Sunday
Sep182011
Next Chicago stop? Conway Farms is favored
Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 1:47PM
Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Besides Crooked Stick, where does the Western Golf Association go from here?
To Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, seemingly the leader in the BMW Championship wish list clubhouse?
To North Shore Country Club in Glenview, where a committed membership endowed an Evans scholarship worth $135,000 during the recent Western Amateur?
To the Glen Club in Glenview, which once hosted a Nationwide Tour tournament?
To the Merit Club in Libertyville, where the U.S. Women’s Open was held in 2000?
To Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Hawthorn Woods, which hosted a PGA Championship in 1989?
Or back to Cog Hill, which has hosted 20 Western Open / BMW Championship weeks – more than any other course, including Butler National – with distinction?
We may know in 30 days or less. WGA CEO John Kaczkowski wants to make a decision relatively quickly, to jump-start the process of putting the pieces in place if, as expected, the tournament leaves Dubsdread for the northern suburbs of Chicago.
All of those potential new venues have drawbacks, from distance to downtown – Kemper Lakes is farther from the Loop than Dubsdread – to a lack of real estate to park cars, erect tents, or just move people around the golf course. Dubsdread has none of those drawbacks, and, thanks to the tender loving care put forth by new superintendent Scott Pavalko and his predecessor, Ken Lapp, was in pristine condition.
Plus, the WGA gets the place for free, which probably would not happen anywhere else.
But Conway Farms, where Luke Donald is a member, and North Shore, which is a little more than a mile from WGA headquarters, are the two lead horses in this race, with Conway in front, if only because it has been campaigning longer.
“They’ve looked at a bunch of different courses and they’ve come to me and kind of narrowed it down to a few, one being Conway, and I think it has the merits to support going there,” Donald said. “It’s a great course. I think the players will love it. Logistically it should work, and I think its location is a plus as well.”
Rose, who recalled being beaten up by Dubsdread in a qualifying round for the 1997 U.S. Amateur, is the biggest new fan of the pride of the Jemsek family’s portfolio.
“I certainly would like to see it come back here,” Rose said. “For me, the Chicago crowd has always come out and supported this golf tournament. It’s got a lot of history here too, now, and I’d certainly be pushing for it to come back.
“I know they made changes and the changes aren’t necessarily to everybody’s liking, but it’s a championship golf course that’s incredibly tough. I think the course is a very strategic golf course, and it tells you to play it a certain way, and if you don’t play it that way, you will get punished out there.”
Georgia no longer on their minds
Along with winner Justin Rose, John Senden and Geoff Ogilvy advanced to the Tour Championship by finishing well – 1-2-3, in fact – in the Western. But that pushed three other players to the sidelines.
Rory Sabbatini, Charl Schwartzel, and Kyle Stanley were dismissed from the East Lake cotillion, and now can only dream about winning the tour’s $10 million bonus prize.
Call him Mr. Top Ten
Donald’s fourth place finish was his 11th top 10 finish in 16 PGA Tour starts this season, which includes a win at the World Match Play in Tuscon. He also has two wins this year on the European Tour, and about $5.4 million in U.S. tour earnings.
What he didn’t do Sunday, and had in common with the all in the field but Senden, was challenge Rose. Donald’s 68 was achieved somewhat in the shadows.
“It was hard to go on a big run and go really low,” Donald said. “Three-under was as good as I could have probably done out there.”
Around Dubsdread
The gallery was about 25,000 for the second consecutive day. The big parking lot across Parker Road was deep with cars at mid-morning, with more fans turning in, but the numbers were well off the halcyon days when the Western was played on the Fourth of July weekend. The unofficial four-day total of 84,000 (including 20,000 Thursday and 24,000 Friday) may well be higher than internal estimates by WGA officials. One whisper had 11,000 attending on Thursday and 12,000 on Friday, based on car counts. ... Sunday’s scoring average was 71.841, about a stroke over par, with Tommy Gainey’s 78 the high score. The weeklong average was 71.540, a little under last year’s 71.850 thanks to soft conditions, especially on Friday, which dawned cool and remained overcast all day. ... Phil Mickelson, the harshest critic of Dubsdread, finished in a tie for 56th, collecting $18,080. He would have won more, but for a double-bogey on the 18th hole. Call that Rees Jones’ revenge.
– Tim Cronin
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Besides Crooked Stick, where does the Western Golf Association go from here?
To Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, seemingly the leader in the BMW Championship wish list clubhouse?
To North Shore Country Club in Glenview, where a committed membership endowed an Evans scholarship worth $135,000 during the recent Western Amateur?
To the Glen Club in Glenview, which once hosted a Nationwide Tour tournament?
To the Merit Club in Libertyville, where the U.S. Women’s Open was held in 2000?
To Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Hawthorn Woods, which hosted a PGA Championship in 1989?
Or back to Cog Hill, which has hosted 20 Western Open / BMW Championship weeks – more than any other course, including Butler National – with distinction?
We may know in 30 days or less. WGA CEO John Kaczkowski wants to make a decision relatively quickly, to jump-start the process of putting the pieces in place if, as expected, the tournament leaves Dubsdread for the northern suburbs of Chicago.
All of those potential new venues have drawbacks, from distance to downtown – Kemper Lakes is farther from the Loop than Dubsdread – to a lack of real estate to park cars, erect tents, or just move people around the golf course. Dubsdread has none of those drawbacks, and, thanks to the tender loving care put forth by new superintendent Scott Pavalko and his predecessor, Ken Lapp, was in pristine condition.
Plus, the WGA gets the place for free, which probably would not happen anywhere else.
But Conway Farms, where Luke Donald is a member, and North Shore, which is a little more than a mile from WGA headquarters, are the two lead horses in this race, with Conway in front, if only because it has been campaigning longer.
“They’ve looked at a bunch of different courses and they’ve come to me and kind of narrowed it down to a few, one being Conway, and I think it has the merits to support going there,” Donald said. “It’s a great course. I think the players will love it. Logistically it should work, and I think its location is a plus as well.”
Rose, who recalled being beaten up by Dubsdread in a qualifying round for the 1997 U.S. Amateur, is the biggest new fan of the pride of the Jemsek family’s portfolio.
“I certainly would like to see it come back here,” Rose said. “For me, the Chicago crowd has always come out and supported this golf tournament. It’s got a lot of history here too, now, and I’d certainly be pushing for it to come back.
“I know they made changes and the changes aren’t necessarily to everybody’s liking, but it’s a championship golf course that’s incredibly tough. I think the course is a very strategic golf course, and it tells you to play it a certain way, and if you don’t play it that way, you will get punished out there.”
Georgia no longer on their minds
Along with winner Justin Rose, John Senden and Geoff Ogilvy advanced to the Tour Championship by finishing well – 1-2-3, in fact – in the Western. But that pushed three other players to the sidelines.
Rory Sabbatini, Charl Schwartzel, and Kyle Stanley were dismissed from the East Lake cotillion, and now can only dream about winning the tour’s $10 million bonus prize.
Call him Mr. Top Ten
Donald’s fourth place finish was his 11th top 10 finish in 16 PGA Tour starts this season, which includes a win at the World Match Play in Tuscon. He also has two wins this year on the European Tour, and about $5.4 million in U.S. tour earnings.
What he didn’t do Sunday, and had in common with the all in the field but Senden, was challenge Rose. Donald’s 68 was achieved somewhat in the shadows.
“It was hard to go on a big run and go really low,” Donald said. “Three-under was as good as I could have probably done out there.”
Around Dubsdread
The gallery was about 25,000 for the second consecutive day. The big parking lot across Parker Road was deep with cars at mid-morning, with more fans turning in, but the numbers were well off the halcyon days when the Western was played on the Fourth of July weekend. The unofficial four-day total of 84,000 (including 20,000 Thursday and 24,000 Friday) may well be higher than internal estimates by WGA officials. One whisper had 11,000 attending on Thursday and 12,000 on Friday, based on car counts. ... Sunday’s scoring average was 71.841, about a stroke over par, with Tommy Gainey’s 78 the high score. The weeklong average was 71.540, a little under last year’s 71.850 thanks to soft conditions, especially on Friday, which dawned cool and remained overcast all day. ... Phil Mickelson, the harshest critic of Dubsdread, finished in a tie for 56th, collecting $18,080. He would have won more, but for a double-bogey on the 18th hole. Call that Rees Jones’ revenge.
– Tim Cronin
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