The second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs begins Thursday with the first round of the BMW Championship, which returns to Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md., for the first time since 2021.

Only the top 30 in the standings after Sunday’s final round will advance to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, making the stage for plenty of drama to unfold. Our golf team previews the event and provides their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.

BMW CHAMPIONSHIP
Location: Owings Mills, Md., Aug. 14-17
Course: Caves Valley Golf Club (Par 70, 7,601 Yards)
Purse: $20M (Winner: $3.6M)
Defending Champion: Keegan Bradley
FedEx Cup leader: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel, NBC Sports app); Saturday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel, NBC Sports app), 3-6 p.m. (NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports app); Sunday: Noon-2 p.m. (Golf Channel, NBC Sports app), 2-6 p.m. (NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports app)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 9:15 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @BMWCHAMPS

TOP 30 BUBBLE: Sungjae Im (No. 25), Chris Gotterup (No. 26), Jacob Bridgeman (No. 27), Viktor Hovland (No. 28), Akshay Bhatia (No. 29), Lucas Glover (No. 30), Sam Stevens (No. 31), Ryan Gerard (No. 32), Daniel Berger (No. 33), Ryan Fox (No. 34), Taylor Pendrith (No. 35)

PROP PICKS
–Harris English to Beat Akshay Bhatia (-125 at DraftKings): English has three top-4 finishes in his past eight starts while rising to No. 8 in the world rankings. Bhatia did grab the first-round lead with a 62 last week, but the 69 he struggled to on Sunday is indicative of his inconsistency throughout tournaments.

–Justin Rose Top 20 Finish (+100 at BetRivers): After missing a pair of cuts, Rose has gone solo sixth, T16 and last week’s win over his past three starts. And remember, he only has to beat 29 other players in the 49-player field for this prop to pay out.

–Winning Score Under 264.5 (-140): Caves Creek has undergone significant changes since 2021, including adding about 60 yards in total length. Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau both carded 261s here four years ago before waging an epic playoff. Our bet is multiple players finish under 265 this week.

2025 Prop Pick Record: 23-25

BEST BETS
–Scottie Scheffler (+225 at DraftKings) already is guaranteed to enter the Tour Championship as the FedExCup leader for the third consecutive year. He is the first player since Tom Weiskopf 52 years ago to finish in the top-eight in 12 consecutive tour starts. Scheffler’s odds have shortened from +280 as he leads the field with 20 percent of the total bets backing him to win.
–Rory McIlroy (+750) returns after skipping the first leg of the playoffs and makes his first start since a T7 at The Open Championship.
–Xander Schauffele (+1800) still is seeking his first victory of 2025 while also attempting to run his streak of reaching the Tour Championship to nine consecutive years.
–Tommy Fleetwood (+2000) again came agonizingly short of winning his first event on U.S. soil last weekend. He has five finishes of seventh or better in his past 10 starts.
–Patrick Cantlay (+2500) won at Caves Valley in 2021 but has not won since the BMW Championship the following year.
–Cameron Young (+2800) has a lot on the line this week as he builds his Ryder Cup case. He backed up a win at the Wyndham with a solo fifth last week, and Young leads the field with 15 percent of the total money backing him to win.

NOTES
–The top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings after this week will qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship. Every player in this week’s field has qualified for all signature events in 2026 along with the Players Championship. Those who qualify for the Tour Championship will earn a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.
–Sepp Straka, who is fifth in the standings, withdrew on Monday to attend to a family matter. His agent said that Straka does intend to compete at the Tour Championship.
–The BMW Championship is the oldest non-major on the PGA Tour schedule, dating back to 1899.
–Future host sites of the event include Bellerive Country Club (St. Louis) in 2026 and Liberty National Golf Club (Jersey City, N.J.) in 2027.
–Nine players will make their BMW Championship debuts this week: Bridgeman, Brian Campbell, Fox, Gerard, Gotterup, Ben Griffin, Harry Hall, Andrew Novak and Stevens.

–Field Level Media

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Golf fans will be engrossed by two separate points chases at this week’s BMW Championship: the top 30 in the FedEx Cup race and the top six of the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.

When the penultimate leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs tees off Thursday at Caves Valley Golf Club, the Scottie Schefflers of the world will feel secure where they sit but a host of other big names will have everything to play for.

The Tour Championship will no longer utilize a staggered “starting strokes” format, so the race for second or third in the standings is de-prioritized this week. The top 30 players after the BMW will advance to next week’s season finale, their points wiped clean so that the winner after 72 holes claims both the tournament and the season-long cup.

For three-time FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy, it meant skipping last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship had no material effect on his second-place standing, though it ruffled a few feathers on tour. McIlroy on Wednesday suggested that the PGA Tour will need to consider making each playoff leg mandatory or convert to a true playoff system where regular-season points don’t carry weight.

“I mean, if you want to try to make it straight playoffs and elimination, I think that would be a good way to go,” McIlroy said. “You’re trying to balance a lot of different things. You’re trying to balance the competitive integrity of what the playoffs are, but you’re also trying to keep the media rights partners happy, you’re trying to keep the sponsors happy.”

Sitting in 30th place entering the week is Lucas Glover, with players like Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup (26th) and Norway’s Viktor Hovland (28th) also on the bubble. Notable names hoping to leap from the 40s into the top 30 this week include England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (40th), Xander Schauffele (43rd), Australia’s Jason Day (44th) and Rickie Fowler (48th).

Also Sunday, the top six Americans in the Ryder Cup standings will automatically qualify for the team that will compete next month at Bethpage Black. Scheffler, J.J. Spaun and Schauffele are mathematically locked in, and Nos. 4-6 are currently Russell Henley, LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English.

A victory in Maryland would be enough to propel a number of contenders into that top six, such as No. 7 Justin Thomas, No. 8 Collin Morikawa, No. 9 Ben Griffin … or No. 10 Keegan Bradley, the U.S. captain.

If Bradley isn’t an automatic qualifier, he’ll have to consider using one of his six captain’s picks on himself, the subject of months of speculation.

“I’ve been saying all year, you can’t expect to be on the team unless you’re in the top six,” Bradley said. “My goal is to go out there, whether I was Ryder Cup captain or not this week, and play well and play well next week at the Tour Championship as well.

“I still have a lot to prove, just as well as everyone around me on the list.”

The best players on the PGA Tour will attack a Caves Valley venue that hosted this event in 2021 and yielded low numbers all week. At the time, Jordan Spieth said, “You have to really kind of screw up to make a bogey.”

Seven players finished the week 20 under or lower, and Patrick Cantlay had one of the best putting performances in recent tour history as he outlasted DeChambeau in a six-hole playoff. It was the apex of his career, as he received the nickname “Patty Ice” and won the FedEx Cup the next week.

“Yeah, I was surprised when I first heard (the nickname), and I kind of heard it on the weekend for the first time really that tournament,” Cantlay said. “I think it had to do with me making all those putts. Some of them I even surprised myself with how many putts I was making.”

With all this going on, it might be the rare week that the spotlight isn’t squarely on Scheffler. The World No. 1 is focused on working with substitute caddie Michael Cromie, who usually loops for Chris Kirk. Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, remains away to attend to a personal matter.

“I think there’s a lot of little stuff that caddies do that go kind of unnoticed throughout a round, and Michael is doing his best to try and figure those things out,” Scheffler said.

–Adam Zielonka, 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 (Justin Rose)
THIS WEEK: BMW Championship, Owings Mills, Md., Aug. 14-17
Course: Caves Valley Golf Club (Par 70, 7,601 Yards)
Purse: $20M (Winner: $3.6M)
Defending Champion: Keegan Bradley
FedEx Cup leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel, NBC Sports app); Saturday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel, NBC Sports app), 3-6 p.m. (NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports app); Sunday: Noon-2 p.m. (Golf Channel, NBC Sports app), 2-6 p.m. (NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports app)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 9:15 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @BMWCHAMPS
NOTES: The top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings after this week will qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship. Every player in this week’s field has qualified for all signature events in 2026 along with the Players Championship. Those who qualify for the Tour Championship will earn a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. … Sepp Straka, who is fifth in the standings, withdrew on Monday to attend to a family matter. His agent said that Straka does intend to compete at the Tour Championship. … The BMW Championship is the oldest non-major on the PGA Tour schedule, dating back to 1899. Caves Valley previously played host to it in 2021, with 22 players in this week’s field having competed four years ago. A renovation since then has seen the scorecard change from a par-72 to a par-70 while the course added nearly 60 yards. … Future host sites of the event include Bellerive Country Club (St. Louis) in 2026 and Liberty National Golf Club (Jersey City, N.J.) in 2027. … Nine players will make their BMW Championship debuts this week: Jacob Bridgeman, Brian Campbell, Ryan Fox, Ryan Gerard, Chris Gotterup, Ben Griffin, Harry Hall, Andrew Novak and Sam Stevens.
TOP 30 BUBBLE: Sungjae Im (No. 25), Gotterup (No. 26), Bridgeman (No. 27), Viktor Hovland (No. 28), Akshay Bhatia (No. 29), Lucas Glover (No. 30), Stevens (No. 31), Gerard (No. 32), Daniel Berger (No. 33), Fox (No. 34), Taylor Pendrith (No. 35)
BEST BETS: Scheffler (+280 at DraftKings) already is guaranteed to enter the Tour Championship as the FedExCup leader for the third consecutive year. He is the first player since Tom Weiskopf 52 years ago to finish in the top-eight in 12 consecutive tour starts. … Rory McIlroy (+750) returns after skipping the first leg of the playoffs and makes his first start since a T7 at The Open Championship. … Xander Schauffele (+1800) still is seeking his first victory of 2025 while also attempting to run his streak of reaching the Tour Championship to nine consecutive years. … Tommy Fleetwood (+2000) again came agonizingly short of winning his first event on U.S. soil last weekend. He has five finishes of seventh or better in his past 10 starts. … Patrick Cantlay (+2500) won at Caves Valley in 2021 but has not won since the BMW Championship the following year. … Harris English (+5000) has three top-4 finishes in his past eight starts while rising to No. 8 in the world rankings.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Tour Championship, Atlanta, Aug. 21-24

LPGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: AIG Women’s Open (Miyu Yamashita)
THIS WEEK: Portland Classic, Aug. 14-17
Course: Columbia Edgewater Country Club (Par 72, 3,497 Yards)
Purse: $2M (Winner: $262,500)
Defending Champion: Moriya Jutanugarn
Race to the CME Globe leader: Jeeno Thitikul
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday: 6-9 p.m. (GC); Sunday: 4-7 p.m. (GC)
Streaming: Thursday-Friday: 1-2 p.m. (NBC Sports)
X: @PortlandClassic
NOTES: This is the 53rd edition of the longest running non-major on the LPGA Tour, dating back to 1972. … LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame member Juli Inkster will make her first start on tour in three years and her 17th in Portland. She won the Portland Classic in 1999. … The field is led by No. 7-ranked Angel Yin, who finished second here last year. … Brooke Henderson, who won in Portland in 2015 and 2016, is in search of just her second top-10 this season.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: CPKC Women’s Open, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

LIV GOLF LEAGUE
LAST TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf Chicago (Individual: Dean Burmester; Team: Stinger GC)
THIS WEEK: LIV Golf Indianapolis, Aug. 8-10
Course: The Club at Chatham Hills (Par 71, 7,143 Yards)
Purse: Individual $20M (Winner: $4M); Team: $5M (Winners: $3M)
Defending Champions: Individual: Inaugural Event
Season Leaders: Individual: Joaquin Niemann; Team: Crushers GC
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV/Streaming: Friday: 12:05 p.m. ET (FOX, LIV Golf Plus); Saturday: 11:05 a.m. ET (FOX, LIV Golf Plus); Sunday: 10:05 a.m. ET (FOX, LIV Golf Plus)
X: @livgolf_league
NOTES: This is the final of 13 events on the 2025 schedule, which will be followed by the Team Championship Aug. 22-24 in Michigan. … Niemann, who has a league-record five wins this season, holds a 12.27-point lead over Rahm and can secure the individual title by finishing first or second this week. According to LIV Golf, Niemann has a 58.7 percent chance of winning the title. Rahm has yet to win this season but has three runner-up finishes and has not finished lower than T11. … The field consists of 13 four-player teams competing in daily shotgun starts over 54 holes. Each team’s top three scores are counted for each round.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Team Championship, Saint John’s, Michigan, Aug. 22-24

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
LAST TOURNAMENT: Boeing Classic (Steve Allan)
THIS WEEK: Rogers Charity Classic, Calgary, Aug. 15-17
Course: Canyon Meadows G&CC (Par 70, 7,093 Yards)
Purse: $2.5M (Winner: $375,000)
Defending Champion: Ken Tanigawa
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Miguel Angel Jimenez
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Friday: 9-11 p.m. ET (Golf Channel-Tape Delay); Saturday-Sunday: 11 p.m.-1 a.m. (GC-TapeDelay)
X: @ChampionsTour
NOTES: Jimenez highlights the 78-player field along with two-time Charles Schwab Cup champion Steven Alker and Canadians Stephen Ames and Mike Weir. … The tournament scoring record of 191 was set by Rocco Mediate in 2013.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The Ally Challenge, Grand Blanc, Mich., Aug. 22-24

–Field Level Media

Scottie Scheffler’s famed singular focus is trained on one thing this week: the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.

Perhaps that’s why the world’s No. 1 golfer had his patience run thin after fielding a half dozen questions from reporters Wednesday about next month’s Ryder Cup competition.

“I love answering questions about the Ryder Cup, but this is ridiculous,” Scheffler said. “We’re at the BMW Championship. The Ryder Cup is over a month away. If you want to talk about this week, let’s talk about this week. If not, I’ve got practice to do. I’m getting ready for a golf tournament.”

Scheffler has already earned an automatic qualification for the U.S. Ryder Cup team competing against Team Europe at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y., from Sept. 26-28.

This week’s tournament is the final chance for PGA Tour players to earn Ryder Cup rankings points, with three automatic spots left to join Scheffler, J.J. Spaun and Xander Schauffele in the top six. Captain Keegan Bradley will also have six additional captain’s picks.

Wednesday’s press conference began with several questions about Scheffler’s caddie situation. Regular caddie Ted Scott left last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis — where Scheffler finished in a tie for third — due to a family emergency in Louisiana.

“Ted’s where he needs to be right now, and I think caddying is probably the last thing on his mind, as it should be,” Scheffler said. “I’ve been able to talk to him a few times. The family is in good spirits. Everybody seems to be doing well. I’m not going to comment any further on anything going on with his family.”

Tour chaplain Brad Payne filled in for Scott on an emergency basis Sunday. This week, Scheffler will have Michael Cromie on the bag. Cromie normally works with Chris Kirk, who was 51st in FedExCup points after St. Jude, with only the top 50 advancing to the BMW Championship.

“Ted’s good buddies with (Cromie). I always liked him. He’s a young guy, works hard,” Scheffler said. “Chris was very nice to let Cromie come work with me this week. He had a good finish to the season. He was a little bit on the outside looking in, but played really good and was close at the end.”

Questions then turned to the Ryder Cup, with Scheffler responding “ask the captain” when asked whether Bradley should also play for the U.S team while also assuming his captain responsibilities next month.

“I think if it’s something that Keegan wants to be part of the team and wants to play, I think he’s a guy we’d all love to have on the team,” Scheffler said. “The intensity that he’s brought as a captain — I mean, he has definitely exceeded my expectations as far as a captain. He’s done a great job.”

Asked for an example of how Bradley has gone above and beyond, Scheffler said Bradley has left notes in players’ lockers, sent a lot of text messages and asked for feedback about potential team members.

“I think we all have a little bit of back and forth, but ultimately Keegan is the one doing all the research,” he said. “He’s got great assistant captains that are doing a great job of supporting him in that role. They’ll do most of the decision-making when it comes to rounding out the team.”

Scheffler, 29, is looking to put the finishing touches on another remarkable season that includes his third and fourth major wins at the PGA Championship and the Open Championship. He finished T33 at the BMW Championship last year in Colorado before winning the season-ending Tour Championship.

–Field Level Media