Blog#167 BMW   Championship Castle Pines GC, Colorado 

Blog#167 BMW   Championship Castle Pines GC, Colorado 

Par 72 PURSE $20M

Aug 22-25, 2024 

HISTORY

This is the 2nd of 3 championship tournaments.  The field is reduced from 70 to 50 payers.  

Castle Pines is hosting its first PGA event.  It is a Jack Nicklaus designed course which opened in 1981 and is located in a very affluent gated community “ The Village of Castle Pines”, which overlooks Pikes Peak 70 miles away.  It is among the top 50 rated courses in the USA.  With the high altitude the ball travels 10% further.  

Holes to watch

#4 Par 3 254 yards tee sits 30’ above green protected by 4 bunkers a ravine on one side.

#14 Par 5 655 yards 100’ drop from tee to green with a stream guarding green.

#17 PAR 5 532 yards Short uphill par 5 dogleg left, bunkers left, right and behind the green.  

My prediction to win

Hard to pick a winner but I still go with Scottie Scheffler who finished 4th last week making a 30’ putt on 18.  Will that carry him over for a win?  The others who played well last week,

Xander Schauffele is my 2nd choice and Viktor Hovland #3.  Hideki was no worse than 2nd for the 4 RDs and led for 2 in his win last week.  I don’t think he can duplicate that, but he should make the top 10.  Jordan Spieth did not qualify finishing #68 and will have wrist surgery which may explain his inconsistent performances lately.  Max Homa finished dead last at+11 but still had enough points to make the round of 50.

Favorites

1 Scottie Scheffler 3/1 Same as last week, if he does not win this week he will next.

2 Xander Schauffele 6/1 If not for Hideki’s outstanding play he wins last week.

3 Rory McIlroy 12/1 He finished tied for #68 last week but still had points to qualify this week.

4 Viktor Hovland 14/1 He won last 2 events in 2023 and almost tied for lead on 17 last week.

5 Collin Morikawa 16/1 He can’t seem to put 4 good RDs together, if he does could win.

6 Hideki Matsuyama 18/1 Best in a great field last week but not 2 weeks in a row.

7 Patrick Cantlay 18/1 Finished 12th last week and his game may be coming back.

8 Wyndham Clark 20/1 Finished 7th last week and like Cantlay playing better every week.

9 Ludvig Aberg 22/1 Finished 40th last week, too many bad shots.

10 Tommy Fleetwood 25/1 Last week he was #5 after 1st RD then finished 22nd.

Longshots

Sam Burns 35/1 Very inconsistent last week but still finished 5th.

Nick Dunlap 65/1 Had a chance to win last week, #2 after 3 RDs and finished 5th, great odds!

Max Greyserman 90/1 He was last #70 after RD 1 last week, finished 33rd to make this week.

Alex Noran 100/1 Experts keep picking him to win, maybe he sneaks in.

Chris Kirk 150/1 Was in first place last week with an ACE on #14.