Tour renegotiating S.F.'s BMW contract to accommodate Conway Farms

Writing from Chicago

Thursday, February 16, 2012

The PGA Tour and the city of San Francisco are renegotiating the contract that calls for the BMW Championship to be held at Harding Park, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday.

Doing so would allow Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest to host it in 2013 and 2015, which the club is requesting. It would also fulfill the sponsoring Western Golf Association's desire – and contract – to play at least one of every two BMWs in the Chicago area.

The Tour wants to push back a BMW appearance at Harding Park and add two Schwab Cup playoff tournaments – that's the Champions Tour finale – to make up for not playing the BMW in San Francisco in either 2013 or 2014.

Harding Park general manager Phil Ginsburg told the Chronicle the plan calls for playing the BMW at the course in 2016, and adding two Schwab Cups from 2017 to 2019.

"This could turn out to be a win-win for everyone," Ginsburg said. "It gives the Tour needed flexibility, strengthens our existing agreement and brings extra tournaments to Harding for the next decade."

Tour executive David Pillsbury told the Chronicle that the contract with the city calls for the BMW, traditionally known as the Western Open, to be played in one of the next two years. Previously, it had been reported here and elsewhere that the BMW had to be played at Harding Park by 2015. The 2014 tournament is slated for Cherry Hills Country Club, near Denver, leaving 2013 as the only date to fulfill the current contract.

"We've told all the parties the same thing throughout this dialogue: Look, we have a contract with the city of San Francisco to bring the penultimate playoff event there in 2013 or '14," Pillsbury told the Chronicle's Ron Kroichick.

"Until we are able to secure approval from the city to do otherwise, we plan on honoring our contractual agreement. We're hopeful, but it's not done until it's done."

If the deal is approved by the San Francisco brass and the double visit to Conway is locked in, the BMW schedule would line up like this:

2012: Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Ind.

2013: Conway Farms Golf Club, Lake Forest

2014: Cherry Hills Country Club, Cherry Hills Village, Colo.

2015: Conway Farms Golf Club, Lake Forest

2016: Harding Park Golf Course, San Francisco

If the Tour and San Francisco can't reach an agreement, everything aside from this year's visit to Crooked Stick and the 2014 jaunt to the Rockies is up in the air.

– Tim Cronin