August 13, 2025 

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of The Tee Sheet - your Wednesday read on what matters in the world of golf right now. The FedExCup playoffs are underway and we are onto the BMW Championship this week - the first round did not disappoint…

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Let’s dive in!

Official World Golf Ranking Tracker & Movers

• Big Movers Up: Justin Rose moves to #9 after winning the St. Jude, Christo Lamprecht moves 118 spots forward after winning on the KFT

• Top 10: Rosey makes his move into the top 10, JJ Spaun moves to #6 in the world after his 2nd place finish at the St. Jude

Note: Rising / Falling includes biggest movers in the OWGR Top 150

FedEx Cup Points Tracker

• Top 10 Movements: FedExCup points are flying now that we are in the playoffs - Rose and Spaun sky to the top while others fall back

• Those Ranked in the Top 30 in points after the BMW this week all receive nice paydays and play in the Tour Championship

PGA Tour Money List Tracker

• Top 10 Movements: Rose and Fleetwood make strong moves up the money list, Scottie surpasses $20M in tournament money (excluding his FedEx bonuses…)

Tourney Recap

2025 FedEx St Jude Championship Recap: Rose Rallies… Memphis Delivers…

There’s playoff pressure, and then there’s what Memphis gave us this week: wind, sweat, leaderboard chaos, Ryder Cup drama, and a 45-year-old major champion birdieing four of his last five holes to force - and win - a playoff.

Justin Rose delivered the goods, beating JJ Spaun in a three-hole playoff to capture his first PGA Tour win in over two years, securing a spot in the BMW, and doing enough to book a seat on Team Europe at Bethpage. It was vintage Rose, and it couldn’t have come at a better moment - for him, for Team Europe, or for a FedExCup postseason that finally found its gear.

Let’s get into it.

Sunday Summary: A Comeback, a Clutch Finish, a Classic

• Rose started Sunday one back of Tommy Fleetwood and spent most of the front nine in chase mode

• After a bogey at 12, things looked like they were slipping - but then the late-round switch flipped: birdies at 14, 15, 16, and 17 gave him a final-round 67 and a share of the lead at –16 this year’s US Open champion

• JJ Spaun, riding a 65 of his own and fresh off a couple of statement birdies on 16 and 17 joined him

• Three playoff holes followed. Rose made par-birdie-birdie. Spaun couldn’t match on the third. Game, set, trophy

It was Rose’s 12th career PGA Tour title - and his first since the AT&T Pro-Am in 2023.

Key Contenders

• JJ Spaun (2nd): Another top finish to continue his unexpectedly awesome season

• Tommy Fleetwood (T3): Was in position to win again on Sunday, but just can’t close. 42 Top 10s without a Tour win is a stat worth knowing

• Scottie Scheffler (T3): Looked like he may make a charge all weekend, but another Top 3 finish for the World Number 1

• Cam Young (5th): Another strong finish coming off of his recent victory, trying to strengthen the Bethpage case and keeping strong form

Memphis gave us the full playoff script: a resurgent 45-year-old champ who is loved by fans, a string of birdies to force extras, and a leaderboard packed with Ryder Cup tension. And when the dust settled, it was Justin Rose, a veteran with nothing to prove and everything to earn, standing tall. Class.

FedEx St Jude’s Quick Stats:

• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green Leaders

  1. JJ Spaun (+3.33) - 2nd

  2. Si Woo Kim (+2.52) - 14th

  3. Justin Rose (+2.19) - 1st

• Strokes Gained: Putting Leaders

  1. Sam Burns (+1.36) - T28

  2. Tommy Fleetwood (+1.29) - T3

  3. Harry Hall (+1.17) - T22

• Strokes Gained: Approach

  1. Si Woo Kim (+2.03) - T14

  2. JJ Spaun (+1.73) - 2nd

  3. Matti Schmid (+1.66) - T38

Tourney Preview

2025 BMW Championship Preview: Cars, Caddies, and Playoff Golf

BMW Championship Preview: The High-Stakes Leap to East Lake

Forget what you know about warmups - the playoffs are running hot - The BMW Championship, happening August 14–17 at Caves Valley Golf Club (Owings Mills, MD), is not freebie golf. It’s where only the sharp survive, and the hottest make it to Atlanta.

The Top 50 FedEx earners after Memphis are in the field - notably, Sepp Straka has withdrawn due to a personal matter, shrinking the field to 49

What’s on the Line?

• Just 50 players remain after the St. Jude: play well this week, you're through. Fail, and your season - or FedEx run - is done

• Finish in the Top 30, and it's East Lake time, with a clean slate and your shot at the a $10M prize

Who Snuck In?

• Kurt Kitayama, Bud Cauley, Rickie Fowler, Jhonattan Vegas, and JT Poston sneak inside the Top 50

• Aldrich Potgieter, Jordan Spieth, Jake Knapp, Wyndham Clark, and Min Woo Lee all slid out - we won’t be seeing them this week

Caves Valley Course Notes

Caves Valley was designed by Tom Fazio original, forged amid the rolling hills and wooded hollows of Owings Mills, Maryland, and it’s uniquely dialed for playoff golf.

Golfers start with open, rolling land and finish through tight, forested corridors. The back nine - used as the front this week - hosts two dramatic par 3s over ravines and a closing gauntlet of long par 4s built for pressure. The routing is a deliberate Muirfield‑Village-style duel of precision.

Born in 1991, this private, member-owned club sits on many acres of pastures, woods, and wetlands. From the front gate to the final green, this place is all about atmosphere and golf, lined in respect.

Off-Course Impact: The Evans Scholar Mission

The BMW Championship isn’t just playoff golf. It’s a championship for a cause: all proceeds benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, which provides full tuition and housing scholarships to caddies across the country.

Since 2007, the tournament has raised more than $60 million for the foundation. In 2025, a record 1,190 Evans Scholars were enrolled at 24 universities, all on the back of a single idea: reward hard work with opportunity. 98% graduation rate and nearly 40% of current scholars are first-generation college students. For a sport that can often feel insular at the highest levels, this is where the Evans program breaks through.

We get to watch the back nine at Caves Valley and see playoff pressure. But behind the ropes? That pressure is paying off tuition. Pretty cool.

What to Watch

• Momentum players: Rose, Spaun, and Young carry strong form into the tee box

• Tacticians get leverage: This course doesn’t care about 330-yard drives. It respects precision - fairways, angles, green wrestling

• Narrative heat: Ryder Cup implications, Tour Championship security, redemption stops - BMW is a playoff litmus test

The BMW Championship is the pressure cooker step between Memphis chaos and Atlanta glory.

Play well, and you get into the Tour Championship. Miss it, and the offseason starts early… This one has hosted some incredible finishes, and players come ready to with their best stuff.

BMW Championship Quick Stats:

• Course: Caves Valley Golf Club

• Par: 70

• Distance: 7,601 yards

• Purse: $20,000,000

• Recent Champs: Keegan Bradley (2024), Viktor Hovland (2023), Patrick Cantlay (2022 and 2021), Jon Rahm (2020)

Picks & Players to Watch

• Top 20: Harry Hall (-105)

• Top 10: Ludvig Aberg (+150), Cam Young (+185), Ben Griffin (+210)

Disclaimer: The picks and predictions in The Tee Sheet are for informational and entertainment purposes only.

Ryder Cup Rankings Tracker

Team USA: 

• JJ Spaun and Xander Schauffele have both officially auto-qualified by way of points for Team USA

• Lots of interesting moves amongst DataGolf odds - Cam Young, Akshay Bhatia, and Rickie Fowler creep up ; Jordan Spieth, Daniel Berger, and Chris Gotterup move back

Team Europe:

• Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood both auto-qualify for Team Europe

• Harry Hall sees an odds increase

The Weekly Rundown

Stories to Know This Week

🏆 Dean Burmester Wins LIV Chicago Showdown

• Dean Burmester clinched his second LIV Golf title at LIV Chicago, outlasting Jon Rahm and Josele Ballester in a three-man playoff

🏆 Christo Lamprecht wins Pinnacle Bank Championship

• The 24-year-old South African Christo Lamprecht wins for the first time on the Korn Ferry Tour after holing out from the bunker on 18

Author’s Note

That’s a wrap on another week of playoff golf, Ryder Cup shakeups, and late-summer drama that just keeps stacking.

Justin Rose turns back the clock. Meanwhile, we’re heading into the BMW with just 50 left and 30 seats at East Lake up for grabs.

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See you next Wednesday - when the FedEx field shrinks again, Ryder Cup boards tighten, and someone else makes a leap.