When Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills hosted the BMW Championship in 2021, Denny McCarthy was left out of the field. It was a frustrating moment for the Takoma Park native who graduated from the University of Virginia.
It also served as an inspiration for McCarthy, who is eager to cement a spot in the field for the upcoming BMW Championship when it returns to Caves Valley Aug. 14-17.
“It was something that was kind of circled on my calendar back in ‘21, and I was a little upset that I didn’t make it here,” McCarthy, now 32, said Monday morning during the tournament’s media day at Caves Valley. “I believe I had just missed out. So this is one that has been circled on my calendar this year to be a motivating factor to play well, work hard, and make it here.”
The BMW Championship is the penultimate event of the FedEx Playoffs, and only the top 50 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings will make the trip to Caves Valley. McCarthy is currently ranked No. 36 and is almost 242 points ahead of the No. 51 player, Tony Finau.
McCarthy tied for 26th at last year’s BMW Championship and 10th in 2023, but those events took place in Colorado and Illinois, respectively. Getting the chance to perform at a course about 45 miles from where he grew up is tantalizing.
“All of my family is still in this area pretty much, my friends are still in this area, all the ones that I grew up with,” he said. “So it would mean a lot for me to come and play here. This is such a special place, Caves Valley. It’s been a little while since I’ve been here, but they put on a great show in ‘21, and I’m sure they’ll do the same this year, too.”
Here is what is new at the 2025 BMW Championship:
The competition will be smaller but pack more punch
Because only the top 50 golfers in the FedEx Cup rankings will participate in the championship, there is no cut, which ensures that the entire field – barring a withdrawal – will stick around until Sunday’s final round.
McCarthy pointed out that as comfortable as his current place in the FedEx Cup points race might seem, several more tournaments could invite significant change to the standings.
“You want to be in the top 50,” he said. “You want to make it to this event, for sure. There’s a lot going on. At the end of the day, you’ve just got to focus on your game and what you need to do to play well and not try and get caught up in all that. I always say, ‘If you play good golf, the rest will take care of itself, and you’ll get rewarded. So just try and do what I can to control how I can play my best golf and then worry about it after.”
The reward for the winner of the BMW Championship is impressive. The champion will take home $3.6 million from a total purse of $20 million and will pick up 2,000 points in the FedEx Cup standings.
But unlike previous years, the top 30 players who move on to the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta will not compete under a staggered scoring system, an arrangement based on yearlong performances. Last month, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced that the Tour Championship will return to its regular format of every golfer starting at even par.
The course will pack a wallop, too
The field can expect a much tougher venue than the one in 2021 that allowed Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau to finish 72 holes at 27-under par before Cantlay prevailed in a six-hole playoff.
Billed as one of the top courses in the country by several publications, Caves Valley offers rolling hills, woods and wetlands over 962 acres. And club officials began working on the course as soon as the 2021 event ended, closing it in August 2023 until June 2024.
The club installed PrecisionAire subsurface systems to help control moisture levels under all 18 greens, which were tweaked to play tougher. And the par 72 score has been reduced to 70.
Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun
Caves Valley in 2021. The course is expected to be tougher for the BMW Championship in August. (Staff file)
The par-4 first hole was lengthened by 100 yards to 481 yards from the championship tees. A narrow, three-tiered green at the par-4 fifth hole that slopes from left to right was shifted to the back and the left. And the green at the par-3 17th hole was lowered and moved to the back and left.
And the 525-yard second and 521-yard 12th holes that usually play as par 5s will be altered to par 4s for the BMW Championship. The change in scoring surprised Cantlay.
“I think that time of year, it really depends on the weather we get,” he said. “If it rains a lot and there’s not a lot of wind, it’ll play easier. If it gets firm and fast conditions, a golf course like Caves Valley can be extremely difficult. This is the first time I’ve heard it’s moved to a par 70. When you get a long golf course and make it par 70, it’s most likely going to be difficult.”
McCarthy didn’t appear to mind the course improvements, adding that he enjoys playing at tough courses such as Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, which recently hosted the U.S. Open.
“I wish I had some better stuff that week because that’s kind of the golf that I like where pars are really good scores,” he said of Oakmont where he finished in a tie for 57th. “I’ve played well in a couple U.S. Opens, and I would say it suits my game, to kind of grind out pars. You need to be able to scramble, you need to be able to think your way around a place and [avoid] mistakes and clean up those par putts.
Kevin Richardson/Baltimore Sun
Bryson DeChambeau hits a shot on the first hole at the BMW Championship at Caves Valley in Owings Mills in 2021. (Kevin Richardson/Staff file)
There’s hope that attendance will beat numbers from 2021
When Cantlay won the BMW Championship four years ago, he earned $1.71 million from a total purse of $9.5 million. Keegan Bradley won last year’s event at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado, and collected $3.6 million from a $20 million purse.
Similarly, club and civic officials are hopeful that the upcoming event will draw an attendance figure that exceeds the more than 130,000 fans who showed up in 2021.
“We’re going to do everything we can to have this championship be at the highest level,” said George E. “Buddy” Marucci Jr., a longtime member of Caves Valley Golf Club. “And for the players and the spectators and the caddies, we want their experience to be at the highest level. So there isn’t anything we won’t do within our power to try to make sure that happens.”
While trying to concentrate on outplaying DeChambeau in that six-hole playoff four years ago, Cantlay said he was struck by the intensity of the fans’ reactions to their shots.
“The first thing when I think about that week was just how much the fans were into it,” he said. “From Thursday on, they were just so invested, and there were so many people out there. And the way the buildout was for that tournament, those holes that we were going back-and-forth on were like little amphitheaters. It felt like people were right on top of us, and the environment all week was just spectacular.”
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