The second leg of the Fed Ex Playoffs arrives tomorrow in Baltimore at Caves Valley Golf Club, about 12 miles north of the 30th largest city in the country at just over 585,000 people, for the BMW Championship.

The defending BMW champion, played at Olympia Fields last year in Illinois, is the usual suspect these days, Jon Rahm. He and Dustin Johnson got into a playoff in 2020 as DJ sank a 45 foot birdie putt to send it into sudden death. Rahm amazingly sank a 66 foot hard breaking left to right putt, could have had 10 feet of break in it, to birdie the first playoff hole, 18, and capture the championship. DJ went on the next week in the Tour Championship and won that and captured the Fed Ex Cup and the lucrative $15 Million Bonus check that went with it.

Now, there are 70 players in this field, cut down from 125 last week at the Northern Trust, which was a thriller in itself. Rahm led most of the final three days, only to be overtaken by Tony Finau and Cam Smith. Finau shot a 65 on Monday, Sunday was a washout, and Smith shot a 67. Rahm shot a 69, but had a couple of crucial bogeys down the stretch. Finau sank a terrifically clutch 7 foot par putt on 18 to stay at -20, which Smith matched him at. On the first playoff hole at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, Finau striped his drive into the Mayor’s Office, City Hall, while Smith airmailed his way right and had to reload. Finau made it academic from there capturing only his second victory on the PGA Tour after a lot of heartache runner-up and top 5 finishes. HIs last and only victory previous to that was the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. Now that the 31 year old from Salt Lake has that weight off his back, it could lead him to some big victories going forward. He certainly has the game. His stats were incredible. First in proximity to hole, one of the most important stats on Tour, first in par 4 scoring, all around. Second in distance of measured drives, they are loaded with stats on tour, second in greens in reg, and Strokes Gained; Tee-to-Green.

So exceptional stuff from Tony. Seems like a really good guy, too, so it’s good for him to get that albatross off his back.

The odds this week are;

Rahm, 6:1

Xander S. 16:1

Justin T; 18:1

Spieth, 18:1

Morikawa: 18:1

Dustin, 22:1

Louis LouI, 22:1

Brooks K, 25:1

Bryson D, 25:1

Patrick Cantley, 25:1

Finau, 25:1

Rory is 27:1, Viktor Hovland is 31:1, Scottie Scheffler is 31:1 and Daniel Berger is 33:1. Webb Simpson is 34:1, and WGC Fed Ex Champ Abraham Ancer is 34:1.

Top 10 in Fed Ex Rankings with points behind from leader.

1. Finau

2. Rahm 585

3. Cam Smith 609

4. Cantlay 1,046

5. JT 1,130

6. Morikawa 1,177

7. Spieth 1,198

8. Harris English 1,230

9. Bryson D 1,359

10. Ancer 1,407

    Koepka is 15th (1,707 behind) and DJ is 22nd (1,138). There are 2,000 points available this week and the top 30 after this week in the 70 man field, qualify for the Tour Championship. So a win this week puts a any of these guys in the cat bird seat heading into the TC next week at East Lake. The leader in the rankings will start the Tour Championship at -10 with the second place player in the rankings at -8 and so forth down the list. Players 26-30 start at even par.

Also, as interestingly, U.S, Captain Steve Stricker will make his 6 Captain’s Picks for the 43rd Ryder Cup after this weekend’s BMW. In the U.S. Team Rankings, Collin Morikawa leads and has qualified as have 2. Dustin, 3. Bryson, 4. Brooks, and 5. JT. Finau is 6th and if he doesn’t make the top 6, he will certainly be a captain’s pick. Xander Schauffele is 7th and looks to be a pretty sure thing on the team. Spieth is 8th, Harris English is 9th, Patrick Reed is 10th. Reed was out of the Northern Trust last week with an injury, but is back for the BMW. No.11 is Cantlay and No.12 is Berger. Webb Simpson is No.13, Scheffler is 14th and Billy Horschel is 15th. Guys like Phil, No. 19, and Kevin Kisner, No.18, and Sam Burns at No.17, would really help their chances with strong showings this week. It’s do or die for those guys out of the top 12. They have to deliver this week. Really all guys out of the top 6 though Finau and Xander will certainly be captain’s picks if they don’t qualify automatically.

The Euro Team, captained by Padraig Harrington, takes the top 9 in their rankings with 3 captain’s picks. Their top 9 are Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Rory, Matt Fitzpatrick, Paul Casey, Berndt Wiesberger, Victor Perez, and Robert McIntyre. No.’s 10-12 are Miglozzi, Detry and Viktor Hovland. Looks like a mismatch in the U’.S’ s favor on paper, but the Euros always seem to rise to the occasion in the Cup, though the American team blasted them in 2016 at Hazeltine, but the Euros returned the favor on their home soil in France in 2018.

The 43rd Cup will be held at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin Sept. 24th-26th, a Friday-Sunday. Will be a riveting contest as always. NBC will televise

Caves Valley is a 7,542 yard par 72 Tom Fazio design. The 2005 NCAA Division One Men’s Championship and the 2007 Palmer Cup were both held there. The Palmer Cup is the competition between the American and European top amateurs.

The rough is fescue-bluegrass and will be allowed to grow to 4 inches. The bentgrass greens will be stimping at 12 1/2. The course is soft according to what Ryan Palmer said on Golf Central, so ti favors the big hitters again.

Weather

Thursday, 93, 50% chance t storms wind SSE 5-10.

Friday, 95, 24% chance rain, wind SSE 5

Saturday, 92, 34% chance, E 6.

Sunday, 89, 34%, E 6.

TV

Thursday-Friday, 2-6 PM CT, Golf Channel.

Saturday, 11 AM-2 PM CT, Golf Channel, 2-5 PM CT, NBC

Sunday, 11 AM-1 PM CT, Golf Channel, 1-5 PM CT on NBC.

Winner this week

Give me the guy who finished tied fourth last week and shot a 63 on day 1. Kept it going pretty well the rest of the weekend shooting 68, 67, 70. He led the field in putting last week from inside 10 feet as he was 66-for-68. Big ball strikers course, Caves Valley is, and he’s got that down, so I like him to putt well this week also, and when that putter is working, this 28 year old from Louisville by way of the Crimson Tide is tough to beat.

Justin Thomas