The 2018 BMW Championship is part of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and tees off Thursday from Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. The top 70 golfers in the FedExCup standings are eligible to play, and with such a high-profile field, everyone from Average Joes to professional bettors will lay down wagers. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson enters as the Vegas favorite at 9-1 BMW Championship odds. Former champion Justin Rose is going off at 12-1, while Brooks Koepka (14-1), Justin Thomas (14-1) and Bryson DeChambeau (16-1) round out the top five. Australian Marc Leishman, who won it all last year with a score of 23-under par, is listed at 50-1. Before you make any 2018 BMW Championship picks or enter a daily fantasy golf tournament on sites like FanDuel or DraftKings, you'll want to hear what the team at SportsLine has to say.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, was all over DeChambeau winning last week's Dell Technologies Championship, projecting him as a top contender from the start. It has also nailed four of the last eight majors entering the weekend and called Tiger Woods' deep run in the PGA Championship despite being a 25-1 long shot. Anyone who has followed their model is up big.
Now that the 2018 BMW Championship field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times and the results were surprising.
One huge surprise the model is calling for: Woods, the only player to win the FedEx Cup more than once, stumbles this week and finishes outside the top 10.
Woods is still searching for that elusive 80th career PGA Tour victory and his last win in the FedEx Cup Playoffs was at the 2009 BMW Championship. His appearance at this week's BMW Championship will mean a fifth start in six weeks going back to the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He has shown signs of wear, finishing 24th or worse in three of his past four starts. Woods is also barely in the top 150 on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy percentage (57.39) and has struggled mightily to close out tournaments, evidenced by his 29.00 putts in the final round, just 104th on tour.
Another surprise: Rickie Fowler, who's playing in his first event of the 2018 FedEx Cup Playoffs due to an injury and is getting just 22-1 odds, makes a serious run at the BMW Championship 2018 title.
Fowler did not participate in the Northern Trust or Dell Technologies Championship, the first and second legs of the playoffs, due to an oblique injury. Despite missing the past two tournaments, Fowler enters the BMW Championship 2018 full of confidence. He's finished inside the top 20 in six of his last seven starts on the PGA Tour. He's also secured a top-5 finish in three of his past four outings at the BMW Championship, which includes a second-place run last year.
Also, the model says four additional golfers with 2018 BMW Championship odds of 20-1 or longer will make a strong run at title. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big.
So who wins the 2018 BMW Championship, and which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the updated odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the BMW Championship projected leaderboard from the model that has nailed four of the past eight majors heading into the weekend.
Dustin Johnson 9-1
Justin Rose 12-1
Justin Thomas 14-1
Brooks Koepka 14-1
Bryson DeChambeau 16-1
Jason Day 20-1
Rory McIlory 20-1
Tony Finau 20-1
Tiger Woods 22-1
Jordan Spieth 22-1
Rickie Fowler 22-1
Hideki Matsuyama 25-1
Francesco Molinari 28-1
Tommy Fleetwood 30-1
Adam Scott 33-1
Jon Rahm 33-1
Patrick Cantlay 35-1
Phil Mickelson 40-1