Tournament Reports

It didn’t matter that all the conditions — comfortable temperatures, minimal wind, soft greens and fairways – were all ideal for low scoring at Medinah on Thursday. Justin Thomas certainly wasn’t thinking about that while warming up for his first round in the BMW Championship. “I had the worst warmup I’ve ever had in my…

With all due respect to Tom Watson, Hale Irwin and even Tiger Woods, there is another contender when debating the most successful player on Chicago courses. Jim Furyk should also be on the list. All four players have feasted on Chicago area courses. Furyk just did it most recently – and is still doing it…

Tiger Woods took to the famed No. 3 course at Medinah on Wednesday and played only nine holes in the Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am, the last pre-tournament event before Thursday’s start of the BMW Championship. Woods worked only his short game on the back nine, just like he did at last week’s first FedEx Cup Playoff…

Brooks Koepka is the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world, the reigning PGA champion and the winner of four major championships in the last three years. On Wednesday, though, he played second fiddle to one of his playing partners in the Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am, the final warmup for Thursday’s start of the BMW Championship at…

Rory McIlroy nearly missed his tee time in the last big event he played at Medinah. He can only laugh about it now. The moment of infamy came in the 2012 Ryder Cup. McIlroy didn’t account for a time change and didn’t realize he needed to be at Medinah until someone called him. He needed…

The gates of Medinah Country Club open to the public for the first time since 2012 today. This week’s big event, the BMW Championship, will be much different than the last one held there – a devastating loss for Team USA in the Ryder Cup matches against Europe. The BMW is a 70-player, 72-hole no-cut…

David Cooke became the 13th player to claim multiple wins in the Illinois Open on Wednesday and – like his first win in 2015 – this latest one was basically no contest. Cooke won by five strokes when the tournament was held at Royal Melbourne, in Long Grove, four years ago and his 16-under-par score…

Bolingbrook’s David Cooke could win the 70th Illinois Open today. He enters the final round at The Glen Club, in Glenview, with a three-stroke lead but he might have other things on his mind. Cooke, who won the tournament in 2015 when he was still an amateur, will catch a flight to North Carolina on…

The Illinois PGA, in an effort to increase entries, instituted a two-course format for the finals of the Illinois Open in 2015. It allowed for a 264-player field for the 54-hole finals instead of the traditional 156 after the entries – usually around 700 — were whittled down through a series of state-wide qualifying rounds….