Baltimore County course prepares for world's top golfers, PGA Tour's BMW Championship
Baltimore County will welcome the best professional golfers in the world in August for the second tournament in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs.
The BMW Championship will be held at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills from August 14 through August 17.
"Caves Valley was really built for championships like this," said Steven Fader, chairman of Caves Valley Golf Club. "Penultimate event before the Tour Championship. Everybody shows up, everybody wants to play."
The FedEx Cup is a season-long points competition, culminating in a three-part playoff. The top 50 golfers on the PGA Tour will compete in the BMW Championship. The top 30 will move on to play for the FedEx Cup.
Scottie Scheffler currently leads the FedEx Cup standings.
BMV Championship returns to Maryland
Caves Valley Golf Club hosted the BMW Championship in 2021 when more than 120,000 fans came out to watch over the four days. The course expects even bigger crowds to descend on Owings Mills this year.
Patrick Cantlay won the tournament, which also brought popular golfers like Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, and Phil Mickelson, among others, to Maryland.
"The entertainment venues and hospitality venues have been expanded since 2021, so I'm expecting it to be bigger than it was," Fader said.
Fader says the BMW Championship generates more than a $50 million economic windfall for our region. The golf course has also hosted the NCAA DI Men's and Women's Championship, as well as events on the LPGA Tour and Senior PGA Tour.
Enhancements to Caves Valley
The golf course will be its most challenging in August when the top golfers in the world come to play.
As part of a 10-year plan, the course charted out new enhancements for members. These plans accelerated, and the course closed in August 2023 for construction, which included enhancements to every putting green. It reopened in June 2024.
Caves Valley installed a new system under the greens to control temperature and moisture, increasing the difficulty.
For golf fans, the more challenging the course, the more exciting the tournament will be.
"All the enhancements that we've done over the last couple of years, the course is challenging," said Matt Fuller, the director of golf at Caves Valley Golf Club.
Other enhancements include the first hole, which increased its length by 100 yards. The fairway was also dropped, and the green shifted to the left.
The fifth hole includes the most challenging green on the course, which is only nine paces in depth.
Spotlight on Baltimore
The BMW Championship will ride the wave of momentum in the game of golf, after McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam and won The Masters in April, while Scheffler recently won The PGA Championship.
"It's kind of a renaissance period for golf right now," Fader said. "More and more people are playing more and more interest in the sport."
The BMW Championship will put the national spotlight on Baltimore and the surrounding area, which is an opportunity to showcase what Maryland has to offer.
"It's great for Baltimore, great for Maryland, great for Baltimore County," Fader said. "And I know we did it in '21, but it's exciting to bring them back in a couple of months."
