2020 BMW Championship: Odds, Best Bets, and Longshots to Target at Olympia Fields
The race to the TOUR Championship is down to 70, as the best in the world head to Olympia Fields Country Club for the BMW Championship. This tournament will decide which 30 players make the cut to compete for the FedEx Cup title at East Lake in a week.
Dustin Johnson sits atop the FedEx Cup standings after his dominant win at the Northern Trust last weekend, but there are numerous top players breathing down his neck. So, who are the favorites at the BMW Championship and how can you make some money on the tournament?
2020 BMW Championship odds
Unsurprisingly, Dustin Johnson headlines the odds board as the +800 favorite to win the BMW Championship. Johnson is coming off a demolition of the field in which he shot 30-under par and won the Northern Trust by 11 strokes. When he’s on, he’s impossible to beat.
Right behind him is world No. 2 Jon Rahm at +1000, with Justin Thomas and long-hitting Bryson DeChambeau at +1200. Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa are a little further back near 20/1 odds to win.
Tiger Woods is all the way up to 33/1 odds to win at Olympia Fields. The 44-year-old has some work to do if he wants to sneak into the 30-man field at the TOUR Championship next weekend.
Outright picks
Bryson DeChambeau 12/1
Olympia Fields is a beast of a golf course, measuring 7,366 yards as a par-70. The long hitters will have a distinct advantage at the BMW Championship, and no one hits it farther than DeChambeau. Along with his length, DeChambeau also has a familiarity with Olympia Fields that no one else has. In 2015, he won the U.S. Amateur Championship at this venue. The course hasn’t hosted a PGA Tour event since 2003, so DeChambeau has a fresh knowledge of the track that can’t be found anywhere else in the field.
Collin Morikawa 22/1
Morikawa may be young, but he’s as good as they come on the PGA Tour right now. The Californian won the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park, which closely resembles the venue this week. Olympia Fields demands long iron shots and impeccable ball-striking, both areas Morikawa flourishes in.
Daniel Berger 22/1
Do oddsmakers not understand how incredible Daniel Berger has been this season? Despite being the most consistent player on Tour in 2020, Berger in constantly priced outside the 20/1 range behind multiple players each week. He’s placed inside the top 15 in five of six tournaments since the restart, and this is a great chance for Berger to pick up his second win of the year.
Cameron Champ 66/1
Cameron Champ had a legitimate shot to win the 2020 PGA Championship even into the back nine on Sunday. He ended up finishing T-10 with a final-round 70, but the strong finish bodes well for Champ this week. With little course history, it’s best to consider how players fared at similar courses to Olympia Fields. TPC Harding Park is one of them. If Champ can control his driver, he’ll have a better chance than anyone to make birdies and shoot up the leaderboard this weekend.
Longshots to target
Gary Woodland 80/1
It would be a lie to say Gary Woodland is playing good golf right now. He hasn’t placed inside the top 50 in three straight tournaments, and he only has two top-10s since the restart. That said, Woodland is still the reigning U.S. Open champ, and he thrives under tough course conditions. Woodland is long off the tee, and he’s one of the best on Tour with his long irons. At 80/1 odds, this is too good a price to pass up on a guy who can turn it on at any time.
Jason Kokrak 100/1
Jason Kokrak is a sneaky long driver of the golf ball. He ranks eighth in driving distance this season, and he’s been one of the best iron players from 200 yards or more out for three years. Kokrak also has two straight top-15 finishes and needs a strong weekend to punch his ticket to the TOUR Championship. Will Kokrak triumph at Olympia Fields this weekend? Probably not. But a +200 price on a top-20 finish could be worth a shot.
Best bets for the 2020 BMW Championship
Bryson DeChambeau top-10 finish -105
As stated before, DeChambeau’s game fits this course better than anyone in the field, and he dominated the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields five years ago. Don’t be surprised if beefy Bryson wins this thing outright.
Daniel Berger top-10 finish +150
If you placed this exact bet in Berger’s last nine tournament appearances, you would’ve cashed seven times. The dude is a top-10 machine, and with a smaller field this week, a plus-money price on another strong finish is an auto-bet at this point.
Viktor Hovland top-20 finish EVEN
Hovland is already one of the best ball strikers on Tour, and he has eight top-25 finishes this season. Hovland will hit fairways and greens this weekend better than most of the field, and if he can putt like he did last week, he should find himself inside the top 20 easily.
Adam Scott over Tiger Woods -110
Tiger Woods is the most popular golfer to ever live, which means he’s the most popular golfer to bet on week in and week out. His odds are always skewed because of the massive handle he generates, and that gives us great opportunities to fade him. This weekend, Woods is a pick’em against Adam Scott, who has only recorded one round over par since the restart. As much as it hurts to root against Tiger, this one is a no-brainer.
All betting odds courtesy of Bovada. All stats courtesy of PGA Tour.
