BMW Championship Preview

The penultimate tournament in the battle for the 2010 FedEx Cup takes place this week at Cog Hill in Illinois. The top 70 competitors for the Cup remain and defending champion Tiger Woods is among them.

Tiger Woods defends
Fergus Bisset
By
published

Lowdown: The penultimate tournament in the battle for the 2010 FedEx Cup takes place this week at Cog Hill in Illinois. The top 70 competitors for the Cup remain and defending champion Tiger Woods is among them. After two of the FedEx Cup playoff events Matt Kuchar holds the lead in the points race with last week's Deutsche Bank winner Charley Hoffman in second. Tiger is down in 51st spot. Home to the PGA Tour's Western Open from 1991 to 2006, then host to the BMW Championships of 2007 and 2009, Cog Hill Golf and Country Club underwent a $5 million renovation by Rees Jones before last year's tournament. All 18 greens were rebuilt and they now feature the high-tech SubAir system to promote optimum growing conditions and faster drainage. New tees were constructed and bunkering shifted to place more emphasis on strategy from the tees. In last year's tournament Tiger Woods secured his 71st PGA Tour victory, cruising to an eight shot win over Jim Furyk. Tiger will need a strong finish this week if he's to continue in his quest for a third FedEx Cup title. He will probably need to end the tournament in the top five if he's to advance to the Tour Championship at East Lake. There are a multitude of points-based possibilities going into the BMW Championship. In fact, only the top 13 on the FedEx Cup points list are assured of their spot in The Tour Championship prior to the tournament.

Venue: Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, Illinois Date: Sep 9-12 Course stats: par 71, 7,386 yards Purse: $7,500,000 Winner: $1,350,000 Defending Champion: Tiger Woods (-19)

TV Coverage: Thursday 9 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 8pm Friday 10 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 8pm Saturday 11 - Live on Sky Sports 4 from 5pm Sunday 12 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 7pm

Player Watch: Matt Kuchar - The leader in the FedEx Cup race has, perhaps, been the most consistent performer on the PGA Tour in 2010. He was tied 10th here last year and was the best putter in the field at the Deutsche Bank last week.

Luke Donald - On solid form and lives near to Cog Hill so will have a relaxed week. Currently fifth in the points race, a victory here would put him in a very strong position going into the Tour Championship.

Jason Day - The Australian played three fantastic rounds last week but was blown away by Charley Hoffman's closing 62. He'll look to continue his excellent run at Cog Hill.

Key hole: 18th. A testing par 4 of 480 yards, both the fairway and green slope towards a pond on the left hand side. Expect to see a number of players hopes sink in this hazard.

Skills required: Strategy. Rees Jones alterations to the course are designed to place greater emphasis on the need for a strategic approach both off the tee and on approaches.

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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