TELFER’S THOUGHTS 18.8.25

Unfortunately for Ryan Fox, his final appearance on the 2024/2025 USPGA Tour wasn’t the finale he would have wanted.

Playing in the BMW Championship in Maryland, Ryan finished in 43rd place in a field of just 49 starters. Only the top 50 players from the 2024/2025 season were eligible to play in this US$20 million event.

This year has been by far the most successful year of Ryan’s career, amateur or professional. Winning twice on this the world’s leading golf tour and earning the best part of US$4 million tells you basically all you need to know about his golfing year.

He entered the BMW Championship hoping to lift his FedEx Cup ranking from 34th to a position inside the top 30, which would have given him a spot in the Tour finale next week in Atlanta. However it wasn’t really until the 4th and final round before Ryan came to terms with this tough, hilly and very demanding Caves Valley course. His 4th round 69 was bettered by only 3 players on the last day. But rounds of 74, 73 and 76 from the first 3 days effectively took him out of the race for a top 30 place.

But be rest assured Ryan didn’t leave Maryland empty-handed, collecting a total of US$88,000 for his 43rd finish. Along with that he received an additional US$200,000 dollars from a separate prize pool by way of bonuses for his FedEx Cup efforts.

By the sound of it his golfing year is far from finished. He’s indicated he’d like to play a few events on the DP World Tour and also sounds keen to play in the Australian Open towards the end of the year.

The BMW was won by Scottie Scheffler who quickly made up the 4-shot deficit he had going into the last round with a string of early birdies. Third-round leader Robert MacIntyre, playing with Scheffler, stumbled through 3 bogeys in his first 5 holes.

The highlight of Scheffler’s round came on the par 3 17th , considered the toughest par 3 on the USPGA Tour. Scheffler powered his tee through the green leaving himself with a scary 27-metre downhill chip, with the hole cut precariously close to a lake. Unfazed by the proximity of hazards, Scheffler set his ball off tumbling down the green towards the pin at the bottom of the green. When it reached the flat of the green it virtually stopped, only to regather just enough roll and to then gently drop into the hole. This gave him a 2-shot lead with only the last hole to play which saw both golfers comfortably par it.

Scheffler has now won 12 times over the past 2 seasons, which ranks as one of the truly great winning streaks in all of golf.

This win, his 5th of the season, matches the number of wins he recorded last year. This is also the first time since 2005-2007 that a player has won 5 times, two years in a row. And yes, the golfer who last did the 5 wins back-to-back was…. Tiger Woods.

Scheffler now starts as hot favourite to win next week’s FedEx Cup final and with it another US$10 million plus pay day.