2019 BMW Championship
History Rurns to Medinah as Club Prepares for 2019 BMW Championship
By Brian Weis
A new chapter is being added in August to Medinah Country Club's storied championship history, as the PGA TOUR's top stars compete for the BMW Championship's George R. Thorne trophy and a spot in the season-ending TOUR Championship.
Conducted by the Western Golf Association, the BMW Championship is the penultimate event in the PGA TOUR FedExCup Playoffs, featuring the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings. Only 30 will qualify to move on to next week's TOUR Championship, the final leg of the Playoffs.
The 2019 BMW Championship marks the fourth time the WGA's professional golf event has been contested at Medinah - the first since 1966, when Billy Casper claimed his second of four Western Open titles.
"Medinah holds an important place in the history of the Western Golf Association and in the history of golf in America," said Vince Pellegrino, WGA Senior Vice President of Tournaments. "The Ryder Cup, PGA Championship and the U.S. Open all have been played here, and we look forward to adding another memorable chapter to this club's great history."
The event is being played on Medinah's famed Course No. 3, a Tom Bendelow design that has hosted six major championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup; the course is consistently rated one of the finest and most challenging in the United States.
Founded in the 1920s by a group of Shriners, Medinah Country Club boasts three golf courses, all originally designed by Bendelow. The massive 120,000-square-foot clubhouse designed by Richard Schmid is a unique architectural blend with Byzantine, Oriental and Louis XIV influences.
Medinah Country Club is one of the Chicago area's best-known venues for championship golf. Course No. 3 has hosted the Ryder Cup (2012), three U.S. Opens (1949, 1975, and 1990), two PGA Championships (1999, 2006), four Western Opens (1939, 1962,1966 and 2019), and other events in the pre-PGA TOUR era.
Players who have won at Medinah include such luminaries as "Lighthorse" Harry Cooper, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Gary Player, Hale Irwin and Tiger Woods.
In addition to hosting the BMW Championship, Medinah has been a steadfast supporter of the Evans Scholars Foundation, the sole charity of the BMW Championship.
Supported by the Western Golf Association, the Evans Scholars Foundation has awarded full tuition and housing scholarships to more than 11,000 caddies since 1930.
More than 115 of those caddies have come from Medinah.
BMW Championship At A Glance
Conducted by the Western Golf Association to benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, the BMW Championship is the second of three events in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and determines the final field of 30 for the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Event Title: BMW Championship
Date: August 13-18, 2019
Location: Medinah Country Club, Medinah, IL
Purse: $9.25 million in prize money
Field: 70 finalists in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup
FedExCup Playoffs: Penultimate event, Top 70 players
Defending Champion: Keegan Bradley
Title Sponsor: BMW of North America, LLC
Conducted By: Western Golf Association
Volunteers: Estimated 2,000-plus volunteers
Beneficiary: Evans Scholars Foundation
More Information:
https://bmwchampionshipusa.com/
Revised: 07/02/2019 - Article Viewed 76,631 Times
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About: Brian Weis
Brian Weis is the Publisher of GolfTrips.com, a network of golf travel and directory sites including GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfer.com, GolfAlabama.com, etc. Professionally, Brian is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA) and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG). In 2016, Brian won The Shaheen Cup, an award given to a golf travel writer by his peers.
All of his life, Brian has been around the game of golf. As a youngster, Brian competed at all levels in junior and high school golf. Brian had a zero chance for a college golf scholarship, so he worked on the grounds crew at West Bend Country Club to pay for his University of Wisconsin education. In his adult years, his passion for the game collided with his entrepreneurial spirit and in 2004 launched GolfWisconsin.com. In 2007, the idea for a network of local golf directory sites formed and GolfTrips.com was born. Today, the network consists of a site in all 50 states supported by national sites like GolfTrips.com, GolfGuide.com and GolfPackages.com. It is an understatement to say, Brian is passionate about promoting golf and golf travel on a local, regional, national and international level.
On the golf course, Brian is known as a fierce weekend warrior that fluctuates between a 5-9 handicap. With a soft fade, known as "The Weis Slice", and booming 300+ drives, he can blast it out of bounds with the best of them.
Contact Brian Weis:
GolfTrips.com - Publisher and Golf Traveler
262-255-7600