Paul Klee: BMW Championship is a Mile High Salute to the loopers. Caddies rule!

CASTLE PINES — Is this the fancy-schmancy BMW Championship or a 300-level math class?

A couple minutes after Xander Schauffele cruised through Castle Pines Golf Club with four birdies and a single bogey, the world’s No. 2 player made his round sound like a calculus test.

And it goes further than an 8,130-yard course being played at an elevation of 6,300 feet.

The old looper in me had to ask: How important is your caddie on this unusual PGA Tour stop?

Well. ... “You get your initial number (yardage). Then we're breaking it down to sea level, and then there's two or three numbers because I always want a short and a long and the pin, so that's like six numbers,” Schauffele said.

“Then I'm talking about wind — all those numbers — so that's nine numbers. Then I need the final number for the shot I'm hitting at sea level.”

Who knew trying to cash in on a $20 million golf tournament required a math degree?

After the first round Thursday, Schauffele is sitting cozy at 3-under par — three shots back of leader Keegan Bradley. These guys are so long off the tee a course can’t be long enough.

But the first round showed there’s another critical factor at play in this rare PGA Tour stop.

The BMW Championship is a tournament for the caddies. Let's give a mile-high salute to the loopers!

Considering how much the pros lean on their caddies at this unusual tour stop, played at an unusual elevation, it makes sense Evans Scholars program is featured at Castle Pines.

All proceeds from the tournament go to the Evans program, which provides almost 1,200 caddies with full college tuition and housing at 24 schools across the country. This week brothers George and Duffy Solich, who grew up caddying at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and were Evans scholars, were inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame. George is the president of Castle Pines Golf Club, Duffy the BMW Championship tournament chairman.

“The Evans program changed my life,” said Kathryn Costello, a CU-Boulder graduate who served as the president of the Boulder chapter.

What I witnessed Thursday was the best field in Colorado’s proud golf history — and 50 millionaires who trust their caddies with their paychecks without blinking an eye.

Schauffele with caddie Austin Kisser. Billy Horschel (1-under par) with Micah Fugitt. Viktor Hovland (1-under) with Shay Knight. Will Zalatoris (1-under) with Joel Stock). Denver's Wyndham Clark, who strolled off the No. 1 tee box to a hometown roar with caddy John Ellis.

“The best caddy on tour,” said Clark, who credits Ellis, one of his former golf coaches at the University of Oregon, with helping him regulate his temperament early in his professional career.

Some caddies arrived as early as Sunday to identify the dos and don’ts of Castle Pines.

World No. 1 Scott Scheffler called his trust in caddie Ted Scott “extremely important.”

“Especially with him doing most of the math and getting the adjustments and figuring out where to miss and where not to miss,” Scheffler told me. "A lot of times (when) you come to a new course like this, I don't have the time to walk the course and have a good understanding of where all the misses need to be and stuff like that. Teddy does a really good job of helping me plot my way around the golf course.”

The physical toll of four days trucking up and down a hillside is a hefty part of the Castle Pines caddie experience. One caddie suggested it’s an 8-mile hike if you walk the course in a straight line — and even the pros don't play in a straight line — with elevation changes that compare to almost 50 floors of an office building.

The caddies who loop Castle Pines for a living can attest.

“I used to tell myself, ‘It’s only 18 holes. How bad can it be?” said Mike Scott, one of the best caddies in Colorado, who’s on a Castle Pines bag or four on a daily basis. “Then you remember these (PGA Tour) bags are 50 pounds — clubs, rain gear, everything. That’s no joke.”

For a Castle Pines out-of-towner who hits an 8 iron 150 yards at sea level, for example, Scott usually adds around 10 percent at this elevation, depending on their playing ability. The real local knowledge comes into play managing the undulating greens and their moody breaks.

A Castle Pines caddie’s expert advice: “Trust your (yardage) numbers. Always.”

A couple of Castle Pines caddies predict a winning score of 20-under par over four days.

“It’s going to come down to who takes on these par 5s. Who can capitalize?” Scott said. "Every one of the par 5s is reachable (in two shots) for these guys.”

Give it up for the loopers, and always tip your caddie.