Ziehm: BMW Championship a chance for Streelman to shine
Kevin Streelman has $21.2 million in winnings since making his PGA Tour debut in 2001. Chicago's most prominent golfer, however, could make this strange pandemic-hampered 2020 season his best yet. It largely depends on how he performs this week at Olympia Fields Country Club.
Streelman grew up in Wheaton, was a multisport athlete at Wheaton Warrenville South and developed as a golfer playing at Cantigny and Arrowhead. While he has won twice on the PGA Tour, the biggest paydays for Tour players come in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields is the second of three tournaments in this year's series. It's all about numbers now.
First event in the series, The Northern Trust in Boston, concluded Sunday and the last, The Tour Championship in Atlanta, is next week. The first two offered $9.5 million in prize money, which is significantly more than is on the line at most every Tour event. The BMW and Tour Championship are more lucrative because there is no 36-hole cut. Make the field and you have a big payday.
Prize money has not been announced for The Tour Championship, but a $10 million bonus awaits the overall winner of the FedEx Cup.
Getting into the playoffs, which started with the top 125 players on a season-long point race, was no problem for Streelman. He was No. 22 going into The Northern Trust and in the top 70 after Sunday's final putt dropped, qualifying for the BMW, which tees off Thursday.
Streelman, largely because of his regular-season play that included runner-up finishes at Pebble Beach and Hartford, also coasted into the BMW, but he will have to play better in what is like a home game to make it to The Tour Championship. Only 30 players will compete in Atlanta.
Already some top players are gone. Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson and Jordan Spieth saw their playoff hopes evaporate in The Northern Trust. Streelman began that tournament in top form, taking a share of the first round lead by shooting a 64. After that, he was 2-over-par for the final three rounds (71-73-71) and tied for 61st.
A repeat of that collapse would likely leave Streelman out of The Tour Championship. Still, he'd be assured of a better playoff outcome than he had last year when the BMW was played at Medinah. A disappointing showing in the first playoff event resulted in Streelman failing to make the 70-player field at Medinah, a club much closer to his roots than Olympia Fields.
Streelman does know what it is to make The Tour Championship, however. He did it in 2010 and 2013 and ended both years with a No. 25 FedEx ranking. Despite the subpar showing last week Streelman's ranking dropped only to No. 28. If he protects his ranking he'll be in Atlanta.
Last week four golfers played their way into the BMW after being ranked out of the top 70. Good play enabled Russell Henley to climb from 101 to 61, Robby Shelton to jump from 81 to 62, Jason Kokrak to come from 90 to 66 and Louis Oosthuizen to rise from 99 to 70.
Olympia Fields last hosted the PGA Tour stars in 2003 when Jim Furyk won the U.S. Open. In this strange year, two majors - the U.S. Open and Masters - will be played after the FedEx Cup. The Open is next month and the Masters in November.
Bits & pieces: The Illinois PGA Championship concludes Wednesday at Medinah No. 1. Medinah teaching pro Travis Johns is the defending champion and one of 10 pros from the host club in the field.
Last week was a good one for area players on the PGA's Korn Ferry Tour. Northbrook's Nick Hardy tied for fifth in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio, with Deerfield's Vince India 11th and Lake Forest's Brad Hopfinger 18th.
Elizabeth Szokol of Winnetka tied for 32nd and earned $27,149 in last week's LPGA AIG Open in Scotland.
Ex-Bear Patrick Mannelly, host of the Golf360 show on NBC Sports Chicago, is the celebrity ambassador for the Illinois PGA's Birdies for Charity event Sept. 8 at River Forest Country Club in Addison.
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