The BMW Championship dates back to 1899, when it debuted as the Western Open. Check out is BMW Championship suspended or not.
BMW Championship opening round delayed due to bad weather.
The start of the first round of the BMW Championship is delayed one hour due to forecasted inclement weather. The first tee time is scheduled for 10:26 a.m. ET.
A cold front hit early Thursday morning at Olympia Fields located just south of downtown Chicago. The front brought a narrow line of rain showers and thunderstorms causing the delay.
This line of weather is expected to move through between 8 a.m.-noon, leaving breezy conditions for the rest of the day, with gusts around 25 mph possible.
For the remainder of the week, a large and strong area of high pressure will build over the middle of the country.
This will limit precipitation chances over the Chicago area and allow temperatures to approach 90 degrees by Sunday.
The BMW Championship is the second stop during the FedExCup Playoffs. Patrick Cantlay is the defending champion and looking for his third BMW title in the last three years.
Jon Rahm leads the standings with Scottie Scheffler closing in. Rory McIlroy holds the No. 3 spot and will look for a fourth FedExCup trophy. The top 30 after this week will qualify for the TOUR Championship at East Lake, Atlanta.
Over the past decade, the BMW Championship has mostly been played on easier courses with a winning score of 14-under last year at Wilmington Country Club which was preceded by a 27-under winning score in 2021 at Caves Valley. In fact, seven of the last 11 champions of this event had a winning score of 20-under or better.
Olympia Fields will provide no such continuation of that trend. It will present one of the sternest tests of golf that players have faced over the past five years.
When it was last played as a PGA Tour event for this same BMW Championship back in 2020, Jon Rahm sank a 66-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win at just -4 as only five players finished under par.
Overall, it played 1.82 strokes over par and ranks as the fifth toughest course in that same period.