BMW Is 20 Years Into Sponsoring Golf, and the Prize Just Got a Choice (
Article Summary
- The BMW Championship returns to Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis for the first time since 2008, with the top 50 FedExCup players in the field.
- BMW marks its 20th year as title sponsor, a run that has produced six Tournament of the Year awards and over $63 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation.
- Players who ace the par-3 16th now choose their prize in advance, either the all-new X5 or the all-electric iX3.
The BMW Championship is back at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis for the first time since 2008, and the timing lines up with a milestone for the title sponsor: this is BMW’s 20th year backing the PGA TOUR’s penultimate FedExCup playoff event. BMW has held the title sponsorship since 2007, and in that stretch the BMW Championship has been named PGA TOUR Tournament of the Year six times, a record no other event on the schedule can claim.
The bigger number is the money: more than $63 million has gone to the Evans Scholars Foundation since BMW signed on, funding more than 4,300 full-tuition scholarships for caddies. That figure grows every time a player makes an ace during tournament week, since each hole-in-one triggers an additional scholarship credited to the golfer who made the shot. This year’s honoree is Juliya Tabaka, whose scholarship traces back to Akshay Bhatia’s hole-in-one at last year’s event.
Players Now Pick Their Own Prize
The hole-in-one car has been a fixture of the tournament for years, but 2026 changes how it works. Instead of a single designated vehicle, PGA TOUR players will choose ahead of time between the all-new BMW X5 and the all-electric BMW iX3. Whoever aces the 16th drives home in whichever car they picked ahead of time. It’s a minor rule change, but it means the iX3 finally gets picked on its own merits instead of riding along as the electric alternative nobody asked for. The X5 shown at Bellerive comes out of BMW’s Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, the same plant that’s built every X5 since the model launched. BMW also has an updated 7 Series on site, its top sedan.
The BMW Experience and the Owners’ Pavilion
BMW’s on-course footprint centers on the BMW Experience zone, where fans can walk through custom cars built in collaboration with PGA TOUR players and take a shot at “Beat the Pro” chipping and putting challenges. BMW owners get their own space: the BMW Owners’ Pavilion sits above the par-3 16th with sightlines to the 10th and 15th greens, and it is open to owners and one guest who show up with a BMW key fob or the Digital Key in the My BMW App.BMW is also the presenting partner on Chasing Sunday: The BMW Championship, a new behind-the-scenes video series produced with the PGA TOUR and NFL Films.
Wednesday’s Pro-Am
The Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am on Wednesday pairs TOUR pros with a mixed group that includes golf personality Roger Steele, content creators Sara Winters and Mac Boucher, Matthew Tkachuk, St. Louis Cardinals legend Ozzie Smith, and a member of the Savannah Bananas, with more on that last pairing still to come.
Bellerive last hosted a BMW Championship in 2008, back when the event was still finding its footing on the FedExCup schedule. Nearly two decades and six Tournament of the Year trophies later, BMW’s sponsorship has outlasted plenty of skepticism about whether a car brand’s name belongs on a golf trophy.
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