DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: BMW Championship Cash and GPP Strategy

BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

Purse: $20M
Winner's Share: $3.6M
FedEx Cup Points: 750 to the winner
Location: St. Louis
Course: Bellerive Country Club
Yardage: 7,448
Par: 70
2025 champion: Scottie Scheffler (Caves Valley)

Tournament Preview

Now that Scottie Scheffler has won the first playoff event -- and in the process ended our tedious seven-month song and dance of "Scottie, is the week? Will you ever win again? -- the next question is whether he can win a second, or even a third. Could Scheffler actually run the table in the FedEx Cup playoffs, something no one has done in its 20-year history?

Scheffler has not won eight times this season, as he did in 2024, or even six, as he did in 2025. He now has two wins and can top out with a maximum of four by winning this week's BMW Championship and next week's Tour Championship. But with five runners-up and two third-place showings also on his 2026 ledger, he has not been that far off. (Which is what said for those seven long months.)

And now he heads to another ball-striker's paradise at Bellerive Country Club, after crushing the field by eight strokes last week at tee-to-green-heavy TPC Southwind in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

We'll break down Bellerive in a moment, but there are a lot of similarities to Southwind. The biggest difference, and one that could hinder Scheffler, is that there are far larger greens this week. Scheffler is coming off the best putting week of his career, gaining nearly nine shots on the field, which explains his eight-shot gulf to the second-place finisher. It's hard to putt that well two weeks in a row, and especially on a course where putting likely will be harder.

The last time we saw Bellerive on the PGA Tour was eight years ago, at the 2018 PGA Championship. Nineteen golfers, or almost 40 percent of this week's 50-man field, were there. Rory McIlroy was there, as was Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Si Woo Kim and Justin Thomas, to name a few. Scheffler was not, nor were Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark or Sam Burns.

All 50 of these golfers, by reaching this point in the playoffs, have automatically qualified for all of next year's signature events. The playoff field will trim to 30 after this week for the season-finale Tour Championship at East Lake.

Bellerive Country club dates to 1897. But the current course opened in 1960 under the direction of famed architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. With Bellerive located on Ladue Road in St. Louis, members refer to it as the "Green Monster of Ladue."

That 2018 PGA Championship was won by Brooks Koepka at 16-under-par following a Sunday duel with Tiger Woods on a course playing at just over 7,300 yards, pretty close to what we have this week. The 2008 BMW won by Camilo Villegas at 15-under also was contested at Bellerive, as was the 1992 PGA Championship won by Nick Price at 6-under.

In 1965, just five years after opening, Bellerive became the youngest course ever to play host to a U.S. Open. Gary Player won to complete the career grand slam.

There are also have been two Champions Tour majors at Bellerive, the 2004 Senior U.S. Open and 2013 Senior PGA Championship. Bellerive thus is the only course to play host to both the men's regular and senior U.S. Opens and PGA Championships.

The 2030 Presidents Cup will also be played at Bellerive.

There was supposed to be another big tournament at Bellerive in 2001, the WGC-American Express Championship. But scheduled to begin on Sept. 13, it was canceled just two days after 9/11.

Bellerive is very long and not tricked out, which is a polite way of saying "boring," as some have labeled the track. It's traditional parkland-style track. It certainly is a tee-to-green golf course, a ball striker's wheelhouse. The narrow fairways are tree-lined and guarded by deep fescue rough and bunkers. Water comes into play on only three holes. The course also features large, slopey bentgrass greens averaging 7,600 square feet. But they are wide more than long, giving the golfers very small landing areas. And if they miss, those undulating greens are guarded by deep, diabolical bunkers. All in all, there are about 75 bunkers on the course. Sand play could very well be a contributing factor in determining the winner.

There are only two par-5s, Nos. 8 and 17. Both exceed 600 yards.

There are five par-4s of more than 450 yards, but three of those are 500ish or longer. There are also two par-4s of under 400 yards. The longest par-3 is the 237-yard 16th, which is the conclusion of a difficult three-hole stretch called "The Ridge." It starts with a short par-4 (417 yards), continues with a long par-4 (495 yards) and ends with that long par-3. In 2018, Nos. 15 and 16 were among the hardest holes on the course.

But the hardest hole, and the signature hole, is the 215-yard No. 6. For sheer terror, that's the place to be, with a large pond guarding the green. In 2018, Bellerive's head pro at the time, Mike Tucker, told pga.com: "I hate to say this, but if our fans want to see good challenges and potential train wrecks, that would be the hole to see." He was spot on. It played more than one-third of a stroke over par and there were only 35 birdies there all week. Back at the 1965 U.S. Open, it played more than a stroke over par, a virtually unheard of occurrence.

As for the weather, temperatures will actually be bearable, considering it's St. Louis in the summer. Highs will be in the low-to-mid 80s all week. The best chance of rain, and it's not much, will be on Thursday. The wind will be light all four days.

BMW Championship factoids: This is technically the third oldest golf tournament in the world, having started in 1899 as the Western Open before going on its meandering BMW road show. Only the Open Championship (1860) and U.S. Open (1895) are older. This will be the 124th edition. The tournament used to be exclusive to the Chicago area before the PGA Tour started traveling with this venerable event. BMW came on board as the title sponsor when the FedEx Cup playoffs began in 2007. The 2027 BMW will be played at Liberty National in New Jersey.

Key Stats to Winning at Bellerive CC

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Ball Striking
• Strokes Gained: Approach
• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Sand Save Percentage
• Approaches from 150-200 yards
• Par 4 450-500 yards

Past Champions

2025 - Scottie Scheffler (Caves Valley)
2024 - Keegan Bradley (Castle Pines)
2023 - Viktor Hovland (Olympia Fields)
2022 - Patrick Cantlay (Wilmington Country Club)
2021 - Patrick Cantlay (Caves Valley)
2020 - Jon Rahm (Olympia Fields)
2019 - Justin Thomas (Medinah)
2018 - Keegan Bradley (Aronimink)
2017 - Marc Leishman (Conway Farms)
2016 - Dustin Johnson (Crooked Stick)

Champion's Profile

As was the case last week, we're focusing on the best ball strikers, golfers adept at getting from tee to green as economically as possible. It's a good strategy most any week, but especially when a course is unfamiliar ... and long ... with danger lurking the entire way.

At the 2018 PGA Championship, Koepka ranked second in the field in driving distance and 14th in fairways hit to rank second in SG: Off-the-Tee. He also was ninth in SG: Approach, 44th Around-the-Green, second in Tee-to-Green and 18th in Putting. Just a masterful, well-rounded performance.

Tiger Woods, who finished two strokes back at 14-under, struggled off the tee, ranking 27th in distance and only 74th in accuracy. Yet he was still second on Approach and eighth Tee-to-Green, while ranking 10th in SG: Putting.

As we said last week, don't discount the shorter hitters. It may be hard for one of them to win, but some can and will be important lineup components.

The over/under on the winning score per golfodds.com is 262.5, which is 17.5 under par.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Sam Burns - $10,400 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +1800)
We're not picking Scheffler because of his elevated price of $14,400 over last week combined with the unattractiveness in the $6,000s, though he absolutely can win this tournament. We're not picking McIlroy because there seems to be a general malaise around him. And we're not picking Fleetwood because of the putting (50th in the field last week). Therefore, the most appealing five-figure guy is also the cheapest. In Burns' last four starts, he's finished 2-T12-3-T3. Three podiums in four weeks is Scheffler-like. He ranked seventh in the field last week in SG: Approach and third in SG: Putting. He couldn't keep up with Scheffler in large part because he couldn't keep his drives in the fairway. Of course, he'll need to do far better there this week.

$9,000-$9,990

Si Woo Kim - $9,100 (+2700)
It's borderline comical how Kim is being priced. He's the No. 9 guy on the DFS board and T11 at the DK Sportsbook. He might be the second-best guy in the field. He was last week. We all know about the putting -- Kim ranked only 38th in the field last week, and an even worse 49th in Around-the-Green. Yet he is so otherwise elite that he can compensate. He ranked first in driving accuracy last week, second in scrambling and fifth in SG: Approach en route to his third runner-up and sixth top-5 of the season.

Hideki Matsuyama - $9,000 (+2700)
In picking Matsuyama last week, we noted that his big trouble spot this season -- keeping the ball in the fairway -- has had a decided improvement later in the season. He ranked third in the Memphis field in driving accuracy and tied for seventh. Unfortunately for Matsuyama, his putting was way off. He also had one terrible swing, which resulted in a soul-crushing water-logged double bogey on 11 on Sunday.

$8,000-$8,900

Viktor Hovland - $8,800 (+2700)
We meet again, Mr. Hovland. We talked last week how his upside is so high -- for example, being in the penultimate pairing for the third round last week after opening 68-64 -- while his floor is downright unstable -- for example, shooting 72-72 on the weekend and plummeting to a tie for 19th. His scorecard on Sunday looked like something straight out of geometry class with so many squares and circles -- and double squares. But Hovland's ball striking is undeniable, and just about every model places him far higher than his price would suggest. As always, you need to ask yourself if you have the stomach for the extreme risk/reward.

Patrick Cantlay - $8,500 (+2900)
Cantlay has had an underappreciated season everywhere but on the greens. He's top-40 in every strokes-gained metric except putting, where he's ranked 91st. But upon taking a closer look, he's vastly improved from the early part of the season, when he ranked as low as 140th. Cantlay arrives with top-15s in three of his past five starts, including last week's tie for 12th. However, he'll need to do even better this week. At 43rd in points, Cantlay would need at minimum a solo seventh to advance to the Tour Championship, per the Tour's playoff scenarios.

$7,000-$7,900

Michael Thorbjornsen - $7,500 (+5200)
Thorbjornsen tied for 47th last week. Now, beginning the week at 41st in the point standings, he needs at least a solo eighth to advance to East Lake, per the Tour. That might be too big of an ask, but maybe not. The belief here is that the larger greens of Bellerive will help Thorbjornsen. Last week, he ranked 53rd in SG: Approach and 33rd in greens in regulation. His driving accuracy was spot-on, and his putting was on point.

$6,000-$6,900

Alex Smalley - $6,700 (+8000)
We all remember Smalley almost winning the PGA Championship and winding up second. But you have do more -- much more -- to be ranked 23rd in the point standings at this juncture of the season. He's coming off a tie for 24th at Southwind, which, granted, wouldn't be a big deal this week. But he was also seventh at the Wyndham the week before. Smalley is ranked top-40 on Tour in SG: Approach, SG: Tee-to-Green, SG: Putting and greens in regulation.

Ryan Fox - $6,200 (+13000)
There are 12 guys priced $6,500 or under. Only moved the needle for us. Fox finished an uninspiring T58 last week. But in fairness, it was his first start since the winning the Open Championship and he might've needed a tournament just to get back off Cloud 9. He sits 25th in points, so it's almost certain he'll survive into the Tour Championship. That means he won't be playing under pressure. Fox's two best clubs tend to be his driver and putter, but he'll certainly need to do a better job of getting the ball in the fairway than he did last week and, really, all season.

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