Justin Thomas shares the biggest challenge about Castle Pines after playing practice round before BMW Championship

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Justin Thomas is one of the players who may be looking over his shoulder this week at the BMW Championship, with the two-time major champion sat in 22nd place in the FedEx Cup standings.

Of course, for many players, the BMW Championship at Castle Pines is largely about booking a ticket to The Tour Championship, with 20 players looking to make the leap which will see them force their way into the field at East Lake for the finale of the FedEx Cup play-offs.

Colorado-native Wyndham Clark has spoken about what a unique challenge Castle Pines is, with the PGA Tour returning to the Jack Nicklaus-designed course for the first time since 2006. Meanwhile, no PGA Tour event has been held in the Centennial State in a decade.

Justin Thomas is still waiting for everything to click in his game once again, with flashes of his old brilliance coming through in the last few months. He started the Scottish Open with a stunning opening round, while he also found himself in early contention at The Open the following week. But there have also been reminders of how far he still has to go.

Justin Thomas outlines biggest challenge at Castle Pines

And speaking to Golf Channel, Thomas issued his verdict on the course ahead of the second play-off event.

“Yeah, I played 14 holes yesterday and then played nine today. It’s good, it’s right in front of you,” he said.

“I think the biggest challenge for everybody is trying to figure out how far the ball’s going to go and pretty much just trying to catch your breath by the time you get to a tee when you’re walking uphill. There’s nothing necessarily tricky or hidden, it’s all pretty in front of you, it’s forgiving off the tee, fairway-size wise, it’s just dialling in the distance from there.”

Potential for a surprise winner

Interestingly, Thomas is one of the few players in the field who has won the BMW Championship previously, having triumphed at Medinah back in 2019. He won by three shots over Patrick Cantlay on that occasion.

Obviously, this course will present a vastly different test, but almost the entire field has no experience of playing a PGA Tour tournament at the course, or even in Colorado. So whoever finds it easiest to adapt may find themselves in a fantastic position.