!? PGA Tour And Westchester Back In The Saddle Again
I guess this is a contractual obligation deal related to Westchester and the Barclays as well (according to the release), the necessity to find a new venue to replace Baltimore Five Farms, which was not obligated to host in August. Still, considering some of the past feuding between Ponte Vedra and Westchester and the club's concerns with hosting an event in August, this is a bit of a surprise.
HARRISON, N.Y. – The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship announced today that the event will move to historic Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y., for 2011. The final major championship of the Champions Tour season is scheduled for August 15-21, 2011, marking the first time a major championship from any tour is conducted at the club. Westchester Country Club hosted the PGA TOUR for 41 years from 1967 until 2007.
“It is with great pride that Westchester Country Club welcomes championship golf back to the club and to the Westchester area,” said Club President Nick Cammarano Jr. “We are excited to host the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship and to welcome back many of the same players who enjoyed playing the past PGA TOUR events staged at our club. We are also pleased that local charities will benefit from what we know will be a very well-received major golf tournament for the entire region.”
The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship typically attracts one of the best fields of the Champions Tour season, including such names as defending champion Mark O’Meara, 2010 Champions Tour Player of the Year Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Tom Watson and Corey Pavin. Six current Champions Tour players are former champions of PGA TOUR events staged at Westchester Country Club, including Curtis Strange (1980), Bob Gilder (1982), Scott Simpson (1984), Bob Tway (1986), Hale Irwin (1990) and David Frost (1992.) Eight players who competed in the 2010 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship competed more than 20 times in PGA TOUR events hosted at Westchester. This list includes Jay Haas (competed at Westchester 27 times), Bob Tway (23), Tom Kite (23), Bob Gilder (22), Loren Roberts (21), Fred Couples (20), Don Pooley (20) and Craig Stadler (20). The total number of times that players from the 2010 Senior Players field played in the PGA TOUR event at Westchester is 856.
“A return to Westchester Country Club will stir good memories from my days on the PGA TOUR,” said Mark O’Meara, the 2010 Constellation Energy Senior Players Champion. “It is a wonderful and classic golf course, and guys like me and Jay Haas cannot wait to return. I know both of us will hope to do one better than our runner-up finish to Scott Simpson at Westchester in 1984.”
“Westchester is a fantastic course in an area that loves golf as much as any region in the country,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “The Champions Tour players will be thrilled to have a course with as much history as Westchester Country Club host one of their major championships. The PGA TOUR enjoyed great success at Westchester Country Club and we know the Champions Tour will as well. The opportunity exists for the Senior Players event to remain in the area in the future, perhaps rotating to multiple venues, as there are many outstanding golf courses in the region. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Westchester Country Club in the future, as well as establishing new relationships with other clubs in the area.”
“We’re extremely grateful to the Baltimore Country Club for the incredible job they have done staging the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, and for the support we have received from our many partners and volunteers who have made this such a successful event both for the Champions Tour and Maryland,” said Mayo A. Shattuck III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Constellation Energy. “We look forward to hosting a premier tournament at Westchester Country Club and for the New York-New Jersey region, where we serve many communities and leading public institutions, as well as a large and growing base of commercial and residential customers. Proceeds from this event will benefit the communities we serve in the region and we’re confident the tournament will be embraced by customers, supporters and fans eager to see championship golf return to this historic course.”
The venue change occurred following adjustments to the Champions Tour schedule and to find a date that was better suited for the event, which has been played in the late September/early October timeframe the past four years. Baltimore Country Club hosted the Senior Players from 2007-09 at its Five Farms East Course, and the Championship was to return there for one more play in 2011. However, the scheduling change to August fell outside the timeframe originally included in the Baltimore Country Club site agreement. Thus, both the TOUR and Baltimore Country Club agreed that it was in the best interest of both parties to secure an alternative site. The event was played at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Potomac, Md., in 2010.
“We want to express our genuine thanks to the membership and staff at Baltimore Country Club for their enthusiasm and hospitality as a great host of this event since 2007,” said Steve Schoenfeld, executive tournament director of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship and a native of White Plains, N.Y. “That being said, we look forward to bringing this Champions Tour major to Westchester Country Club. My career in the golf industry started at the former Westchester Classic 25 years ago when I was a volunteer standard bearer, so returning to the area as the tournament director of the Senior Players Championship has a special meaning for me. I believe the Westchester area will embrace the Champions Tour, as our players were regulars for many years in PGA TOUR events staged at this great venue.”
Westchester Country Club was scheduled to host The Barclays PGA TOUR event in August 2012. However, with the agreement to host this Champions Tour major in 2011 and potentially acting as a future host on a rotational basis, the PGA TOUR and Westchester Country Club mutually agreed that The Barclays 2012 will be staged at a different venue. The Barclays moved to The Ridgewood Country Club in 2008 and has enjoyed success as it rotated from Ridgewood to Liberty National in 2009, back to Ridgewood in 2010 and now to Plainfield Country Club in 2011. An announcement of the host venues for The Barclays in 2012 and 2013 is expected early next year.
Friday, December 17, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Reader Comments (17)
Remember I told you... the Barclays will be held at Bethpage Black...
BenS
That was not a presser; it was a novella.
The players have a history there, and the course is a better fit for the Champions players.
It will be a fun course not needing to be tricked up for this event
The Champs on these classic tracks could be a good thing with the right local promo/marketing.
Bethpage has NOT turned down the Barclays. They turned down the 2012 Amateur because of financial reasons. They have spoken with the PGA about hosting the 2020/21 PGA & the 2028 Ryder Cup. And there are current talks ongoing with the Barclays people (as of 11/2010 per my sources). They are discussing a long-term deal where the Black will become part of a three-course rotation serving as hosts to it.
Bethpage would prefer to host another U.S. Open sooner rather than later and that would preclude all of the above. That is why the USGA needs to not take Bethpage for granted and make the decision and agree to another Open or they will shut themselves out of the Bethpage venue that, although it has been plagued by weather problems at both Opens, has been a very welcome cash cow for them.
Now although the "offer" ball is in the USGA's court, the reality is that the current condition of New York State budgetary problems, along with political considerations, creates problems for everyone in this. For example, were you aware that the Black course, not Bethpage Park, but the Black course itself has seen the loss of 7 full-time employees due to the State's budget crisis? As a result the condition of the course has taken a big-time hit. That is why those at Bethpage, although they want the Open, would have no problem seeing the Barclay's happen as it will enable them to get the maintenance budget back to the levels where they need to be to keep it in major championship condition.
Although I didn't play the Black this past year for the first time in quite a while, but I did tour the course twice including once with the new head greenkeeper. I think without realizing it your comment validate exactly what i said. In the year's following the 2002 Open and up to and just after the 2009 Open, the comment "The bunkers were even raked once or twice!" would not have been made as it was a daily practice to do so. It no longer was this past year. The ability of the crew to keep up with a very difficult summer stretched them to their limits and beyond and meant that normal wear and tear of the course such as worn-out areas where small sod patches were needed and damage to bunker lips repairs did not occur as would have happened in years past.
There is great concern at Bethpage over whether they can maintain what the Black had become by the staff themselves.
Before you judge the last few years only, I've got more than 400 rounds on the Black and over 1,000 combined on all the Bethpage courses... :)