Tag: En-Joie Golf Course

Padraig Harrington pulls off three-peat at Dick’s Sporting Goods Open: ‘It’s very exciting’

As for Padraig Harrington’s body of work through Sunday’s closing round? Let’s label that appropriately workmanlike.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The outcome, of course, made for a magnificent third consecutive Dick’s Sporting Goods Open victory. As for Padraig Harrington’s body of work through Sunday’s closing round? Let’s label that appropriately workmanlike.

The affable Irishman played En-Joie’s back nine in even-par, nevertheless posted a single-stroke win over Mike Weir to leave him 3-for-3 in Endicott since celebrating a 50th birthday.

Harrington closed with 4-under 68 to finish the 54-hole event 15-under, with Weir coming in at 67. Third place was shared by Mark Hensby (66), Ken Duke (68) and Ken Tanigawa (70) at 13-under.

Stephen Ames, 36-hole co-leader on rounds of 64 and 69, faded from realistic contention on the back and shared sixth after a 71.

“It’s very exciting,” Harrington said. “Coming into the week people say, ‘Oh, are you going to do a three-peat,’ and it’s a lot easier to say it than do it. So yeah, I was trying to keep my expectations dab even though I do like the golf course. I know it suits me. I think it was managing other people’s expectations and trying to keep myself in a nice place.

“I probably didn’t play as well on Wednesday and Thursday as I would have wanted it, but I got gradually better as the tournament went on. Certainly today on a windier day it was a tricky day to be out in the last group. I certainly got a few good breaks. A few things went against me, but I got a few good breaks as well to even out the day. It was just my day.”

As for that back nine?

He opened by inexplicably chopping his second from the middle of the 10th fairway into the drink and made bogey, and his lone birdie thereafter came via a superb drive and approach finessed prudently to a bit above the hole at 15.

At the come-and-get-me 16th, he ground out par from well past the green near the 17th tee box. At 17, he yanked a 9-iron tee ball but got up and down from nasty rough left, holing a putt of seven or so feet. At the last – with Weir having posted 14-under – Harington carried his drive 317 yards to an ideal position and proceeded to uneventfully two-putt.

“I was really trying to make one more birdie,” he said. “I knew I had a one-shot lead, but if I could get it to two shots, I felt that’s comfortable. I was going after it on 16 and we were thinking 3-wood. Then we said, ‘Well, get driver to the back of the green.’ And obviously I pitched on hardpan rather than the soft part, went long and I was in – I wasn’t in the worst place in the world, but it was awkward when you’re leading the tournament.

“I think if I was one shot back, I would have given that a much better effort to get that up and down, but I was more concerned about not taking 5. And 17 was a little lapse in concentration; I was just drawing it into the pin, and I changed my target at the last moment and snatched that a bit.”

Weir, who assuredly will rue a shorty for par misfired at the 13th, made six birdies against that lone toe-stub. He has finished second in two goes at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Harrington, who made eagle at the third and birdies on the sixth, eighth and ninth:

— Made it eight wins on PGA Tour Champions in his 41st start at the age of 52 years, 9 months, 23 days.

— Joins Ames (2) and Ernie Els (2) as multiple winners this season.

— Became the first player to win the same PGA Tour Champions event in three consecutive seasons since 2014 DSGO winner Bernhard Langer at the Kaulig Companies Championship (2014-16).

Endicott, no doubt, will remain special to Harrington.

“This is what the Champions Tour is all about,” he said. “When we come to venues like this, Broome County, old PGA Tour stops, dare I say it being outgrown or forgotten about, they really come out for the Champions Tour. They love their golf, they come out, they have a great sponsor in Dick’s. The whole community, the fans come out, and we love being here.

“It’s great for us as players, we get to relive our past glories, hit shots under pressure, under stress, some good, some bad, so it’s really a perfect Champions Tour event. You have the atmosphere, you feel like you’re a kid back in the old days.”

Odds & Ends

— With birdies on six of his first nine holes (1-3 and 7-9), Hensby closed his first Dick’s Open with a 6-under 66 to finish T3 at 13-under. He played En-Joie’s front nine holes in an aggregate 12-under.

— Following a 7-under 65 in Round 2 to share the 36-hole lead at 11-under, Tanigawa closed his sixth Dick’s Open with a 2-under 70 to finish T3.

— In his sixth Dick’s Open start, 36-hole co-leader and Charles Schwab Cup No. 1 Stephen Ames shot 71 to finish T6 at 12-under. The finish becomes his ninth top-10 of the season (13 starts) and first in the Dick’s Open.

Top of The Board

Padraig Harrington 68-65-68 – 201

Mike Weir 68-67-67 – 202

Mark Hensby 70-67-66 – 203

Ken Duke 69-66-68 – 203

Ken Tanigawa 68-65-70 – 203

Billy Andrade 69-67-68 – 204

Miguel Angel Jimenez 68-68-68 – 204

Steve Allan 65-69-70 – 204

Stephen Ames 64-69-71 – 204

Robert Karlsson 70-71-64 – 205

Doug Barron 68-71-66 – 205

Bob Estes 70-64-71 – 205

Stephen Ames blasts his way to a 64 at PGA Tour Champions’ Dick’s Sporting Goods Open

No one took greater advantage in sweltering heat than Stephen Ames,

En-Joie Golf Course was for the taking in Friday’s Round 1 of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

No one took greater advantage in sweltering heat than Stephen Ames, twice a winner this season on the PGA Tour Champions who sits atop the Charles Schwab Cup earnings list ($1,270,963). He played bogey-free golf in a round of 8-under-par 64.

Ames made birdie on four of the final six holes to pass Steve Allan, who similarly made eight birdies in his round of 65.

Rocco Mediate sits solo third after a perfectly satisfying 66. Ernie Els and Bernhard Langer share fourth with Paul Stankowski (67). Els arrived in Endicott having won each of the last two Tour events, and Langer, soon to turn 67, continues his remarkable resurgence from February surgery to repair a torn Achilles.

Langer, 2014 champion at En-Joie, made five consecutive birdies beginning at the par-5 eighth.

Two-time defending Dick’s Open champion Padraig Harrington is smack in contention again, sharing seventh on a seven-birdie, three-bogey round of 68.

Second-round play is to begin at 7:50 a.m. Saturday, with the leaders off the tee at 12:25 p.m.

“I just played golf. I hit some nice — hit some quality golf shots,” said Ames, 60, an eight-time senior tour winner. “Tough to hit a lot of fairways on this golf course — they’re extremely narrow — but I think the opportunities, when I did hit the fairway, I made some birdies on it. Other than that, putted nicely and didn’t make any mistakes.”

He concluded his lowest round of the season by holing a birdie putt of 10 or so feet at the last. As for the root of his birdies on the three front-side par-5s?

“Length, I guess. Had the advantage of that,” he said. “Also the fact that I did hit the fairway, so that kind of helped. Actually, I missed the fairway on the third, I got it up and down from about 80 yards. So, I mean overall, just like I said, just playing golf. Capitalized on situations when they arose and putted nicely.”

Allen, 50-year-old Australian with one top-10 through 11 events of his rookie season, played in the first group of the day. He was 4-under through nine and proceeded to make birdie at the 12th, 16th and 18th in a spotless back nine.

“For the most part I played pretty well. I got lucky a couple times with my drives,” he said. “Hit a few drives left in the middle of the round, and one of them kicked in the fairway, I had gaps in the other two, so I was a little lucky. I played well, I holed out well around the hole.

“Any sort of shortish putts for par or birdie, I made ’em, so that kept the round going.”

Allan added, “The conditions are perfect at the moment. The greens have a little bit of firmness to them, but they’re not too hard. The course is in great shape. A good little bit — there’s a little bit of rough, so you have to drive the ball well, but it’s not overly penal if you just miss a fairway, so I love it. It’s great.”

Mediate made seven birdies against one bogey. He was forced to withdraw from his most recent three starts with a back ailment. His top finish in four completed events this season was a second to Ames at the Chubb Classic.

“Everything worked. I drove crappy on some holes, but I drove good on the holes I needed to, I guess,” he said. “I haven’t played healthy since Tucson. I’ve been out a lot, been out for a couple two months. I’m ecstatic, ecstatic. Feel much better, yeah.”

Odds & Ends

– Chad Campbell, in his third PGA Tour Champions event, was 4-under through five without making birdie – eagles at the first (hole-out from 127) and par-5 fifth took care of that. He shares seventh after a 68.

– Ames has eight top-10s in 12 starts this season. He was T4 two weeks back in the American Family Insurance Championship.

– Els has been a second- and third-place Dick’s Sporting Goods Open finisher.

– Dick Mast, 73-year-old Monday qualifier at the Links at Hiawatha Landing, shot 72 with four front-side birdies.

– Jerry Kelly withdrew before the first round, citing a back injury.

Round 1 Results

Stephen Ames 64

Steve Allan 65

Rocco Mediate 66

Paul Stankowski 67

Ernie Els 67

Bernhard Langer 67

Mario Tiziani 68

David Brandson 68

Dick’s Sporting Goods Open crowd favorite John Daly on the tee, June 21, 2024.
Michael Wright 68

Notah Begay III 68

David Duval 68

Miguel Angel Jimenez 68

Mike Weir 68

Padraig Harrington 68

Ken Tanigawa 68

Chad Campbell 68

Tim Petrovic 68

Doug Barron 68

Cameron Percy 69

Vijay Singh 69

This PGA Tour Champions event is staying put through 2029 after new deal was inked

A five-year extension of the title sponsorship agreement was disclosed,

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott will continue to host PGA Tour Champions Golf through at least 2029.

A five-year extension of the title sponsorship agreement was disclosed jointly by Dick’s Sporting Goods and the Tour on the eve of the 17th Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

The most recent renewal before Thursday came in the form of a three-year extension in June 2021.

“They’re obviously one of the better sponsors out here,” said Padraig Harrington, two-time defending champion. “It’s a great event coming up here, it’s well supported by the fans. I think we’re delighted to be able to come back here for the next five years and certainly it would be one for me, you’ll probably see me every year.”

The 2025 edition Dick’s Open will be contested July 11-13.

The Dick’s Sporting Goods Open has been conducted annually in Endicott – but for the COVID-necessitated cancelation in 2020 – since 2007.

“Broome County is a special place for my family and for Dick’s Sporting Goods,” said Ed Stack, Binghamton native and Executive Chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods. “It is where I grew up and our company started more than 75 years ago. I’m thrilled to have the Dick’s Open continue in Endicott and am thankful for our great partners at the PGA TOUR Champions and Broome County Community Charities who help make this tournament a world-class event.”

The inaugural B.C. Open, forerunner to the Dick’s Open, was staged in 1971 as a PGA Tour satellite event. The regular-tour event was played at En-Joie through 2005 and shifted in 2006 to Turning Stone Resort & Casino’s Atunyote Golf Club when massive flooding pummeled the Southern Tier.

Three is a magic number: Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington each looking for three straight titles

Threes are potentially wild for the 17th edition of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Threes are potentially wild for the 17th edition of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open when tournament play begins Friday at En-Joie Golf Course.

There is Padraig Harrington, winner of each of the last two PGA Tour Champions events in Endicott. And there is Ernie Els, winner of the most recent two Tour events anywhere.

Those possibilities will assuredly be front and center as anticipation builds through the week of preliminary activity in what will be uncomfortably steamy temperatures throughout Broome County.

One annual highlight of the event will be staged Friday night following opening-round play. That’ll be a concert featuring Luke Bryan, maker of 30 No. 1 hits and five-time entertainer of the year.

“Stunningly spectacular” was applied on this website last year, when Harrington beat up En-Joie’s second nine Sunday — five birdies, one eagle for a 7-under 28 — to complete a round of 9-under 63 and become the event’s first back-to-back champion.

Joe Durant, 18-hole leader by three and Sunday’s pace-setter for much of the back nine, went 64-69-66 as runner-up, a shot better than Els, whose closing bogey left him a 68 and 16-under total.

Padraig Harrington of Ireland holds the trophy after winning the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open at En-Joie Golf Club on June 25, 2023 in Endicott, New York. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Els won the June 7-8-9 American Family Insurance Championship in a playoff with Steve Stricker, a week after topping the field at the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines (62-68-65). He is a five-time PGA Tour Champions winner with a stellar record at En-Joie.

“We’ve got an interesting storyline. What’s going to happen: Is Ernie Els going to win three in a row? Or is Padraig going to threepeat?” said tournament director John Karedes.

As for which would be more compelling? “I don’t know. You’ve got Padraig, who’s just an awesome guy, inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame (June 10), and you’ve got Ernie who I believe has two (top-threes) here.

“We’ve had guys like Ernie and Miguel and Darren Clarke who’ve come just oh so close. Oh, and let’s not forget about the sixty-some-year-old, Bernhard. When I went on social media and saw he’d gone a six-week period and all he could do was chip and putt, I told my colleagues, ‘You guys watch out. If this guy can only work on his short game for six weeks, you think about what that short game is going to be like when he comes back and he starts playing.’ What’d he shoot, 17-under a couple weeks ago?

“This is a course you know he can play well, it’s relatively flat so that should take pressure off any residuals he’s got from the injury.

“There are some great potential stories.”

Odds & ends

— Stephen Ames, who’ll play his sixth Dick’s Sporting Goods Open this week, has won events this season by four- and three-stroke margins, respectively. That ranks him co-first and co-second in 2024. Ames has also built the largest 36-hole lead (three strokes).

— Low start by a winner this year? Els went 10-under 62 in the Principal Charity Classic and Harrington went 8-under 63 in the Hoag Classic.

— Most consecutive years with a win on Tour? Harrington and Steven Alker (2022-24).

Padraig Harrington wins PGA Tour Champions Dick’s Sporting Goods Open by three shots over Thongchai Jaidee, Mike Weir

Padraig Harrington took care of business to win for the second time on the Champions circuit.

ENDICOTT, N.Y. — Padraig Harrington took care of business in blemish-free fashion Sunday in the 2022 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

The PGA Tour Champions newcomer, 50, made five birdies in a round of 67 at En-Joie Golf Course to finish 16-under for a three-shot victory over Thongchai Jaidee (66) and 36-hole leader Mike Weir (71).

The sky above En-Joie scowled most of the afternoon, but upon completion of a garden-variety two-putt at the last, Irish eyes twinkled as the 50-year-old from Dublin rang up his second victory of the season to go with the U.S. Senior Open.

Sunday brought Harrington a sixth top-3 finish in his most recent eight PGA Tour Champions starts.

With playing competitor Weir stuck mostly in neutral, Harrington made three front-side birdies and another couple at 11 and 12.

Harrington’s three-stroke margin of victory is the largest on the PGA Tour Champions since Steven Alker won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship by three in May. Harrington becomes the fourth multiple winner on tour this season, joining three-time champions Steven Alker, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Jerry Kelly.

Jaidee shot 66. It was his seventh top-10 of the season for the 52-year-old from Thailand and winner of the mid-June American Family Insurance Championship. In fact, Sunday brought the fifth top-8 in his most recent seven starts. He played the front side in 4 under and his lone deviation from par on the back came via a pitch-in for eagle 2 at the 16th.

“I played great today. I start very well, started make birdie on first hole, second hole we have three-putt. I think the key for me, I putting well and the golf course is very good shape,” he said. “I love the golf course, the greens are fantastic. I not miss anything, good up-and-down a couple holes, that’s why the key make me a lot confident.”

Jim Furyk shared fourth with Vijay Singh on the strength of a closing 68, marking a sound return from an extended stint away from competition triggered by COVID-19.

“You know, I’m still not _ I still don’t have a ton of energy,” he said. “I actually rode this week, first time I’ve ever done it, but I feel pretty good. Happy with the way I played. I think it’s my best finish of the season so far, so to kind of have that much time off and then come back and play that well is a lot of fun.

“There’s still some things I want to work on in my game, but excited to play well here at Dick’s and I love the course at Warwick Hills next week at Ally, so excited to kind of get there and hopefully carry some of this momentum into next week.”

Furyk’s most recent start before the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open came in the late-June U.S. Senior Open (T-25).

Bernhard Langer, 2014 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open champion and soon to turn 65, took a share of sixth following a bogey-free round of 68 that featured an eagle 3 at the 12th.

John Daly, playing a course on which he won in 1992 (B.C. Open, forerunner to the senior event) played his final 36 in 7-under and finished T-24, his third best finish this season.

Defending champion Cameron Beckman finished T68 (2-over 218).

[listicle id=778290803]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Mike Weir is setting the pace heading into the final round of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open

Mike Weir will seek his second PGA Tour Champions win Sunday at En-Joie Golf Course.

ENDICOTT, N.Y. — Through long shadows and squinting eyes, late-finishing competitors concluded Round 2 of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open on Saturday following a late-afternoon weather delay just shy of two hours.

Mike Weir will seek his second PGA Tour Champions win beginning 1 p.m. Sunday at En-Joie Golf Course following rounds of 67 and 65. His lead is one over Padraig Harrington and three over Ernie Els and Vijay Singh.

Jim Furyk is among a trio four off the lead following a 1-under 71. Beyond those, it’d take some serious doing to chase down a victory in Endicott, given the strength above.

Play was suspended a bit before 3 p.m. with the final group playing the sixth and leader Els — 9-under at the time — a hole ahead. The delay lingered 1 hour, 57 minutes.

Weir, 52 and an eight-time winner on the regular tour, made bogey on the second hole but set in motion a brilliant stretch beginning with birdie at the par-5 fifth.

“Yeah, it was a bit of a slow start,” he said. “Hit a nice shot into 2 that went a little long and made a bogey. Missed a very short putt on 3 for birdie from four feet, so it wasn’t the start I wanted. Then I hit some really nice shots. I hit a big drive on the par 5, No. 5, and just had a 7-iron in and made birdie there. Then the next hole I hit a good drive and a 9-iron to eight or 10 feet, made that one. Then I made a long one on 7, so then I had some momentum, three in a row.

“Maybe 30-foot putt on No. 7. The par 5, I was on the green with a good look for eagle again on 8, so there was four in a row there. I had a good look on 9, just missed it, and then hit it close on 10, eight feet, hit it six, eight feet on 11.

“So outside of the putt on No. 6 I made from long range, there were a lot of close putts. And then coming home I made the one birdie, made a nice birdie on 16 from an awkward position. I pulled my tee shot a little bit, got behind a tree, hit a very nice recovery shot, but it was a bonus that that putt went in there.”

Weir, 2003 Masters champion, broke through on the PGA Tour Champions with win at the 2021 Insperity Invitational, reduced to 36 holes by heavy rain. He was T4 in the late-May Senior PGA and finished T14 last weekend outside Seattle.

Of his seven birdies in an eight-hole segment beginning at the fifth, “It’s fun. You’re just thinking birdie, you’re just thinking middle of the fairway, get me in the fairway because my iron game is good and the putter’s finally starting to heat up for the first time this year. I was kind of chomping at the bit for more holes.”

Harrington, 50, was 2-under through 10 and made four birdies and a bogey coming in.

He came to Endicott on the heels of five top-three finishes in his most recent seven starts, highlighted by a win in the U.S. Senior Open. He tops the PGA Tour Champions in driving distance and birdie average, and sits third in greens in regulation.

“The happiest thing today was I rolled everything at the hole,” he said. “I think that’s the most important thing out here. At times you can struggle a bit with your confidence in the putting and I had a day today where they didn’t all drop, but I rolled the ball beautifully today. I wish I did that every day.”

Els made six birdies on the front, another at the par-5 12th, but played 2-over coming home. Last summer, rounds of 68-65-72 left him solo second at En-Joie. He was leader by three through 36 holes on the strength of that bogey-free 65 in Saturday’s second round.

Joey Sindelar, 3-under through eight, shot 70 and will begin third-round play 2-under. He is competing in the Dick’s Open for a 14th time.

Kevin Sutherland was 5-under through eight in Round 2 and closed with 69. As a rookie, he shot 13-under 59 in Round 2 of the 2014 Dick’s Open, a PGA Tour Champions record (12 birdies, 1 eagle, 18th-hole bogey).

Opening-round tri-leader Darren Clarke made birdie at the last for a 72 and sits five off the lead.

Just in case? Playoff holes will be (in order) 18-18-9 and repeated as necessary.

Last year’s 12-under, 204 total was highest by a Dick’s Open winner (Cameron Beckman) through the first 14 editions. Five times the champion cracked 16-under 200. The tournament record remains Lonnie Nielsen’s 21-under 195 in 2009.

[listicle id=778290803]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Padraig Harrington is tearing up the PGA Tour Champions this year, and he thinks he’ll only get better

Harrington, who has been white-hot on the senior circuit this season, continued his stellar play by shooting a 66.

Padraig Harrington thinks the last time he played En-Joie Golf Course near Binghamton, New York, was in the previous millennium. That hardly slowed down the three-time major champ, however, during the first round of play at this week’s PGA Tour Champions event.

Harrington, who has been white-hot on the senior circuit this season, continued his stellar play by shooting a 66 during the opening round of action, putting him a single stroke behind leaders Jim Furyk, Darren Clarke and Vijay Singh.

So far this season, the Irish star has a victory in the U.S. Senior Open along with four second-place finishes in 10 starts.

And here’s the scary part — he thinks he’s yet to hit his ceiling.

“I don’t feel you’ve seen the best of me yet,” he said on Friday, noting the last time he’d played the course was in 1999. “I like being out here. It’s a different sort of test. You’re sort of dealing with your own expectations every day. You’re trying to figure out, well, look, I should be up here, I should be contending, I should be at the top of the leaderboard and how you manage that. It’s a different feeling than hoping.

“The more I get better at that and more familiar with it hopefully, I know I’m working on the right things and you’re kind of incentivized to work on the right things when you know it could come down to just one shot on Sunday.”

Among the many facets of his game that have clicked during his rookie year, Harrington currently leads the tour in driving, averaging over 306 yards. He’s also first in birdie average and third in greens in regulation.

Can he stay mentally tough? That’s what the 2008 PGA Tour Player of the Year is working on.

2022 U.S. Senior Open
Padraig Harrington poses with the trophy after winning the 2022 U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley C.C. (Old Course) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Chris Keane/USGA)

“Just my mental game, just really trying to get my mental game solid, routine solid. Physically I have quite an advantage out here, so it really is how good I think, how good I am on the greens,” he said. “And as I said, you know starting the tournament it’s on the line straightaway, so you’re incentivized to get your head in the game quickly.”

On Friday, he played with Clarke — who posted four birdies on each nine — and Bernhard Langer, who finished with a 71, in one of the day’s featured pairings. Harrington said it’s easier to maintain his focus in such an impressive group.

“A rising tide lifts all ships, there’s no doubt about it. You want to see birdies, you want to see your playing partners holing putts. You know, I think I holed a long one on 10 after Darren holed one. That sort of stuff, when you see somebody holing in front of you, it’s positive,” Harrington said. “There’s nothing like a positive affirmation of seeing it happen. Yeah, it’s important to have momentum in your group at least all the way until the last nine holes; every man for himself at that stage.”

[vertical-gallery id=778286089]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

After sleeping in a van overnight, a longshoreman shot 64 and qualified for this week’s PGA Tour Champions event

Bogue made the long trek from California to Syracuse, then drove the last 90 minutes to Binghamton.

A hot-handed Californian made it back-to-back bogey-free qualifying successes from one coast to the other in Tuesday’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open qualifier at The Links at Hiawatha Landing.

Tim Bogue, from Windsor in Sonoma County, made eight birdies at the Apalachin golf course in a round of 64 and closed three clear of next-best in a field of competitors seeking to gain one of the final four berths in the $2.1 million tournament proper.

Bogue — who has worked as a longshoreman since 1999, loading cargo on and off ships in Oakland — told pgatour.com that he slept in a van on Monday night after making the long trek from California to Syracuse, then driving the last 90 minutes to Binghamton.

“Thank goodness the guy at (the rental counter) gave me a van,” Bogue told the website. “As a longshoreman, we sleep in our cars a lot, so I’ve got a lot of practice.”

When Bogue isn’t unloading freight, he’s a golf coach in California who also frequents the skins games near his home. Bogue has reached the Final Stage of PGA Tour Champions Q-School three different times, but has yet to crack into the circuit full-time. His best finish at Q-School was T56 in 2019.

Also securing starts in Friday’s opening round at En-Joie Golf Course were Ricardo Gonzalez (67) and, emerging from a seven-way playoff, Andrew Johnson and Michael Muehr (69).

Bogue was 1-under through six holes before making birdie on six of his next seven. He tacked on birdie at the par-5 18th and will make his second PGA Tour Champions start in as many weeks.

In last week’s Boeing Classic qualifier, he finished birdie-eagle for one of four 6-under 66s. He proceeded to shoot 76-75-75 (T68) at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge outside Seattle, his first senior tour start since the 2018 U.S. Senior Open (75-76 missed cut).

Gonzalez, from Argentina, was level-par on the seventh tee and 4-under walking off the 12th green. He bogeyed the 14th but made eagle-3 at the last.

His three senior tour appearances this season include a T20 in the late-May Senior PGA Championship. He shared seventh in the 2021 Senior British Open.

Johnson (Maitland, Florida) played the front side even and made three birdies from 12 on in. Muehr (Bethesda, Maryland) scraped into the playoff despite playing his final six holes in 1-over.

Twice the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open champion emerged from the open qualifier: Doug Barron in 2019 and Willie Wood in 2012.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington spice up Dick’s Sporting Goods Open field

Stars of the 50-and-over set are aligned in fine fashion to compete for $2.1 million in prize money.

BINGHAMTON, New York — Off one dark year followed by a decidedly modified version last summer, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open is in celebratory mode for its return to presumed normalcy this week at En-Joie Golf Course.

Stars of the 50-and-over set are aligned in fine fashion to compete for $2.1 million in prize money on a municipal course that will host PGA Tour-sanctioned golf for the 51st time.

Competition is to commence Friday morning, with the conclusion of play − if all goes according to script − to come roughly 5:30 Sunday in Endicott.

Aside from utilization of digital tickets, which has become increasingly popular in the sports and entertainment industries, there’ll be no remnants of last year’s ticketing model. For 2021, when in deference to lingering COVID precautions capacity was capped at 5,000 per day − including for Friday’s Old Dominion concert − there were no exceptions to the $500 all-inclusive package for the tournament proper.

The field has been assembled — entries closed at 5 p.m. Friday and participants in the $2.1 million PGA Tour Champions event are to include:

• Steven Alker, who tops the PGA Tour Champions’ 2022 earnings list with $2,321,361.
• Alex Cejka, who has three top-four finishes this season.
• Darren Clarke, winner of last month’s Senior British Open.
• Ernie Els, runner-up by a stroke last summer in his Dick’s Open debut.
• Jim Furyk, a 17-time winner on the regular tour who was a three-time winner and three-time runner-up in 2020-21.
• Padraig Harrington, two-time British Open winner and this year’s U.S. Senior Open champion.
• Miguel Angel Jimenez, 10-time top-10 finisher this year who won last weekend’s Boeing Classic.
• Bernhard Langer, 43-time PGA Tour Champions winner who topped the 2014 Dick’s Open.

“I had a great time last year and you had a great champion, Cameron Beckman,” Els said via video on Twitter. “ … I’m really looking forward to coming back and enjoying the golf course and the people. Everything about the Dick’s tournament is just world-class.”

The 78-player field will be rounded out in today’s four-spot qualifier at The Links at Hiawatha Landing in Apalachin.

The Dick’s Sporting Goods Open has been played every year in Endicott from 2007 on, but for 2020, when the event was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just one previous Dick’s Open wrap-up round has been played later in a calendar year than will be this week’s Aug. 21 closer. That came in 2015 when on Aug. 30, Jeff Maggert completed a two-stroke win over Paul Goydos for his fourth victory in a 10-start span − as an astute columnist wrote, “ … fairly well Langerian, or back in the day, Irwinian.”

A pre-competition treat comes in the form of the UHS Golf Expo featuring World Golf Hall of Fame member and PGA Tour Champions legend Bernhard Langer. That’ll be held Wednesday, with Langer’s presentation to come some time in the 6:15 p.m. range on the 18th green.

[listicle id=778063367]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Cameron Beckman wins Dick’s Sporting Goods Open on PGA Tour Champions

Cameron Beckman came from three strokes back with a 4-under 68 Sunday to claim his first PGA Tour Champions win.

ENDICOTT, N.Y. — Cameron Beckman came from three strokes back with a 4-under-par 68 Sunday to claim his first PGA Tour Champions victory in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

A 51-year-old Texas resident making his 15th start on the senior tour, Beckman made eight closing-round birdies at En-Joie Golf Course and sidestepped a bogey at the 18th to top Ernie Els by a shot.

Beckman finished 12-under to Els’ 11-under, with five sharing third at 10-under.

Els, leader by three through 36 holes and by two at the turn Sunday, shot even-par 72 with three birdies and three bogeys. He was offered wonderful opportunity at the 18th when Beckman drove in a hazard left of the fairway, but left his second from 94 yards in the fairway well short and two-putted.

Beckman, whose most recent win came in 2010 on the PGA tour, had two previous top-10s on the PGA Tour Champions. Sunday’s victory qualified him for next week’s U.S. Senior Open.

[lawrence-related id=778112975,778112874]