LAKE GENEVA, Wis. – What’s in a name? Plenty, if you’re familiar with Lake Geneva’s biggest golf facility. As Geneva National Golf Club its 54 holes were eye-catching from the outset. So was its stately clubhouse (below), but the golf was the thing. Each 18 is named after its designer – Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino…
Author: lenz
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: A home game was just what Luke Donald needed
This has been a tough season for Luke Donald. The world’s No. 1 player for 55 weeks in 2011 and 2012 missed the cut in both the British Open and PGA Championship. Some home cooking, though, got him out of his funk. The former Northwestern golfer came into the BMW Championship on his home course…
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: Monday finish dampens first visit to Conway Farms
Slugger White, the PGA Tour’s vice president for rules and operations, knew rain was going to fall at the BMW Championship on Sunday. He just didn’t know how much. The PGA Tour deals with weather issues all year long, and usually has the answer to minimizing the problems related to them. That wasn’t the case…
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: Leaders benefitted by not hitting a shot
For Jim Furyk, leader of the BMW Championship through 54 holes, Sunday turned into a day to watch football on television. For Steve Stricker, his closest pursuer, it was a day for family time. For all the 64 players left in the third event of the four-tournament FedEx Cup Playoff series it was a day…
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: Schedule change continues to benefit Stricker
Play less, but play better. Not a bad formula for a golfer as long as it works. It’s definitely worked for Steve Stricker this season. Seeking more family time Stricker cut his PGA Tour schedule almost in half but that didn’t reduce his skill level. On Saturday the University of Illinois alum from Madison, WI.,…
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: Furyk’s 59 takes attention away from Streelman
Life is good for Kevin Streelman this week. On Sunday Chicago’s only homegrown PGA Tour player enjoyed a Bears’ game and steak dinner with some old high school buddies. On Friday the plan was to watch a high school football game between Wheaton South, Streelman’s alma mater, and arch-rival Wheaton North. Each night in between…
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: Stricker raves about Snedeker’s putting
Steve Stricker posted a solid 66 in the first round of the BMW Championship on Thursday, but he knew he was just a side show. Playing partner Brandt Snedeker put on a putting display that was hard to match, and Stricker found it a challenge to focus on his own game instead of becoming more…
BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: 66 isn’t good enough for Tiger
Forget that shocking tie for 65th place finish that Tiger Woods posted in the Deutsche Bank Classic in Boston two weeks ago. That knocked the world’s No. 1-ranked player from first to second in the FedEx Cup Playoff standings, but that blip is a distant memory now. Woods didn’t have his best stuff on Thursday…
Streelman uses Bears, Urlacher to get ready for BMW Championship
It was back to work this week for Kevin Streelman, Chicago’s lone homegrown PGA Tour player and one of the elite 70 players in the field at the BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest. Last week’s break in the FedEx Cup Playoffs gave Streelman a chance to get away from the rigors of…
A move to the north will freshen up the BMW Championship
The PGA Tour hasn’t visited the north suburbs in 41 years, when the Western Open was staged at Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield. That’s surprising, given the golf enthusiasm demonstrated annually in the area and the wide area of quality courses available. Other golf tours did make appearances. The U.S. Women’s Open was played…