The second leg of the 2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs, the BMW Championship, will begin on Thursday, Aug. 18 at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware.
Rory McIlroy is the betting favorite at +1000, but the BMW Championship seems wide open as there are 13 players listed at +2200 or shorter at FanDuel.
Recent history suggests that the winner of this event will come from the top of the board — the last three winners were Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, and Patrick Cantlay — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile to consider a longshot or two to add to your card.
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Early reports from Wilmington Country Club — a course that has never hosted a PGA Tour event before — are that it will play long and significantly favor players who can bomb the ball off the tee.
“This golf course is definitely just like last year, extremely distance biased. You’ve got to hit it as far as you can and hit a lot of fairways,” Patrick Cantlay said about the course. “I don’t think there’s too much strategy to this golf course.”
With that in mind, you’re going to want to find guys who put the “long” in long shots. Below are two players who have the skillset needed to upset the odds at the BMW Championship:
Trey Mullinax (+12500, BetMGM)
Playing the best golf of his career, Trey Mullinax has both the form and the skillset you’re looking for in a longshot at this course. The Alabama native has a win and a T5 in his last four tournaments and has finished inside the top-40 four starts on the spin. Mullinax ranks ninth on the PGA TOUR in driving distance and 27th in Strokes Gained: Off the tee, so if this does turn into a driving contest, the 30-year-old has what it takes to contend.
Trey Mullinax hits a shot at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.Getty ImagesBetting on golf?
Kurt Kitayama (+21000, FanDuel)
One of the biggest prices on the board, Kurt Kitayama is, like every longshot, a boom-or-bust player. That said, the California native does pack plenty of boom into his game for someone standing 5-foot-7. Entering the weekend, Kitayama ranks 25th on the PGA TOUR in driving distance and should be able to keep up with the elite drivers of the ball if this course is all about length. Kitayama has a pair of runner-up finishes this year, including at the Scottish Open a month ago, and is just three weeks removed from a T20 at the Rocket Mortgage, which also favors the bombers.
