PGA Tour: BMW Championship: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).No golf last weekend to review so let's all jump in to our courtesy Beemers and drive to Cog Hill #4, "Dubsdread", in Chicago for the 2011 BMW Championship, Round 3 of the FedEx Cup Play Offs. Cog Hill is a Dick Wilson / Joe Finger design, built in 1964, but re-done (some say vandalised) a couple of years ago by Rees Jones in a way that would make Dick Wilson drink himself to death. What, he's already done that once? OK, but let's see what one-time Cog Hill winner (at the old, and much mourned Western Open) Steve Stricker has to say:

2).Stricker is quoted in last week's GolfWorld as follows: "The players just don't like it. They liked it before to some extent, (but) the re-do is just not good, sorry to say . . . I can't imagine a 10-, 12-, 14-handicapper trying to play that place." Certainly rules me out in that case. On top of all that, last summer's weather left Cog Hill in pretty bad shape for the BMW, so much so that the PGA Tour has still to commit to return.

3).Next year's BMW will be played at Crooked Stick, site of John Daly's PGA Championship, and will go in 2014 to Denver's Cherry Hills. Normally the 2013 event would return to Cog Hill or St.Louis's Bellerive (where Villegas won the 2008 edition) but no venue has yet been confirmed.

4).While on the subject of course conditioning, several classic courses are suffering from extreme conditions, Winged Foot, Oakmont among them. Most significant in the short term, Medinah, site of next year's Ryder Cup, had 11 greens rebuilt and regrassed two years ago. This year they are reported to be "severely stressed" and approach areas and fairways are also suffering or dead. Of course, Medinah claim it will be "alright on the night" but Ryder Cup followers and players should beware. Watch this space.

5).Ryder Cup "World points" will be on offer this week with Luke Donald leading the chase after Messrs Bjorn and Dyson have leapt to the top of the European Points list. Very early days but the US Points list is led by the following:
Keegan Bradley, Dufner, Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Stricker, Palmer, Toms, Van Pelt.

6).Fred Couples' and Greg Norman's Presidents Cup Teams' top ten automatic qualifiers will be determined this week.
Most of the usual suspects are already in, but the US Team has Mahan, Furyk and Toms grouped closely together in 8th, 9th, and 10th place, with Snedeker and Bill Haas breathing down their necks. A dozen others could scrape in but would have to finish in the first two or three places this week. Players who Ryder Cupped at Celtic Manor who would need a Captain's Choice as things currently stand are: Cink, Fowler, Zach Johnson, Overton and, oh yes, Woods who holds 29th position but has been guaranteed a pick by Fred.

Greg Norman has nine almost dead certs, but Melbourne boys Ogilvy, Baddeley and Allenby, plus Vijay and Roary Sabbatini will be battling for one automatic place in Chicago. If they all stink up the Cog Hill joint, Oosthuizen could fill the last place but I'm betting one of the above actually comes to play this week. Captain's picks will be made in two weeks' time.

7).That Tiger Woods fellow will be playing in California, at the Fry's.com in early October, either as a sop to Freddie, or because "I always enjoy competing in my home state, and this tournament fits my schedule perfectly". In other words, Elin has the kids for the week, and when the Tour is in Palm Springs, Pebble Beach and Los Angeles I'm off making the big bucks elsewhere.

8).Back to the Beemer. Seventy players tee it up on Thursday morning, thirty progress to the Tour Championship in Atlanta. According to pgatour.com, 21 players already are assured of an East Lake tee time. Among those still on the hook are last year's winner Furyk, PGA Tour great hope for the future Rickie Fowler, Baddeley, Schwartzel, Villegas, Els and seven Europeans hoping to join Chicago resident St.Luke. These, with the projected necessary finishes for qualification, are:
Jacobson; 62nd
Laird: 14th
Rose: 12th
Davis: 12th
Karlsson: 7th
Pettersson: 4th
Garcia: 4th.

9).Before the cynics say it's just money they're playing for, the benefits for reaching the Tour Championship may include, depending upon entry criteria, admission to WGC Cadillac, and some Majors, not to mention all the PGA Tour "Invitationals".

10).Meanwhile, the Champions Tour is back in business just where you'd expect, Korea, and the Nationwide resumes in Boise, Idaho, popular hiding place for "white surpremacists". Gary Christian and Russell Knox will be looking to consolidate their money list position as they prepare for the PGA Tour, while Greg Owen is also playing, but he's in "reverse" as his compatriots move to "fast forward". Ooh, and John Daly's there too.

Disappointing FedEx performances from Martin Laird so far. Hoefully he can have a good week and make the Tour Championship. Strange as this is the time of season when he usually played his best golf. Still, a successful year for him none the less and much money won.

Looking forward to this week's BMW event, my each way money will be going on Gary Woodland, no scientific reason but I just think one week this guy is going to get 4 good rounds together, hopefully this week.

Good read again Kwini.

Thanks EmmDee,
Agreed, very disappointing from Laird; he hasn't done any better than 50th on his two trips to Cog Hill so far, so difficult to be optimistic for his chances to go to the Tour Championship.

I should have noted that, as well as Luke Donald, there are other players reasonably local to the Chicago area, Stricker, Jerry Kelly, Mark Wilson and Points among them.
Gary Woodland is one of those needing to win the Beemer to have any chance to qualify for the Presidents Cup, but at least he's assured of a trip to Atlanta.

Cant wait for the frys.com. wow, never thought i wuold say that. Hopefully tiger has put in some hard, non foley, work since we last saw him.

Interesting (and thank you, as ever). I was under the impression that Cog Hill was considered to be one of the top courses around; wasn't it mooted as the potential venue if Chicago won the Olympic bid? Maybe I made that up, honestly can't remember.

Wasn't previously aware of the course's name either - sounds a bit like "Judge Dredd", which amuses me (but probably not many other people).

Speaking of mis-speak, my brain associated "Beemer" refs with Rich Beem and got as far as thinking "Eh? Surely he's not playing" before sense kicked in.

Mac - I agree and look forward to the Frys.com event. Also, look forward to the golf this weekend.

Kwin - thanks for the report! I didn't realize Medinah was under such strain. I know a couple guys there and will definitely inquire as the RC gets nearer.

Was fitted for and trying out some new irons this weekend. Be glad none of you are my partner!

...ooh, and John Daly's in Austria the week after that!

Great article, kwini

Not an RTJ fan, and not really surprised to hear players often criticizing his recent work, but the level of criticism he's been getting this week seems quite extrordinary. In this context it's interesting to read again the winner's comments when they played there last time, in 2009:
"I've always felt comfortable playing this golf course. Even though the golf course has changed this year for us, the routing is still the same, and I've always felt comfortable playing this golf course for some reason..."
Of course, the winner was Woods and he won it by 8 shots, breaking the course record in the process... Horses for courses!? Quite likely, and I wonder how many of RTJ's designs or redesigns in the last 10 years or so have been done with a particular horse in mind...
And talking about the state of golf courses, interesting and rather worrying what you say about Medinah...

C'mon Luuuke!!

Firstly with regards to Tiger and the Fry's that event was always a given that it would be his return to action. As for non Filey practice, no chance he will have been working closely with Foley, he has 2 choices as far as his work with his choice of swing coach goes. Stick with it and commit 100% to what he is trying to do or Wlak away and start again with someone else. Problem for the Tiger though is the 2 guys that know how to get him playing the game he should be capable of will not work with him again. So he needs to find his game the hard way with graft.

With regards to the Beemer, can see one of the tours longer players winning this one much like DJ did last year. Home team advantage may pay off for luke donald bearing in mind when he plays cog hill he takes the short 10minute drive from his house to the course.

Kwinin am I right in thinking Cog Hill his a public municipal course or is that in my head. Fancy Sergio for a win here or a T5 at least good course for a good long game player

Skydriver,
I think Cog Hill #4 was voted 29th best course in the US by Golf Digest - though not sure that reflects the 2008 modifications (by Rees Jones, pd, not R Trent Jones). Stricker's words were interesting as he is from adjacent Wisconsin, is always supportive of Upper Mid-West tournaments, and, of course, is usually more "softly" spoken!
These are comments about Rees Jones re-dos more usually associated with Phil Mickelson!!
I suppose beauty in golfcourses is in the eye of the beholder . . . . .

No recommendations for O'Hair, Shotrock?!?

pd, Imagine Daly will be in the Dunhill also? He seems a bit like Woods in his contempt for the traditional PGA Tour structure, behaving more like a free agent than a Tour member. Not blaming him in his case, but I hope he'll go through Q-School this year, would show some respect for "process".

Hi Mav,
Tiger certainly took me by surprise when he signed up for the "Fry's". I'm sure many Tournament Directors are puzzled as to why Tiger committed so early for this event while he leaves them hanging, very often to the last minute. Agree about his swing guru(s)!

Cog Hill is certainly a public facility and was at one time considered a possible destination for a US Open when they first started exploring public options.

Kwin -

Free advice from me is usually worth what someone paid! Sean will need to go real low this week to advance. Perhaps looking at so many bad swings over a long weekend will help remind him what NOT to do.

I give the Fed Ex cup high marks for keeping excitement in the Fall in a non Ryder Cup year. Good stuff.

I am sure the fedex is well covered in the US compared to the UK but honestly the UK media think the golf season finishes in late August. It does leave the more casual watcher of pro golf feeling a little cold at this time of year, or at least out of touch with the golf world. Reading Kwini’s article is about the only golf news I get.

I hope next year the inclusion of McIlroy and Westwood?? Will get the fedex the coverage it deserves. As unless I am spoon fed golf coverage build up and excitement, even if it is hyperbolae, it is just not happening.


Although I think part of it is the format, call me old fashioned but I like the old 4 rounds a week and the winner is the winner, and the same again next week. Partly why the frys.com might be quite fun this year. It will feel like watching golf in 1996, at least I think it will as I did not watch it back then.

The FedEx Cup certainly provides compelling viewing, for the quality and competitiveness of the golf even more than the "Survivor" nature of the elimination process.

But understand Mac's point about it not translating to GB&I, demonstrated, wittingly or unwittingly, by Iain Cater's BBC Website nonsense complaing that Garcia and Donald are Seve Trophy "stayaways".

Mac,
Don't see why anyone would not enjoy the individual Play Off events as standalone tournaments.

And; Why is the Fry's going to attract your attention rather than the preceding Las Vegas Fall Series event? Not sure I get that.

Problem is over here, our sports journalists tend to think there are only 5 golfing events in the sporting calender the annual majors and the Biennial Ryder Cup. Other than that the Journos are numpties.

Carter especially, half the time what he writes it ill written, poorly researched and littered with copy and paste items from other poor advised sources. If he had a vague idea there was the Fed Ex going on he'd understand why such a non event as the Seve trophy is missing such big players.

Mac - The Fed Ex is still a weekly event where the winner is the winner and are stand alone tournaments with that little extra so don't get that point.

With regards t the Fry's the only reason i'm assuming your looking forward to that is for the Tiger and his what will no doubt be another abysmal return to golf. It will be nothing like 1996 when a fresh faced faced Tiger erupted onto the scene, it will be a 30 something struggling pro that will be lucky to end the year Top 50 OGWR and likely struggle to make the cut

Not so sure Tiger's return to golf will be abysmal, but we shall see. Do you think he'll miss the cut?

Remember, this is without question the top golfer of his generation, and the best American finisher in this year's US Masters' tournament. I, for one, am eager to see if any of his work over the past several weeks will lead to some consistency. I won't be the only one watching ... look for excellent crowds and TV ratings for that event. Guaranteed.

Somewhat unrelated ... but will Rory and Lee both join the US tour next year? Would be a blow to the European Tour to be sure, and no matter how they spin it ... I have a hunch Rory may make a home (or another home!) stateside, but not so sure about Lee.

Hi Kwini, thanks for your notes again.

I find that whilst the FedEx is entertaining enough for me the more interesting bubble watch is during the fall series when guys are battling to stay on tour and not fall into relative golfing obscurity. Whenever a neutral I always like to favour the underdog so I guess that kind of explains it. (Great result for AC in Barcelona last night!)

I'm another hoping for a good week from Laird but is it still to early in the season for him?

Re the Pressie Cup picks who thinks Couples will go for Fowler? Seems like there is some sort of brief to select picks who will draw the crowds and drum up interest rather than enhance the team, not that Rickie wouldnt do that. Rickie would fit right in for that kind of selection criteria. Hope he does tbh.

EmmDee - hope Woodland works out for you. Like Dustin he needs to work on his short game a little and he'll be up there every week. Just a great great swing.

Shotrock re Tiger - like you I'm not sure it wont be long until Tiger starts to look decent. His short game suffered when the initial change in swing bedded. Swing then looked ok during the Masters and you thought all he had to do was brush up on his short game. His injuries were unfortunate in that it ruined any rhthym he was building up in the season and he kinda went back to pre Masters form at WGC and PGA. Wouldnt suprise me if he won in the country where his last victory was. Those kind of headlines have a habit of writing themselves.

Do I think he will make the cut.. I think he will struggle and if he makes it will be near enough on the cutline not safely into the final 2 days.

His game is a long way off from a sudden resurgence. Something that can only return from playing a regular run of events something he cannot commit to at the moment, and he will soon be outside the T50 OGWR and rightly so

Rees Jones, of course, silly me...
Talking about McIlroy and his US schedule, some very interesting stuff going on at the moment related to that and to the proposed move of next year's Irish Open (a bigger and better and Zurich sponsored one, as it is loudly rumored!) to last weekend in June!!! Now, from many points of view that could be a great move for the Irish Open, a couple of weeks before the Open Championsip (and just before the Scottish Open). But there's a problem for Rory... next year's AT&T National will be held at the same time (end of June) at the Congressional! And apparently Chubby is already playing hard ball , saying (presumably in O'Grady's direction) about Rory's commitment to play the Irish Open next year: “Rory is considering his options at the moment, the tournament in the States is at Congressional so it is reasonably attractive too!!"

Certainly an interesting one to follow over the next weeks...

Tiger's performance in the Fry's?
Would expect him to fare reasonably well, he's pretty much putting himself, and Couples, on the line here. If he sprays it left and right and continues to misjudge his yardages, what does that say about his pact with Freddie to be a contributing member of the Team?

Would expect him to be at least top twenty, otherwise what's the point?

Shotrock,
I've seen nothing on Westwood joining the PGA Tour; all the reasons discussed last year and before that still apply - only reason I'd expect him to play more over here would be if he and Kaymer (and perhaps a couple of others) somehow influence Finchem to offer a sort of associate-membership demanding twelve Tour appearances, but no FedEx participation. I really believe that was in the offing before Rory jumped ship, taking collective leverage with him. (Rory really needs to figure his schedule out; I've a strong feeling there'll be tears as the season progresses - his decision seems fickle in the extreme, 100% related to his Wozni acking. What's the chances of that friendship surviving? And then what??)

Hi Lairdy, Unlike many others, I enjoy all the PGA Tour season provided there remain objectives for players to achieve. Obviously there is the imperative to reach the top 125 money-winners, but also to qualify for "Invitationals", earn PGA Championship points and the top 30 moneywinners are still guaranteed places in a couple of the Majors.

I would think Fowler or Bradley would be Couples' pick as things currently stand, but all bets off if Fuyryk, Mahan or Toms fail to stay in the top ten. Then there's Bill Haas who's had a terrific last 12 months and whose Dad is a Vice Captain!

As for Chubby, he and his clients would be better off if he fought the important issues, not trivia over one (relatively) small event - no-one will remember the battles if he loses his war, in this cases the continued success of his clients.
Rory would be better served playing in Ireland; Congressional is small beer, they don't want the tournament and the tournament doesn't want that date. Why should Rory care, just because its Congressional when neither Congressional nor the event give a toss?

Kwin - Top 20 finish would be a nice start for Tiger. As for the point -- he's competing, and I'm sure couples is glad to see that no matter what TW's finish!

Don't know where I recall seeing or hearing the Westwood thing. Time will tell, but with top guns Luke and now Rory (likely) on the US tour, the ET will certainly need Lee to stay put.

I would be very surprised if Rory played at Congressional (all Congressional politics aside). Post US and Pre British Open has never been a good time for Europeans to stay stateside.

kwinigolfer wrote:...What's the chances of that friendship surviving?

Friendship ~ 50/50
Beyond friendship ~ Zero

kwinigolfer wrote:...Rory would be better served playing in Ireland

Hear, hear...!

Just to risk a bit of controversy here, I think it's almost irrelevant to the European Tour whether any of its members choose to take PGA Tour membership as well - Westwood and McIlroy included - much more significant to the individuals who will be pressed in to entering events they have little or no interest in playing.

Far more significant if they took the Cejka, Davis, Jacobson, Pettersson route and revoked their ET membership, but there's no hint of that.

Fact is the top players don't play enough ET events, in Europe at least, to make missing a couple here or these that big a deal. The strength in the ET will be the hardcore of players, its increasing strength in depth.


The first tee-times in Chicago will be at 10.20 Central Time, 4.20 p.m. BST.

It will be chilly! Temps likely in the low fifties when the first group leave the stalls, high tomorrow a breezy 60F. Marginally warmer, but calmer, on Friday and better yet on Saturday, high 60's, with warmer, breezier weather forecast for Sunday and the chance of a shower.

Mac - The Fed Ex is still a weekly event where the winner is the winner and are stand alone tournaments with that little extra so don't get that point.

With regards t the Fry's the only reason i'm assuming your looking forward to that is for the Tiger and his what will no doubt be another abysmal return to golf. It will be nothing like 1996 when a fresh faced faced Tiger erupted onto the scene, it will be a 30 something struggling pro that will be lucky to end the year Top 50 OGWR and likely struggle to make the cut

First point, imaging Sergio does not make it to the last 30, why dilute a feild for no good reason? Not sure I totally believe that point of view but it is annoying to be watching events where most of the players that I bother to turn the tv on for are not there.

As to the frys over LA, tiger of course. I apologise but would heed a word of warning, dont try to fathom us tigerites, we are a sad bunch with little place in modern golf coverage.

Kwin - You're probably right that it is perhaps irrelevant if the top ranked Europeans choose PGA tour membership - for the ET to stay status quo. If, however, they are going for a significant breakthrough (and maybe they don't want or need to) they will need top ranked players to compete on the ET.

It won't be the top ranked Americans that choose to compete on the ET (and why should they with family, friends, and the prize and endorsement money being what it is here in the states). A surge in the ET will have to be led by Europeans (or other non-American touring pros). Donald won't be playing on the ET in any significant way next year, nor will McIlroy (it appears). Tough to grow in any big way when your two home grown guns don't commit to the tour.

If Chubby C is to be believed, he thinks the big winner in pretty short order will be the Asian tour. He may be right, but I don't see it happening as quickly as he might. My prediction is that there will be something of an "A" event world tour fueled by huge purses. It's why the Fed Ex cup is working here.

Mac,
I made the point elsewhere that the FedEx Cup is unique in that the quality of the field, even as measured by the owgr points system, is diluted as the climax approaches.

Points to the winner last week were 70, this week according to princedrac, 66 while Furyk last year only earned 54 owgr points.

Agree that the Tour Championship is usually the weakest, though last year was pretty exciting to the end.

I will be attending the tournament this weekend since this is my “home” tour event and I have made it up to Cog Hill each year for this tournament since it has been hosted there. However I still have a bitter taste in my mouth with them just throwing out the name of the Western Open and all of the tradition that came along with it when they changed the name to the BMW Championship. IMO they could have at least left in the Western Open as part of the name but they didn’t. I under the Western Golf Association’s main purpose is to raise money for the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship Fund and by hitching on with BMW and their money they have made more than before for it but it still doesn’t sit right with me.

Also with the change to the BMW and being part of the FedEx Cup they took away the normal 4th of July date of the Western Open and shifted it to the middle of September. While it is great that it was made part of the FedEx Cup and you get a great field this hurt attendance because it took away a lot of the casual fans that used to come out to the event when it was in July. Now with it being in September football season has started (Da Bears!) and school is back in session for the kids. Baseball also is in its stretch run but that isn’t a problem with season with the Cubs (as always) and the White Sox not in contention. Then Sunday there is also a NASCAR race next door to Lemont in Joliet as well which will take away some fans although I don’t know how many people at the race would have gone to the golf or vice versa.

For the second year in a row the Saturday round is going to be over by 2:30pm due to TV (of course). With Notre Dame having a home game that starts at 2:30pm NBC has the play moved up Saturday to get over in time for the football game. I know last year the pros and fans were not happy about this and I am sure this year they will be just as annoyed by it. I did get an e-mail this week from the tourney committee advertising that even though play was going to be done at 2:30pm they were going to keep the course open until 5pm (IE…concessions) and will show the football game on big screens at the course. A nice touch for some of the Notre Dame fans but don’t think that is going to draw any extra fans to the course. Also on Sunday they said that they will also show the Bears game on screens while play is going on since the Bears game is on at noon. Again…nice for those there who are interested but don’t think it will draw that many extra people out to the course.

That being said I did just read that attendance is up 10% over last year’s tournament even though last year Tiger was there and this year he won’t be there. Maybe people are coming out because this will probably be the last year this event is held at Cog Hill and who knows how often it will even be back to Chicago in the future. I know the 2013 site has not been picked but from what I have read if it is in Chicago they don’t want to have it at Cog Hill. I guess other options would be Olympia Fields, Chicago Golf Club or Medinah but I don’t know if those places would even want to host the tourney. I know Butler National who used to host it would be at the top of the PGA’s list but they won’t take it back there until they allow a woman as a member which I don’t see happening anytime soon.

I don’t know why the pros are so dissatisfied with the course these days. I never heard too many gripes before the redesign and after it doesn’t seem like it has been changed that much to make them sour on it so fast. Granted I am not a pro golfer and have never ponied up the $150 to play the #4 course, so any subtlety they would be able to tell better than me or the casual fan. It is too bad they have spent all this money and time on the redesign in order to try and get a US Open and now they are running off the normal tour stop. So I doubt we’ll be seeing them awarded a US Open after all of this.

One of the good things about the attendance being down though is it is great to go and watch especially on the weekday rounds. With such a strong field it really is nice for those who go. You can follow all the top guys on their round and walk with them and still be up close for each of their shots. I am looking forward to that part of it again this year but the rest of the circumstances with this tournament and how it has progressed since becoming the BMW Championship and the course redesign is hard for me to ignore as a longtime fan and attendee.

Shotrock

I agree, dont see the European tour being able to grow unless it raises the standard of about 50% of the events and manages to keep the likes of McIlroy. There are far too many below average events at the moment.

Events on the 2011 euro tour so far where less than 30 owgr points available;

Alfred Dunhill Championship
Africa Open
Joburg Open
Avantha Masters
Sicilian Open
Open de Andalucía de Golf
Trophée Hassan II
Volvo China Open
Open de España
Iberdrola Open
Madeira Islands Open (18WTF??)
Saab Wales Open (only 30)
BMW Italian Open
Saint-Omer Open (18)
Nordea Masters
Irish Open
Czech Open
Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles

18 of 33 or 54%

Not exactly great is it?

Kev,
Welcome to the "Ballwasher", your comments pretty much reinforce those I've heard over the past few years - apart from everything else, abandoning Chicago (and Milwaukee) as a Tour market for a year (2008, 2012, 2014) is absurd. The Tour will get what they deserve as AT&T demand to switch from their July 4th weekend date!

As for alternative venue in the Chicago area, haven't heard much about Kemper Lakes recently - is that still a viable option?

Hope you enjoy the tournament and it would be great if you'd share your experiences on here.

Hoping for a thriller.

But Mac,
They're not going to play those events anyway . . . . . . .

Thanks Kwini,

Kemper Lakes would be a viable option but I haven't heard too much chatter on it hosting the Western Open...errr BMW Championship should they choose to have it in the Chicago area in 2013 and beyond. I know in the last eight years they made the transition from being a public course to a private one so I don't know how their members would feel about hosting a normal tour event vs. having a PGA Championship like they did back in the late 80's.

I am biased but Chicago should have a yearly tour stop. Even the every other year thing doesn't seem right. While I think it is great to have a tourney in markets like St. Louis like in 2008, Crooked Stick next year then Cherry Hills in 2014, I don't think it should come at Chicago's expense. I think the attendance would be better if they went back to the stop in the middle of the summer when they drew fantastic crowds even with lesser fields. I would be fine if they gave up the BMW Championship now that they have threw away the Western Open and let them rotate that around the midwest to various courses. Just get the Chicago area a yearly stop before the end of summer and it will draw just fine.

Kev,
Agree 100%. Finchem is abandoning "heartland" markets (Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, Upstate New York) but it will all backfire eventually. The Tour won't be successful with every event in the South-East, Texas and the West Coast.

There was some chat a few weeks ago about Harding Park putting BMW's in their parking lot also . . . . .

At Cog Hill they already have free preferred parking for anyone who drives their Beamer to the event and last year noticed they had a special hospitality area for people who owned a BMW. You just had to flash your keys and they let you in.

Chicago certainly deserves a spot on the tour. So does Philly, but I'm biased.

So much of the revenue comes from the TV side of things, that I could not agree the current set up will backfire on Finchem. He still gets fine ratings, good corporate support and (by and large) has little trouble attracting talent. If/when that starts to happen .... then look for some more venue changes ...

Sr,
I get the impression there's a strong will to hold a tournament in Philadelphia, just a sponsor and venue needed!

They were only secondary events but losing Turning Stone and the Viking means tee times for the average touring pro are diminishing once again.

(Almost) breaking news...!
Paul Cutler has joined GMac and Ross Fisher at the Horizon stable in Dublin and will make his pro debut in Austria! I see that already the (AM) label is gone in the Austrian Open entry list...
Best of luck, Paul!!!

Mickelson, Ogilvy, Stricker all piling on Rees Jones about his Cog Hill effort in this article just posted by the AP:

http://www.sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-bmwchampionship

Stricker suggested in his news conference yesterday that the Cog Hill set up will favour long hitters who hit a high ball, a la the two previous winners here, Woods and Dustin Johnson. Chance for Adam Scott perhaps?

As for Rees Jones, even Luke Donald is on the bandwagon: "From an architectural standpoint, I'm not a huge fan of Rees Jones. I'm not a fan of the deep bunkers and the ridges in the greens. There are a few holes where there isn't a great deal of strategy." Perhaps that's also why he doesn't play Torrey Pines any more despite contending there a couple of times before Jones got his hands on it.

But, like Stricker, he says the course looks visually fabulous and is in superb condition. It will be cool for the first couple of days at least, breezy/gusty today, warming up and a chance of rain on Sunday.

Had a read of the luke donald interview on the pga tour, who is that guy that asks the questions. Ok who he works for but how bad are some of the questions.

Speaking about no win since February (Clearly incorrect) or asking why the dunhill (why not the dunhill??).

Hope sergio can get into the top 5 to play next week big ask tho, but hes certainly good enough.

Sand,
Seeing as they're posted so religiously on pgatour.com, one can only assume the interviewer is from the PGA Tour but, you're right, some of the questions are just mind-blowingly pig ignorant.

Just seen a paddy power price of 14/1 against Adam Scott - for as much as I fancy him this week that's very short odds. Geoff Ogilvy normally the same sort of player but at 66's. Laird 100/1 - just goes to show how out of sorts he and Ogilvy have been I suppose, but there are guys at half their odds whose game gives them virtually no chance this week.

Sand - Check the transcript ... reporter didn't say no wins since February, he said no wins on PGA tour since then. http://www.pgatour.com/2011/r/09/14/donald-transcript/index.html

Good for Luke, however, firing back with his comments -- I like his energy.

I'm liking Dustin Johnson this week -- just a hunch.

Laird and Sergio for me this week based on nothing other than being a fan of both!

Re journos stoopid questions - I always get the impression from the journos on golf.com (who I think mainly write for SI?) that they think they are more important than the professional golfers. Its as if they do not want to cover whats going on the world of golf but rather the golfers played it all out in a way that would make their jobs a lot easier (i.e. like the Tiger era). The lack of insight, actual journalism and respect is awful. They forget that without the professional golfer they'd have sod all to do in their current jobs.

Lairdy,
I think those guys are partly S.I., partly Golf Magazine.
Ironically the S.I. Golf Specials, about six times a year, are superb! Must admit, I find almost all golf jornos quite lazy in their reporting. Very few seem to realise that golf fans want insight, news and not the sycophantic, opinionated garbage they churn out.
Then of course there's Iain Carter . . . . . . . . A couple of days before the Walker Cup he was twittering about just having played Woodhall Spa - on someone else's "dime" presumably.
But wouldn't he have been better off scoping out Royal Aberdeen and the respective Teams? Not surprising the BBC's On-Line reporting was so superficial.

The pros are arriving at Cog Hill, some of them wearing their winter warmers, temp just cresting 50F and breezy. Not cold for Aberdeen but the highs today will be 15 - 20 degrees F cooler than normal.
Karlsson off in the first group, Justin Rose eleven minutes later; Brian Davis and Laird playing together later.

The laziness extends to the TV coverage as well. Its probably a legacy thing with golf coverage and the total lack of insight we get. There is a certain atmosphere about live golf coverage that I dont want to loose but surely it can be jazzed up a little without taking it too far. Look at any other sports coverage and check out the stats they have to hand about the players and other stuff like the nuances of an F1 track. Then what do we get... suppose at least we get Ken on the course twice a year... Golf coverage is decades behind. I'm sure the likes of Allis is more than capable of explaining what type of course we have and what kind of game pro X has but we don't even get any indepth analysis of that. Its why I like say Faldo as a commentator because he notices things with players swings that most others dont and can describe it to you. I realise you cant talk about a course for 4 days but more talk on the hole in play or the player in view cant be hard. From the US coverage all we get is how nice a guy player X is! Most of the time I couldnt give a dam how nice the fella is, wouldnt mind knowing how far he hit his last 6 iron though.

What I did like about the PGA Champ sky coverage was the shot tracer on quite a few of the tee shots. We've had the shot tracer for a while now, always used on replays, but on that coverage it appeared to be put in use in real time. It was excellent to see the pros swinging then their reaction as we the viewers saw their ball drift waywards. Much better than just seeing the swing... then the result.

Lairdy,
I tried to compare the coverage we get on the US Open Tennis, which from ESPN is superb, with the Golf stuff last week. Certainly agree that Faldo and Miller offer great insight on the players' swings, Peter Kostis too, and Gary Koch is a genius on putting. But Oosterhuis is about the only one to call a spade a spade, which is probably why CBS only use him as a reserve these days!
But most of the rest is at best lazy, at worst just disrespectful to the audience.

I watch about half the European Tour events on Golf Channel, Warren Humphries and Dougie Donnelly usually to the fore. Pleasant enough and with a much better appreciation of the lesser-known players than their US counterparts, but little real insight - we only get Ken Brown on about 2 or 3 events, not enough for him to be a significant presence.

Have always thought that none of the commentators come up with enough stories from the past unless it's about Jack or Arnie. Would far prefer to hear more about Simon Hobday or Titanic Thompson, Ky Laffoon or even the lunatic who used to be Wayne Riley.

How fickle form is. Rose tied for the early lead, Donald already four over after five holes, playing partner Jason Day five over.
Looks slow out there. The six early starters have been out there more than three hours, only got through 12 holes apiece. Only Flinchem knows why they're not all going off the front nine, whether in pairs or threesomes.

It's always good to see Rosey leading, but I won't get excited just yet, probably until late in Rd3 or so.This happened before in recent months and led to nothing spectacular in the end... Certainly nothing exciting about Luke's start... what's wrong with him?

Sometimes when he's off with his rhythm he struggles, but usually his putting saves him. Probably an off day, but I wouldn't write him off yet.

Hi Faldo,
Apart from anything else, Luke's spending too much time in the sand, fairway bunkers as well as greenside. Only hit two greens so far, but a nice par putt on 7.

Rose now 6 under thru 13; hit every fairway and only missed one green. Considering the grief that others are suffering, his stats are staggering.

What gives? Rose is just in time for a late bloom and Luke is playing like a wilted flower.