Winners and Losers from the 2016 BMW Championship
Dustin Johnson locked up his third win of the season at the 2016 BMW Championship with his usual prowess off the tee and an improved wedge game. And more frightening for his opponents, the new FedEx Cup points leader put the same model putter as Jason Day in the bag...and he is now putting like Day (more on that later).
The bomber from South Carolina has seen his hard work and dedication to the game following a 2014 leave of absence pay off this year. He's this week's big winner, but we're all winners for watching the prodigious masher of the golf ball come into his own.
Who joins DJ in our rundown of winners heading into the Tour Championship? Who doesn't?
Read on to find out.
Winner: Dustin Johnson
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Including his course-record 63 in the second round, Dustin Johnson both drove for show and putted for dough at Crooked Stick Golf Club.
DJ was three strokes better than anyone else in Carmel, Indiana, entering Sunday with a four-stroke lead and cruising to victory with a final-round 67.
Loser: Jason Day's FedEx Cup Hopes
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It was an unfortunate weekend for Jason Day, who has dealt with more than his share of injuries in a short career. The world No. 1 withdrew after the third round of the BMW Championship with back issues.
Per a tweet by GolfChannel.com’s Ryan Lavner, “According to Jason Day's manager: Day has a pinched joint capsule in the lower back, causing muscle spasms.”
Day will still enter the Tour Championship at No. 4 in the FedEx Cup standings, giving him a good chance at winning the cup. Still, he entered the BMW Championship at No. 2 and can’t be pleased to have fallen.
More to the point, however, is the question of the condition of Day’s back in two weeks. Given the ferocity of his swing and the torque on his back, aggravating the injury isn’t out of the question. And rest in the interim could quickly turn to rust.
Winner: Switching Putters
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For the second week in a row, the winner has made a pre-tournament putter switch. Last week, it was Rory McIlroy swapping out his Nike Method 2 for a Scotty Cameron M1 Prototype. This week, Dustin Johnson made the transition from a Scotty Cameron Tour Newport 2 to a TaylorMade Spider Limited.
According to TaylorMade, Johnson was impressed by Jason Day’s Spider Limited last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Johnson, who is a TaylorMade staffer along with Day, went to the tour truck and asked to have a Spider built to his specs. He put it in play during Wednesday’s practice round and liked its performance enough to put it in the bag this week.
However, shortly before his first round, DJ got cold feet about gaming the same putter as world No. 1 Day. So Johnson asked his brother and caddie, Austin, to borrow his Spider Limited with a charcoal head (Day’s is red), and that’s what he played with for four rounds, per PGATour.com’s Jonathan Wall.
Good decision. Johnson, who has never been regarded historically as a great putter, was second in the field in strokes gained from putting, picking up 7.307 strokes on the field average for the week en route to his win.
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Loser: Sergio Garcia (and His Putter)
4 of 8Sergio Garcia made his own crooked stick at Crooked Stick. If you didn’t see what befell Garcia’s putter, check out the video above.
And even more painful for the Spaniard is that, ahead of the BMW Championship, Garcia was 25th in the FedEx Cup standings and in position for a start in the Tour Championship. After finishing tied for 47th following weekend rounds of 76 and 73, Garcia fell outside the top 30.
Thus, neither Garcia nor the putter he started the week with will make it to the Tour Championship.
Winner: Sunday Schwartzel
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Charl Schwartzel, who entered the week at No. 43 in the FedEx Cup standings, was in 25th place at the BMW Championship heading into Sunday.
Staring the likelihood of not making it to East Lake Golf Club in the face, Schwartzel made eight birdies and no bogeys en route to a final-round 64. The South African finished tied for fourth, thanks to his Sunday brilliance, and he secured the No. 30 spot in the FedEx Cup standings, punching his ticket to East Lake.
Loser: Rickie Fowler
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Looking like he’d likely make it to the Tour Championship when he arrived at Crooked Stick, Rickie Fowler failed to shoot better than one-under 71, while everyone else was throwing darts at the course’s soft greens. He finished 59th at one over par and fell to 31st in the standings.
Thus, Fowler, the No. 9 golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking, will miss out on the Tour Championship. A disappointing end to a disappointing PGA Tour campaign for Fowler.
Winner: Season Extenders
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Because these are the FedEx Cup playoffs, a few lucky souls played their way into the field of the next event, assuring themselves healthier payouts from the package carrier.
The Tour Championship field will feature the top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings (the top 70 qualified for the BMW Championship).
Here are the gentlemen who slid inside the top 30, thanks to a good week of work at Crooked Stick:
| Golfer | Finish at BMW Championship | Movement in FedEx Cup standings |
| Roberto Castro | 3 | 53rd to 21st |
| J.B. Holmes | T4 | 42nd to 28th |
| Charl Schwartzel | T4 | 43rd to 30th |
| Daniel Berger | T10 | 31st to 26th |
Loser: Season Enders
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On the opposite side of the ledger, there are the poor unfortunates who started on the right side of 30 but couldn’t stay there. For these golfers, the 2015-2016 season is now over.
This group includes the following:
| Golfer | Finish at BMW Championship | Movement in FedEx Cup standings |
| Brooks Koepka | T32 | 30th to 35th |
| Sergio Garcia | T47 | 25th to 32nd |
| Rickie Fowler | 59 | 22nd to 31st |
See you next season, fellas.
Stats via PGATour.com and the PGA Tour media guide.
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