BMW Championship (PGA Tour)
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- Western Open redirects here. There is also a BMW Championship on the European Tour; see BMW Championship (European Tour). For the former women's tournament, see Western Open (women's golf).
The BMW Championship, previously known as the Western Open, is the second oldest professional golf tournament in the United States after the U.S. Open. It was founded in 1899 and that year the prize fund was $150, out of which the winner received $50. Like the U.S. Open, in its early days it was usually won by visiting professionals from the United Kingdom. In its early decades it was regarded by some as a major championship, although this designation was unofficial and it is never included in tallies of golfers' major championship wins nowadays. It is a regular stop on the PGA Tour.
From the event's inception until 1961, it was played at a variety of midwestern golf courses (with a handful of exceptions). Beginning in 1962, the event settled into the Chicago area, being played at different courses in and around the city. In 1974, the event began a stretch of close to two decades being played exclusively at Butler National Golf Club in Oak Brook, Illinois, staying there through the 1990 event. Since 1991, the host club has been Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Illinois. It is currently played in late June or early July; however, it will be moved to the weekend after Labor Day in 2007, and will be the last FedEx Cup playoff event before The Tour Championship. The event will also be renamed the BMW Championship as part this restructuring, and also will go on a rotation of courses in the Upper Midwest, including Cog Hill, Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, and Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri.
Beginning in 1987, the tournament has borne a sponsorship name. The last sponsor of the event as the Western Open was Eli Lilly and Company's Cialis brand of tadalafil.
[edit] Winners
Cialis Western Open
- 2006 Trevor Immelman - South Africa
- 2005 Jim Furyk - United States
- 2004 Stephen Ames - Trinidad & Tobago / Canada
100th Western Open presented by Golf Digest
- 2003 Tiger Woods - United States
Advil Western Open
- 2002 Jerry Kelly - United States
- 2001 Scott Hoch - United States
- 2000 Robert Allenby - Australia
Motorola Western Open
- 1999 Tiger Woods - United States
- 1998 Joe Durant - United States
- 1997 Tiger Woods - United States
- 1996 Steve Stricker - United States
- 1995 Billy Mayfair - United States
- 1994 Nick Price - Zimbabwe
Sprint Western Open
- 1993 Nick Price - Zimbabwe
Centel Western Open
- 1992 Ben Crenshaw - United States
- 1991 Russ Cochran - United States
- 1990 Wayne Levi - United States
Beatrice Western Open
- 1989 Mark McCumber - United States
- 1988 Jim Benepe - United States
- 1987 D. A. Weibring - United States
Western Open
- 1986 Tom Kite - United States
- 1985 Scott Verplank - United States
- 1984 Tom Watson - United States
- 1983 Mark McCumber - United States
- 1982 Tom Weiskopf - United States
- 1981 Ed Fiori - United States
- 1980 Scott Simpson - United States
- 1979 Larry Nelson - United States
- 1978 Andy Bean - United States
- 1977 Tom Watson - United States
- 1976 Al Geiberger - United States
- 1975 Hale Irwin - United States
- 1974 Tom Watson - United States
[edit] Winners During Period Tournament Moved
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