BMW field takes notice -- the new Cog Hill is really long

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Sep. 10, 2009
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor

LEMONT, Ill. -- Scott Verplank feared the worst when he decided to walk the newly renovated Cog Hill for the first time this week. He knew the course would be different than the one that has hosted 17 past BMW Championships, during which time he recorded six top-20 finishes. Heck, he knew it would be different than the course that hosted the BMW Championship just two years ago.

But there's different ... and then there's different bad.

Considering the Cog Hill folks wanted to beef up their course in hopes of landing a major championship, Verplank had his concerns that the redesign would turn a popular medium-length course into an unpopular long one.

Not to worry. After walking more than two-thirds of the course in preparation for Thursday's first round of the BMW Championship, Verplank breathed a sigh of relief. Cog Hill will be a tough test. It will be a lengthy test. But it will not be a ridiculous one.

"I was pleasantly surprised, to be honest with you," Verplank said. "I didn't think it was as crazy as I thought it might be, looking at some of the other redos that we've had for places hoping to have a major.

"It looks awfully long, like every course that's trying to set a new world record for longest course ever to hold a tournament. ... But you know, they stayed pretty close to the original design and the original feel of the golf course."

Make no mistake, though -- this isn't your father's Cog Hill. From 1991-2006, the PGA TOUR made its annual stop here for the Western Open, and also came here in 2007 when the tournament was renamed the BMW Championship and became the third leg of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

In 1991, the course played at 7,040 yards. In 2007, it was 7,326 yards. And this week? Well, the scorecard says 7,616 yards, which makes it the third longest course on TOUR this year and the fifth longest since at least 1989. Adding muscle was part of the grand scheme overseen by architect Rees Jones.

However, that's not to say the TOUR will definitely set up the course for that length. The players expect several of the tees to be moved up. Since no one is quite sure just how the renovated course will play, they expect a feeling-out process to determine that exact balance between fairness and toughness.

"They can throw anything at you out there, if they play this thing from the back and put some tough pins in there," said Padraig Harrington, who comes into this week with four consecutive top-10 finishes. " ... We're experienced enough now to realize that we're not going to be falling off the back of the tee boxes and we're not going to be playing the back pin positions.

"It's going to be sensible stuff, then see how the golf progresses the first two days and then adjust to what they need to do on Saturday and Sunday. It's a strong golf course, so I would think their main forcus would be setting it up a little bit easier than trying to get the most out of it."

Defending BMW champ Camilo Villegas even made his plea Wednesday in hopes of a sensible set-up after he had to hit hybrids on three par-3 holes and a 5-iron into the other one.

"If you set it up a little bit shorter ... guys are going to be a little more aggressive," Villegas said. "They're going to go at the pins. It's going to be more fun for us. You're going to see more birdies, you're going to see more bogeys."

Course set-up is just one of the issues, however. Another one is familiarity.

Most of the 69 players in this week's field have experience playing Cog Hill. Tiger Woods, of course, has plenty of experience winning on it, having won four TOUR events here, including the 2007 event on his way to winning the FedExCup in its inaugural year.

But with the renovations, does Tiger -- or anyone -- really know Cog Hill now?

"It really is kind of a new golf course," said Heath Slocum, winner of The Barclays two weeks ago who will be playing Cog Hill for the seventh time on TOUR.

"The golf course is certainly playing different," added Woods, who finds himself in unfamiliar territory, having fallen to second place in the FedExCup standings behind Deutsche Bank Championship winner Steve Stricker.

So no memory to pull from then?

"Well, I'm not the only one," Woods said. "We're all in the same boat."

Like Woods, Stricker has won at Cog Hill, way back in 1996, his second win as a pro. Stricker blitzed the field that week, winning by eight shots. After playing from the back tees during Wednesday's pro-am, Stricker sounded like a guy who still feels comfortable here.

"I feel a familiarity with this course," he said. "I won here, and even though they've changed it dramatically, the routing is pretty much the same."

The length, of course, is not. Two of the par 5s are longer than 600 yards. One of the par 4s is more than 500 yards long. Par 3s that once could be reached with an 8- or 9-iron now require a 3-iron. A new pond on the par-4 seventh will probably take driver out of most players' hands.

"It's 324 (yards) to carry it," Woods said. "I can't carry 324."

Welcome to the new Cog Hill.