Writing from Cherry Hills Village, Colorado
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Presuming the club’s membership votes approval, the WGA will take the BMW Championship back to Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., in 2016.
Multiple sources say only the formality of the vote, expected soon, is preventing an announcement by the club, the WGA and BMW.
Rory McIlroy won the 2012 edition there, one played across three days of rain, an evening downpour, and four days of “lift, clean and place,” But the sour weather did not deter Indianapolis golf fans from turning out in big numbers, with about 146,000 turning out over seven days, about three times the full-week turnout of 49,000 for the 2001 finals at Cog Hill.
Even as that tournament was winding down, plans were being drawn to return to Crooked Stick eventually. At that time, a source with the club indicated that after a long string of championship golf, including the 2005 Solheim Cup and 2009 U.S. Senior Open, the membership wanted a few years off from the grind of hosting a tournament, which includes construction and deconstruction of everything from merchandise pavilions to TV towers.
That break will apparently be only four years.
The original plan was for the old Western Open to go even farther west than Colorado in 2016. The PGA Tour’s contract with San Francisco called for a playoff tournament at Harding Park Golf Course by 2016. The BMW was to have been that tournament, but the Tour recently signed a new deal with the city that changed the terms, placing the Presidents Cup and other baubles in San Francisco. That allows the WGA, which last visited San Francisco for the 1956 Western Open at the Presidio, to stay closer to home.
Until that deal was struck, the notion was that the WGA and Crooked Stick would pair up for 2018. Now that date is in play. Given the massive outpouring of support at Cherry Hills both in terms of corporate support and regular fans – ticket sales were held to about 28,000 a day, with weekly badges and individual tickets for Sunday a sellout – it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to see if the club would want to host again four years from now. Evans Scholar alum George Solich sitting on the club’s board gives the WGA an in, one would think.
The BMW is in Chicagoland in odd-numbered years, and that means Conway Farms Golf Club for 2015 and the foreseeable future. It’s not the test that either Crooked Stick or Cherry Hills is, but, like those two clubs, it’s located in a tony area filled with rich people who might be induced into buying a BMW. Conway is signed only for 2015, but, in the process of completing a tweak to several greens and rebuilding its range, it’s the logical place among clubs on the north shore.
Speaking of Conway, tickets for the 2015 BMW, slated for Sept. 17-20, go on sale Monday at the www.bmwchampionshipusa.com website.
Bubba being Bubba
As long as it’s not a long-driving contest at the PGA Championship, Gerry Watson Jr. – or do you call him Bubba? – loves to swing the driver. Hard.
That was the case on Thursday. Aided by the mile-high-plus location, Watson hammered five drives of over 350 yards, the longest a 371-yard flight on the 526-yard par-4 fifth hole. He had 155 yards left, and bogeyed.
He bombed his drive on the par-5 17th 360 yards and had 182 yards in. He birdied.
Overall, Watson hit half the 14 fairways and 11 greens en route to his even-par 70. But nobody, except maybe the person belted by his green-high drive on the first hole, went away unhappy.
Around Cherry Hills
It was a tough day for Winfield native Kevin Streelman, the only Illinois native in the field. He fired a 5-over-par 75 punctuated by a double-bogey at the par-4 13th, part of a four-hole stretch where he lost five strokes to par. That shoved him into a tie for 64th, with only Patrick Reed (77) and Ryan Moore (a birdie-free 80) behind him. ... The purse of $8 million awards $1.44 million to the winner, the same as the last two years. Actually, with only 69 players, the last (70th) place money of $16,000 is not on offer. ... Members of the Cherry Hills tournament committee wear bright blue blazers with logo patches worthy of a bowl game. Maybe it’s because John Elway is a prominent member. ... Friday’s tee times are unchanged. The nine players remaining to finish because of the lightning will start at 11 a.m.
– Tim Cronin