The Western Golf Association’s decision to move the BMW Championship out of Chicago again wasn’t a surprise. After all, the event did very well at Bellerive in St. Louis in 2008 and the PGA Tour players’ response to Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course during the 2010 tournament was less than enthusiastic.

Still, going to Cherry Hills in Denver in 2014 is hard for this Chicago golf devotee to swallow.

When the WGA took the tournament to Bellerive it was understandable. Cog Hill was undergoing a renovation.

When the WGA announced that the BMW would be played at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis in 2012 that was understandable, too. After all, the Ryder Cup matches were coming to Medinah, and that event would surely take the spotlight over an annual PGA Tour event.

In going to Cherry Hills, though, the WGA is clearly indicating its PGA Tour event will be a roving tournament again — just like it was from 1899 to 1962. The decision to base the tournament at Chicago courses then made sense and — much as I hate to admit it — the WGA’s decision to move the event around again is based in logic, too.

The WGA’s role is to raise money for the Evans Scholars Foundation and its scholarships for caddies. The PGA Tour stop does a good job of that, wherever the event is held, but it might do better with visits to more golf-starved locations. The WGA was delighted with the staging in Bellerive and expects similarly warm responses in Indianapolis and Denver.

Unfortunately, what’s good for the WGA won’t be so good for Chicago area golf fans. We’ve grown accustomed to having an annual visit from the PGA Tour, and that doesn’t figure to continue. Cog Hill has the BMW tourney this September, then who knows?

The Jemsek family had hoped to keep the event at its Cog Hill facility in 2013, and even made the effort of hiring well-respected young course superintendent Scott Pavalko during the winter to encourage a contract renewal. Whether Cog Hill, a PGA Tour stop since 1991, is under consideration for 2013 will certainly depend on how the course is received by the BMW field in September.

Frankly, when it comes to golf I’m a selfish guy. I want to see a big tourney close to home. And I remember when the WGA was forced to pull the Western Open out of Butler National after 17 good tournaments because of that club’s refusal to have women as members. No suitable course stepped forward to keep the Western in Chicago then except for Cog Hill and, last year aside, Dubsdread has been a good tournament venue.

Perhaps, if not Cog Hill, the WGA will find another Chicago course to host the BMW in 2013. That might rekindle crowd support that has admittedly lagged after the tourney dates shifted from July to September. There are plenty of course possibilities, and perhaps alternating sites from one side of the city to another (say, Olympia Fields to Conway Farms) would perk things up.

I still fondly remember the Western Open, an event I covered non-stop from 1971 to 2006. I wish it had never gone away, but it did. Now the next chapter in Chicago’s rich golf history is about to be written. Let’s hope it’s as good as the last one.

Davis Love III’s selection as the 27th U.S. Ryder Cup captain on Thursday was no surprise, but he wasn’t ready for all the questions he faced during his introduction at Medinah Country Club.

Medinah, which has already hosted three U.S. Opens as well as the PGA Championships of 1999 and 2006, will be the site of the next battle between the golf stars of the U.S. and Europe on Sept. 28-30, 2012.

“We couldn’t ask for a better home-field advantage than Medinah,” said Love. “It’s withstood the tests of time, and has a hugely passionate membership. We’ll grab the Bears’ momentum.”

Being a Ryder Cup captain means dealing with a variety of unusual issues, and Love is glad to have some time to work on them.

“I couldn’t do this job by myself,” he said. “I need to go back to all our former captains — whether they won or not. They all did a fantastic job.”

Love wasn’t so sure about who his assistant captains would be or how he wants Medinah’s No. 3 course, which underwent another renovation last year, should be set up for the match play spectacle. He also became choked up when questioned about his late father, Davis Love II, who was a famous golf instructor prior to his death in a plane crash.

Though nothing’s guaranteed, Love indicated that Jeff Sluman, a PGA Tour veteran now playing on the Champions Tour, would be an assistant captain again and that Michael Jordan, a golf addict who has played supporting roles in several recent Ryder Cups, would be involved in some capacity. Love and Jordan became friends as students at the University of North Carolina.

Love’s credentials for the captaincy are unquestioned. He played on six Ryder Cup teams between 1993 and 2004 and was one of Corey Pavin’s assistants in the last staging in September, when the U.S. lost the Cup in a tense 14 1/2-13 1/2 shootout at Celtic Manor in Wales. The U.S. last won the Cup at Valhalla in Louisville in 2008.

“The Ryder Cup demands a strong leader, and we found the consummate captain,” said Allen Wronowski, president of the PGA of America.

Love, 46, had only a 9-12-5 record as a Ryder Cup player, but he has 31 tournament victories world-wide including the 1997 PGA Championship. He has hopes of being among the eight players who qualify for his Ryder Cup team on the basis of points accumulated in tournament through the 2012 PGA. The other four players on the U.S. squad will be selected by Love.

“I’d love to make the team,” he said, “and if I”m one of the best eight I’ll want to play. But I’d have a hard time picking myself.”

Love’s opposing captain will be Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal, which creates a unique matchup for this Ryder Cup. Love and Olazabal entered the professional ranks in 1985 and were paired in Love’s first three Ryder Cup matches. Love was also the runner-up when Olazabal captured a Masters title.

In its early years the a U.S. win in the Ryder Cup was considered a formality. That’s no longer the case, as European players have established themselves and their team on the world stage.

“In the seven Ryder Cups I’ve been involved in our biggest problem is that we’ve tried to hard,” he said. “Corey Pavin did me an incredible service by asking me to help him in the the last Ryder Cup and see how the even works from the inside.”

Jim McWethy’s decision to completely revamp his Mistwood golf course in Romeoville, IL. wasn’t an easy one. Despite these trying economic times, McWethy opted to renovate what was already a respected course, add a spiffy new learning center and build a new clubhouse. He chooses not to discuss the cost involved but, needless to say, it’s substantial.

So why is he doing it?

“It is scary,” McWethy admitted. “Part of it is my love of the game. We’re doing this in spite of the frustrations, the sleepless nights worrying about it. We’re running counter to the rest of the world.”

McWethy closed his course early, on Aug. 22, to allow Michigan architect Ray Hearn to get the renovation going, and he has had no regrets as work continues. His plans call for a 5,000 square-foot learning center to be operative before 2011 is over and the course to re-open in May.

“If you believe you have a really good product, market it well and take care of your customers I can’t believe that — even in this market — you can’t be successful,” said McWethy. “I go to other golf courses now and come back feeling even better about this place.”

The ressurection of Mistwood will be a three-step process. The first is the course renovation. Hearn did the original design in 1996 for a previous owner and had the course ready for play in 1998. It was deemed good enough to annually host one of Chicago’s top tournaments, the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open, which completed its 18th staging this year.

Step 2 in the ressurection will be the construction of the learning center. The old clubhouse, along with a cart barn, will be torn down as soon as the learning center is ready. It’ll eventually have indoor and outdoor hitting stations, a putting green and golf simulators. Initially, though, it’ll double as Mistwood’s clubhouse when play resumes in the spring.

Step 3 is the construction of a 32,000-square-foot clubhouse. Just when that will begin is uncertain.

“At first we thought we would do everything at once, but that could have been an absolute disaster,” said McWethy. “Deciding when to start is a tough one. We plan to break ground now in the fall of 2012, but we’ve got to get the course changes and learning center out of the way first.”

When all is said and done McWethy expects to have one of the best public courses in the Chicago area.

“We can be in the top five,” he said.

The old course wasn’t far off being in that select group that includes such obvious members as Cog Hill Dubsdread in Lemont, Cantigny in Wheaton, The Glen Club in Glen Ellyn and Harborside on Chicago’s South Side. Hearn, though, said the renovation was needed.

“As time goes on that technology monster — with golf clubs, golf balls going further — every course needs to be tweaked every 10 years or so,” said Hearn. “Mistwood was no exception.”

McWethy, 68, grew up in Palos Park and developed his love for the game as a member of the high school team at Blue Island Eisenhower. He continued on to college at Cornell, in Iowa, and then settled in Chicago after entering his professional life in 1970 with Berry Bearings Co., a company created by his grandfather, Lester Berry.

McWethy was part of the ownership of Berry Bearings until 1993, when the company was sold. At that time it was the world’s largest privately held industrial bearings distributor.

Shortly after the sale McWethy entered into the business side of golf, as a 7 percent owner of another course named Mistwood. This one was in Lake Ann, Mich., near Traverse City. Eventually the owner of that layout invited McWethy to join him in creating Mistwood’s Illinois version. He was also a 7 percent owner of that course when it opened but took over sole possession in 2003 after the facility endured some difficult economic times.

McWethy made the big step after being assured that course management would stay on. Director of golf Dan Phillips, general manager Andy Krajewski, head professional Visanu Tongwarin and superintendent Ben Kelnhofer have been with him almost from the beginning.

Along the way McWethy sought the advice of Mike Keiser, who was doing his own thing in the golf business and is now the creator of extremely well-regarded Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Keiser owned the Dunes Club, which was near McWethy’s summer home, and he wanted to become a member. Eventually he did, after Keiser learned that McWethy was already a member of Chicago Golf Club — the Wheaton layout that was the first 18-holer in the United States.

McWethy became a Chicago Golf member in 1991 and later was a sponsor for Keiser when he joined that prestigious club.

Mistwood is by no means McWethy’s only business venture. He owns several farms, some in Chicago, and his wide variety of investments include projects as far away as Brazil and Uruguay. Farming, though, is particularly close to his heart. His son Todd operates McWethy Farms in Michigan, and father and son have a unique working relationship on that one.

Father Jim makes deliveries for son Todd. The two meet at a truck stop in Gary, Ind., twice a week in growing season, and Jim takes his son’s hydroponic tomatoes to Kramer Foods, a Hinsdale landmark, as well as some top Chicago restaurants. McWethy also includes a bag full of choice tomatoes in the awards given to the Illinois Women’s Open champion each year.

Married to Susan and the father of two, McWethy has been a Downers Grove resident since 1978. He wants his golf course to be considered among the best, with profitability a secondary consideration.

“I’d have no inclination to be involved in this if I didn’t love the game,” he said. “Golf isn’t an easy way to make a buck. It’s close to impossible. All I’m looking for is a modest return. This (Mistwood ressurection) isn’t to make more money or grow wealth. I’d like to have something to be very proud of, to make it as good as I can possibly make it.”

First it was Elmhurst’s Mark Wilson winning two of the first three full-field events of the PGA Tour season. Then it was University of Illinois alum D.A. Points capturing the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Now still another local golfer has come to the forefront.

Luke Donald, who graduated from Northwestern in 1999 and has maintained strong Chicago ties, won the biggest tournament of the season so far on Sunday with a dominating performance at the Accenture Match Play Championship near Tucson, Ariz.

Donald, playing in only his second tournament of the year, whipped Germany’s Martin Kaymer, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, 3 and 2 in the final. Kaymer was Donald’s sixth victim in the five-day event. Donald never trailed in any match. He played only 73 holes en route to winning his six matches, none of which went to the 18th hole. Along the way he made 32 birdies.

“It was a long time since I won in the U.S., and to beat the top 63 players in the world was gratifying,” said Donald. “It was an amazing week.”

That is was.

Donald, born in England, won in the U.S. for the first time since taking the 2006 Honda Classic. He’ll be in the field when that event tees off on Thursday in Orlando, Fla.

In 2010 Donald, in addition to playing in the Ryder Cup matches, became a father for the first time, won at Madrid on the European PGA Tour and finished in the top 10 in 14 of his 28 tournaments world-wide. No golfer won more money than Donald in 2010, if his winnings in both the U.S. and Europe are combined.

That busy season led to Donald taking 11 weeks off, his longest break in seven years. His first tournament of this season, the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles, ended quickly when he shot 79 in the second round to miss the cut. There was no carryover last week in the first of the four World Golf Championship events, which draw international fields and rank just below the four major tournaments in importance.

Though it was played on a 7,800-yard course, and Donald isn’t one of golf’s longer hitters, he was barely challenged in his matches. The victory lifted him from No. 9 in the world all the up to No. 3.

“ Whether I deserve to be No. 3 in the world, I don’t know,” said Donald. “But certainly in terms of my work ethic and wanting it, then I do deserve it. I’ve been very diligent about working on my short game. There’s room for improvement with my game off the tee and some of my iron play, if you look at my statistics, but I make up for it around the greens.”

Donald and his wife Diane, who also attended Northwestern, have a residence in Orlando but still consider Chicago their home. Their daughter Elle celebrated her first birthday while Luke was en route to winning at Tucson and Pat Goss, his head coach at NU, has remained Donald’s swing coach since he turned pro in 2001.

Prior to Sunday Donald’s most prominent move into U.S. tournament contention came at the 2006 PGA Championship at Medinah. He was paired with eventual winner Tiger Woods in the final group on Sunday but shot 74 and finished tied for third.

“It was interesting to see how (Woods) worked his way around the golf course. He was always in control of his game and didn’t push things,” said Donald. “He made other people make mistakes. That’s what I learned watching Tiger. You don’t have to do anything too spectacular. You just have to do things pretty well.”

Rarely does a golfer have a chance to make history — really significant history — in a specific tournament. Steve Stricker has that opportunity when the John Deere Classic comes to TPC at John Deere Run in Silvis.

Stricker won the JDC in 2009 and 2010. Only 20 players in the history of the PGA Tour have won an event three straight years, the last being Tiger Woods who took the Bridgestone Invitational in 2005-07. Stricker’s chance for a three-peat comes July 7-10, but he’ll be the most closely-watched player in a strong field as soon as the players start gathering at TPC at John Deere Run for practice rounds on the Fourth of July.

The world’s No. 4-ranked player at the time of this printing, Stricker has had his great moments before. Most interesting is that he was the PGA Tour’s comeback player-of-the-year twice — and in successive years to boot. His has been a unique career since coming out of the University of Illinois.

After leading the Illini to the 1988 Big Ten title Stricker has virtually had two pro careers. He won big early on, then went into a deep slump before coming back to become one of the game’s top stars in his 40s.

“It’s been a great 5 1/2-year ride, this turn-around,” he admitted. “I keep pinching myself at times.”

In addition to his successes in the Quad Cities, Stricker’s 10 PGA Tour victories include the 1996 Western Open at Cog Hill and this year’s Memorial tourney.

Win or lose, Stricker is one of golf’s class acts. he showed that again after winning the Memorial. He didn’t get back to Madison until about 1 a.m. the Sunday of his triumph and was due for media duties at TPC at John Deere Run at 10 a.m. the following morning. Stricker, with a daughter keeping him company, made the three-hour drive in plenty of time and then discussed his golfing life in full.

He hasn’t won a major championship yet — he barely made the cut at the U.S. Open at Congressional — so a three-peat in the JDC would be his crowning achievement so far.

“It’s going to be fun,” Stricker said at the tourney’s media day in June. “I enjoy the course. It has the same bentgrass I grew up on. Once you have success, you get good vibes when you come back. I have good feelings going around this course. I’d very much like to win it three times.”

And, it could happen. Stricker knows, though, that it won’t be easy.

“It’s difficult to two-peat, much less put three together,” he said. “The expectation level is high when you win and then come back. When your shots don’t fall into place you might lose a bit of confidence, and then you have more demands on your time when you come back. People look at you more, but there’s a ton of other good players. A lot of things have to fall in place.”

Last year’s win was an epic. The 2010 JDC was a tourney like no other on the PGA Tour — and that’s saying a lot.

In the first round Paul Goydos posted a 59, only the fourth player to break 60 in an official event. But Stricker nearly matched him with a 60 later in the day. Imagine two scores of that magnitude on the same day, on the same course!

“It was cool, the whole thing that transpired last year,” said Stricker. “It had to feel weird for (Goydos) — to shoot 59 and just lead by one. (His own 60) made me feel like I was right back in it. I would think it was harder for him to swallow than it was for me.”

Goydos didn’t fold. He was Stricker’s main challenger at the end, but Stricker’s numbers were way too good. Over the first 54 holes he made birdies on 27. His 25-under-par status was a PGA Tour record for three rounds and his 26-under 258 for the full 72 holes was a tournament record by four strokes. In his last eight rounds at TPC at John Deere Run, encompassing his two victories, Stricker is 46 under par.

There’s much more to worth knowing about Steve Stricker, though, than just those spectacular numbers. They did, however, help him become the top-ranked American golfer and a solid threat to eventually become No. 1 if Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer falter. Stricker isn’t focusing on the rankings, though.

“I was No. 2 for awhile,” he said. “Me being the highest-ranked American makes me want to text Tiger and ask him, What happened?’ But I don’t have the courage to do that yet.”

Stricker was only joking about chiding Woods. They’re friends, but Woods’ recent struggles have helped Stricker and plenty of other players enhance their profiles.

“You call me under-appreciated?” grinned Stricker, when asked about the impact Woods’ much-discussed problems have had on golf in general. “Tiger and Phil (Mickelson) are still the biggest draws in golf. You can’t take that away from them. They provide a lot of excitement, and I still tune into golf to see how Tiger and Phil are playing. It was good when Tiger was winning because people wanted to see that, but (Woods’ troubles) have given other guys confidence. Now they know that anybody could win.”

In those days when Woods was winning big Stricker was struggling. He had to do some soul-searching, and lots of hard work, before his game returned. What’s most unusual is that he did the bulk of the work in Madison, Wis., beating balls in the winter at a heated driving range instead of seeking the warmth of Florida or other warm-weather climates. Stricker grew up in Edgerton, Wis., which is near Madison, and his wife and former caddie Nikki is from Madison. Her father, Dennis Tiziani, was the golf coach at the University of Wisconsin when Stricker was playing for Illinois.

`Before we had kids we tried (the warm-weather areas), but after the kids we decided it’d be better to come home with family and friends,” said Stricker. “Plus, being (in Wisconsin) gets me just far enough away from the game when I need that.”

He doesn’t feel the changing Midwest climate has hurt his golf career.

“I had played with kids from the South who aren’t around anymore,” said Stricker, “and I have the feeling they just had enough of it. There’s only so much one can do with anything, be it a job or a sport. Living in the Midwest might not be for everybody, but we’ve (Luke Donald, Mark Wilson, D.A. Points, Jerry Kelly) showed we can handle that.”

Stricker’s goal isn’t to become the world’s No. 1 golfer. He “just” wants to win a major title. He even said after his second JDC win that he didn’t want to be No. 1 because of the added attention he’d receive.

“I don’t want that. To win a major is at the top of my list, and my number of opportunities seems to be dwindling with my age,” he said. “But (winning a major and dealing with the added attention) would be a good tradeoff.”

First order of business, though, is to get his three-peat at the JDC, which will carry a $4.5 million prize fund and one of its strongest fields ever this year. Eight PGA Tour winners from 2011 will try to halt Stricker’s streak — Jonathan Byrd, Mark Wilson, Jhonny Vegas, Points, Johnson Wagner, Michael Bradley, Brendan Steele and Keegan Bradley. So will Jason Day, the runner-up in the Masters.

Winners of the last two British Opens — Louis Oosthuizen and Stewart Cink — are entered along with two former British champs in Todd Hamilton and John Daly. The past JDC winners competing again include Kenny Perry (2008), John Senden (2006), Mark Hensby (2004) and J.P. Hayes (2002).

Oh, yes, Goydos will be back, too. Wouldn’t it be something to see a repeat of the Stricker-Goydos shootout of a year ago?