It certainly didn’t have the final-day drama of Arnold Palmer’s U.S. Open win in 1960 — then again, very few tournaments do — or Jack Nicklaus’ U.S. Senior Open triumph in 1993. But with the BMW Championship being a FedExCup Playoff event, with all the big names and side ramifications, its last round managed to entertain despite the lead never changing hands.

Floridian Billy Horschel never trailed on Sunday at Cherry Hills Country Club in posting his second PGA Tour victory, but it was who he left in his wake that was impressive. Seven of the top 15 players in the world rankings finished in the top 10 in the BMW: Bubba Watson (second Sunday); Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler and Jim Furyk (tied for fourth); and Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth (tied for eighth).

It was a welcome performance for Horschel after having a chance to win on Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship near Boston, then hitting his approach shot on the final hole into a hazard and making bogey.

“It means a lot to win, especially an event in the FedExCup Playoffs, because it’s amplified 10 times really,” he said. “… Hopefully this win will give me some more confidence and shoot me up there into an upper-echelon player where I want to be. I want to be where the Rory McIlroys are, the Tigers are, the Phil Mickelsons, the Bubba Watsons, the guys winning majors. I want to compete with them on a Sunday at a major championship, go head to head with them and have a chance to win majors.”

After taking a three-stroke advantage into Sunday, the 27-year-old Horschel led or shared the lead throughout the final round. Ryan Palmer tied him at No. 6 and No. 11. But a bogey at No. 12 and a double bogey following a shanked shot into the water from the left rough on 13 ended his challenge.

Horschel shot a 1-under-par 69 in the final round to post a winning total of 14-under 266. The victory was worth $1.44 million and it vaulted him to second in the FedExCup point standings (behind Chris Kirk) going into next week’s season finale at the Tour Championship, where the FedExCup champ will earn a $10 million annuity. (Sept. 14 update: Horschel went on to also win the Tour Championship and the overall FedExCup title.)

Watson (left) placed second on Sunday — his best Tour showing since winning the Masters in April — at 268 by carding three consecutive rounds of 66. A day after setting the competitive course record at Cherry Hills with a 62, Morgan Hoffmann almost matched it on Sunday, settling for a 63. He shot a 6-under 30 on the back nine for the second straight day, making a 16-foot eagle on No. 17 and then missing a 9-foot birdie attempt on No. 18. He finished at 269.

Though he didn’t win, Hoffmann did something almost as impressive. After starting the week No. 68 in the FedExCup standings, his 15-under-par weekend vaulted him into the top 30 and into an improbable berth in the Tour Championship in Atlanta. He started the playoffs in the No. 124 position and now is 21st.

“It means the world to me,” said Hoffmann, a former Oklahoma State teammate of Rickie Fowler’s. “Since the beginning of the season I’ve had a goal to get to Atlanta. Coming into the weekend, I knew I had to go pretty low. My caddie and I had a really good mindset and everything was positive this week.”

As far back as Hoffmann started, he didn’t challenge Horschel’s lead on Sunday. But Palmer did, catching him for the second time with a birdie at No. 11. But going bogey-double bogey the next two holes led to him dropping five strokes in the final seven holes and finishing fourth.

Palmer called his swing on the par-3 12th “probably the worst of the day or maybe for the week.” As for his shank into the water from the rough at No. 13, “When you’re going down in rough like that on a downhill lie, it’s going to come out squirrely. And it came out straight right, obviously, with a hook from the hosel. … You know, it’s a fickle game.”

Garcia still had a chance at two behind going into the par-5 17th. But he took a snowman (an 8) on that hole after taking 6 to get down from 83 yards away in the fairway. He put his third shot over the green, then pitched into the water.

“If I was mentally sharp, the way I was at the beginning and the middle of the year, I would have talked myself into going for the green (with his second shot),” Garcia said. “But for some reason, I was trying to, but I couldn’t. Then just mistake after mistake.”

Watson crept within two with a two-putt birdie on No. 17, but he ran out of holes with Horschel parring his final 11 holes Sunday.

“I started out slow in the tournament (70), but finished strong,” Watson said. “I had a chance on the last hole to scare him a little bit, but obviously I didn’t make that (24-foot birdie) putt and he played solid.”

As for Horschel (left), the victory gave him a solid answer to people who criticized him after he fell short Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

“The people on Twitter and social media … say that I choked and ‘you’re no good,'” he noted. “That doesn’t affect me, but I just like to stick it to them and it was nice to get that victory and stick it to some of those people that had some negative comments for me. That just adds fuel to my fire, and I’m going to stick it to you every time.”

For BMW Championship scores, CLICK HERE.

The BMW Championship earned the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year honor in both 2012 and ’13, and it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if Cherry Hills Country Club made it a trifecta this year.

Total attendance figures for the week weren’t finalized as of Sunday afternoon, but tournament general chairman George Solich expects numbers to be in the 125,000 neighborhood for the six days the site was open to fans.

“I know (Saturday) we had 30,000 people here and today was more,” he said. “My sense is we’ll be close to 125,000 for the week. It was a great, great attendance. All around the golf course, there was a sea of people wherever you went — which is why this is an incredibly great golf course to host this. There are so many great places to watch golf on the course.”

If the attendance exceeds 125,000, the BMW Championship will be at least the fourth big golf tournament Colorado has hosted in the last decade to draw more than that figure for a week. The 2005 U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills lured more than 131,000 people, the 2011 Women’s Open at the Broadmoor more than 130,000, and the 2008 U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor had attendance of almost 129,000. And though the total at the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club was announced at 110,000, club officials say that because ticket scanners were down for an extended period, the actual number of people on hand was far greater.

In the first PGA Tour event held in Colorado since 2006 — and at Cherry Hills since 1985 — the players were impressed by the turnout all week.

“It’s been a pleasure to play in front of so many people,” said Rory McIlroy, the world’s top-ranked golfer.

“There were thousands and thousands of people out here this weekend,” added champion Billy Horschel (left, with Solich). “I hope the PGA Tour realizes what kind of fan base and what support they have in Colorado.”

Among those in attendance on Sunday was Gov. John Hickenlooper.

“I know he was absolutely thrilled,” Solich said.

Ever since Cherry Hills was awarded the 2014 BMW Championship, Solich has had a goal of making the most of the opportunity. Besides organizing a tournament that the fans and players appreciate, he wanted to raise as much money as possible for the Evans Scholars Foundation, the sole beneficiary of the BMW Championship. Since 1930, full tuition and housing Evans Scholarships have been awarded to qualified caddies who demonstrate significant financial need.

As Solich himself was an Evans Scholar at the University of Colorado (class of 1983), he appreciates what a difference the money raised at the BMW Championship can make. From 2007 through ’13, the tournament has raised more than $16 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation.

The figure for this year’s tournament isn’t yet finalized, but Solich hopes it will be the best ever for the BMW Championship.

“We haven’t added up all the marbles, but we broke every record in hospitality sales, and we broke every record for revenue from ticket sales,” he said. “We have every chance to be — knock on wood — the No. 1 BMW Championship in history in terms of revenue generated to the Evans Scholars Foundation — which was one of our goals.”

After taking part in the trophy ceremony on the 18th green Sunday, Solich reflected on the tournament to which he’s devoted so much of his time over the last three years.

“Throughout the entire week, all we heard was how good the golf course was, how great the service was, how well organized we were, and how great it was to be back in Colorado,” Solich said. “Whether it was fans or players or caddies or media, we really heard all the same echoes. Clearly, all the hard work paid off and there were lots and lots of people who came together to pull this great team effort together.

“It’s terrific to see it come to fruition after three years of work. It’s a little surreal. It goes by very fast once you’re in it. Obviously I think we proved this is a great venue for golf. That’s why we’ve been out here for so many years with so many great championships.”

Golf Channel analyst Steve Sands noted Sunday the behind-the-scenes efforts of Solich and the organizational team in making the championship come off relatively seamlessly.

“You have no idea the tireless work done by George and his staff,” Sands told fans and officials assembled for the post-championship ceremony.

The weather for the week was largely cooperative, with just a brief lightning-related delay Thursday evening that kept nine players from completing round 1 that day.

The rain did lead to some major on-the-fly changes of parking lots, but the backup plans seemed to work well, given the circumstances.

Some players nitpicked about specific holes on the course — the 526-yard par-4 fifth, which through three rounds was playing as the toughest hole on the PGA Tour this season, was mentioned more than once — but that happens at every venue.

A new competitive course record was established — an 8-under-par 62 by Morgan Hoffmann on Saturday — but Cherry Hills held up well to the best players in the world.

Meanwhile, NBC essayist Jimmy Roberts did a nice feature that ran nationally on the weekend. The story gave viewers a local angle on the Evans Scholarship. Included were segments on Solich, on current CU Evans Scholar Melyzjah Smith, and on the caddie program in which Smith worked, the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course. CommonGround is owned and operated the CGA and CWGA. The Academy is named for Solich and his older brother, Geoff, who’s also a CU Evans Scholar alum.

Looking to the future, Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway, a member at Cherry Hills, noted earlier this summer that the club would be interested in hosting the BMW Championship again down the road.

“It’s in (Cherry Hills’) charter; we’re always trying to bring tremendous tournaments here,” Elway said in July. “We’d love to get into the rotation — I’ll throw that out here — for the BMW at some point. That’s part of the heritage and tradition of this club — to be able to bring top-notch (events) — whether they be majors or the BMW/FedExCup-type tournaments.”

Solich reiterated that thought late Sunday afternoon.

“We really want to be in the conversation (to host such tournaments), and I think it’s absolutely clear we’re now in the conversation,” he said. “That’s all you can hope for. We don’t have a contract. There’s no guarantee to come back, but certainly we’re in the conversation.”

Ogden Right on the Mark: From the department of “give credit where credit is due”, it’s worth noting that Cherry Hills head professional John Ogden predicted in the weeks leading up to the BMW Championship that the winning score would be 264 to 268.

Billy Horschel won with a 266 total.

Stadler’s Season Comes to End: Kevin Stadler wore a big Denver Broncos logo on his shirt Sunday, but that mojo wasn’t enough to extend his best PGA Tour season. The part-time Denver resident failed to conclude the BMW Championship in the top 30 in the FedExCup standings, meaning he won’t advance to next week’s Tour Championship.

Stadler finished 50th at Cherry Hills Country Club, shooting 74-69-70-71 for a 4-over-par 284 total. That left him 38th in FedExCup points.

“It was obviously a goal (to advance),” said Stadler, winner of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February. “It was a frustrating week overall. I felt like I played really well and my scoring was just horrendous. I feel like I struck the ball well enough to contend and to win and I finished almost dead last. It was frustrating around the greens and my scoring was really non-existent this week.”

For the record, Gary Woodland earned the last spot in the Tour Championship (29th since No. 30 Dustin Johnson is taking a leave of absence from the Tour.)

Dreaded 12th Strikes Again for McIlroy: Suffice it to say the green at the par-3 12th hole won’t go down as one of Rory McIlroy’s favorites.

He’s four-putted a total of seven times in his PGA Tour career, and two of them have come at No. 12 at Cherry Hills. After four-putting from 4 feet for a triple bogey there Saturday, he inexplicably four-jiggled again Sunday, this time from 19 feet for double bogey.

On the weekend, he played the 204-yard hole in 5 over par, needing eight putts in two days.

“Two four-putts on the same green? It’s not my worst,” McIlroy noted. “I have five-putted before. But it’s one of those things that at least I can laugh about it and move on.”

McIlroy admits he thought about what happened at 12 on Saturday while over his second putt Sunday.

“I said to myself, ‘Let’s not give any more shots away to this hole,'” he said. “So I maybe put a little bit too much pressure on myself to hole that second putt. On the third putt, I’m thinking, ‘OK, you don’t want to four-putt again’, and I actually held a decent length putt for a four-putt.

“It sort of shows everyone out there that we do the same things as they do every weekend.”

Lucky No. 7 for Sergio: Sergio Garcia took quite a liking to the dogleg-left 395-yard seventh hole at Cherry Hills this week. On Sunday, for the second time this week, the Spaniard holed out for eagle, this time from 35 yards. On Friday, his eagle on that hole came from 126 yards. In case you’re wondering, Garcia played the hole in birdie and bogey on the other two days, making him 4 under on No. 7 for the week.

Rory McIlroy also made a deuce on the par-4 seventh Sunday, holing out from 56 yards.

Garcia shot a 5-under-par 29 and McIlroy a 30 on the front nine.

Notable: Henrik Stenson won’t be around to defend his FedExCup Playoffs title next week at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Stenson finished 23rd at the BMW Championship and ended up 52nd in the FedExCup standings (CLICK HERE). … Billy Horschel, 27, became the 16th different player under 30 to win on the PGA Tour in the 2013-14 wraparound season. Those 16 players have accounted for 21 victories. … Horschel’s wife, Brittany, is scheduled to give birth to their first child on Sept. 27. … In case you were wondering: Horschel sprinted up the 18th fairway after hitting his second shot Sunday because nature called.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

For the second time in the same week, Billy Horschel has put himself in position to win a PGA Tour FedExCup Playoff event.

He came up short on Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship near Boston, where he bogeyed the relatively easy 18th hole and squandered an opportunity to win or force a playoff with Chris Kirk.

But if the second-place finish on Labor Day was a big blow, Horschel isn’t showing it this week at the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club.

“It was just a bad swing at the wrong time” on Monday, Horschel said after shooting a 7-under-par 63 on Saturday and grabbing a three-stroke lead at Cherry Hills. “I’ve got some really thick skin, so nothing really bothers me too much. I’m a better player than I showed with that golf shot. But you can’t dwell on things like that. It wasn’t a big deal.”

Apparently not.

Horschel, who competed in the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in Aurora in 2008 when he was one of the top-ranked amateurs in the world, has gone 68-66-63 at Cherry Hills for a 13-under-par 197 total for three days. After his bogey-free 7-under-par round Saturday, he’ll have a bit of a cushion heading into the final day.

“I thought I played good (66) and he beat me by a few,” noted Saturday playing partner Bubba Watson. “He’s a great ball-striker and when he gets his putter going, he can really score. And that’s what he did today.”

Ryan Palmer has carded scores of 64-67 the last two days, but he’s three behind going into the final 18 of the penultimate FedExCup Playoff event.

Two 2014 major champions, Watson (Masters) and Martin Kaymer (left, U.S. Open), are five back of Horschel after three rounds, with Kaymer losing ground despite his 64 Saturday. Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia, two other members of golf’s elite echelon, are next best, with Fowler at 203 and Garcia at 204.

Even though the greens were relatively soft in the wake of Thursday evening’s rainstorm, a 63 to take the lead wasn’t too shabby.

“Obviously, today was a great round,” said Horschel, a 27-year-old Floridian who has won once on the PGA Tour. “This is a real challenging golf course. Even though it’s playing a little softer than Thursday’s round, you’ve got to be smart out there. You can easily make bogeys if you get out of position. So that was probably one of the top three, top five rounds all year (for me).”

Horschel birdied four of the last five holes, capping things off with a 32-foot birdie on the tough 18th.

Palmer likewise drained a long birdie on 18 — from 30 feet in his case — to stay a little more within striking distance of Horschel.

“Take your hats off to Billy for shooting 7 under today; that was awesome,” said Palmer, who’s won three times on Tour, though not since 2010. “I’m just proud of the way I fought and hung in there today. I’m not used to playing with Rory (McIlroy) and Sergio in the final group with that kind of crowd.”

Asked if he was flying under the radar Saturday, Palmer said, “Obviously you heard a lot of ‘Rorys’ and ‘Sergios’, but I had my few ‘Ryans’ and ‘Palmers’. I had my 10, 15 people yelling for me.”

But NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller went so far as to call Palmer “the most improved player on Tour.”

As for Horschel, coming off the Deutsche Bank runner-up, he figured he’d be in the mix at the BMW Championship.

“I’m a momentum player,” he said. “I knew coming into this week I was going to play well.”

Morgan Hoffmann’s competitive course-record 62 and Horschel’s 63 were the best scores of the bunch on Saturday, but the majority of the field (35 players) broke par. But not among them were two crowd favorites who were paired in the final group with Palmer on Saturday. World No. 1 McIlroy and Garcia (left, with Palmer) matched 72s, leaving Garcia seven behind and McIlroy nine.

McIlroy, winner of the British Open and PGA Championship this summer, fell back with a triple-bogey on the par-3 12th hole. For just the sixth time in his PGA Tour career, McIlroy four-putted a hole. But this might have been the worst of the bunch, as the first of the four putts was from 4 feet. Not surprisingly, he subsequently swatted the ball to a watery grave.

“The 12th hole really derailed me,” he said, noting that it wasn’t until his third putt that he lost concentration. “Obviously, to go from being right there in the tournament (then) dropping three shots in one hole wasn’t what I wanted.”

For BMW Championship scores, CLICK HERE.
 

For Sunday’s final-round pairings, CLICK HERE.

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BMW Championship: The Essentials

What — BMW Championship PGA Tour FedExCup Playoff Event.

Where — Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village.

Schedule
Sept. 7: Sunday tee times from 9:35-11:15 a.m. off the first and 10th tees.

Gates Open — 8 a.m. 

TV Coverage — Sept. 7: 10 a.m.-noon, Golf Channel and noon-4 p.m., KUSA (9).

Free Admission for Juniors — Kids 16 and under will be admitted free to the BMW Championship when accompanied by an adult ticket or credential holder.

Military Admission Policy — All active-duty, retired, reserve and veterans will receive free admission for one day of the tournament. Each military member must verify his or her military status on the website (CLICK HERE) and print off a free ticket voucher in advance of the tournament.

Field — The top 70 players in the FedExCup Playoff standings after the Deutsche Bank Championship concluded on Sept. 1. There was no cut during the BMW Championship.

Purse — $8 million, with $1.44 million going to the winner.

Course Set-up — 7,352 yards. Par-70 (34-36). 3-inch-deep bluegrass rough. Greens 11-11.5 on Stimpmeter.

Tournament Beneficiary — All the net proceeds from the BMW Championship go to the Evans Scholars Foundation, which awards full tuition and housing college scholarships to worthy and qualified caddies with limited financial means. The average value of an Evans Scholarship nationwide is estimated to be $80,000. One of the 14 Evans Scholarship houses is located at the University of Colorado in Boulder. About 870 caddies are currently on scholarship nationwide, and the program has produced almost 10,000 alums since 1930, with about 430 from CU. Among the CU Evans Scholar alums is George Solich, the general chairman of the 2014 BMW Championship.

Autographs and Cameras — Not permitted during championship rounds Thursday through Sunday.

Tournament History — The BMW Championship’s predecessor, the Western Open, began in 1899, making it the third-oldest PGA Tour event, behind the British Open and U.S. Open. The tournament was renamed the BMW Championship in 2007 when it became part of the FedExCup Playoffs.

Course History — Cherry Hills Country Club, a William Flynn-designed course, opened in 1922. It has hosted a myriad of significant tournaments over the years: U.S. Opens in 1938, ’60 and ’78; PGA Championships in 1941 and ’85; a U.S. Women’s Open in 2005; U.S. Amateurs in 1990 and 2012; a U.S. Senior Open in 1993; a U.S. Senior Amateur in 1976; and a U.S. Mid-Amateur in 1983. Winners of those events include Arnold Palmer (’60 U.S. Open), Jack Nicklaus (’93 U.S. Senior Open) and Phil Mickelson (’90 U.S. Amateur).

For More Information — Visit the BMW Championship website (CLICK HERE.)         

On the 10th hole Sergio found himself up a tree, literally. The spectators never saw the ball land on the ground and when he arrived a search began. Thinking his ball may be up in the tree Sergio climbed up into the tree to try and find his ball, which he successfully did. It was tucked nicely at the bottom of a “U” that was formed by two tree branches. At this point Sergio had two options, he could play the ball as it lies from within the tree, or declare his ball unplayable choosing from any of the three options under Rule 28 (Ball Unplayable) incurring a one-stroke penalty.

These options are:

a. Proceed under the stroke and distance provision of Rule 27-1 by playing a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5), or

b. Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind that point the ball may be dropped, or

c. Drop a ball within two club-lengths of the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole. (Note: Had Sergio declared his ball unplayable and chosen this option, he would have estimated a spot on the ground directly below where his ball lay and used this as his reference point for dropping within two club-lengths.)

Much to the pleasure of the crowd, Sergio decided to play his ball as it lies from within the tree. He turned his back to the target and struck the ball one-handed with the club head reversed, miraculously getting it back into the fairway.

Most of us do have the skill set to hit our golf ball into a tree, but hitting it back out within the Rules is another story. We would be better off knowing the three options under Rule 28 and leaving the heroic tree climbing to the tour pros and firefighters!