#BMW Championship: Who to bet beyond Dustin Johnson

The FedEx Cup Playoffs got under way last week with Dustin Johnson winning The Northern Trust by 11 strokes, the largest margin of victory in a PGA event in 14 years. It also gave this column a 20/1 winner.

Johnson is the favorite this week at the BMW Championship at 9/1 and he is a two-time winner (2010 at Cog Hill, 2016 at Crooked Stick). Other golfers near the top of the odds board include Jon Rahm (10/1), followed by Justin Thomas (12/1), Bryson DeChambeau (14/1), Xander Schauffele (16/1) and Rory McIlroy (18/1).

Here are a few players who are worth a wager:

Xander Schauffele (16/1): Schauffele made the cut on the number last week and then shot 67-67 on the weekend. He rates third for GIR, fourth in Scrambling and fifth in Par 4 Scoring Average, which should all matter this week.

Schauffele’s Tee-To-Green game should also be a good match here, as he rates fifth in the category and also seventh in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee.

Collin Morikawa (20/1): While not a big hitter, the PGA Championship winner’s accuracy and ball striking more than compensate for any lacking distance. Prior to last weekend’s missed cut at The Northern Trust — excusable coming off winning his first major — Morikawa rated ninth, fourth, second and first in the respective fields for Driving Accuracy.

Although he’s still just 23, Morikawa has already shown that he can respond to adversity. He missed his first cut as a professional at The Travelers and then went on to win the Workday two weeks later.

Jason Day (30/1): After four straight top-seven finishes, last week looked like a good spot for Day to get his first win in 27 months. However, too many of us got in the boat and it tipped over with the missed cut. He had been striping the irons for weeks but ranked second-to-last in the field for Strokes Gained: Approach in Boston.

Everyone else has abandoned ship but I’m going to stay on for another go-around, as he will likely be off everyone’s radar this week.

Matthew Wolff (43/1): Why not take the most recent winner in the field on this course? Wolff won here at Olympia Fields in 2018 in the fall season before winning the 2019 NCAA Division I Individual Championship. Granted the competition at the 2018 Fighting Illini Invitational is just a bit below what the 2020 BMW Championship will be, but Wolff is one of the bigger hitters on tour and should have shorter yardages on the two Par 5s and the long Par 4s than most of the field.

Cameron Champ (89/1): Like Wolff, Champ won the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields in 2016 while playing for Texas A&M.

A couple of PGA Championship contenders from three weeks ago went on to have great weeks at last week’s Northern Trust (DJ and Scottie Scheffler), so perhaps Champ (T-10th) is ready for one this week.

Wes Reynolds hosts the VSiN golf betting show and podcast, Long Shots.