The 2026 BMW Championship is underway this week at Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Missouri, bringing the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs back to one of golf's most storied stages for the first time since 2008. The tournament runs August 18-23 with a $20 million purse, a $3.6 million winner's share, and a no-cut field of the top 50 players in FedEx Cup points fighting to keep their seasons alive.
The return to Bellerive gives the 2026 edition a distinctly major-championship feel. The club has staged three men's majors — the 1965 U.S. Open and the 1992 and 2018 PGA Championships — along with a long list of elite events, making the BMW Championship's St. Louis homecoming one of the most anticipated stops on the playoff calendar.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs Return to St. Louis
The BMW Championship is the second leg of the three-event FedEx Cup playoffs, open only to the leading points earners following the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Since 2023, the field has been reduced to the top 50 players, and with no 36-hole cut, every competitor is guaranteed four full rounds. The top 30 on the FedEx Cup points list at week's end advance to the Tour Championship, where the season-long champion is crowned.
Bellerive presents a stern test for that elite field. The Robert Trent Jones-designed course opened on Memorial Day in 1960 and stretches 7,547 yards at par 71, with bentgrass greens, zoysia fairways, a course rating of 76.3 and a slope rating of 141. It last hosted the BMW Championship in 2008, when Camilo Villegas finished at 15-under par to win by two strokes over Dudley Hart, and the layout has since been reinforced as one of the country's most demanding championship venues.
Why Bellerive Country Club Is One of Golf's Historic Stages
Bellerive's pedigree runs deep. Founded in 1897 as The Field Club and renamed in 1910 after Louis Groston de Saint-Ange de Bellerive, the last French governor of Illinois Country, the club is considered one of the “big four” old-line elite clubs in St. Louis. After moving to its current Town and Country site in 1959, the club commissioned Robert Trent Jones to design the course that opened the following year.
Since then, Bellerive has been a regular host to golf's biggest occasions. Gary Player won the 1965 U.S. Open there in a Monday playoff over Kel Nagle, completing the career Grand Slam at age 29 and becoming the first foreign-born U.S. Open champion in 38 years. Nick Price captured the 1992 PGA Championship with a score of 278, three strokes clear of four runners-up. Most recently, Brooks Koepka won the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive by two strokes over Tiger Woods, his 264 total tying the lowest 72-hole score in major-championship history.
The club's BMW Championship connection dates to 2008, when Villegas outlasted the field in what was then a four-event playoff format. Before that, Bellerive hosted the 1953 Western Open — the tournament that preceded the BMW Championship — won by Dutch Harrison, as well as the 1949 Western Amateur.
From 1899 Western Open to a $20 Million Playoff Prize
The BMW Championship traces its lineage to the Western Open, first played in 1899 and long run by the Western Golf Association, which continues to operate the tournament today. The event is the longest-running regular PGA Tour stop outside the four majors. Here is how it reached its current form:
- 1899: The Western Open is first contested, beginning one of golf's oldest professional events.
- 2007: The event is rebranded as the BMW Championship for the inaugural FedEx Cup playoffs, with Tiger Woods winning the first edition at Cog Hill.
- 2008: Camilo Villegas wins at Bellerive, the tournament's only previous visit to the St. Louis venue.
- 2012–2014: The PGA Tour names the BMW Championship its Tournament of the Year in three consecutive seasons.
- 2023: The field is cut from 70 players to 50, raising the stakes for FedEx Cup qualification.
- 2025: Scottie Scheffler wins at Caves Valley in Maryland, two strokes clear of Robert MacIntyre.
- 2026: The BMW Championship returns to Bellerive Country Club from August 18-23.
Scottie Scheffler's Title Defense Anchors a Stacked Field
Scottie Scheffler arrives in St. Louis as the reigning champion after closing with a 15-under 265 at Caves Valley to beat Robert MacIntyre by two strokes in 2025. The victory extended a remarkable run for the world's top-ranked player, who has established himself as the man to beat in every playoff field he enters.
Scheffler joins a recent champions' list that reads like a who's who of the modern game. Patrick Cantlay won back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022, Viktor Hovland triumphed in 2023, and Keegan Bradley edged Ludvig Åberg, Sam Burns and Adam Scott by a single stroke at Castle Pines in 2024. Bradley also shares the tournament's 72-hole scoring record of 260, set alongside Justin Rose at Aronimink in 2018.
The stakes at Bellerive go well beyond the $3.6 million first-place check. Because only the top 30 in FedEx Cup points advance to the Tour Championship, the BMW Championship routinely decides seasons — a player near the cutoff can play his way into the finale, while a poor week can end a title chase. With a $20 million purse distributed among just 50 players, it is also one of the most lucrative weeks on the PGA Tour calendar, a sharp rise from the $7 million purse the event carried in its 2007 debut.
Where Things Stand This Week at Bellerive
Preparations for the St. Louis return have been years in the making. The tournament's official site, bmwchampionship.com, has promoted ticket, hospitality and volunteer opportunities for the August 18-23 window, while the PGA Tour has published tee-time and leaderboard pages for the event under the tournament code R2026028.
The 50-player field was set following the FedEx St. Jude Championship, when the leading FedEx Cup points earners locked in their spots. From there, the math is simple: finish in the top 30 at Bellerive and earn a trip to the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Looking beyond 2026, the tournament has already mapped out its next move. The 2027 BMW Championship is scheduled for Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey, from August 16-22, continuing the event's recent pattern of rotating through high-profile venues across the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and beyond.
What's at Stake When the Trophy Is Decided
All eyes are on Scheffler's title defense, but Bellerive's demanding Jones design rarely crowns a fluke champion. The course rewards length and precision alike, and its major-championship history suggests the leaderboard will favor the game's most complete players. Watch the FedEx Cup bubble battle as closely as the top of the board: the fight for the final Tour Championship berths has produced some of the tournament's most dramatic finishes.
The return to Bellerive also reconnects the BMW Championship with a city that has hosted some of golf's defining moments. For a playoff event known for its major-like atmosphere, coming back to a venue with Bellerive's résumé feels like a fitting next chapter.
The Bottom Line
- The 2026 BMW Championship runs August 18-23 at Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Missouri, its first visit there since 2008.
- The no-cut event features the top 50 in FedEx Cup points competing for a $20 million purse and a $3.6 million winner's share.
- The top 30 finishers in FedEx Cup points advance to the Tour Championship.
- Bellerive has hosted the 1965 U.S. Open and the 1992 and 2018 PGA Championships.
- Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion after winning the 2025 edition at Caves Valley.
- The 2027 BMW Championship will be held at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey.
