Golfers get practice in before teeing off at Olympia Fields for BMW Championship
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. (CBS) – The PGA Tour playoffs are in full swing, and this week's stop at Olympia Fields will decide which golfers will play for next week's tour championship.
And then there were 50. The FedEx Cup playoff field has been narrowed down from 70. By the end of the week, the field will be down to just 30 golfers.
CBS 2's Matt Zahn was at Olympia Fields for one final day of practice before the players tee off on Thursday bright and early.
The best golfers in the world were getting in some final work before the tournament tees off on Thursday at 8:26 a.m. But before it starts, there was a chance to have a little fun the day before the pressure is really on.
It was pro-am Wednesday at the BMW Championship. The pros were mixing it up with some amateurs in a mostly casual mini-tournament before the real things begins.
Zahn: "How'd you hit 'em?"
Jordan Spieth: "Fine, just trying to have fun with the guys. I haven't seen the back nine yet, so that was my first time. I was trying to play the pro-am, but also play a practice round and figure out where we're going to try and hit it if the course changes at all."
These players really did grind on the course, spending literally hours on the range and practice areas leading up to four days of tournament golf.
"When you're surrounded by everybody always striving to get better, I think that always pushes people along and that's one of the great things about the environment out here," said golfer Tommy Fleetwood. "It's so competitive."
Only the top 70 make it to the playoffs this year, down from 125 last year. The top 50 are at Olympia Fields, and then only 30 will move on to the Tour Championship.
"For me, I'm in the 27th position," Spieth said. "So I got a little bit of pressure just to make next week, which is obviously always something you want to do. If I focus on trying to win this golf tournament ... it's the easiest way to free up."
Fleetwood added, "It's getting harder and harder to qualify for these FedEx playoffs, so all the [players] here have done amazingly well to get here. And as it sort of whittles down, it's important to feel fresh if you possibly can. So much can change throughout these three weeks and I think if you're playing well and you're feeling fresh, it's an amazing opportunity for you."
Fleetwood finished tied for third last week, the 22nd top-five finish of his career without a win. He told CBS 2 it will make a good story when he does win, and he's not just looking for one. He wants multiple victories, he hopes, starting this week.
The championship was last in Olympia Fields in 2020, when Jon Rahm won in thrilling fashion with a long putt on the 18th hole. He made it to a playoff at only four-under.
But scoring conditions could be a little different this time around thanks to some heavy rain earlier in the week.
"The biggest thing is the moisture," said Tony Finau, who finished fifth in the 2020 BMW Championship at one-under par. "The golf course plays so different. On the weekend in 2020, it was actually quite firm. There was some wind. The last time I played here compared to the last couple rounds I've had are quite a bit different."
Spieth and Fleetwood are among the golfers who will play Olympia Fields for the first time this week.
Spieth added, "It's a beautiful golf course. It's an amazing piece of property. It's pretty soft right now, so hopefully this weather, days like today, maybe some wind tomorrow will help kind of firm it up, because I think that would be the defense of the golf course. You got to hit really nice tee balls to put yourself in position, but there's not a whole lot of defense after that. So you're looking at probably having to shoot some lower scores than this course would normally yield maybe at other events."
The final two rounds of the competition will air Saturday and Sunday on CBS 2.