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No tears as PGA discards Cog Hill
Source: Agencies |
September 16, 2011, Friday
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AFTER 20 years there are few tears being shed by the world's best golfers as they say goodbye to Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Illinois, after an ill-fated re-design that turned a US Open dream into a disaster.
The BMW Championship, the third leg of the FedEx Cup playoff, will be the last played on the Dubsdread course as the event moves to Crooked Stick outside Indianapolis next year and Cherry Hills in Denver in 2014.
Although no venue has been finalized for 2013, the tournament is expected to return to the Chicago area but not to Cog Hill.
The PGA Tour would like to keep a big event in Chicago and world No. 1 Briton Luke Donald has been lobbying hard to have the BMW awarded to his home club in nearby Conway Farms.
"This will be the last year we play here, so hopefully we'll make the most of it and then we'll move on," Phil Mickelson told reporters following his practice round on Wednesday.
"Hopefully we'll find another course that's a little more suitable here in the future for us, for this tournament.
"I know we all wish that (the re-design) had turned out differently.
"There were a lot of other guys to choose from that probably could do the job, and maybe if they just start over, it could turn into something really special."
Something special was exactly what Cog Hill owner Frank Jemsek had planned for when he brought in Rees Jones in 2008 to re-design the course in the hopes of securing a US Open.
The layout was lengthened, ridges added, bunkers dug deep while wavy greens were turned into unreadable puzzles.
The result was instant criticism from all sides and now instead of landing a US Open, Cog Hill has lost its slot on the PGA Tour.
"From an architectural standpoint, I'm not a huge fan of Rees Jones, either," offered a blunt Donald. "I'm not a big fan of the deep bunkers and the ridges in the greens. I guess the Jemseks have done a great deal to try and improve the course in an effort to try to get a US Open here, and I feel bad that it's come under quite a lot of criticism."
The attacks reached a crescendo last year when hot, dry conditions made playing Cog Hill even more frustrating.
Even Steve Stricker, who claimed the second of his first 11 career PGA Tour wins at Cog Hill in 1996, could find little positive to say about the revamped layout.
"They need to get their money back," said Stricker. "It's an unfortunate situation, it really is.
"Visually it looks much better than what it did, but from the playability standpoint, I've got to believe for the average golfer, it is very difficult."
The BMW Championship, the third leg of the FedEx Cup playoff, will be the last played on the Dubsdread course as the event moves to Crooked Stick outside Indianapolis next year and Cherry Hills in Denver in 2014.
Although no venue has been finalized for 2013, the tournament is expected to return to the Chicago area but not to Cog Hill.
The PGA Tour would like to keep a big event in Chicago and world No. 1 Briton Luke Donald has been lobbying hard to have the BMW awarded to his home club in nearby Conway Farms.
"This will be the last year we play here, so hopefully we'll make the most of it and then we'll move on," Phil Mickelson told reporters following his practice round on Wednesday.
"Hopefully we'll find another course that's a little more suitable here in the future for us, for this tournament.
"I know we all wish that (the re-design) had turned out differently.
"There were a lot of other guys to choose from that probably could do the job, and maybe if they just start over, it could turn into something really special."
Something special was exactly what Cog Hill owner Frank Jemsek had planned for when he brought in Rees Jones in 2008 to re-design the course in the hopes of securing a US Open.
The layout was lengthened, ridges added, bunkers dug deep while wavy greens were turned into unreadable puzzles.
The result was instant criticism from all sides and now instead of landing a US Open, Cog Hill has lost its slot on the PGA Tour.
"From an architectural standpoint, I'm not a huge fan of Rees Jones, either," offered a blunt Donald. "I'm not a big fan of the deep bunkers and the ridges in the greens. I guess the Jemseks have done a great deal to try and improve the course in an effort to try to get a US Open here, and I feel bad that it's come under quite a lot of criticism."
The attacks reached a crescendo last year when hot, dry conditions made playing Cog Hill even more frustrating.
Even Steve Stricker, who claimed the second of his first 11 career PGA Tour wins at Cog Hill in 1996, could find little positive to say about the revamped layout.
"They need to get their money back," said Stricker. "It's an unfortunate situation, it really is.
"Visually it looks much better than what it did, but from the playability standpoint, I've got to believe for the average golfer, it is very difficult."
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