BMW Championship: Only victory matters for Tiger Woods.

Chicago. His participation in the 38th Ryder Cup secured, Tiger Woods puts his sight firmly on a first win in this golfing season. The world’s number one golfer wants to end his unseen drought at the $7,5 million BMW Championship, the third of four playoff tournaments of the PGA Tour.

Indeed, there could hardly be a better stage for this endeavour than the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. Whenever the BMW Championship was played outside Chicago, in 2007 and 2009, the winner was Tiger Woods. Last year he established a fantastic course record of 62 strokes. 2008 the tournament was played in St. Louis and won by Camilo Villegas from Colombia.

This year, victory in the field of the 70 best PGA Tour players is imperative for Tiger Woods if he wants to keep contending for the $10 million bonus which rewards the winner of the FedEx Cup. Only the 30 first players in the FedEx Cup ranking as after the BMW Championship will participate in the Tour Championship in two weeks time. Woods currently occupies 51st place and probably needs at least a 5th place finish in order to make it to the Tour Championship.

Moreover, Woods will be eager to justify the decision of US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin who handed him on Tuesday one of his four wild cards for Celtic Manor. At the BMW Championship, the 14-time major champion will meet all his eleven team mates, among them world number two Phil Mickelson, number four Steve Stricker and number five Jim Furyk.

Against a Team USA in full strength, the European side will be represented by Luke Donald (England), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Ian Poulter (England). Eyes will focus particularly on Donald, a local favourite for having studied in Chicago. The world number eight should be in excellent form, coming from a tied 2nd place at last week’s event in Boston. He is currently fifth in the FedEx Cup ranking.

BMW has been supporting the BMW Championship since 2007. Recently the partnership with the PGA Tour and the Western Golf Association (WGA) has been extended for two more years until 2014. At the Ryder Cup in Wales, BMW will be represented as Partner and Official Car. In addition, BMW has been engaged on the European Tour for many years in events such as the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the BMW International Open and the BMW Italian Open.