PGA Championship
BMW Championship preview: Rahm fancied to go close at Wilmington
The second stop on the FedEx Cup Playoffs sees the top 70 in the standings head to Wilmington Country Club for the BMW Championship.
This long par 71 measures over 7,500 yards and with little course form on offer and the fact that no golfer has defended this title since it became a FedEx Cup Playoff event in 2007, this looks a tricky puzzle to solve.
The last two, and three of the last four, BMW Championships have been decided by playoffs so this is often an event that goes down to the wire. Here’s our preview
Rahm trending in the right direction
Despite a victory in Mexico earlier this season, 2022 hasn’t been a season Jon Rahm will have too many fond memories of. However, recent signs suggest one of the world’s best might have turned the corner and this week’s event looks a good chance to show just why he’s been in among the top five in the world rankings for a number of years.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that putting and particularly chipping have been the two errors of Rahm’s game that have really held him back this year. He ranks 136th in SG: Around-The-Green and 63rd in Putting. For context, he ranked 42nd in both categories last season and 24th and 22nd respectively the season before, so it’s clear he’s dropped quite significantly.
And while his short game has gone downhill somewhat, his long-game continues to excel. He ranks first in SG: Off-The-Tee, first in Greens in Regulation, third in Driving Distance, first in Total Driving and first in Ball Striking. In short, he’s virtually the best in every one of the key long-game categories.
Such solid numbers continued at last week’s St Jude Championship where he was third in SG: Tee-To-Green, eight Off-The-Tee and 10th on Approach and while his chipping was better (29th), he still lost shots on the greens ranking 50th. Taking all of this into account, it was pretty impressive he managed to finish in a tie for fifth at 11-under par, and perhaps most interestingly, his putting improved day-by-day. He ranked 88th in the field on Thursday despite shooting a three-under par round and the flat stick got better as the week went on, as he ranked sixth best on Sunday which coincidentally contributed to his best round of the week – a four-under 66.
The Spaniard is hitting the ball so well that he doesn’t need to even have a good week on the greens. He just needs to putt solidly and he’ll be right in the mix, so the 2020 champion looks worth of strong each-way support at 12/1.
