BMW Championship

September 6 - September 9, 2007
Cog Hill Golf & Country Club
Lemont, IL
Par: 71 / Yardage: 7,326
Purse: $7 million with $1.26 million going to the winner
Defending Champion: Trevor Immelman

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores 2006 BMW Championship

Box Score of 2006 BMW Championship

Tournament facts:

Tournament information:

From 1899 until 1961, the Western Open was played at a variety of locations including Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco to name a few. Beginning in 1962 however, the Western Open settled into the Chicago area. It was hosted at different local courses in and around the city.

In 1974, the Butler National Golf Club in Oak Brook, became the annual venue for the Western Open. The Butler National Golf Club remained the host site until shortly after the 1990 tournament, when the PGA Tour adopted a policy of holding events only at clubs which allowed minorities and women to be members.

This resulted in Butler National being replaced by the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Illinois. The Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill played host to the Western Open from 1991 to 2006. With the advent of the new FedEx Cup Series, the PGA decided a change of name was in order. The event is now known as the BMW Championship and the name will remain until at least 2012.

Course information:

Cog Hill is part of a four course complex located 30 milles southwest of Chicago. Owned by the Joe Jemsek family who's mission is to provide great golf facilities that are just like a country club for those who can't afford to me a member of a private country club, Cog Hill got its start in 1926-27, when a golf course was built by manual labor and horse drawn equipment. This back-breaking work produced Cog Hill No. 1. It opened on the Fourth of July weekend of 1927. The original No. 2 course opened in the fall 1929. Depite 12 years of the Great Depression, the golf course prospered and the people who had money continued to make their way to Cog Hill.

In 1963, Dick Wilson was hired to build a third course. After completing that design, he was then asked to build a fourth course that would be good enough to hold a national Open or PGA Championship. Wilson agreed, but unfortunately, passed away before finishing and Joe Lee completed the course.

Over the years, Jemsek Golf and Cog Hill have hosted many national championships. Cog Hill hosted the 1970 and 1989 USGA Men's Public Links Championship, as well as the 1987 U.S. Women's Public Links and the 1997 U.S. Amateur Championship. In 1991 the Western Golf Association brought the Western Open to the Dubsdread course at Cog Hill and the tournament has remained here ever since, until this year. In 2008 the event will move for a year to St. Louis and return in 2009.

The Dubsdread Course was built very much into its surroundings. The course is known for its many oak trees that line the fairways, as well as its large, undulating greens. The signature hole on Dubsdread is the 16th. The 397-yard, par-4, doglegs left in the middle of the fairway. The approach shot is to a four-tiered green that is surrounded by trees.

Over the years, Dubsdread has accrued many accolades. Golf Digest rated Dubsdread as the "Best Public Course" in the state of Illinois for 1996. GOLF Magazine ranked it as the 16th best among the "Top 100 Courses You Can Play in the U.S." for 1998. In the category of "America's 100 Greatest Courses," Golf Digest ranked Dubsdread 59th for 1996, and 40th for 2000.

The Buzz:

There is two sides to all of this, Phil says that he needs to balance his life between his game, business affairs and family. So Mickelson would rather be home in San Diego making PB&J sandwiches for the kids and sending them off to school instead of helping himself win the FedEx Cup.

There is also the frustration that he has had with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem in which he wouldn't go into details other than saying that he was frustration during the year that Finchem wouldn't do some things that he had suggested.

Of course there is also the second side to this and it's his performance at Cog Hill. He has played in ten BMW Championships and has never finished inside the top-25. In 36 rounds, he has only broken 70 ten times and has a scoring average of 71.50 on the course. So you have to wonder if he feels that it's a wasted trip.

Mickelson said in a statement that "in no way is this meant as disrespectful to the tour or 'sending a message' to anyone," Still he may say that in a public statement but the truth of things is that he is sending a mighty big message to the PGA Tour that if he doesn't get things his way, he just won't play.

So again the FedEx Cup is being dragged into the mud of discontent. One thing that is sad about the whole process, a year ago Tim Finchem got Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson to say they would play all four events of the series and they haven't been true to there word. Yes, it's a grind and there is no two ways about it Finchem is going to have to find a way to shorten things in coming years to have any shot of the FedEx Cup succeeding.

Photo: © Michael Cohen/Wire Images The 18th hole of the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, home of the 2007 BMW Championship..

Here are some things to look for this week:

• Key stat for the winner:
  For years now the course has always had the reputation as a "shotmakers' delight. That is because hitting lots of greens is the key to winning, if you look at the graphic down below you can see of the 16 winners at Cog Hill, four led the greens hit category while only four have not been in the top-four.

How the winners have done in hitting greens over the years:
Year	Player	Greens Hit	Rank
2006	Trevor Immelman	57	1st
2005	Jim Furyk	54	1st
2004	Stephen Ames	47	T26th
2003	Tiger Woods	50	T31st
2002	Jerry Kelly	51	T28th
2001	Scott Hoch	53	T13th
2000	Robert Allenby	53	T10th
1999	Tiger Woods	52	T4th
1998	Joe Durant	65	1st
1997	Tiger Woods	54	2nd
1996	Steve Stricker	56	T3rd
1995	Billy Mayfair	48	T38th
1994	Nick Price	60	2nd
1993	Nick Price	59	T1st
1992	Ben Crenshaw	56	T4th
1991	Russ Cochran	55	3rd

• How important is putting on the greens of Cog Hill? It's a mix bag but in looking at it historically, good putting isn't that important in winning.

How the winners have done in putting over the years:
Year	Player	Putts per round	Rank
2006	Trevor Immelman	29.50	T54th
2005	Jim Furyk	28.25	T19th
2004	Stephen Ames	27.50	T7th
2003	Tiger Woods	26.00	1st
2002	Jerry Kelly	27.00	T5th
2001	Scott Hoch	26.75	T2nd
2000	Robert Allenby	29.00	T42nd
1999	Tiger Woods	29.00	T33rd
1998	Joe Durant	30.00	T66th
1997	Tiger Woods	29.50	T60th

• Another key is the par 5s, before 2004 they were short and low numbers were produced as this chart of the last couple of winners shows. Just remember that in 2004 the course changed the par 5 fifth, which is always one of the easier par 5s, shortening it by 45 yards and changed it to a par 4, reducing the course to a par 71. Now with the tee moved up on the fifth, the tee for the ninth which it shared was moved back thus making that hole play over 600 yards so the par 5s are a lot more demanding than they were before. Still it makes life a lot easier for those who can dominate them.

How the winners have done on the par 5s over the years:
Year	Player	How he played par 5s
2006	Trevor Immelman	6 under
2005	Jim Furyk	7 under
2004	Stephen Ames	5 under
2003	Tiger Woods	13 under
2002	Jerry Kelly	9 under
2001	Scott Hoch	11 under
2000	Robert Allenby	11 under
1999	Tiger Woods	12 under
1998	Joe Durant	9 under
1997	Tiger Woods	8 under
1996	Steve Stricker	10 under
1995	Billy Mayfair	5 under
1994	Nick Price	10 under
1993	Nick Price	8 under
1992	Ben Crenshaw	9 under
1991	Russ Cochran	3 under

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