Achieving “three-peats” in professional sports is no simple task.
After earning a title once, much less twice, others are quick to emulate and try to surpass the top dog.
Despite that, after the BMW Championship had already been named the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year in both 2012 and ’13, the event pulled off an unprecedented trifecta by also earning the honor in 2014, when Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the third stop in the FedExCup Playoffs.
The announcement was made on Thursday at the PGA Tour’s Tournament Meetings in La Quinta, Calif.
All of the net proceeds from the BMW Championship, which is conducted by the Western Golf Association, benefit the WGA’s Evans Scholarship for caddies.
“We were obviously thrilled to” receive the honor, 2014 BMW Championship general chairman George Solich said by phone on Monday. “The third in a row, we didn’t know if that was achievable. But it was hard for the Tour to ignore the job the team did. It was a great team effort with the WGA, BMW, the PGA Tour and Cherry Hills. Tournament setup, hospitality, community engagement … it’s a great honor for all those who spent time, energy and money on the event.”
This marks not only the third year in a row the BMW Championship has been named the Tour’s Tournament of the Year, but the fourth time since 2008. And this time around, the BMW also earned two other honors — for best on-site staging and best advertising campaign/promotional idea.
This year’s BMW Championship attracted about 126,000 spectators for the week in early September, according to Solich, despite the course being closed to the public on Labor Day, when the Deutsche Bank Championship wrapped up in Norton, Mass. And that figure probably could have been higher, but tournament officials limited ticket sales for any given day so as to not dilute the spectators’ experience.
Billy Horschel (pictured above with Solich) won at Cherry Hills, and followed that up with a win the next week in the Tour Championship, giving him the overall FedExCup title. The previous two BMW Championships were held at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind. (2012) and Conway Farms in Lake Forest, Ill. (2013).
The PGA Tour cited a variety of factors in naming the BMW Championship its Tournament of the Year — things such as revenue growth, charity integration, event advertising, host club and community support, title sponsor integration, and player and caddie hospitality. (Sergio Garcia is pictured at left signing autographs at Cherry Hills.)
“The tournament staff should be extremely proud of its hard work and for being recognized as the PGA Tour Tournament of the Year for the third consecutive season,” said Andy Pazder, the Tour’s executive vice-president and chief of operations.”
Solich, a former Evans Scholar at the University of Colorado and a current Cherry Hills member and director at the WGA, made no secret of his goal to make the 2014 BMW Championship the most successful in the 115-year history of the event, which formerly was known as the Western Open.
Though net proceeds that will go to the Evans Scholars Foundation from this year’s BMW Championship haven’t yet been announced, Solich said he expects to be “at or over the record” for the tournament. From 2007 through ’13, the BMW Championship raised more than $16 million for the ESF.
In the wake of the BMW’s success, Solich has been named the Golf Person of the Year by the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
As Golf Channel anchor and reporter Steve Sands said shortly after the tournament ended, “You have no idea the tireless work done by George and his staff.”
This year’s BMW Championship marked the first PGA Tour event held in Colorado since the International’s 21-year run ended in 2006.
“There were thousands and thousands of people out here this weekend,” Horschel noted after winning at Cherry Hills. “I hope the PGA Tour realizes what kind of fan base and what support they have in Colorado.”
The CGA and CWGA partner with the Illinois-based WGA in supporting the Evans Scholarship, particularly at CU, and both associations’ staff and volunteers played major roles at the BMW Championship. The Evans Scholarship, which fully pays for college tuition and housing for worthy caddies who qualify, is a flagship program for both the CGA and CWGA.
Current CU Evans Scholars and a variety of Evans Scholar alums caddied during the BMW Championship pro-ams on Monday and Wednesday of tournament week, donating their fees and tips to the Evans Scholars Foundation.
Currently, about 870 caddies are on Evans Scholarships around the country, and the program has produced roughly 10,000 alumni since its inception in 1930.
The 2015 BMW Championship is scheduled for Sept. 14-20 at Conway Farms.
