ST. LOUIS (November 1, 2007) – BMW and the Western Golf Association announced today that weekly grounds passes for the 2008 BMW Championship, set for September 1-7 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, will be available for sale beginning Monday, November 5, at 10 a.m. CT. Each $225 weekly grounds pass – for purchase only at www.bmwchampionshiptickets.com – entitles the holder to:
Three practice sessions (including the BMW Championship Pro-Am on Wednesday, September 3);
Four days of championship play by the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings;
Parking each day during the week;
A daily spectator guide.
(Note: A fixed $10 handling fee applies to each order.) As the third of four PGA TOUR Playoff events in 2008, the BMW Championship field will be open to only the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings. At this year’s BMW Championship, Tiger Woods shot a flawless 63 on the final day of the tournament to emerge as the winner, helping him win the first PGA TOUR Playoff for the FedExCup and its $10 million first prize. "The inaugural BMW Championship was an exciting week of world-class golf, and we are already implementing initiatives to build upon that success with next year’s tournament at Bellerive Country Club," said Tom Purves, Chairman and CEO, BMW (US) Holding Corp. "We look forward to bringing the best of the PGA TOUR to St. Louis as well as finding new ways to uphold the tradition and support the great work of the Evans Scholars Foundation." Bellerive, host to the 1953 Western Open, has a long history of supporting championship golf at the highest levels. "Bellerive Country Club is extremely honored and privileged to play host to the BMW Championship in 2008, and the excitement officially begins Monday when tickets go on sale," said Jerry Ritter, Bellerive Country Club General Chairman for the 2008 BMW Championship.
"St. Louis and Bellerive attracted sold-out crowds for the 1992 PGA Championship and 2004 Senior Men’s Open, and we know the same is in store next year when the world’s best golfers are here for the BMW Championship. Golf fans are highly encouraged to purchase their tickets early." Players in the BMW Championship will be competing at Bellerive for the final 30 spots in The TOUR Championship and a chance to win a $10 million bonus as the 2008 FedExCup champion. All proceeds from the BMW Championship will benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, the largest privately funded college scholarship program for caddies in the nation.
Bellerive is currently the home course to one Evans Scholar, Corey Griffin, a sophomore at the University of Missouri, with an additional 18 Evans Scholar graduates to its credit. "The Western Golf Association and our Evans Scholars Foundation have enjoyed a long and rewarding relationship with Bellerive Country Club and the entire golfing community in the greater St. Louis area," said John Kaczkowski, BMW Championship tournament director. "With an elite field of the world’s top golfers competing on one of the Midwest’s premier championship courses, we expect the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club to provide one of the finest weeks of competitive golf worldwide in 2008." The classic venue at Bellerive Country Club recently celebrated a redesign to meet the continuing challenge of providing an epic test for today’s top golf talent. The project required nearly $10 million in renovations and redesigns led by noted golf course architect Rees Jones, the son of Bellerive’s original designer Robert Trent Jones, Sr. Bellerive was closed for more than a year during renovations and just recently reopened on a full-time basis to extremely favorable reviews. The new Bellerive has more than just a new look â?¦ it also has added character. Five holes are significantly changed, including a new lake to the left of the No. 2 hole that may be the most dramatic example of the beautification of the course. The length from the Gold Tees is now 7,360 yards, an increase from 7,177 yards, and there is now room to stretch the course to more than 7,500 yards. The putting surfaces have been reduced in size and now feature more undulations. More bunkers were added to the fairways, and greenside bunkers are reshaped and deepened. "Bellerive’s world championship golf course is one reason St. Louis was a solid choice to welcome the BMW Championship in 2008," Ritter said. "We know Bellerive will be a terrific test for the world’s best golfers and most worthy of playing host to such a prestigious event." BMW Championship For more than 25 years, BMW has hosted and partnered with leading amateur and professional golf tournaments around the globe.
BMW sponsors professional tournaments in China, Thailand, Germany and Great Britain.
The BMW Championship played at Wentworth near London is the European PGA Championship. In 2006 the Western Golf Association and the PGA TOUR announced a six-year partnership agreement with the company to conduct the BMW Championship as part of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup from 2007 through 2012. The 2008 BMW Championship will take place September 1-7, 2008 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. Evans Scholars Foundation As part of their partnership, BMW is joining the Western Golf Association in supporting the Evans Scholars Foundation, the largest privately funded college scholarship program for caddies in the nation and the sole beneficiary of the BMW Championship. Since the first two Scholars enrolled at Northwestern University in 1930, more than 9,000 outstanding young men and women have participated in the program, which provides financial assistance to caddies seeking opportunities to pursue higher education. Currently, 823 Evans Scholars are enrolled, most at one of 14 universities where the Evans Scholars Foundation maintains scholarship houses. The University of Missouri Evans Scholars Chapter has graduated 389 Scholars, and 37 Scholars are currently enrolled at Missouri. BMW Group In America BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, an industrial design firm in California; a technology office in Silicon
Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all Z4 models and X5 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers, 335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 81 MINI passenger car dealers, and 30 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.
BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North, Central and South America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at: www.bmwgroupna.com www.bmwusa.com www.bmwmotorcycles.com www.miniusa.com www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com
Contact:
Jim Woodcock Fleishman-Hillard Sports Business 314/982-7778 (office) or 314/614-2640 (cell) jim.woodcock@fleishman.com or Gary Holaway Western Golf Association 847/724-4600 (office) or 847/924-8276 (cell) holaway@wgaesf.com
