BMW Championship Preview

02 Sep

It’s hard to believe but we are already into week three of the FedEx Cup playoffs – the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Golf Club in Colorado.

I think there has been some great drama so far and we are obviously all jostling for position to get into the top 30 and on to Atlanta for the TOUR Championship.

It’s really exciting being back in Colorado, for me personally and also it is great to have the PGA TOUR back in Colorado and Denver in particular. Way back in 1991 Jack Vickers gave me an invite to his tournament, The International at Castle Pines, which at that time was just my second ever start on the PGA TOUR. I made a cheque for $2,647 that week and that was my PGA TOUR career up and running right there.

It was a memorable week for lots of other reasons, too. The people were so warm and hospitable and in many ways it made it feel like a real home-from-home for this young South African who was a long way from his own home. For many years after that The International remained one of my favourite tournaments on the schedule – I played it 15 times and was proud to win in 2000 – and in fact it was a favourite stop for many of the players. Great course, great fans and a beautiful location – it was easy to see the attraction. The format was really fun for the players, with the modified stableford providing lots of excitement, and even the little things like the milkshakes in the player locker rooms were something you looked forward to all year! I also became great friends with Tommy Vickers, who as anyone knows was a great character. We played lots of social golf and spent a lot of time together; he was a great friend. Sadly he passed away but for me he will always be remembered with the tournament and the area.

Obviously for me personally I’ll forever be grateful to Jack for giving me that opportunity all those years ago. In addition, Jack has done so much for golf in general and particularly in this part of the world, that he certainly deserves the PGA TOUR Lifetime Achievement Award he’s receiving this week. Great credit also must go to the guys at the Western Golf Association for their commitment to golf and the various charitable initiatives that are focused on helping people in this area. Hats off to them for all that they continue to do.

Really it’s hard to believe that it’s eight years since the TOUR was last in Denver for the final playing of The International. I did make it back last year, at this time actually, for a wonderful function hosted by Will Nicholson Jnr. I got to catch up with some old friends and meet new ones who do so much positive work in the local community, such as George Solich who was instrumental in bringing the BMW Championship to Denver.

And so here we are at Cherry Hills, one of this area’s historic courses having hosted major championships and produced many great champions. This is the course where Arnold Palmer famously smashed his drive on to the first green in the final round of the US Open in 1960, making birdie and launching a comeback to win the championship from seven shots behind. The BMW Championship has a pretty amazing story of its own as well, having its roots in the old Western Open, which goes back over 100 years and is one of the longest-running tournaments in professional golf. As with most of the TOUR events, they do some great charitable work here too.

Anyway, it’s a week that we can all really look forward to and with the elevation and thin air it has a lot of similarities to playing back in Johannesburg! I hope we get to play more of the great courses in this State in the future.

I’ll write again soon. In the meantime follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy

Sponsors

Partners

Connect

Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
© 2024, Ernie Els   A / A Website by Noesis