Friday
Sep102010
Dubsdread – and gallery room – is there for the taking
Friday, September 10, 2010 at 5:24AM
Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Friday, September 10, 2010
a.k.a. Arnold Palmer’s 81st brithday
There’s room for everyone at Cog Hill, but not everyone is taking advantage. Friday morning’s half of the field for the 107th Western Open – it’s the BMW Championship on the marquee – was greeted by a cool breeze from the southeast, many moved-up tees, and not a whole lot of people.
The gallery that follows Tiger Woods is always a good barometer of interest. About 500 people, enough to make the crowd about two-deep around the 11th green, was following the world’s top-ranked and most infamous player around the premises. More people were coming in, of course, as the morning went on, but the early indication was that this year’s second-round crowd wouldn’t match the estimated 25,000 that turned out on Friday last year.
If that’s the case, it wouldn’t bode well for the long-term status of the championship in Chicago. While logic says the home town of the Western Golf Association is the place to play the Western, BMW originally wanted to alternate Chicago and other midwestern cities each year. The WGA went along because it had to, then struck gold at Bellerive Country Club near St. Louis in 2008, where $3.3 million was raised for the Evans Scholars Foundation.
Last year’s proceeds at Cog Hill, $2.4 million, was well above the $1.6 million cleared in 2007, the first year the Western was played after Labor Day, and this year’s corporate sales may help improve on 2009’s take, which will send more caddies to college.
But the date kills in comparison to the old Fourth of July weekend date. That didn’t matter in golf-starved St. Louis, which hadn’t had the Tour come through since the 1992 PGA Championship (the 2001 WGC Amex tournament was cancelled because of the Al-Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11), but Chicago’s used to big-time golf and having it in the heart of summer. How to clear that hurdle – to say nothing of fighting off the competition, which this weekend includes the Notre Dame-Michigan game and the Bears’ opener – still hasn’t been solved.
While gentlemen in suits ponder those problems, the morning groups were making small headway against the course. K.J. Chio, playing with Woods, went out a 3-under 33 on the back, the best start of the challengers, while Charlie Wi, at 6-under for the championship and 2-under for the day after 10 holes, is within a stroke of overnight leader Matt Kuchar, who plays this afternoon.
Ian Poulter, whose 5-under 66 was Thursday’s best afternoon round, was still 5-under with three holes left in his circuit of Dubsdread.
With tees moved up on the second, fifth, sixth, 12th and 13th holes, the course was playing at 7,310 yards.
As usual, updates as warranted, and a full report at the end of the day's play. The PGA Tour's full-service website has live scoring, plus a live video feed, concentrating on the 15th hole.
– Tim Cronin
Friday, September 10, 2010
a.k.a. Arnold Palmer’s 81st brithday
There’s room for everyone at Cog Hill, but not everyone is taking advantage. Friday morning’s half of the field for the 107th Western Open – it’s the BMW Championship on the marquee – was greeted by a cool breeze from the southeast, many moved-up tees, and not a whole lot of people.
The gallery that follows Tiger Woods is always a good barometer of interest. About 500 people, enough to make the crowd about two-deep around the 11th green, was following the world’s top-ranked and most infamous player around the premises. More people were coming in, of course, as the morning went on, but the early indication was that this year’s second-round crowd wouldn’t match the estimated 25,000 that turned out on Friday last year.
If that’s the case, it wouldn’t bode well for the long-term status of the championship in Chicago. While logic says the home town of the Western Golf Association is the place to play the Western, BMW originally wanted to alternate Chicago and other midwestern cities each year. The WGA went along because it had to, then struck gold at Bellerive Country Club near St. Louis in 2008, where $3.3 million was raised for the Evans Scholars Foundation.
Last year’s proceeds at Cog Hill, $2.4 million, was well above the $1.6 million cleared in 2007, the first year the Western was played after Labor Day, and this year’s corporate sales may help improve on 2009’s take, which will send more caddies to college.
But the date kills in comparison to the old Fourth of July weekend date. That didn’t matter in golf-starved St. Louis, which hadn’t had the Tour come through since the 1992 PGA Championship (the 2001 WGC Amex tournament was cancelled because of the Al-Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11), but Chicago’s used to big-time golf and having it in the heart of summer. How to clear that hurdle – to say nothing of fighting off the competition, which this weekend includes the Notre Dame-Michigan game and the Bears’ opener – still hasn’t been solved.
While gentlemen in suits ponder those problems, the morning groups were making small headway against the course. K.J. Chio, playing with Woods, went out a 3-under 33 on the back, the best start of the challengers, while Charlie Wi, at 6-under for the championship and 2-under for the day after 10 holes, is within a stroke of overnight leader Matt Kuchar, who plays this afternoon.
Ian Poulter, whose 5-under 66 was Thursday’s best afternoon round, was still 5-under with three holes left in his circuit of Dubsdread.
With tees moved up on the second, fifth, sixth, 12th and 13th holes, the course was playing at 7,310 yards.
As usual, updates as warranted, and a full report at the end of the day's play. The PGA Tour's full-service website has live scoring, plus a live video feed, concentrating on the 15th hole.
– Tim Cronin
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