PGA to rotate Western Open Through Midwest!?!

I am not going to argue that the PGA Tour needs to do something about their schedule to keep the Tour financially secure and increase the return for both TV and its sponsors who are taking huge losses from their participation in golf. There has been a lot of talk about changes in both the length and the structure of the season which starts in late January and officially ends two weekends from now with the Tour Championship. The biggest rumor being talked about is a move to a NASCAR-like playoff which 3 events being played after the PGA Championship in the New York, Boston and Chicago markets and concluding at the Tour Championship sometime in the middle of September.

This sounds cool and many of the players including Tiger and Phil have talked publicly about shortening the schedule so that the PGA Tour isn't going up against the NFL and the strength of the fields would increase. The one thing I have a problem with is proposed changes to Western Open which has been played in the Chicagoland area forever. The Tribune picked up on this story from Golf World and added that this might cause the Western Open to be rotated around the Midwest.

The Western's slot likely would be after Labor Day week. The Tour, however, might seek to rotate future Westerns among other venues in addition to Chicago, such as St. Louis, Indianapolis and Minneapolis.

The Western has been staged at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont since 1991. Western Open officials, meanwhile, have explored the possibility of keeping the tournament in the Chicago area but alternating sites each year among several local courses, including Cog Hill.

While I am taking all this with a grain of salt since nothing official has been announced, it makes me nervous that Chicago might lose the oldest PGA Tour event held and might be left without a Tour stop due to a shortened schedule (admittedly highly unlikely given the market size and support of the Western).

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