BMW Championship: Reigning Major champions Scott, Rose, Dufner and Mickelson join Woods in the hunt for McIlroy’s title. Stenson out to defend his lead in the Playoffs against a world-class field featuring the top 70 pros on the PGA TOUR ahead of the season finale.

Munich/Chicago. The best golfers on the PGA TOUR will be under enormous pressure this week, as the lucrative FedExCup Playoffs enter a crucial phase. Of the 70 world-class players who will tee off at the BMW Championship (9th to 15th September, Conway Farms Golf Club), less than half will qualify for the season finale – the TOUR Championship. Anyone wishing to secure one of only 30 tickets to Atlanta will have to be on top of their game for all four days of this prestigious tournament. Good news for golf fans around the world, as this means the highest standard of golf and excitement right down to the last putt.

Last year’s BMW Championship showed emphatically just what kind of top-rate performances the best players in the world are capable. The final day saw eventual champion Rory McIlroy, number one in the world at the time, fend off attack after attack from Major winners and former world number ones. This season, the Northern Irishman has so far been unable to rediscover the dazzling form he showed last autumn. However, it would be a fatal mistake to write McIlroy off as he looks to defend his title.

“Having played in so many BMW sponsored tournaments over the years, it was a real honour to finally win one of them at the 2012 BMW Championship. I hadn’t realised they have been sponsoring tournaments for more years than I have been alive, that’s actually scary, but it says a lot about the strength of the BMW brand,” McIlroy said. “Hopefully my fond memories from last year’s victory will help me mount a challenge in this year’s BMW Championship. Being able to successfully defend my title would have positives on so many levels.”

“The BMW Championship enjoys an outstanding status on the PGA TOUR. For BMW, as a long-term partner of golf and one of the sport’s most committed global partners, it is only logical that we should fly our flag at the Playoffs. The fact that only the top 70 pros qualify for this event always guarantees an extremely high standard of golf. However, with the likes of world number one Tiger Woods and reigning Major champions Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson and Jason Dufner, to name but a few, the event features an exceptionally strong field, even by its own standards,” said Eckhard Wannieck, Head of BMW International Sponsorship, Cooperations and Product Placement. “Furthermore, our intention at all BMW tournaments is to provide a special experience for fans, players, officials and media representatives. The outstanding reputation the BMW Championship also enjoys in this regard is underlined by the fact the PGA TOUR named it ‘Tournament of the Year 2012’. I am certain that we will once again experience an extraordinary tournament week. It all kicks off on Tuesday with a welcome evening for the ProAm guests. Major winner Graeme McDowell will tap the keg in Chicago’s Hofbräuhaus. Appropriately, the evening will have a very Bavarian feel to it – which is only fitting for BMW, a global player with Bavarian roots.”

Defending champion McIlroy will take part in an “electrifying” opening event on Tuesday morning. In doing so, the two-time Major winner will experience a fascinating glimpse of the future: at the wheel of the revolutionary, zero-emission BMW i3, McIlroy will take on a special course as he attempts to win a 100,000 dollar donation, which BMW is donating to the Evans Scholars Foundation. Furthermore, the national college scholarship program for caddies will once again receive all the profits from the BMW Championship this year. The stars will also enjoy sheer driving pleasure throughout the tournament week: as a special service provided by the title partner, each of the 70 players will be given the use of a BMW 7 Series.

On Thursday, it is time to get down to the serious business. Even a quick glance at the list of players teeing off at the third Playoff tournament, which boasts a prize purse of eight million US dollars, is sufficient to see that the crème de la crème are assembled at Conway Farms. Tiger Woods (USA), with five wins to his name the most successful player this season, has his sights set firmly on regaining the BMW Championship title he won in 2007 and 2009. Adam Scott (Australia, Masters Tournament), Justin Rose (England, US Open), Phil Mickelson (USA, Open Championship) and Jason Dufner (USA, US PGA Championship) have picked up this year’s four Majors. They are joined in Chicago by experienced warhorses like Matt Kuchar (USA), Steve Stricker (USA) and Jim Furyk (USA), as well as a number of the rising stars of the game, including Jordan Spieth (USA).

Henrik Stenson arrives at the BMW Championship leading the FedExCup rankings. The Swede won the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday to claim his long-overdue first title of the season. The winner of the 2006 BMW International Open had been in dazzling form in recent months, finishing in the top three at two Majors and a WGC event. Stenson’s return to prominence is all the more remarkable when you consider that he had dropped out of the top 200 in the world rankings in 2012. Since then there has been no looking back, however, and the new number six in the world now finds himself as one of the favorites coming into this year’s BMW Championship – one of many, admittedly. That is what you get when the PGA TOUR Playoffs reach the business end of proceedings.

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