Talk:BMW Championship (PGA Tour)

Untitled
Opening sentence says - "The Cialis Western Open is the third oldest professional golf tournament in the United States after the U.S. Open." So what's the second oldest tournament then? Catchpole 22:16, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
 * It was sneaky vandalism. The article said it was second oldest until yesterday. Twittenham 08:17, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

This says it's the second oldest
http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-westernopen&prov=ap&type=lgns
 * See above. Twittenham 08:17, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how to change these pages at all...so here is some information about the Western that someone could put up on the page if you know how...

"The Cialis Western Open will officially become the BMW Championship starting next year as the third of four PGA Tour Playoff Tournaments. The first BMW will be held at Cog Hill in 2007 then in St. Louis in 2008."

Clarification of "Oldest"
A recent edit to the BMW Championship page provides this explanation ....

The Western Open (this event's predecessor) was first played in 1899. At the time of its last playing in 2006, the Western Open was the 3rd oldest active PGA Tour tournament, after the British Open (began 1860) and U.S. Open (began 1895).

Now that's just among active PGA Tour events through the 2006 season. If one is talking just about active PGA Tour events in the U.S.A. alone, then the U.S. Open and Western Open are respectively first and second.

How the Western/BMW ranks beyond this is not known.

NOTE: YAHOO! Link provided by Twittenham has expired.

Fgf2007 09:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

False premise?
What exactly are the grounds for saying that this is a new tournament? I would say it is just the Western Open under a new name. I know it is a FedEx Cup playoff event now, but so what? When it started out it wasn't a PGA Tour event, but it was still the Western Open all the way through its history. The fact that the entry criteria have changed means little or nothing; many events on tour have different criteria and some of them have changed a lot over the years. If we created a new article for every name change we would have a hell of a lot of articles about former golf tournaments. Craig.Scott 02:48, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I see now that it is no longer confined to the Chicago area, but I am still not entirely convinced it is a new event. Has there been an official announcement? The Golf Observer link in external links treats the Western Open and the BMW Championship as one tournament. What will official tournament records and results listings show? Craig.Scott 02:54, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The article is still in Category:1899 establishments. Craig.Scott 02:57, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

BMW Championship-Western Open
Hard to explain why the PGA Tour wants keep the BMW linked with the Western Open, other than the continued partnership with the Western Golf Association. And yes, GOlf Observer's GOLFTSTATS has chosen not to separate the two events.

Suffice it to say, the tradition of the Western Open tournament as it fans have known it for all these years is, for now, gone. As explained in the main article, they've changed the invitational criteria and the playing format. Those two right there ought to be reason enough.
 * I don't think they are, but I will wait to see how more media treat the issue when the tournament is played before taking any action on the articles. Craig.Scott 23:27, 22 February 2007 (UTC)