Bellerive Country Club

'New' Bellerive Gets Ready For '08

By Dan O'Neill
St. Louis Post Dispatch

Missing since 1992, aborted by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, when the American Express Championship was canceled, the PGA Tour will return to St. Louis in 2008.

And after being jilted because of 9/11, after closing its tee boxes for many months and surrendering its historic golf course to construction, Bellerive Country Club can't wait.

"There's a lot of excitement," said Rick Meyer, a Bellerive member and tournament official. "We can't wait to see how it is received. It's a great opportunity for St. Louis and the golf community.

Built in 1965, Bellerive reopened its refurbished golf course to members last October. The wrapping won't be fully removed until this summer, when spring and early summer growth have a chance to bring the texture of the new layout to life.

"Basically, it's a new golf course," Meyer said. "I mean, the essence of the original design is still there - we call it the "Underground Bellerive" - but it's essentially all new. The bunkering, the fairways were designed to be there for the great players of the world."

With more than a year and a half yet to settle in, the course will realize its greatest test when Bellerive plays host to the BMW Championship in September 2008.

The tournament, originally known as the Western Open, has been conducted in association with the Western Golf Association since 1899, making it the second-oldest tournament in American golf. The U.S. Open was first conducted in 1895. The event has been held at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, since 1991. Cog Hill also will play host to the inaugural BMW Open on Sept. 6-9 this season.

But as part of a new rotation on the PGA Tour schedule, the event will transfer to Bellerive in '08, return to Chicago in 2009 and move to Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., in 2010. The tournament will no longer be an "Open" but will be part of the PGA Tour's season-ending championship series.

Players will qualify for spots in the BMW Championship by earning FedExCup points during the season. Golf fans have every reason to anticipate an elite field for the event, including the top-ranked players on the PGA Tour. While the tournament is still many months away, pieces already are falling into place.

"We have a marketing group together, and we saw a draft of the sale brochure the other day," Meyer said. "If it hasn't gone out yet, it's about to go out. There's a number of companies that already have stepped up to get involved from a sponsorship standpoint."

Renovated Bellerive plays at par 72 for its members. But the golf course can be set up to be played at par 71 or par 70 and has more than 7,400 yards of length to play with. For instance, in anticipation of championship-caliber golf, holes 4 and 10 were specifically bunkered to become 500-yard par-4s for competition. Now, it's just a matter of waiting and seeing how the BMW Championship unfolds.

"From that end, as the FedExCup plays out late in this season, it will be interesting to see how it is received," Meyer added. "We think it's going to be tremendous. Let's face it, we haven't had the best players in the world compete in a full championship here since 1992. For the St. Louis sports fan, this is something that doesn't come along every day."