Monday
Sep072009
Laboring in Boston, calm at Cog Hill
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 11:15AM
Writing from Lemont, Ill.
Monday, September 7, 2009
It's a very quiet Labor Day at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club today, the first day of what used to be called Western Open week.
That's largely because the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the Boston-area tournament, is underway on this very afternoon, with Tiger Woods having made the early noise with an 8-under-par 63 to finish at 12-under-par 272 and draw within a handful of shots of a feisty group of leaders.
While they fought it out, 1996 Western Open champion Steve Stricker winning to collect the $1.35 million champion's portion of the $7.5 million purse, there was little activity at Cog Hill. A handful of players, including Rory Sabbatini and Paul Casey, the latter returning from an injury, were on the practice range. Everyone else was either at or near Boston's Logan Airport by late afternoon.
Many of the special 70 who have qualified for the Western Golf Association's 106th Open Championship – the third under the banner of the BMW Championship – will arrive for their first look at the new-look Dubsdread by midday Tuesday.
Essentially, the Deutsche Bank cash grab is the qualifying tournament for this week's festivities on Dubsdread. Whereas there used to be a four-spot qualifier at the Village Links of Glen Ellyn to complete the field, the great majority of which was filled by PGA Tour exempt players, now all 70 players come from the Tour, but only by being among the top 70 in the season point standings. Stricker, incidentally, took over the top of the standings, ahead of Woods.
Happily for those who favor players with style and brio, Sergio Garcia played well enough to advance from Boston to Lemont. That was a considerable question entering the weekend, but Garcia's closing 67 for 276 lifted him to 55th in the standings from 71st.
As far as Cog Hill was concerned, the interest wasn't so much in who won in Boston, but in who made the top 70 in the standings. While Fred Couples, Lee Janzen, Briny Baird and Pekin's D.A. Points were among those falling out of the field, Garcia, former Western Open champion Stephen Ames, Woody Austin, Bruce Molder and Jeff Overton were among those playing their way in.
Charity Corner
Christopher Dobbins of Crystal Lake and Matthew Stang of White Bear Lake, Minn., are this year's recipients of the Chip Beck Evans Scholarships. The scholarships are funded by the $1 million bonus Beck earned by scoring 59 in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational. Beck, a WGA director, is one of four incoming Illinois Golf Hall of Fame members. … Mark Wilson and wife Amy will be at UIC College Prep High on Chicago's West Side this morning at 10, leading the "Blessings In A Backpack" charitable cause. The initiative provides easy-to-prepare food in backpacks to needy school children who otherwise wouldn't have enough food for a weekend. Wilson, an Elmhurst resident who plays out of Cog Hill, is a two-time Tour winner.
Around Dubsdread
Dan Roan of WGN-TV won the Blackhawks Shootout, a four-hole exhibition with a collection of present and former Hawks, as well as some sportscasters. Roan, the best player among Chicago reporters, carded three birdies in four holes. A $10,000 donation was made on his behalf to the Evans Scholars Foundation, the championship's beneficiary. … Cog Hill president Katherine Jemsek is loving Dubsdread's par-3 sixth hole these days. She aced it on Sunday, sinking a 7-iron from the 137-yard forward tee. The pros will play it from up to 244 yards, but an ace is an ace is an ace. It's her first. … Practice rounds are on tap today – Woods is expected to play at 7 a.m., if he plays at all – as well as a wacky ceremony featuring Luke Donald waving a checkered flag to "start" the grounds crew of Ken Lapp on a final tuneup of the course.
– Tim Cronin
Monday, September 7, 2009
It's a very quiet Labor Day at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club today, the first day of what used to be called Western Open week.
That's largely because the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the Boston-area tournament, is underway on this very afternoon, with Tiger Woods having made the early noise with an 8-under-par 63 to finish at 12-under-par 272 and draw within a handful of shots of a feisty group of leaders.
While they fought it out, 1996 Western Open champion Steve Stricker winning to collect the $1.35 million champion's portion of the $7.5 million purse, there was little activity at Cog Hill. A handful of players, including Rory Sabbatini and Paul Casey, the latter returning from an injury, were on the practice range. Everyone else was either at or near Boston's Logan Airport by late afternoon.
Many of the special 70 who have qualified for the Western Golf Association's 106th Open Championship – the third under the banner of the BMW Championship – will arrive for their first look at the new-look Dubsdread by midday Tuesday.
Essentially, the Deutsche Bank cash grab is the qualifying tournament for this week's festivities on Dubsdread. Whereas there used to be a four-spot qualifier at the Village Links of Glen Ellyn to complete the field, the great majority of which was filled by PGA Tour exempt players, now all 70 players come from the Tour, but only by being among the top 70 in the season point standings. Stricker, incidentally, took over the top of the standings, ahead of Woods.
Happily for those who favor players with style and brio, Sergio Garcia played well enough to advance from Boston to Lemont. That was a considerable question entering the weekend, but Garcia's closing 67 for 276 lifted him to 55th in the standings from 71st.
As far as Cog Hill was concerned, the interest wasn't so much in who won in Boston, but in who made the top 70 in the standings. While Fred Couples, Lee Janzen, Briny Baird and Pekin's D.A. Points were among those falling out of the field, Garcia, former Western Open champion Stephen Ames, Woody Austin, Bruce Molder and Jeff Overton were among those playing their way in.
Charity Corner
Christopher Dobbins of Crystal Lake and Matthew Stang of White Bear Lake, Minn., are this year's recipients of the Chip Beck Evans Scholarships. The scholarships are funded by the $1 million bonus Beck earned by scoring 59 in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational. Beck, a WGA director, is one of four incoming Illinois Golf Hall of Fame members. … Mark Wilson and wife Amy will be at UIC College Prep High on Chicago's West Side this morning at 10, leading the "Blessings In A Backpack" charitable cause. The initiative provides easy-to-prepare food in backpacks to needy school children who otherwise wouldn't have enough food for a weekend. Wilson, an Elmhurst resident who plays out of Cog Hill, is a two-time Tour winner.
Around Dubsdread
Dan Roan of WGN-TV won the Blackhawks Shootout, a four-hole exhibition with a collection of present and former Hawks, as well as some sportscasters. Roan, the best player among Chicago reporters, carded three birdies in four holes. A $10,000 donation was made on his behalf to the Evans Scholars Foundation, the championship's beneficiary. … Cog Hill president Katherine Jemsek is loving Dubsdread's par-3 sixth hole these days. She aced it on Sunday, sinking a 7-iron from the 137-yard forward tee. The pros will play it from up to 244 yards, but an ace is an ace is an ace. It's her first. … Practice rounds are on tap today – Woods is expected to play at 7 a.m., if he plays at all – as well as a wacky ceremony featuring Luke Donald waving a checkered flag to "start" the grounds crew of Ken Lapp on a final tuneup of the course.
– Tim Cronin
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