The final test on the road to the TOUR Championship is here, as the FedExCup Playoffs head just north of Indianapolis for the BMW Championship.
Crooked Stick Golf Club plays host for the second time in five years and the course has undergone some substantial changes since the BMW Championship was last contested here in 2012. Crooked Stick is one of Pete Dye’s earliest designs (1967) and the renowned course architect lives beside the fairway on the par-4 18th hole.
Heavy rain took some of the bite out of Crooked Stick at the 2012 BMW, prompting Dye to tweak eight holes. He modified hazards, removed over 400 trees (the improved air flow has resulted in healthier, thicker rough) and stretched the par-72 layout to 7,516 yards in length. Rain or no rain, players will have to be firing on all cylinders to go low this year.
One player who did just that was first-round leader and Titleist golf ball loyalist Roberto Castro (Pro V1x), who opened with a 7-under-par 65.
"I do better on tougher courses sometimes, it kind of snaps me into focus," said Castro after his round. "And Pete Dye courses, there's just a lot of shots where it's do or die. So I think that it probably helps me."
The field has been whittled down to 69 players (Titleist Pro V1 loyalist Henrik Stenson is sitting out this week to rest a sore knee). When the last putt falls on Sunday the top-30 in FedExCup point standings will advance to the final event on the 2016 PGA Tour schedule -- the TOUR Championship at Eastlake Country Club. Castro, who played for Georgia Tech and now lives in Atlanta, is keenly aware of the situation and would like nothing better than to wrap up his 2016 season on home turf.
"It's a hometown tournament for me. It's the hardest one to get to, unfortunately, but it's still a great tournament. I would love to be back. It's huge, it really is. It's where I played college golf, the Georgia Tech connection and still living there in town, it's an awesome way to end the year."
Good luck to all of #TeamTitleist this week as the playoffs roll on at the BMW Championship.
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TITLEIST BY THE NUMBERS
A total of 41 players in the limited playoff field are trusting a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball for their success at the BMW Championship, nearly six times the nearest competitor with 7 and more than all competitors combined.
Titleist is also the top choice among players in the hybrid category (6). Titleist Vokey Design Wedges are tops in the approach, sand and lob wedge (56) category and Scotty Cameron putters are the top choice among players with 23 putters in play.
#TeamTitleist