Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Writing from Chicago
Olympia Fields and Kemper Lakes, two of the Chicago area’s most prominent country clubs, will host the WPGA Championship in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
It was known that Olympia Fields was negotiating to host the renamed and enhanced LPGA Championship, but it was expected to be the 2019 edition, to be announced after next week’s U.S. Amateur, the centerpiece of the south suburban club’s centennial celebration.
Instead, Olympia Fields will host the world’s leading female players on the North Course in two years. It will be the club’s first professional major championship since the 2003 U.S. Open, and the first women’s major since the 1933 Women’s Western Open, won by Olympia member June Beebe.
Kemper Lakes’ hosting of the WPGA will be its first foray into major championship golf since the 1989 PGA Championship. Kemper Lakes was a public course then, but was bought and turned private in 2007. The members have been seeking a tournament to get back into the public eye.
The move by the PGA of America and the LPGA triples the number of appearances the women’s tour will make in Chicagoland in the next few years. The International Crown, brainchild of Jerry Rich, will come to his Rich Harvest Farms next year. Add in the WPGAs at Olympia and Kemper, and you’ve got three women’s majors or international team competitions in as many years, and the Crown could return to Rich Harvest in 2020.
Olympia Fields president Jon Dye announced the deal to his membership by saying, “”In the competitive world of tournament golf, we believe we must strive to show the world the wonderful facilities that are located on our grounds. The board is committed to pursuing the club’s stated mission of hosting championship golf while doing so without further asking you to subsidize these endeavors. We believe that this tournament will be a breakeven proposition with a great likelihood of being a profitable event for your club.”
Olympia’s last connection with the PGA of America was the 1961 PGA Championship, won by Jerry Barber in a playoff. Dye noted in his letter he hopes hosting the WPGA would be “igniting our relationship with the PGA for future considerations.”
That would be a possible PGA Championship or Ryder Cup.
Inbee Park won this year’s WPGA at Westchester Country Club. Next year’s edition will be at Sahalee Country Cub near Seattle.
– Tim Cronin