Tiger Woods got reacquainted with an old friend Wednesday.
He walked the fairways and putted the greens at Cog Hill during the Chick Evans Memorial Pro-Am, and the memories began to flow.
Cog Hill is where Woods made his first cut in a PGA Tour event as a 19-year old amateur in the 1995 Western Open. It’s where fans flooded the 18th fairway British Open-style when he won his first Western in 1997. He since has won twice more on the No. 4 course.
Now he’s a strong advocate for anchoring the new BMW Championship in Chicago on an annual basis. On the eve of Thursday’s first round, he voiced his opposition to the tournament rotating out of town every other year, and several other subjects to the Tribune and pgatour.com. Some excerpts:
On how disappointed he is the PGA Tour won’t come back to Chicago for two years …
“Hey, I don’t like the idea. This is a great town. It’s one of the biggest sports towns, if not one of the biggest markets in the country. I just don’t understand why we can’t play here year after year.”
On local fans …
“They’ve always come out in droves and really supported this tournament. This tournament has always been near and dear to my heart.”
On Cog Hill being fairly quiet during his pro-am round Wednesday …
“Hopefully, this event will be like it is normally here in July. Hopefully, we’ll have the same kind of atmosphere and everybody will get fired up about it.”
On how the course play differs from what he remembered …
“Yeah, the fairways were probably a touch faster as of right now before the rain, and the greens were definitely a lot quicker. It’s playing probably a little more difficult than what we normally see it.”
On whether he would support a U.S. Open or PGA Championship at Cog Hill …
“Well, it’s not quite ready for that. It’s not up to that level yet.
“I think after [course architect] Rees [Jones] gets a hold of it and makes some alterations to it … then yeah, you could possibly say you could get a PGA here or maybe a U.S. Open.”
On fatherhood so far …
“It’s been great. It’s been great. [Daughter] Sam is doing wonderful, Elin is doing great, and it’s been a lot of work, but it’s one of those things where you look forward to it each and every day.”
One getting any sleep …
“No (smiling). It’s OK, though.”
