GOLFWEEK STAFFBENTON HARBOR, Mich. – The Western Amateur will end a 38-year run at Point O’ Woods Golf & Country Club this week.
Club members received a letter July 26 informing them of the Western Golf Association’s decision not to return to Point O’ Woods, which has hosted the event for 38 consecutive years. Responding to an article being published in the Aug. 2 issue of Golfweek, the WGA decided to confirm its decision to return the event to its Chicago roots.
The WGA, which oversees the tournament, announced a rotation among seven clubs:
• 2009 – Conway Farms Golf Club, Lake Forest
• 2010 – Skokie Country Club, Glencoe
• 2011 – North Shore Country Club, Glenview
• 2012 – Exmoor Country Club, Highland Park
• 2013 – Olympia Fields Country Club (South Course), Olympia Fields
• 2014 – The Beverly Country Club, Chicago
• 2015 – Rich Harvest Farms, Sugar Grove
WGA Chairman John Fix said the association had signaled earlier this year that it would play Point O’ Woods only every five years, moving to Chicago-area courses in other years (Forecaddie, July 12). However, a recent breakdown in negotiations prompted the WGA to move the tournament solely to Chicago.
“Our goal was to move it around to a select group of clubs that support the Western Golf Association and the Evans Scholarship Program and that also feature quality, championship venues capable of challenging the world’s top amateur golfers,” said John Kaczkowski, WGA vice president of tournaments.
The Western was last played in the Chicago area in 1952, at Exmoor Country Club.
Point O’ Woods initially hosted the Western Amateur in 1963. The championship returned to Point O’ Woods in 1965 and then was anchored at the club starting in 1971.
The Western dates to 1899 at the Glen View Club in Golf, Ill., and is regarded as one of the major amateur golf events in the world.
Tiger Woods won the 1994 Western for his first major amateur championship, three weeks before he claimed the U.S. Amateur title. Woods played in four Western Amateurs and called the tournament “the Masters of amateur golf.”
Other past winners of the Western Amateur include such notables as Justin Leonard (1992-93), Phil Mickelson (1991), Chris DiMarco (1988), Scott Verplank (1985), Hal Sutton (1979-80), Curtis Strange (1974), Ben Crenshaw (1973), Andy North (1971) and Tom Weiskopf (1963).
Posted: 7/30/2008
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