Who's Going to Win at Bellerive?

[Chilli Dipper]

The field of contenders for the FedEx Cup is down to 70, and the action this week heads to St. Louis for the Western Open BMW Championship. Bellerive Country Club, the host of this year's tournament and the the first club outside of Chicago to host the Western/BMW in 47 years, is the second clean slate for the players in three playoff events. Bellerive hasn't hosted a men's professional tournament since the 1994 PGA Championship; a WGC event was planned to take place here in 2001, but was cancelled in the aftermath of 9/11. As most of the players in the field will be getting their first look at the course this week, the field is once again wide open. Who do you think is going to come out on top?

Five players I'll have an eye on are...
Camilo Villegas. The Colombian is really coming to form as of late, finishing T4 at the PGA Championship last month and T3 last weekend in Boston. After Oakland Hills, I thought Villegas would be able to get his first win before the end of the tour season. I think this may be his week.
Sergio Garcia. Sergio is playing as good of golf as he has in his entire career in recent weeks, but a victory has somehow eluded him. He's a solid second in the FedEx Cup points, but he needs a win to catch up with Vijay Singh. Will he be able to deliver with the tourney and the money on the line?
Ben Curtis. An underrated Midwestern golfer at an underrated Midwestern course. After getting to a good start for his first two rounds at the Deutsche Bank, he faded on Sunday and Monday to drop to T27. Can he bounce back to the form that gave him back-to-back top fives at the PGA and Barclays?
K.J. Choi. He's currently 12th in the FedEx Cup standings, but he hasn't had a top-10 finish since February. He's had respectable showings in the first two playoff events, and it will be interesting to see if he will play a factor at Bellerive.
Kevin Streelman. The rookie has shown flashes of brilliance all year, but his game has really come together in recent weeks, with top-10 finishes at the Wyndham Championship and the Barclays. I even considered him a dark horse for a Ryder Cup selection until he plummeted from contention all the way to T50 over the weekend in Boston. He's currently 33rd in FedEx Cup points; a good result this weekend will certainly put him in the field at the season finale in Atlanta.

So, who do you like going into the BMW Championship?

[Thrash13]

It's hard to pick against Vijay when he is happy with his putting. It will be extremely tough for him to win a third consecutive event, but he is definitely the favorite.

Jim Furyk also comes to mind. He has slowly started to play better in 2008, and if he starts putting like he should, he will win sooner rather than later. He is my pick this week.

It will be surprising if Singh and Garcia don't finish in the top 10 though. They are both playing so well right now. Weir will also be in the mix again.

[bogeyhitter25]

Well it's kind of cheating now after 75% of the events done with. But I'm going to say that Furyk will win. He'll shoot a 6 under 64 tomorrow and win by 3 over KJ Choi.

[N.V.M.]

AK has a chance. he'll wear the belt buckle tomorrow, and anything can happen.

[Chilli Dipper]

I said at the beginning of the week that I had a good feeling about Camilo Villegas in this tournament, and he proceeds to go wire-to-wire for the win. Good job, Spiderman!

As for my other players to watch:

-Sergio Garcia had four rounds of par or better, but couldn't pick up enough birdies to make a run, finishing T20,
-Ben Curtis shot a 65 on Sunday to propel him from midfield to a T13 finish,
-K.J. Choi indeed showed signs of life over the weekend, placing T5 after a 64-67 final two rounds, and moving up to eighth in FedEx Cup points,
-Kevin Streelman had a respectable showing, finishing T22, but players below him had better tournaments, and Streelman is just out of the Tour Championship at 35th in FedEx Cup standings.