US superstars open the BMW Championship on their return to Denver.

+++ The 50 best golfers on the PGA TOUR will compete for just 30 tickets to the season finale at Castle Pines Golf Club near Denver (Colorado) +++ Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am will benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation with Super Bowl and Stanley Cup winners +++ Since 2007, the BMW Championship has raised 50 million US dollars for college scholarships +++ The new BMW M5 Touring is this year’s hole-in-one prize +++

Denver. After ten years, the BMW Championship is returning to Denver. The penultimate FedExCup playoff tournament of the year will be held at Castle Pines Golf Club at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, after Billy Horschel (USA) won at Cherry Hills Golf Club in 2014. The best 50 players on this year’s PGA TOUR are fighting for just 30 tickets for the season finale next week. A golf tournament could hardly be more star-studded and tougher. Among those taking part are world number one and Olympic gold medalist Scottie Scheffler, world number two and two-time major winner this season Xander Schauffele (both USA), BMW Championship and FedExCup defending champion Viktor Hovland (NOR) and world number five Wyndham Clark (USA), who comes from Colorado.

The Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am, which traditionally opens the BMW Championship on Wednesday, featured an equally star-studded line-up. Three sports legends from Denver showed off their golf skills: former football players and NFL Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and John Elway (both USA), who led the Denver Broncos to Super Bowl victories as quarterbacks, and Swedish hockey pro Gabe Landeskog, captain of the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he won the club’s third Stanley Cup two years ago. Also in attendance was one of the reigning superstars of country music, Luke Bryan, who gave an exclusive concert for the BMW Championship Pro-Am guests on Tuesday evening.

The Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am was a worthy start for the sports-loving Denver region, but the event is even more significant for the future of many caddies in the USA. All proceeds from the sale of the Pro-Am places – as well as all tournament revenue – will benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation (ESF), a foundation of the tournament host, the Western Golf Association. The ESF awards study and housing scholarships to aspiring caddies from across the country. Since 2007, the BMW Championship has raised over 50 million US dollars for the Evans Scholars Foundation, enabling over 3,300 students to attend college and follow their dreams.

There are currently 1,190 caddies enrolled as Evans Scholars at 24 leading universities – a new record. “We are very proud to be able to contribute to a successful future for so many students with the BMW Championship. As a company, we want to promote precisely these kinds of initiatives to enable young people to reach their full potential,” says Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, People and Places.

BMW will again endow an additional four-year Evans Scholarship in the name of the first PGA TOUR player to score a hole-in-one on any hole during this week’s tournament. Diana Llamas was named the sixth BMW Hole-in-One Scholar at last year’s event in Chicago after Viktor Hovland hit an ace at the 2022 BMW Championship in Delaware. BMW will also continue its tradition of presenting a new car to the first golfer to score a hole-in-one on a designated hole during a competitive round. The first player to ace the par-3 16th hole this year will receive the keys to the brand new BMW M5 Touring (weighted energy consumption, combined: 2.0 l/100 km and 30.7 kWh/100 km; weighted CO2 emissions, combined: 46 g/km; fuel consumption with discharged battery: 10.9 l/100 km in the WLTP cycle; weighted CO2 classes, combined: B, with discharged battery G), which celebrated its world premiere last week. The latest version of one of BMW’s most legendary high-performance models now features a 717 hp BMW M Hybrid drive.

The BMW Championship, organized by the Western Golf Association, is the oldest non-major tournament on the PGA TOUR calendar. Its history stretches back to 1899, when it made its debut as the Western Open. The BMW Championship is in no way inferior to the majors, and not just in terms of sporting value and tradition. This was underlined last year by the award of “PGA TOUR Tournament of the Year,” which the event received for the fifth time after 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The PGA TOUR particularly recognized the premium experience for fans and players, as well as the commitment of title partner BMW, the tournament organization and the volunteers.