The Starter, Round 1: BMW Championship

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Sep. 8, 2010

The first round of the BMW Championship is set to begin Thursday. Here's a preview:

Groups we're watching:

Tee time	Players
8:50 a.m. ET No. 1		Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson Scott and Johnson who have been consistently on the leaderboards recently and will be paired together at Cog Hill.
12:40 p.m. ET, No. 1		Ernie Els, Hunter Mahan Two players who started the Playoffs inside the top five and have slipped in the standings the last two weeks. Will they bounce back?
1:10 p.m. ET, No. 1		Tiger Woods, K.J. Choi It's been "survive and advance" for Tiger in the Playoffs, but in an event he's won four times, could this week hold something bigger?

MORE ROUND 1: Tee times | Inside the field | Inside the course | Transcripts

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR NETWORK on-site correspondent Bob Stevens previews Thursday's action:

Thursday's forecast

Partly Cloudy
Temp: 73 high/54 low
Chance of precipitation 10 percent. Winds from NE around 10 mph.

The Cog Hill Golf and Country Club's Dubsdread Course must be in tournament-ready condition because you actually hear some grumbling from the players about it. Matt Kuchar, who's #1 on the FedExCup points list and won the 1997 U-S Amateur on the same course before Rees Jones' renovation in 2008, told me that Jones' work on the green complexes made the course "meaner" than he was used to. And this is coming from a guy who finished 10th last year, the first time these guys had seen the renovation. Otherwise, Kuchar was in great spirits, telling me he was particularly excited that he didn't suffer a letdown at the Deutsche Bank Championship after his win at the Barclays, finishing in a tie for 11th.

If there's one guy less likely to say something negative about anything than Kuchar, it might be Steve Stricker, but the 3rd ranked player in the playoff chase, who won the Western Open here in 1996, said that Jones' re-do of the green complexes made them "pretty difficult" and they feature "characteristics that I really don't care for." Many players have said before that the changes in shapes and sizes of the greens force them to play to the center of the greens and putt to the corners were the holes will be located. As for the condition of the greens themselves, Tiger Woods called them "spotty" because of the stress put on the bentgrass greens by the hot summer temperatures in the Midwest.

Watch out for Stewart Cink this week. He finished in the Top 10 here in 2006 and 2007 and has Top-20'd in each of his last four starts. We remembered together his dash on the final Sunday at Cog Hill a year ago (he finished it with a curling 18-footer at the 9th hole, his finishing hole he was so far behind) when he had to play his way back in to the TOUR Championship after pretty much playing his way out earlier in the week. This year, he says he has a more positive mind-set, because he's on the outside of the Top 30 and must be aggressive instead of inside trying to protect his spot. He also said he's taking a positive attitude on being made a captain's pick for an international team for the third time, telling me he figures the captains must really want him to pick him, and aren't "stuck" with him because he'd already made the team on points.

The Film Room

	Preview: BMW Championship The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup are heating up and the top 70 are ready to battle in the BMW Championship. Casey Black previews the action. Watch it
	Fantasy Insider: BMW Championship Need help with your fantasy picks for the 2010 BMW Championship? John Swantek and the Fantasy Insider can help! Watch it
	Interview: Rickie Fowler Rickie Fowler talks to the media at the BMW Championship about playing Cog Hill for the first time. Watch it