Jon Rahm Wins the 2020 BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club in a Sudden Death Playoff.

Rahm Outlasts Two-Time Champion Dustin Johnson in Extra Holes to Capture His First BMW Championship.

BMW Kicked Off BMW Championship Week With First-Ever BMW Match Play Challenge, to Celebrate Evans Scholars Foundation.

Olympia Fields, Ill. – August 30, 2020... BMW congratulates Jon Rahm on winning the 2020 BMW Championship today at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Illinois, on the first hole of a sudden death playoff. Rahm holed a 66-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to outlast Dustin Johnson and capture his first-ever BMW Championship.

Rahm’s win seemed improbable, given that he began his week with a first-round score of 5-over 75. However, he made a dramatic surge up the leaderboard over the weekend, putting together a 36-hole score of 10-under par on Saturday and Sunday, before Johnson forced the sudden death playoff with a shocking birdie putt of his own on the 72^nd hole of the championship.

“The 75, I was just feeling a little bit uncomfortable off the tee,” said Rahm. “It’s hard to get it going on this course when you’re missing fairways. On Friday I started striping it a little bit more. Went to the range and started feeling a little bit better before the weekend, a little bit like I did the week before. And that’s how I played the last two days. Today, I believe, I hit 18 out of 19 greens, and I only missed three fairways, after hitting driver pretty much everywhere. Just a lot of confidence, stayed aggressive, and it paid off.”

Despite the 2020 BMW Championship being contested without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic the incredible birdie putts by Johnson and then Rahm, still managed to elicit cheers from volunteers and workers putting on the championship. It capped off a thrilling final day of golf which saw the Spaniard Rahm stave off charges from Johnson, Joaquin Niemann of Chile and Hideki Matsuyama (2-under, 278) and American Tony Finau (1-under, 279).

Following his victory, Rahm was presented with the BMW Championship trophy, as well as the historic J.K. Wadley Trophy.

“Congratulations to Jon Rahm on capturing the 2020 BMW Championship,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, president and CEO, BMW of North America. “On behalf of everyone at BMW, I’d like to thank the Western Golf Association, the PGA TOUR, and the volunteers who helped out this week. A special thank you also to the great grounds crew at Olympia Fields who kept the course in exceptional condition, and to the members of the club for their continuing support of the Evans Scholars Foundation. The BMW Championship is so important because of what it gives back to so many young caddies, so we’re especially happy to host the event during this unique time.”

Earlier this week, BMW, in conjunction with the PGA TOUR and Western Golf Association held the first-ever BMW Match Play Challenge, to benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation.  The nine-hole charity exhibition match, featured two-man teams of Bryson DeChambeau and Kevin Na against Collin Morikawa and Max Homa, and multiple challenges within the match play event – a 7-club “Chick Evans Challenge” honoring the namesake of the Evans Scholarship; a longest drive competition; and a closest-to-the-pin competition.

The team of DeChambeau and Na emerged victorious, with a total of 68 points. As a result, the BMW Championship announced it would establish a full tuition and housing scholarship, as well as a donation for each point scored by the winning team, in the name of DeChambeau and Na. The result was $193,000 donated to the Evans Scholars Foundation.

Once again, all proceeds from the 2020 BMW Championship benefitted the Evans Scholars Foundation, which provides full housing and tuition college scholarships to hardworking young caddies. Since the tournament’s inception in 2007, the BMW Championship has raised more than $35 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation. For the coming 2020-21 academic year, a record 1,045 caddies will be attending 19 major colleges and universities on Evans Scholarships. Currently, there are more than 11,500 Evans Scholarship alumni nationwide.

Rahm will look to defend his title next year, when the BMW Championship travels to the Baltimore area for the very first time, to Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. on August 23-29, 2020.

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About the BMW Championship

The BMW Championship, conducted by the Western Golf Association, dates back to 1899 when it debuted as the Western Open, making it the third-oldest tournament on the PGA TOUR schedule, behind only the British Open and U.S. Open. BMW has sponsored the tournament since 2007 when it became the penultimate event of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs. The BMW Championship features a field of the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings to determine the final 30 players for the FedExCup finale at the TOUR Championship in Atlanta. To learn more, visit www.bmwchampionship.com.

About the Western Golf Association

The Western Golf Association conducts three national golf championships and sponsors the nationally-acclaimed Evans Scholars Foundation. Headquartered in Golf, Illinois, the organization was founded in 1899 by 11 Chicago-area golf clubs to promote their interests in golf. In addition to the BMW Championship, the WGA conducts two prestigious amateur championships, the Western Amateur and the Western Junior. To learn more, visit www.wgaesf.org.

About the Evans Scholars Foundation

The Evans Scholars Foundation, the nation’s largest scholarship program for caddies, provides full housing and tuition college scholarships to young caddies who show academic promise and financial need. Overseen by the Western Golf Association, the golf charity has helped more than 11,500 caddies graduate from college since 1930. This fall, 1,045 Scholars are attending 19 universities nationwide.

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