Bombs Away At The BMW Championship As PGA Tour Pros Smash 400-Yard Mark

The PGA Tour's finest made the most of playing at altitude as 26 drives were smashed beyond 400 yards in the opening round of the BMW Championship

Ben An, Xander Schauffele and Adam Scott hitting drives at the BMW Championship
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Paul Higham
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It's a tournament for gripping it and ripping it at the BMW Championship with the PGA Tour's finest taking advantage of playing at altitude by crushing their drives.

Castle Pines Golf Club is situated 6,200 feet above sea level and the thinner air is adding extreme yardage gains for the field in the second event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Just before the tournament these gains were being highlighted as Rory McIlroy's stock yardages took a huge rise upwards, while he also managed to smash a ball out of the driving range at the Colorado course.

Then in the first round Ludvig Aberg stunned everyone with a 418-yard drive - seeing as it came from him only using his 3-wood.

That was far from the only one though, with the first round of the BMW Championship seeing 26 drives hammered out to over the 400-yard mark.

We're well used to seeing such extreme distances at The Sentry which is held at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii - where the course has several huge drop-offs from tee to green enabling monster drives as standard.

That's where Max Homa smashed his record 477-yard drive and where four of the top 10 longest drives in PGA Tour history have been measured.

In Colorado during the first round, Byeong Hun An led the field with his muscular effort of 431 yards, with former Masters champion Adam Scott launching one just short of that at 426 yards.

Aberg's 3-wood was actually the joint third-longest drive recorded of the day - with Canadian Taylor Pendrith matching that number.

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Three players in the field managed to send one out there to 417 yards, with Sahith Theegala and Russell Henley's efforts matched by Xander Schauffele.

The double Major champion of 2024 has made noticeable distance gains of late and that's certainly evident in Colorado judging by that 400-plus yard effort - even in rarefied air that's some hit.

Schauffele shot a three-under 69 to sit in T7 three shots off leader Keegan Bradley after the opening round - as he chases what remarkably would be his first non-Major victory of the year.

Claiming the PGA Championship and then the Open at Royal Troon are the 'only' two victories Schauffele has this season - although he did finish T2 at the FedEx St Jude last week.

Paul Higham
Paul Higham
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Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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