Cog Hill's Big Moment

Local fans—and maybe a couple local golfers—will enjoy the game at its best when the Lemont course hosts the prestigious BMW Championship this month

From a national standpoint, the BMW Championship is a captivating tournament. For more than half the field—already an all-star lineup of the top 70 players on the PGA Tour—this will be the last stop on the 2010 tour. For the 30 who advance, it’s the penultimate step toward a shot at the championship of professional golf—and a shot at the FedEx Cup’s $10 million prize at the TOUR Championship in Atlanta.

From a local standpoint, the significance of the event is intensified, because the drama unfolds right in everyone’s backyard. When the top golfers in the world converge on Lemont from September 6–12 to test their skills on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club’s famed Dubsdread, they’ll be competing on the same 18 holes that anyone in the Chicago area could play on any other week.

Of course, some of the pros in the BMW Championship will be playing in their own backyard as well. As golf’s regular season came to a close on August 22 with the final putt in the Wyndham Championship, the following PGA Tour players with ties to the Chicago area found themselves positioned to compete in the FedEx Cup playoffs—and potentially make it into the final 70 to tee it up in front of a home crowd at Cog Hill.

Steve Stricker

Though Stricker, 43, is technically from Edgerton, Wisc., he played college golf at the University of Illinois in the late 1980s (he was a teammate of current Illini golf coach Mike Small) and enters the 2010 FedEx Cup playoffs ranked second on the PGA Tour to Ernie Els.
Known as the best player never to win a major, Stricker is easy to root for; after slumping early in the decade and eventually losing his tour card in 2004, he was able to parlay sponsor exemptions into seven top-10 finishes in 2006 and win his way back onto the tour in 2007. He was voted comeback player of the year in both 2006 and 2007. In 2007, he also won The Barclays and finished second to Tiger Woods in the FedEx Cup Championship.

Stricker has had success at Cog Hill before. He won the Western Open in 1996 and finished third in the BMW Championship in 2007. Last year, however, the renovated Dubsdread course got the best of Stricker, who finished the tournament at plus-6 for a tie for 53rd place. He went on to finish third in FedEx Cup standings in 2009. Stricker’s most recent trip to Illinois in July was a successful one: He won his second consecutive John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill., where he pocketed $792,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points.

Stricker—a.k.a. Mr. September—is known for his accuracy, putting, and late-season surges. In the FedEx Cup playoffs last year, he tied for second place at The Barclays and won the Deutsche Bank Championship. If he can stay consistent down the stretch, the pride of Illini golf could find himself in line for a $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.

Luke Donald

Donald, 33, may call Hemel Hempstead, England, his hometown, but his home is in Chicago. Donald adopted the Second City as his own while playing golf for Northwestern University, where he won the 1999 NCAA title and the prestigious Fred Haskins Award as the year’s top collegiate golfer before turning pro in 2001.

On the PGA Tour, Donald is known as an outstanding putter—he’s deadly from inside 10 feet—and is a specialist at escaping the sand, which could play in his favor on Dubsdread, where bunkers are plentiful and deep.

Donald finished 30th in FedEx Cup points last year—including a 10th-place tie with Elmhurst’s Mark Wilson (who didn’t make it into the FedEx Cup playoffs this year) and Bill Haas in the BMW Championship. This year, he enters golf’s postseason in the top 25, which should help carry him back to Cog Hill this year.

D.A. Points

Another former Illini golfer, Points, 33, tallied three top-10 finishes this year—including a seventh-place tie at the HP Byron Nelson Classic in Irving, Texas, in May, a ninth-place tie at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., in January, and a fourth-place tie at the Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., in August. Later that month, Points also played well in challenging conditions at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisc., where he tied for 16th.

The Pekin, Ill., native is a top-75 player who will be on the cusp of breaking into the BMW Championship if he continues to string together strong outings as he has much of the year. In 2009, he tied for 31st at The Barclays and 49th at the Deutsche Bank Championship—not good enough to vault him into the BMW Championship field of the top 70 FedEx Cup points leaders. He finished at No. 72.
Kevin Streelman

A 1997 graduate of Wheaton-Warrenville South High School, Kevin Streelman might have carried your golf bag 15 to 20 years ago—really. As a kid, Streelman used to caddy at Cantigny and the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton.

In 2008, his rookie year on the PGA Tour, Streelman finished with four top-10 and eight top-25 finishes. This year, Streelman entered The Barclays at No. 101 in FedEx Cup points—and a long shot to make it to Cog Hill for the BMW Championship. But then he turned the golf world on its ear by finishing third at The Barclays.

The Local Edge

No matter who actually finishes atop the leader board at the BMW Championship, the Chicago area fans who attend the tournament—even if it’s for just a practice round—will be the real winners. Though it’s not one of golf’s “majors,” it is one of the most important tournaments of the year. And while the rest of the golf world will be watching it on TV, all you need is a ticket and a ride to Lemont to see it live.

For those going to Cog Hill to watch the tournament, there are a few recommended spots to get the best view of the action. Positioning yourself between the fourth fairway and the fifth tee will give you a great place to watch both holes.

Behind the 15th green, there is a spectator area designed to hold roughly 1,500 fans. From this vantage, you can view all of the 15th hole and the 16th fairway to the dogleg. You may also want to check out Pork Chop Hill, a spectator mound behind 14th green, which offers views of holes 12 through 14. It’s also close to the rest rooms, food, and drinks. Of course, the 18th green is always a prime spot, but get there early—it’s usually jammed with spectators.
Bring Your Clubs

While the PGA’s top 70 golfers are busy trying to solve Dubsdread, Cog Hill has 27 holes open to the public – nine on each of the complex’s other courses for three different 18-hole combinations. You can play from dawn until dusk during the BMW Championship week.
If you’re planning to play, the entry to the temporary clubhouse is located on Archer Ave (Route 171), half a mile southwest of Cog Hill’s main Parker Road entrance. To make reservations during BMW Championship week, call the temporary clubhouse at 630-257-6994. For more information, go to CogHillgolf.com. CG