rory McIlroy are paired in the first round of the penultimate event of the FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship, this week at the North Course of Olympia Fields Country Club outside of Chicago.

The scramble for positioning at East Lake Country Club, site of the PGA Tour Championship, began last week with Glover claiming the victory for the second consecutive week, one shot better than McIlroy.

Patrick Cantlay, edged out by Glover at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in a playoff last Sunday in Memphis, Tenn., will tee off one group ahead of McIlroy and Glover with Max Homa, who are scheduled to take the opening tee box at 10:54 a.m. ET on Thursday. Cantlay is the defending champion of the BMW Championship and currently stands fifth in the Cup standings with Homa at No. 6.

Only the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings are still alive for the tour title.

Glover, 43, was No. 112 in the playoff standings before wins at the Wyndham Championship and St. Jude Championship lifted him all the way to No. 4. McIlroy is third. They tee off at 11:10 a.m. EDT, followed by Open Championship winner Brian Harman and Tommy Fleetwood.

No. 1 Jon Rahm and No. 2 Scottie Scheffler tee off together at 1:38 p.m. ET, a group ahead of Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley (1:49 p.m. ET).

The winner of the no-cut event takes home $3.6 million of an elevated $20 million purse and 2,000 FedExCup points.

The top 30 in the FedExCup standings at the end of the final round Sunday advance to the Tour Championship.

–Field Level Media