BMW Championship 2009: Golfing elite hunts Stricker and Woods. The fight for the FedExCup comes to a head at the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club.

Lemont/USA. The world’s top professional golfers are back at the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club for the BMW Championship (10th to 13th September), the third PGA Tour play-off tournament for the FedExCup. Only the 70 best-placed pros in the FedExCup rankings are invited, including defending champion Camilo Villegas (Columbia) and 2007 champion Tiger Woods (USA). At the end of the tournament, which boasts total prize money of seven million US dollars, this illustrious group will be reduced further still. Only the top 30 players progress to the finale, the Tour Championship, in two weeks. Thanks to a new points system, the successor to Tiger Woods (2007 FedExCup champion) and Vijay Singh (2008 champion) will not be decided until after the season finale in Atlanta.

After two play-off tournaments the winner of the Deutsche Bank Championship, Steve Stricker, finds himself in the best position going into the BMW Championship. Victory last weekend was not only sufficient to move him into second place in the world rankings, but also to replace Tiger Woods at the top of the FedExCup rankings. The world number one struggled to find his form early on in Boston, but recovered with an excellent final round of 63 to finish in eleventh place. Woods’ best memory of Cog Hill: 2007, when he won the first BMW Championship here.

Behind Heath Slocum, the surprise winner of the first play-off tournament, The Barclays, Zach Johnson, Scott Verplank and Kenny Perry, Padraig Harrington is the best-placed European in seventh place in the FedExCup rankings. The Irishman, who won two Majors last year, has struggled with his game this year but has found his top form again just in time for the play-offs: Harrington tied for fourth place at the Deutsche Bank Championship with Masters champion Angel Cabrera from Argentina. The second non-American in the top ten of the FedExCup rankings is Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy, who finished seventh in Boston to move up to eighth place in the FedExCup rankings.

“For more than 25 years, BMW has been an active member of the international golf community, hosting a variety of golf tournaments around the globe,” said Jim O’Donnell, President of BMW of North America.

“We are pleased to be back at Cog Hill because this tournament is much more than just a sponsorship.  It is an opportunity to be involved in something that fits perfectly into our company’s DNA. The performance and unwavering determination that is exemplified by the pros here today is something that we are equally passionate about at BMW.”

All proceeds from the BMW Championship, which will run through September 13, will once again benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, which grants full college scholarships to deserving young caddies.   Last year, those proceeds totaled $3.3 million.

BMW is continuing its support of the Evans Scholars Foundation not only through its donation of the proceeds from the BMW Championship, but also through its internship program. Every summer, Evans Scholars have the opportunity to work for BMW and gain invaluable experience for their post-university careers. The program returned this summer with two new BMW Evans Scholars interns.

Since its founding with two Northwestern University students in 1930, the Evans Scholars Foundation – administered by the Western Golf Association – has provided over 8,900 college scholarships to golf caddies. During the 2008-09 academic year, 845 caddies attended college on Evans Scholarships. The total value of those scholarships was $8.8 million.

Earlier this year, O’Donnell announced that BMW expanded its hole-in-one promotion so that any player achieving the first hole-in-one on any hole during the tournament, BMW will fund a four-year Evans Scholarship in honor of the accomplishment.  Previously, BMW had selected one hole on the course that counted toward the scholarship win.

John Kaczkowski, WGA Chief Operating Officer, expressed the Association’s appreciation for BMW’s ongoing support of the Evans Scholars Foundation. “We are grateful for BMW’s keen interest in, and strong backing of, the Evans Scholars Program,” noted Kaczkowski.  “Now in its third year, BMW’s internship program for Evans Scholars has been very successful for BMW and the Evans Scholars Program. Through our partnership with BMW, the championship continues to be an excellent vehicle to promote the Evans Scholars Program.”

BMW has also encouraged owners of its vehicles to attend and be a part of the BMW Championship by giving away several hundred pairs of complimentary tickets. Additionally, any owner who drives his or her BMW the BMW Championship will have priority parking and owners will be granted exclusive access to the BMW Owners’ Pavilion overlooking the 14th green by simply showing his or her BMW vehicle key.