2026 BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club – Preview

Bellerive Country Club returns to the PGA TOUR schedule to host the 50 players still alive in the FedExCup Playoffs for the 2026 BMW Championship. Located in the western suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, Bellerive is a classic Robert Trent Jones Sr. parkland design that opened at its current location in 1960. The course immediately established itself as a championship venue, hosting the 1965 U.S. Open only five years after opening, followed by the 1992 PGA Championship, 2008 BMW Championship and the 2018 PGA Championship.

Bellerive’s strongest characteristics are its scale and the way the terrain influences play. The course has spacious fairways, but many are sloped toward bunkers or rough, while the large greens are divided by significant ridges and tiers that can turn a seemingly good approach into a difficult two-putt. Water comes into play on eight holes, most notably the lake created along the second, while the creek that winds through the property becomes increasingly important late in the round. The stretch from the 14th through the 17th, known as “The Ridge,” rises above much of the surrounding property and has long been regarded as the defining sequence of the course.

It’s a very straightforward course with little strategic complexity from hole to hole. There is almost no disguise, no blind shots and few alternative ways to attack a hole. The challenge is simply executing the shot the course demands, then doing it again and again.

The 2018 PGA Championship was played over a soft, rain affected course, and the combination of receptive greens and fairways produced some of the lowest scoring in PGA Championship history with bombers and elite long-iron players flooding the leaderboard. Gary Woodland shot 64 in the opening round and 63 in the second, while Brooks Koepka followed a 69 with his own 63 before eventually winning at 16 under par. Tiger Woods finished two shots behind after closing with a 64.

Bellerive is scheduled to play as a 7,448 yard par 70, making it one of the longer courses the PGA TOUR players will see during the season. In 2019, six holes were lengthened and the greens were completely rebuilt. The hope is that it will play firmer and faster than in 2018. The course’s length, sloping fairways, large but heavily contoured greens and demanding closing stretch should place a greater premium on ball striking than the 2018 results might suggest. With no cut again this week, the top 30 in the standings at the conclusion of Sunday’s round will move on to the TOUR Championship next week in Atlanta.

The Field

The BMW Championship is a no cut playoff event that features the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings, making this one of the smallest and strongest fields on the PGA TOUR. Scottie Scheffler enters Bellerive at No. 1 after winning the FedEx St. Jude Championship, followed by Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young, Si Woo Kim and Wyndham Clark. The top 10 is rounded out by Sam Burns, Chris Gotterup, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, and Ludvig Aberg, with numerous other major championship contenders also in the field.

During the opening playoff event at TPC Southwind, Sungjae Im was the only player to move into the top 50, climbing from 53rd to 40th after finishing fifth. Matt McCarty held the final qualifying position at No. 50, while Keith Mitchell fell from 49th to 51st. The bigger objective is what comes next: the top 30 in the FedExCup standings after Bellerive advance to the TOUR Championship at East Lake, meaning the BMW Championship will determine which 20 players see their seasons end one week before the final event.

Bellerive Country Club – History

Bellerive Country Club began in 1897 as a nine-hole course in north St. Louis with 166 members. In 1955, the membership decided to move west and gave renowned architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. the freedom to select the property for a new course. The current Bellerive opened on Memorial Day in 1960 and quickly established itself as one of the country’s premier championship venues.

Just five years later, Bellerive became the youngest course ever to host the U.S. Open. Gary Player defeated Kel Nagle in an 18-hole playoff to win the championship and complete the career Grand Slam. Nick Price captured his first major at Bellerive by winning the 1992 PGA Championship, and the club continued its championship run with the 2004 U.S. Senior Open and the 2008 BMW Championship, where Camilo Villegas earned his first PGA TOUR victory. In 2013, Bellerive became just the third club to host all four of the men’s traveling professional championships when it hosted the Senior PGA Championship.

The course underwent a year-long renovation under Rees Jones, son of the original architect, and reopened in October 2006. The project retained the fundamental character of Robert Trent Jones Sr.’s design while repositioning and rebuilding bunkers, regrading fairways and improving drainage. The work also introduced major changes to several holes, including the lake and new strategic elements on the 2nd and changes to the 8th, 11th and 12th.

Bellerive hosted its second PGA Championship in 2018, the 100th playing of the event. Brooks Koepka won at 16 under par, with Tiger Woods finishing two shots behind after a final-round 64. Since then, the course has undergone another significant round of improvements. In 2019, all of the greens were rebuilt from the ground up and re-grassed with T1 bentgrass. “These are all brand-new greens, a full rebuild,” course superintendent Nick White explained. “They are new all the way from the bottom up, with new drainage, new mix, everything. The greens were scanned and put back exactly the way they were … so while the guts are all new, they still have the same feel.”

More recently, extensive tree removal has opened views and vistas across the property while improving sunlight and air movement for the turf. Six holes have also been lengthened through changes to back tees and landing areas, adding approximately 130 yards compared with the 2018 PGA Championship setup. Those changes bring Bellerive back to the PGA TOUR as a longer and more modern version of the course that hosted Koepka’s victory eight years ago.

Course Features

Bellerive will play as a 7,448-yard par 70 for the 2026 BMW Championship, making it one of the longest courses on the PGA TOUR. The layout has only two par 5s, both measuring more than 600 yards, while six par 4s are at least 460 yards and three can stretch beyond 500 depending on the tee setup. The four par 3s provide a good change of pace at roughly 170, 187, 215 and 237 yards.

The closing stretch from the 15th through 18th is particularly demanding: the 15th is 495-yard par 4, followed by the 237-yard 16th, the 624-yard 17th and a 462-yard finishing hole. The 17th is the primary scoring opportunity of the group, but the creek and cross bunkering can turn an aggressive play into a difficult recovery. The 18th then demands another strong drive before a long approach to a green where the wrong side of the putting surface can make par considerably more difficult.

Bellerive is relatively generous off the tee, with fairways averaging around 34 yards wide, and there are no blind shots or particularly complicated strategic options. The basic formula is straightforward: drive it far enough to give yourself manageable approach distances, find the fairway, and then hit the correct portion of some very large greens.

That does not mean the course is easy off the tee. Rees Jones moved many of the fairway bunkers farther from the tees specifically to keep them relevant to modern players, generally positioning them in the 280-to-320-yard range. The better drivers will be able to carry some of that trouble, which makes Bellerive a course where distance is more valuable than raw driving accuracy, provided the player can keep the ball in play. In 2018, bombers and elite long-iron players littered the top of the leaderboard with the likes of  Koepka, Woods, Adam Scott, Jon Rahm, Stewart Cink, Gary Woodland, Justin Thomas and Thomas Pieters all finishing inside the top 10.

The fairways are Zoysia, which typically produces excellent lies, while the 3.5-inch fescue rough is a different proposition altogether. In 2018, players made GIR only 42% of the time from the rough compared with 79% from the fairway. That is a massive difference and helps explain why the ideal combination here is power plus enough control to consistently find the short grass.

The greens are one of the defining features of the course. They average roughly 7,500 square feet and are among the largest on TOUR. Consisting of Penn A-4 bentgrass, they contain broad ridges, tiers, and subtle slopes that can leave players with 40-, 50- or 60-foot putts despite hitting the green. Rees Jones maintained the large-scale character of his father’s greens while creating more distinct target areas, making approach position extremely important. Bellerive’s putting surfaces are also expected to be considerably firmer and faster than they were during the rain-softened 2018 PGA Championship, although an exact 2026 Stimpmeter speed has not been publicly released.

Along with the large greens, the course’s main defense is the combination of long approaches, thick rough, and deep greenside bunkers. The creek winds through the property and comes into play on numerous holes, while water is a factor on several others. Many of the greens are elevated, so approaches that miss short can roll well away from the putting surface. The size of the greens can also be deceptive: a player can hit a 30-foot-wide section of a huge target and still face a difficult putt because he is on the wrong side of one of the major ridges. In 2018, approach play was particularly important: 14 of the top 15 finishers gained at least half a stroke per round on approach, with 10 gaining at least a full stroke.

Around the greens, bunkers become particularly relevant. In 2018, roughly 34% of all shots from around the green came from bunkers, compared with 23% for the average TOUR venue, a significant difference. The large greenside bunkers are not necessarily difficult because of their depth alone; many leave unusually long bunker shots when the flag is positioned on the opposite side of the green.

The agronomy will also matter in St. Louis in August. The Zoysia fairways are capable of producing firm, clean lies, while the 3.5″ dense fescue rough becomes much more difficult when the ball settles down. Bellerive’s summer climate creates a balancing act for the agronomy staff, particularly with bentgrass greens. Superintendent Nick White described the challenge bluntly: “St. Louis in August is no easy task. It doesn’t take a genius to see that. It’s humid here, we sit right between two major rivers, and there’s a time frame from about mid-July to late August where any kind of storm can happen at any time.”

He added, “Our take on the weather is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. All we can do is make sure we’re ready for that kind of weather in the event we get it and do everything we can to produce firm, fast conditions both before and after any kind of weather event.” That is important context for interpreting the 2018 scoring. The course played over par by approximately +0.11 strokes per round, but that number came during an unusually wet championship in which the fairways and greens were much softer than originally intended. While the course won’t be setup for major championship conditions, if the course is allowed to firm up, scoring might be around even par once again.

Most Important Stats For Success at Bellerive CC

• • SG: Approach
  • Driving Distance
  • Proximity 150-200, 200+
  • SG: Par 4
  • 3-Putt %
  • Birdie or Better % (Long Courses)
  • SG: Comp Courses
  • Bogey Avoidance (Long Courses)
  • SG: ARG/Proximity from Sand
  • SG: Putting (Bent/Poa Triv)

Key Rabbit Hole Filters

• Course Region: Midwest
• Scoring Conditions: Average/Difficult
• Course Length: Long
• Field Strength: Strong
• Par: 70
• Event Type: FedEx Cup Playoffs
• Event Season: Summer
• Field Size: Small Field
• Water Danger: High
• Greens Surface: Bent
• Green Size: Large
• Fairway Surface: Zoysia
• Rough Surface: Fescue
• Rough Length: Long
• Architect: Robert Trent Jones
• OTT Club: Driver Heavy
• Missed Fwy Penalty: High