BMW Championship 2015: Tee times, pairings for Saturday’s third round

The threat of inclement weather has altered the schedule for the third straight day at the BMW Championship just outside Chicago. The opening round was washed out early when storms hammered Conway Farms. The potential for more on Friday forced the PGA Tour to move tee times up a few hours, sending them right back out after finishing up the first 18 in the morning. Now on Saturday, the tour will keep the field of 69 players in groups of three going off split tees with overnight storms crushing the course even more overnight. The tour will want some extra cushion in the morning to prep the course and make it playable.

The course is already drenched, playing soft and fairly easy for these world-class pros. It dumped overnight so they’ll almost certainly play lift, clean and place on a water-logged course for Saturday’s third round. That means the scores will be low again and records may start dropping.

Jason Day has already matched one scoring record, needing just 124 strokes through his first 36 holes. That equals a mark set by Pat Perez and David Toms and put the Aussie at 18-under, a good five shots clear of the field. He’s unconscious right now, playing Tiger-level golf and an overwhelming favorite to close out his fourth win in his last six starts over this weekend. Now that we’re past the midpoint, the tour will re-pair the players according to score as opposed to FedExCup points, so Day drops Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler in exchange for Daniel Berger and Brendon Todd. That final group goes off just after 1 p.m. ET and should be safely in the clubhouse without any further delay.

It’s not that Spieth or Fowler are playing poorly, it’s just that Day is so far ahead of everyone right now. When he poured in that last outrageous eagle bomb on the final hole, his playing partners simply laughed and shook their heads. Given the scoring conditions and Day’s current form, this entire weekend is looking like a 36-hole coronation stroll to our third ever Aussie world No. 1.

With this third leg of the FedExCup only hosting the remaining top 70 in the standings, there was no need for a cut on Friday night. So the field stays the same -- it’s a manageable number for the tour and slightly smaller than the typical field they’re used to working with on the weekends. Unless the storms hammer Chicago all weekend, they should find a way to get in 36 more in by darkness on Sunday night. Here’s the updated tee sheet for the third round on Saturday: