The field of 125 that was topped by Tony Finau at The Northern Trust last week has been whittled down to 70 for the second round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the BMW Championship, which takes place at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Baltimore.

It is all about ranking points with the top 30 in the list set to progress to the Tour Championship at East Lake next week, when one player will walk off with a jackpot prize of $15million.

Finau is now in the box seat after he won a Monday playoff against Australia’s Cameron Smith which gave him his first triumph since the 2016 Puerto Rico Open.

He is 28/1 to claim another success but Jon Rahm, who finishes two shots behind the playoff pair in third, is the 13/2 favourite after posting his 14th top-ten finish of the season.

Ian Wilkerson is here to point you in the right direction for this week’s clash of the world’s golfing elite in the BMW Championship in Maryland.

BMW Championship course guide and where to watch

Course: Caves Valley Golf Club, Baltimore, Maryland

Par: 72

Field: 70

Where to watch: Live on Sky Sports Golf 5.30pm Thursday

BMW Championship predictions & tips

BMW Championship outsider prediction – Keegan Bradley at 90/1

Just 30 players will go forward to next week’s climax and former US PGA champion Keegan Bradley should be pushing all the way as he starts two places outside the cut.

He allowed the Valspar Championship to slip through his fingers in May but he bounced back from a four-week break to finish 11th at The Northern Trust.

Bradley carded three rounds in the 60s at the Liberty National and he has the tee-to-green game to go well at Caves Valley at a big price.

BMW Championship winner prediction – Patrick Cantlay at 25/1

Favourite Jon Rahm is a serial contender for tournaments this year and he won last year’s BMW Championship in Illinois, but he is becoming the nearly man on the PGA TOur and his US Open success has been the only time he has been in the winner’s circle since.

There are also concerns about some of the other market leaders with Dustin Johnson missing the cut at Liberty National last week and Open champion Collin Morikawa failed to make the weekend having had problems with a neck injury.

A solid tee-to-green player should flourish on this new challenge and that points to Patrick Cantlay having a good week.

The Californian has tasted victory at the Zozo Championship and the Memorial this year and has shot more than 71 in just one of his last 20 rounds in America.

The bentgrass greens should be similar to the ones on which he triumphed at Muirfield Village and there is plenty of motivation.

He is fourth in the FedEx rankings, so a win would give him a huge chance of landing the big prize and he could also force his way into Steve Stricker’s plans for the US team for next Month’s Ryder Cup.