By Joel Beall
Patrick Cantlay is a man of many talents, as his Sunday performance at Caves Valley suggested. He is a second-shot savant. A lights-out putter. A stone-cold assassin. And, apparently, a reporter.

When speaking to the media following his BMW Championship victory Sunday night, Cantlay broke some news—perhaps accidentally—on the upcoming Ryder Cup.

With his third win of the season, Cantlay secured the sixth and final automatic bid for the American team. Cantlay was asked what it meant to make his first Ryder Cup squad, and in the process revealed this tidbit.

“Yeah, I’m excited. Fred Couples texted me this week and said it looks like he’s going to be one of the assistant captains, and so he’ll be up there,” Cantlay said.

For what it’s worth, Couples has not been announced as an assistant to U.S. captain Steve Striker. Those honours, publicly at least, have gone to Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Davis Love III. Though the role historically has been ceremonial, assistants have become a bigger part of the Ryder Cup experience over the past 15 years.

“I’ve been talking with Xander, obviously, and J.T. and Jordan, and we’re really looking forward to it,” Cantlay continued. “It’s nice to get in on points. I think that’s the case. And I’m really looking forward to that whole event. I’ve heard so much about it and watched it growing up. I mean, I’m sure it will be everything I’ve imagined and more. I will lock in there, and hopefully we’ll get a victory.”

Cantlay did play on the 2019 Presidents Cup team, scoring three points for the Americans in a victory at Royal Melbourne. As for Couples, he has been a Presidents Cup captain three times, and was an assistant for Stricker at the 2017 Presidents Cup.

The Ryder Cup begins Sept. 24 at Whistling Straits.

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By Joel Beall
We are subscribers to the “bad carpenters blame their tools” theory when it comes to golfers and their equipment. In that same breath … sometimes a club needs to die. So we come here not to criticise Rory McIlroy for what he did to his 3-wood on Monday, but to sympathise.

McIlroy made the cut at the playoff-opening Northern Trust last week but was never a factor in the proceedings, finishing 13 strokes behind Tony Finau at Northern Trust. The Ulsterman was seen putting in extra hours at the Caves Valley range on Tuesday, perhaps a byproduct of that so-so finish (at least to McIlroy’s lofty standards). Turns out that extra season was needed because McIlroy needed to be fit into a new driver and fairway wood. A new driver because the one he was using was spinning too much to McIlroy’s liking.

The 3-wood …, well, take it away, Rory.

“I threw my 3-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike off the 9th hole yesterday, or on Monday, and so I was without a 3-wood coming here,” McIlroy explained.

That would do it.

However, before you try and file an insurance claim or lawsuit for a rogue 3-wood falling from the sky and banging up your Toyota Camry on the way to Hackensack, there’s a good chance McIlroy’s stick didn’t reach the turnpike. But for those wanting a free 3-wood, have at it:

“I mightn’t have reached the road but I threw it into the trees off the ninth tee at Liberty National,” McIlroy clarified, “so if someone wants to go get a 3-wood, there’s one in there somewhere.”

Again, we empathize with Rory’s frustrations. But when in Jersey, do as the Jerseyites do. Meaning tie a stick of cement on that bad boy and fire it into the Hudson.

McIlroy’s not been his usual self this summer, dropping out of the top 15 in the world ranking for the first time since 2009. Luckily, this week’s venue at Caves Valley should fit his style, giving him a platform to make a late run at the FedEx Cup.

“It’s a big ballpark, can certainly let it rip out here, hit a lot of drivers,” he said. “I think there’s been a lot of rain in the Baltimore area, so it’s pretty soft, so the ball is not really going anywhere when it hits, which is good. It makes the course play nice and long, which I like.”

And for his sake, hopefully, he likes the new sticks in his bag, too.

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By Christopher Powers
In today’s sports environment, many fans lament the fact that there isn’t enough hate between opponents. Flip on the end of an NBA or NFL game and you’ll often see opposing players embracing one another, and even swapping and signing jerseys.

In golf, a lone-wolf sport, everyone is your opponent. Still, while the Bryson-Brooks saga has brought what some might say is a much-needed “rivalry” to the game, for the most part everybody is fairly buddy-buddy.

Even Jon Rahm, one of the more fiery competitors in golf, couldn’t help but cheer on good friend Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship in May. (Mickelson returned the favor in June, when Rahm won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.) On Monday at The Northern Trust, Rahm could be seen embracing another pal, Tony Finau, behind the 18th green at Liberty National after Finau snapped a five-year win drought by beating Cameron Smith on the first playoff hole.

It was surprising and not surprising at the same time. Surprising because Rahm had just essentially thrown the tournament away down the stretch, making a pair of late bogeys that dashed his own hopes of victory. Not surprising because Finau and Rahm are good friends, and Finau is one of the nicest guys on tour, a fact we already knew but Rahm confirmed on Tuesday during a pre-tournament press conference for the BMW Championship.

“If you don’t like Tony Finau, there’s something seriously wrong with you,” Rahm said from Caves Valley. Take that, haters.

“He’s about as nice a guy as you’ll ever meet. He’s a great friend, a great father and a great golfer. We all recognize his talent. We all see it. He’s been close so many times.”

The Spaniard added that while he was upset that Finau’s (second) breakthrough victory came at his expense, it was still special to see him get it done, for a number of reasons.

“I know he was wearing green again because it was his mom’s favourite colour. If you ask him, I don’t want to talk too much, but the day his daughter was born, part of her name is related to his mom.

“I was happy for him because I know that was something special. I know what it is to win when something is that meaningful, there’s something more special than just a tour win. That’s a big one for the Finau family. As a friend I was really happy, but I know there was something up above willing for him to win that helped him out.”

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By Brendan Porath
In its 14-year history coinciding with the inception of the FedEx Cup in 2007, the BMW Championship has visited eight different venues. This week will bring its ninth in Caves Valley Golf Club, sitting just outside Baltimore in Owings Mills, Md., and hosting its first PGA Tour event.

Caves Valley may be getting its first taste of the tour, but it is no stranger to championship golf. The relatively young club—it opened in 1991—has hosted multiple senior major championships, the LPGA’s inaugural International Crown team event, men’s and women’s NCAA championships, a USGA Mid-Am and several other high-level amateur events.

The most recent championship held at “Caves” (a common shorthand reference) was the 2017 Senior Players Championship, a PGA Tour Champions major where Scott McCarron won over Bernhard Langer and Brandt Jobe by a shot. It’s hard to envision that recent major as an analog for anything we’ll see this week given the differences in setup between the two tours and the explosion in swing speeds and optimisation just in the intervening four years.

In that Senior Players, McCarron posted rounds of 67-68-69-66 on the way to an 18-under-par winning score. Since then and with the announcement that the PGA Tour would be coming to Caves, the club built several new tee boxes to add some 250 to 300 yards (this week’s yardage is listed as 7,542), built a few new bunkers, re-built the remaining ones, and strengthened the rough in spots to prepare for most of the best players in the world.

“We’ve lengthened a number of holes by adding new tees and repositioning fairway bunkers so that relative to the distances that everybody is hitting it now, the golf course plays the way it was designed to play,” said Bernie Najar, Caves Valley’s Director of Instruction. “That coupled with every bunker has been re-done … the new tee boxes and new bunkers all have the latest and greatest technology for drainage. We pretty much did a massive renovation in partnership with the PGA Tour to put together a phenomenal experience for the players and the fans.”

With its trove of shot data, the tour provided some insights for the renovation work in advance of the BMW Championship. “So it’s all been scaled accordingly,” Najar said. “They have GPS to really help with the renovations to show where the players hit it and where these bunkers need to go. And at the same time, it’s made our golf course more member-friendly from the standpoint that they are not driving it into certain bunkers that they used to.”

The par-4 ninth hole at Caves Valley will play as the 18th hole during the BMW Championship. Najar said he thought it could be the toughest driving hole, and even “the longest hitter in the world couldn’t cover the last bunker.”

Caves was designed by Tom Fazio, an architect not unfamiliar to the tour and its talents. These players see Fazio’s work at majors and often on tour at places like Quail Hollow and when the BMW was played at Conway Farms, or in the most recent years at Shadow Creek and Congaree. The nines have been flipped for the tour event, with the BMW back nine coming on the more open and less tree-lined portion of the course where fans and grandstands will have vistas of multiple holes. Like some of those aforementioned Fazios, and with bunkers that have been re-done at a place with significant resources almost exclusively earmarked to golf, it will look impressive on television. It should not be a dramatic departure from what these tour players see most weeks and the television product that viewers get on tour.

The course is firmer and faster than it was for the 2017 Senior Players, but rainfall over the last 10 days in the area will make it challenging to dial that all the way up this week. Expect plenty of birdies, and right out of the gate with the nines flipped. “You’re going to see some drivable par 4s, which are always fun to watch,” Najar said. “The guys are actually starting on a potentially drivable par 4, our 10th hole [playing as No. 1 for the BMW]. I think you’ll see some quick starts because they play 10, which is drivable, 11 is a par 5, 13 is a par 5, and 14 is a drivable par 4. So I think you’re going to see some low scoring. You’re going to see a lot of fun shots hit because there is some risk-reward. And then you’re also going to see some classic design that makes the players play the quality of golf shots you need to on the long par 4s and a par 3s to be in contention. But there will definitely be a lot of birdies made.”

When it’s not hosting a tour event, golf is always the primary focus at this club. The membership is exclusive, to be sure, invite-only and reportedly capped at 600, many of whom are out-of-town folks with status, as they say. It’s welcoming once you’re on the grounds and everything is done to ensure you, the golfer, can enjoy a day in golf “fairytale land,” as Najar put it. Dennis Satyshur, a former Duke quarterback and something of a legend among the club pro ranks, has been the Director of Golf since the club opened in 1991 and established much of the golf culture there (Jim Nantz mentioned during Monday’s broadcast of The Northern Trust that Satyshur would be retiring in the fall).

Part of that culture is the “CV” landscape logo, which is often noted for its ubiquity both on the grounds and off. It’s a phenomenon you hear repeatedly about Caves, and it’s become a point of amusement and pride. Najar said every member “flies the flag” when on property and speaking anecdotally, the Caves logo is certainly among the most frequent you’ll see pop up at golf courses or randomly outside the ropes at events around the country.

Najar has been in the Director of Instruction role for a decade, working with elite talents from the junior level on up and counts Kyle Berkshire, the World Long Drive champ among his pupils. Najar recently went out with Berkshire and put him on the back of every tee box with a “normal” 45-inch driver, to get a frame of reference on where some of the biggest hitters on tour might be putting their tee shots. “Nobody hits it as far as Kyle but seeing where he was hitting it was helpful in that I know he’s 25 yards past Bryson,” he said. “So I could see where Bryson is going to be and certainly the bombers.

“It’s going to be a shootout so you’re going to have to take some risks out there,” Najar continued. “I think it’s going to be someone, in my opinion, that hits it plenty far. I think, overall, a righty who fades the ball has a slight advantage, just the way the golf course is. There are certain shots that are easier to fade. It’s going to be like every week out there, the guy who is controlling their distance has the best chance.”

The course may be new to the tour, but it’s not new to everyone in the field. Georgia won the 2005 men’s NCAA Championship here, and the roster included Kevin Kisner and Chris Kirk, 31st and 60th in the playoff standings, respectively. A college event 16 years ago probably does not yield any great advantage and given the familiarity with the architect and style of test, the top 70 should be able to scout and adjust even with the shortened prep week thanks to the weather-delayed finish at The Northern Trust.

Georgia won the 2005 NCAA mens’ team title at Caves Valley with a line-up that included Chris Kirk (second from left), Brendon Todd (fourth from left) and Kevin Kisner (far right). Kirk and Kisner are competing at the BMW Championship. (Photo courtesy of the Georgia Athletics)

The BMW Championship’s roots lie in the old Western Open and the Western Golf Association still helps manage the event. The organization’s orbit is generally thought to be the Midwest, with the center being Chicago. The BMW has kept Chicago as a quasi-home base while rotating around the Midwest and going as far east as Philadelphia. But this is the start of a two-year run on the East Coast, with Baltimore hosting this year and a trip to Wilmington, Del. on the schedule next year. That hiatus from the Chicago area and Midwest does not quite approximate the intermission since Baltimore has hosted an event like this, and the locals will be ready.

“We haven’t had a professional golf [PGA Tour] event in Baltimore in 60 years so it’s pretty big for Charm City,” Najar said. “And I think we’re going to see some of the best in action play one of the most enjoyable golf courses you’ll play anywhere.”

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