2023 BMW Championship: Olympia Fields Rundown, Top DraftKings Plays

We’ve made it to the 2nd round of the FedEx Playoffs with the final 50 golfers in the FedEx Cup Rankings looking to make the top 30 and the Tour Championship next week. They’ll head to Olympia Fields, Illinois, for the 2023 BMW Championship.

The North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club is a 7,366-yard par 70 with Bentgrass and Poa overseed on the greens.

There are two par fives on the course both of which are over 600 yards and play as two of the easiest holes on the course. There are four par threes, three of them play from 170-190 yards, while the par three 8th hole is 254 yards. There are five par fours from 450-500 yards.

Olympia Fields is extremely demanding from tee to green and golfers will need to have good ball striking weeks to contend. It is a very difficult course and bogey avoidance will be required.

There is a creek that comes into play on seven different holes. There are also 90 bunkers and very penal rough throughout. Accuracy off the tee goes a long way here, but less than 50% of tee shots find the fairway on the North Course. Many golfers opt for distance considering so many balls end up in the rough. It’s better to hit shorter shots with shorter irons and wedges out of the deep stuff.

Hitting greens in regulation is also rather difficult considering the bulk of approach shots come from 175-200 yards and up. Around the green play will be needed as well.

The greens themselves are very fast and slope from back to front. Keeping the ball below the hole is the preferred strategy. Missing long could lead to some large numbers.

All in all, Olympia Fields is an extremely challenging venue that will test every facet of a golfer’s game.

2023 BMW Championship: The Key Stats

• Approach
• Off The Tee
• Bogey Avoidance
• Par 4 Scoring (450-500 yds)

2023 BMW Championship: Top DraftKings Picks for Olympia Fields

Scottie Scheffler ($11,600)

DK Ownership: 20-22% – Scottie’s putter has been holding him back for quite some time, however, his ball striking is so good that he’s generally missing birdie putts and making pars.

There aren’t a lot of birdies to be had at Olympia Fields so it isn’t as detrimental.

Aside from his struggles with the aforementioned putter, he’s been incredible. He’s 1st in strokes gained approach, 2nd off the tee, 2nd around the green, 2nd from 175-200 yards, 4th from over 200 yards, and 5th in par four scoring over the last 24 rounds.

Lucas Glover ($9,100)

DK Ownership: 12-15% – I don’t care if his price went up, I’m riding Glover until the wheels fall off.

He is on an incredible run with back-to-back wins and hasn’t finished worse than 6th place since June.

Over the last 24 rounds, Glover is 2nd on approach, 2nd in bogey avoidance, 8th off the tee, 12th from 175-200 yards, and 2nd in par four scoring.

Si Woo Kim ($7,600)

DK Ownership: 12-15% – Si Woo has played better recently with a 33rd-place finish at the Wyndham Championship and a 16th last week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

He’s gained strokes on approach in his last nine weighted tournaments and hasn’t lost strokes off the tee since October of last year.

Kim also won the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier this year.

Over the last 24 rounds, Si Woo is 1st in fairways gained, 4th off the tee, 12th from 175-200 yards, 15th in strokes gained approach, and 24th in bogey avoidance.

Chris Kirk ($6,000)

DK Ownership: 7-10% – Kirk played well at the St. Jude, finishing 16th and gaining just under five strokes tee to green.

His putter has been the issue lately, but Bentgrass is his best surface by far.

Over the last 24 rounds, Kirk is 1st in scrambling and top 20 in both approach and bogey avoidance.