OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Xander Schauffele knows where he will be the last weekend of September, having already clinched a spot on the U.S. team for the Ryder Cup matches against Europe at Bethpage Black on New York’s Long Island.
The immediate concern is where he goes next week.
Not since he was a PGA Tour rookie in 2017 has Schauffele, a two-time major winner in 2024 at the British Open and the PGA Championship, been outside the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings going into the all-important BMW Championship, the second of three tournaments in the postseason. That time he tied for 20th on the leaderboard, advanced to Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, then won the Tour Championship to put an exclamation on his first season.
Every year since then, he already had locked up his spot in the Tour Championship by now. This has been a different kind of year, and now Schauffele is at No. 43 and in danger of missing the FedEx Cup finale for the first time.
“This is my worst position I’ve ever been in, injury aside,” said the 31-year-old San Diego native, who was hurt by missing two months at the start of the year with a rib injury. “Even my rookie year I was in a better position. It sort of has that rookie year vibe to me a little bit. Just sort of need to work my way through the playoffs.”
Schauffele admitted that “you definitely play a little bit freer when you know you’re in” the Tour Championship field and that he’s trying now “to get that freedom because I have absolutely nothing to lose.”
The BMW Championship always has a lot at stake. The top 30 not only have a chance at the FedEx Cup title, they are assured of being in three of the four majors next year — the British Open, the Masters and the U.S. Open — and have made enough money to be virtually certain of the PGA Championship.
This year, the stakes are a little higher.
The BMW Championship starts Thursday near Baltimore at Caves Valley Golf Club, the final tournament before the top six players in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings qualify for the team that goes to Bethpage Black on Sept. 26-28. Schauffele’s two major championships last year helped him clinch one of those spots.
Justin Thomas is at No. 7, and the six players behind him likely would have to win or finish second this week or next to earn one of those automatic spots. After the Tour Championship, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley fills out the team with six wild-card picks.
Thomas is likely there one way or another, so the stress is minimal. Three others in the running have never played in a Ryder Cup, which could work against them. And then there’s Bradley, who is considering picking himself as the first playing captain in more than 60 years.
“I still have a lot to prove as well as everyone around me on the list,” said Bradley, who checks in at No. 10 in the Ryder Cup standings and at No. 12 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
The proving ground is Caves Valley, which is hosting the BMW Championship for the second time since 2021. Patrick Cantlay won a thriller that year with a stunning rally of clutch putting — the gallery was chanting “Patty Ice!” at him after each big putt he made — that carried him to a playoff victory over Bryson DeChambeau, who has since departed the PGA Tour for the rival LIV Golf League.
Cantlay hasn’t won this year. He is No. 19 in the FedEx Cup standings, safe for the Tour Championship, but at No. 15 in the Ryder Cup standings for the American hopefuls.
The course has gone through an overhaul that made it longer at 7,601 yards, and two par 5s have been converted to par 4s. The fifth hole is now 367 yards and slightly downhill, but the green has wild ridges that make it unlikely for players to take the risk of driver off the tee.
“They definitely made it significantly harder,” top-ranked Scottie Scheffler said, “so should be a good challenge for us this week.”
Scheffler, on top of the Official World Golf Ranking for more than two years, is also the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup, and he already has clinched $10 million for leading the standings after the regular season and $5 million for being assured of the top seed going to East Lake.
Rory McIlroy is at No. 2, even without playing the first postseason event — the FedEx St. Jude Championship, won by Justin Rose on the third extra hole of a playoff against U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun on Sunday at TPC Southwind, where Scheffler shared third place with Tommy Fleetwood after each missed the playoff by a stroke.
This will be McIlroy’s first time competing since the British Open at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland, a layoff of nearly a month, but he is among those with little stress at Caves Valley.
For the Americans who aspire to play in the Ryder Cup, consider the BMW Championship the first of two weeks to audition for the team.
For those wanting to chase the $10 million FedEx Cup prize, however, the BMW Championship is their last chance.
“Definitely been trying pretty hard to get something going,” Schauffele said. “This year has been a work in progress to get back into some good form. Still a work in progress. You know, 50 guys, a small field, and I’ve played well them before. So why not do it again?”