BMW Championship 2026: FedEx Cup Playoffs at Bellerive

The BMW Championship 2026 opened Thursday at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis as the second event of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoffs. CBS Sports and the USA TODAY Network's Palm Beach Post both framed the week the same way: a 50-player field, a $20 million purse, and 30 tickets to next week's Tour Championship. The PGA Tour lists Bellerive as a par-70, 7,448-yard setup with a $20 million purse and 750 FedEx Cup points to the winner. This is the last stop before East Lake.

Scottie Scheffler is the name everyone else is chasing. He won the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week in Memphis by eight strokes, the Palm Beach Post reported, and CBS called his FedEx Cup lead commanding after that result snapped a winless drought. The BMW Championship 2026 is his first chance to stack playoff trophies. It is everyone else's last chance to catch him before the field shrinks again.

BMW Championship 2026 format, purse, and TV

Fifty golfers. Four days. The top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings after Sunday advance to the Tour Championship. The Palm Beach Post said the BMW Championship 2026 purse is $20 million, with $3.6 million to the winner, and that next week's Tour Championship winner is playing for $10 million. First tee Thursday was 10:03 a.m. ET, Justin Thomas with Sahith Theegala. ESPN had the early window. Golf Channel took the afternoon. PGA Tour Live streaming sits on the ESPN app.

The Post's Thursday forecast for St. Louis was a high around 86, partly cloudy, northeast wind about 7 mph, and a 25 percent chance of rain. Scheffler was grouped with Matt Fitzpatrick at 2:33 p.m. ET, among the last starters. Rory McIlroy went off about an hour earlier with Xander Schauffele. Those are the featured games inside a 50-man field that has no cut in the usual regular-season sense. The cut is the top 30.

Scottie Scheffler and the FedEx Cup chase

CBS Sports listed the subplots before the first ball went in the air. Scheffler is trying to turn last week's eight-shot win into a playoff run. McIlroy is trying to shake rust after time off and a poor week in Memphis. Five of the game's top names still have no win this season, CBS noted: Si Woo Kim, Sam Burns, Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood, and Xander Schauffele. The BMW Championship 2026 is late to start a first-win hunt. It is not too late to keep East Lake alive.

The Post said Scheffler is the favorite to pick up his third victory of the year. That is the favorite's tax. Everyone in the 50 already survived the first playoff event. Only 30 leave St. Louis with another week of work.

Who is on the Tour Championship bubble

The Palm Beach Post published the bubble entering Round 1. Kurt Kitayama sat 28th with 1,259 points. Bud Cauley and Rickie Fowler were tied for 29th and 30th at 1,258. Gary Woodland was 31st at 1,256, two points behind Fowler. J.T. Poston was 32nd at 1,237. CBS said just four points separated Kitayama in 28th from Woodland in 31st, and that Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas started the week 43rd and 44th. They need a week, not a vibe.

The BMW Championship 2026 will sort that list by Sunday. Bellerive does not care who brought in the better story. It cares who is inside 30 when the scores are in the book. That is the entire FedEx Cup assignment this week.