Writing from Chicago
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Out-of-the-box thinking has made the BMW Championship a bigger money maker for the Western Golf Association than it ever was as the Western Open.
Playing in Denver? Nobody in the Chicago area except a few people at WGA headquarters in Golf saw that coming, but last year’s tournament at Cherry Hills Country Club raised about $3.3 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation.
Try this out: The old Western is moving east. Assuming the club’s membership approves, the 2018 BMW will be played at Aronimink Country Club in Newtown Square, Pa., in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Multiple news organizations in Philadelphia began reporting the news late Wednesday night.
A March 4 vote is expected to pass overwhelmingly.
Founded in 1896 and at its present site since 1926, Aronimink is one of the oldest clubs in the east. The Donald Ross-designed course has been in and out of the hosting business, most recently with Tiger Woods’ AT&T National in 2010 and 2011, won by Justin Rose and Nick Watney, respectively.
It first gained the public spotlight in 1962, when it hosted the PGA Championship, won by Gary Player. A U.S. Amateur (1977) and Senior PGA (2003) has also played through, and the club is angling to score another PGA Championship.
The Western Open has been been played east of the Midwest before, though barely. The 1948 Western was played at Brookfield Country Club in Buffalo, N.Y., while the 1959 edition was at the Pittsburgh Field Club. Crossing Pennsylvania is a first.
This year’s BMW, the third round of the PGA Tour’s playoff, is set for a return visit to Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, with the 2016 edition going back to Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis. The 2017 playing will be in the Chicago area at a site unknown.
The decision to offer Aronimink the 2018 BMW was first reported by www.csnphilly.com.
– Tim Cronin