2023 BMW Championship: The Real Winners and Losers at Olympia Fields

The penultimate playoff event of the season has finished after the 2023 BMW Championship at Olympia Fields was won by Viktor Hovland over the weekend.

We take a look at the true winners and losers from Olympia Fields before the field reduces from 50 to 30 for the season finale Tour Championship.

2023 BMW Championship Winners

Viktor Hovland

The actual winner doesn’t usually make their way onto this list as it goes without saying that they are a ‘winner’. However, the nature in which Viktor made his fifth PGA Tour win is something special.

Viktor has had a stellar season with three wins and has had no worse than a 19th-place finish at any of the four majors; including 2 top-10s. Viktor is still working to improve upon this year’s achievements.

Max Homa and Sam Burns both shot a new course record 62 on Friday and Saturday at the BMW Championship respectively, before Viktor beat the record again on Sunday with a 61. This perfectly arrogant record-breaking round included 10 birdies and 12 threes which could only result in a win and cheque for $3,600,000 in the end.

Jordan Spieth

Jordan may not have been challenging for a win this week, but he had his eye firmly on making the last 30 for next week’s final playoff event. Spieth finished T34 in a small field which isn’t a performance to write home about, particularly finishing at +1, 18 shots behind Viktor Hovland.

For a long time, Jordan was unsure whether his final round one over par 71 was good enough to stay in the top 30; requiring the help of officials to try and work out the maths.

Thanks to an even-par back nine for Adam Schenk, Spieth did enough to finish 29th in the FedEx Cup Rankings and cement a place at East Lake.

Rory McIlroy

McIlroy continued his season’s theme of being Mr. Consistent with 17 PGA Tour events played and 12 top-10s, three of these being at majors. Rory shot a consistent and impressive 67-66 at the weekend to finish solo 4th on the leaderboard and 3rd in the FedEx Cup rankings to stay competitive going into next week.

Ryder Cup Team Europe

The contenders for Team Europe had an extremely strong showing this week which will be concerning for the USA team. Hovland, McIlroy, Rahm, Fitzpatrick, Fleetwood, Hatton, and Straka have all secured their place in the top-30 for the Tour Championship which will help keep that momentum building.

Team USA was also dealt a blow this weekend by potentially losing Brooks Koepka from the team.

2023 BMW Championship Losers

Sahith Theegala

Sahith had the cruel misfortune of being the 31st man in the FedEx Cup Rankings this year, a title claimed by Aaron Wise last year. Sahith will be hoping the similarities end there as Wise finished 127th in the FedEx Cup rankings this year.

Sahith’s finish was not for lack of trying as he carded a 69-67 at the weekend to take a T15 finish at 6-under par. A shot here or there may have made all the difference for Sahith as he finished only 9 FedEx Cup points behind Sepp Straka in 30th.

Taylor Moore

It has been a good season for Moore after his debut PGA Tour win at the Valspar in March, but this past weekend at the BMW Championship will be one to forget. Moore was only spared the embarrassment of finishing 50th due to a withdrawal from Hideki Matsuyama. Instead, Moore had to settle for 49th out of 49.

There’s nothing quite as effective as forcing you into a late-night range session after shooting a confidence-bursting 10-over par 80 on Saturday. Moore recovered well to steady the ship with a 2-over par 72 on Sunday, but ultimately the damage was done with a final tally of +18.

Moore finished 21st overall in the FedEx Cup rankings and will be hoping to do better this coming week at the Tour Championship.

Max Homa

Homa had the outright lead for a good period on Saturday which had him projected to head down to Atlanta at No.1 in the FedEx Cup standings. A fluffed chip followed by a torturous lip out three-putt on the 7th hole resulted in a triple bogey, however, which took too much momentum out of his charge.

Homa eventually finished 6 shots back and will be hoping to take the FedEx Cup with a strong performance at East Lake.