The International had a 21-year run on the PGA Tour.
CASTLE PINES, Colo. — It’s been 18 years since Castle Pines Golf Club hosted the PGA Tour. Many are saying it’s 18 years too long.
The 2024 BMW Championship teed off about 30 miles south of Denver on Thursday morning with a field of 50 golfers in the penultimate event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Of those 50, only Jason Day played in the 2006 International, the last time the Tour was here. Day was an 18-year-old making just his fourth start. The only other returnee is Adam Scott, who played in the 2000 International, which was his very first PGA Tour start.
A scan of the 2006 leaderboard shows Dean Wilson claiminig a playoff win over Tom Lehman. It was Wilson’s lone PGA Tour win. Others to claim victory during the tournament’s 21-year run include Davis Love III (twice), Phil Mickelson (twice), Retief Goosen, Rich Beem, Ernie Els, Jose Maria Olazabal and Greg Norman.
There’s no timetable for the BMW to return to this scenic venue. The next three BMWs are scheduled out, but with this event – dating to 1899 which makes it the oldest event on the PGA Tour – does move each year so it might be back someday.
Take a trip down memory lane at the 2006 International.
Long known as the Adobe Course, the Tom Lehman-redesign is now the Estates Course.
PHOENIX — Nearly 15 years after acquiring the property, and after an eight-month renovation during one of the hottest summers on record, the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club’s main attraction is back open for business.
Long known as the Adobe Course, the Tom Lehman redesign is now the public-access Estates Course. There’s a modern new clubhouse that’s up and running, stocked with the coolest apparel brands and logoed gear. While golfers are already making their way around the new fairways, complete with views of the Phoenix skyline in one direction and Camelback Mountain in another, there’s a lot more coming, including a new restaurant, balcony, ballroom and more.
The 18-hole layout has taken the Estates name to better reflect the high-end exclusive enclave of this Phoenix community. The Biltmore had 36 holes in all, with the Estates Course situated on one giant piece of land and the companion Links Course meandering through the neighborhood.
Built in the late 1920s, Biltmore Golf occupies a prime piece of real estate.
“Looking down at the course and looking at the city, and the mountains around us and what it all represents, it’s so historic,” said Jerry Colangelo, one of the owners of JDM Partners, which bought the Biltmore during the economic downtown in 2009. “You can’t find a better piece of property in the heart of a major city than you can right here in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Arizona Biltmore.”
The Arizona Biltmore Golf Club in Phoenix (Photo: Golfweek)
Surrounded by multi-million dollar homes, in the shadows of the famous Wrigley mansion and within walking distance of the esteemed Arizona Biltmore Resort, the Estates course plays just under 6,700 yards from the back tees, making this par 71 a not-so-brutal test for golfers looking to have a fun time.
Work on the golf course finally started in April of 2023 after lengthy discussions and planning with homeowners, stakeholders and industry experts. The Lehman Design Group also had to battle Mother Nature through the course reopening in November.
“It was compounded by one of the worst summers. I don’t know how many trees were lost,” Lehman told Golfweek after returning from participating in the PNC Championship in Orlando with his son Sean. “That was one of the unfortunate and little bit unlucky parts of the project. The summer was merciless on the plants.”
A few trees were lost but most remain, giving the venue one of the few Phoenix-area courses with large, mature trees requiring, from time to time, some creative shot-making.
Built by chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. in the late 1920s, the Biltmore has hosted presidents and movie stars. The Adobe Restaurant’s walls were covered in large framed photos of George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower roaming the grounds. There’s also a painting of Lehman kissing the Claret Jug, commemorating his lone major championship, the 1996 British Open.
The restaurant is being demolished during the renovation, but the framed photos will grace the walls of the Gallery still under construction adjacent to the ballroom.
Lehman’s friendship with Colangelo goes back to the early ’90s, when Lehman first moved with his family to Scottsdale. At that time Colangelo was best known as the popular owner of the Phoenix Suns, a franchise for which he also previously served as general manager and head coach. While he relentlessly pursued an NBA championship, he ultimately fell short of that goal but he did bring a major professional sports title to the city when, as managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, he hoisted the World Series trophy just four years after the baseball team played its first game.
The Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix in the 1920s
Colangelo, who at age 84 says it’s still “fun building things,” also owns the Wigwam in Litchfield Park with his JDM partners, David Eaton and Mel Shultz, giving the group a property in the fast-growing west side of the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Colangelo says it was important to have someone local on hand to re-do the Biltmore’s golf course, and Lehman fit the bill.
“I don’t know how many visits I’ve made to that golf course over the last five years, but it has to be in the hundreds,” said Lehman, who plans to play a full PGA Tour Champions schedule in 2024 while staying somewhat active in the design and renovation arena. “Living in the area, I made myself very available to them.”
Photos of U.S. presidents are featured at the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club. (Photo: Golfweek)
At the Estates Course, golfers are going to find a traditional, parkland-style layout with adjoining fairways allowing for the not-so-accurate tee shot to find a relatively friendly landing spot. The large, undulating greens will make for some creative putting opportunities. There is a manmade lake to store the course’s water near the 18th tee box. Along the sixth hole is a meandering creek.
The Estates isn’t expensive Scottsdale desert golf nor is it trying to be, and that’s OK. It’s the playability that makes the course fun. For example, the fifth hole brings golfers right back to the first tee, so for those who feel like sneaking in a late-day five-hole loop, the Estates Course can provide just that.
The large building still under construction just off the 18th green will have an outdoor post-round gathering area. The new restaurant will be a popular spot, and there will also be a grab-and-go place called the Pantry offering quick bites for those on the move. An upstairs balcony will allow for some fantastic sunset viewing. Also coming: a large ballroom for big parties, celebrations and perhaps even a piano bar, one of Colangelo’s favorite evening pastimes from his days on the road in the NBA.
“We have a great opportunity to have a bright future,” Colangelo said.
TPC Twin Cities – site of the 2023 3M Open on the PGA Tour – was designed by Arnold Palmer and opened in 2000. Former PGA Tour player Tom Lehman served as a consultant on the design in Blaine, Minnesota.
The course, which previously hosted a PGA Tour Champions event, was renovated in 2018 before joining the PGA Tour schedule in 2019.
The private course will play to 7,431 yards with a par of 71 for the 3M Open.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face this week in Minnesota.
The last time we saw Woods play golf on television was at this event back in 2020. Time really is a flat circle.
However, the Woods-duo isn’t the only big-name partnership headed to Florida. Defending champions Justin and his father Mike Thomas will look to triumph again. Bubba Watson will be playing with his father-in-law, while Nelly Korda will be playing with her dad, Petr.
Here’s a look at the 20 partnerships at this year’s PNC Championship, which requires that each team have a major champion. The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Orlando, Grande Lakes is the host venue.
Jim Furyk is not back to defend as he is serving as a vice captain at the Ryder Cup.
A year ago, Jim Furyk joined Arnold Palmer and Bruce Fleisher as the only players to win their first two PGA Tour Champions starts. Phil Mickelson would later become the fourth member of that club.
But Furyk is not at Pebble Beach Golf Links this week to defend his title at the PGA Tour Champions Pure Insurance Championship. Lefty’s not there either. Instead, they’re both serving as vice captains for U.S. boss Steve Stricker at the 43rd Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.
In Friday’s opening round, Stuart Appleby and Alex Cejka posted matching 66s to share the lead. Appleby had seven birdies and a bogey at Pebble Beach Golf Links while Cejka had a bogey-free round with six birdies. Cejka won the first two majors in 2021 on the senior circuit; Appleby is seeking his first Champions victory and his first win anywhere since the 2010 Greenbrier Classic on the PGA Tour.
Tom Lehman, who has 12 PGA Tour Champions wins and five more on the PGA Tour, shot a 67 at Pebble Beach. He is tied for third with K.J. Choi.
Glen Day, Esteban Toledo, Larry Mize and Kirk Triplett all shot 68s and are tied for fifth.
The Pure Insurance is being played on two golf courses: Pebble Beach Golf Resort and Spyglass Hill Golf Course. The tournament features participants from First Tee chapters around the country and they are paired with a Champions tour players for the week.
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship has 81 fathers and husbands competing this week at Phoenix Country Club.
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship has 81 fathers and husbands competing this week at Phoenix Country Club.
Many of them have their sons, daughters or wives working alongside them as caddies.
There are nine such pairings, in fact, with five sons, two wives and two daughters on the bag.
Dudley Hart is playing this week with his daughter, Rachel, caddying for him for the first time.
“It was very interesting. I don’t know how to rake the bunker, still don’t know, but it was fun,” she said.
She’s one of three triplets and the second of his kids to caddie for her father. Rachel said she’s not a golfer but did say she really enjoyed her time with her dad on the golf course.
“We had a good time,” Dudley said. “She’s a freshman at the University of Tampa and I haven’t seen much of her this fall so it’s nice to have her sneak out and hang out with me, let her experience what I’ve done for 30 plus years now, get an up-close look at it.”
Tom Lehman’s son, Thomas, is caddying this week. Thomas is on his high school team at Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale and has caddied for his dad countless times. He estimated it’s been 20 rounds.
“I had a great caddie. He didn’t misread a putt all day and if I simply was good enough to hit them where he said to hit them, I would have scored a lot better,” Lehman said after his round of 68 on Thursday. “We had a good time.”
Tom Lehman and his son Thomas at the 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Photo by Elise Tallent/PGA Tour Champions
Being a golfer, Thomas said he learns a lot about the game watching his dad in tournaments but also from watching the other pros.
“Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely learn a lot caddying. Being able to watch him just go around the course,” Thomas said.
“And the other guys, too,” Tom added. “Watching Lee Janzen hit wedges or chip or putt, for example, or Langer, the way he manages his game, it’s a good learning experience.”
Tom Lehman’s son Sean is on his high school golf team, filling his time until the delayed football season in Arizona gets underway.
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Tom Lehman’s sons would tag along with him on golf courses, some of the most famous in the world, growing up.
But no pressure. He allowed them to explore their love in multiple sports.
For Sean Lehman, a pretty good quarterback, he turned his love of football into becoming one of the state of Arizona’s top high school cornerbacks.
He had a breakthrough game against Phoenix Horizon High School, three weeks after being sidelined by an injury, making stop after stop and pass breakup after pass breakup, as a junior for Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep.
But, as everybody saw last spring, there was always a chance that COVID-19 could blindside football this fall.
So that’s why you found Sean Lehman teeing off the golf season with his Notre Dame teammates at the Ocotillo Golf Club in Chandler, a Phoenix suburb.
This is his first high school golf season. This also marks the high school sports competition in more than five months.
“I’m excited,” Sean said. “Every year, football and golf were the same season. As of right now, football is so questionable. My coaches are like, ‘Sean, you need to go for golf.’ I was, ‘Sounds good.'”
Sean Lehman, a two-sport athlete at Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep in Arizona, is the son of pro golfer Tom Lehman.Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK
The official start date to practice for football is Monday.
“He has the talent to succeed in both sports,” Notre Dame football coach George Prelock said. “He will be able to manage it because is focused, and he is driven to be the best he can be.”
Coronavirus infection numbers have been decreasing in Arizona. But the way COVID-19 has played with everybody’s head since March, there is no telling if and when a spike will blow the season off the map.
Golf, it appears, is COVID-proof
Players can easily physically distance themselves away from each other. They’re only touching their own clubs. They’re not picking up sand rakes and hole pins. And, this season, the AIA is using electronic scoring. So no need to touch the scorecard and pencil in your scores.
Even when COVID first hit Arizona in the spring, most golf courses in the Valley remained open.
“I definitely encouraged him to talk to the coaches first,” said Tom Lehman. “The start of the (football) season was pushed back to October (Oct. 2 is Notre Dame’s first game). That opens a window where he can play golf. He might as well take a run at, as long as the coaches are OK with it. As the season progresses, we’ll see if it works.”
Sean Lehman, like his older brother Thomas, has a natural swing on the golf course, helped by imitating their father on the course.
For a week in 1997, Tom Lehman, now 61, was the No. 1-ranked player in the world. He won one major, the Open Championship, in 1996. He was named Player of the Year on three PGA Tours: the regular tour, the then-Web.com Tour and the PGA Tour Champions.
Thomas Lehman Jr., who played both football and baseball at Notre Dame Prep, didn’t pick up a golf club much in high school until he got to college. After a red-shirt year at TCU, he walked on Cal Poly’s golf team and his game took off. He recently turned pro.
To break COVID boredom this summer, Sean would golf.
He gained 60 yards in his drive since last year just be growing and getting stronger. He’s found a way to control his new-found power. Sean was in Minnesota for two months with his dad this summer, playing in tournaments. He won one small tournament in Alexandria. He said he would practice football there, thinking maybe he would stay in Minnesota if Arizona didn’t have high school football this fall.
“Imitation is one of the biggest ways they learned as a kid,” Tom Lehman said of his sons.
Football in the Lehman blood
Tom was a high school quarterback in Minnesota, where he learned the game from his father Jim, who played running back at St. John’s and in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts.
Sean said it’s easy having his father watch him play football. At the stadium, Tom isn’t always the ultra-composed figure he displays on the golf course. He’ll be part of the chain crew at Notre Dame.
“My dad, I think he personally likes watching us play football better,” Sean said. “He loves it. He got kicked out of a game last year when he was on the chain gang. He gets into it.”
Sean said his father makes it a priority to make Friday night games even during his golf season.
“He’ll fly in for a night and fly back so he can watch the game,” Sean said.
Playing golf at Notre Dame could be different. Sean Lehman isn’t so sure how it will be with his dad watching him drive the ball.
“For golf, I don’t like him watching,” Sean said. “It’s a lot of pressure. I show up on the first tee. I don’t practice. These guys have all been working on it. I’ll go out and they’ll say, ‘That’s Tom Lehman’s kid. He must be insane.’
“Of course, I want to live up to it. But I don’t know.”
Sean Lehman, a two-sport athlete at Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep in Arizona, is the son of pro golfer Tom Lehman.Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK
Tom Lehman has always taught Sean on the golf course with the main advice being, “Keep your cool.”
Tom calls himself one of many parents with an opinion, who wants to see his sons do well. No different than any other parent.
But he realizes his son feels pressure on the golf course when he shows up, because he knows people are looking at him with, ‘That’s Tom Lehman’s kid, he must be good.”
Tom Lehman reminds Sean to just enjoy each moment he has in sports while he can.
“To play the sports you love, now is the time to play them,” Tom Lehman said.
Angus Flanagan, a 21-year-old senior, will be playing in the PGA Tour’s 3M Open.
Three generations of Minnesota Gopher golfers – try saying that three times fast – teed off on the front nine at TPC Twin Cities on the eve of the 3M Open.
Leading the way was the ageless wonder, Tom Lehman, 61, who consulted on a re-design of the Arnold Palmer layout in 2018. Lehman played with a couple of kids more than half his age: Erik Van Rooyen, a 30-year-old South African who completed his college eligibility in 2013 and met his wife while attending “The U,” and Angus Flanagan, a 21-year-old senior on the team from Woking, England, who was named a third-team All-American by Golfweek and a first-team All-Big Ten honoree.
Lehman made the cut last month at the Charles Schwab Challenge and the five-time Tour winner and Minnesota native is a beloved figure in his home state. Van Rooyen and Flanagan were looking forward to the chance to pick Lehman’s brain on the course setup.
“I’ve never played with Tom Lehman, so I’m looking forward to playing with him today. And then myself and Angus, it’s almost a couple generations of Gopher golfers that will play together, so I’m looking forward to it,” Van Rooyen said. “It’s good fun to reminisce about the days we were there and to talk about the stuff they’re doing now. You know, I’m 30 years old, but I still feel like I’m 21 years old.”
While Van Rooyen is on the verge of earning his PGA Tour card after a T-3 finish at the WGC Mexico Championship, Flanagan is making his PGA Tour debut on a sponsor’s exemption.
“I think a lot of guys have been like ‘Who’s this kid?’ ” Flanagan said. “Because I’m 21, but I look like I’m 15. So, they’re probably wondering ‘Who’s this guy?’ Like, is he one of the guys’ sons or something like that?’ ”
Flanagan earned his invite into the 3M Open by winning the Minnesota State Open with a course-record, final-round 64 at Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo. At the prize-giving ceremony, he learned he would be receiving more than just a trophy.
University of Minnesota’s Angus Flanagan. (Photo: University of Minnesota)
“I kind of heard rumors that there was going to be a surprise for me at the prize giving,” Flanagan explained. “My caddie stupidly came up to me and said, ‘Hey, there’s going to be something, but I can’t tell you.’ So as soon as (tournament director) Hollis (Cavner) came up, I was thinking, ‘Oh, maybe it might be I don’t have to prequalify, I can go straight into the Monday qualifier.’ But then I mentioned something how I was stuck here (and unable to go home to England), kind of making it sound out like it’s a problem when it’s really not, and he used that in the speech and said, ‘Since you’re stuck here, I’d like to invite you to the 3M Open.’ ”
Even with a bit of a heads up, Flanagan was dumbfounded.
“It kind went through one ear and out the other because I just couldn’t process it with everything going on. It probably took me a good 30 seconds to actually realize like, ‘Wow, I’m actually playing against some of the guys I look up to, I see on TV,’ ” he said. “Sunday night I was out here practicing and I was on the range and I was talking to Russell Knox, and I’ve looked up to Russell because he’s from Scotland, my dad’s from Scotland as well. Then DJ turns up on the range and starts hitting balls next to me and I was just like, ‘Wow,’ I had to pinch myself a bit and say, ‘Is this real?’ I thought I was in a dream still.”
It’s a big step up from being co-medalist at the Big 10 Championship to playing against the likes of Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, but Flanagan hopes to treat it no differently.
“My dad said it’s basically a college event that you play in with a couple TV stands around,” Flanagan said. “We’ve played college events before which have been broadcasted and stuff like that. There is no difference, but it’s probably just a college event with some of the top players in the world playing.”
And a couple of fellow Golden Gophers in Lehman and Van Rooyen to make it feel even more like just another college event.
Tom Lehman’s 65 put him near the top of the leaderboard, but then he voiced his displeasure over the loss of fellow Minnesotan George Floyd.
FORT WORTH, Texas — There was an ease about Tom Lehman during Thursday’s opening round of the Charles Schwab Challenge that made it feel like we were all in a bygone era. Forget hand sanitizer and pool noodles, this was golf, exactly the way you remembered it.
Lehman came up just short on a 36-foot birdie putt to finish off his round at Colonial Country Club — his line was true, but the putt needed a few more inches — then after tapping in, quickly pulled his cap off and offered fist bumps to playing partners Henrik Norlander and Tyler McCumber, who are a combined 62 years old to Lehman’s 61. His smile was wide and familiar when he hugged his son, Thomas, who’s on his bag this week at the event.
And why wouldn’t Lehman be feeling the love? After months of practice in the Arizona heat, the 5-time PGA Tour winner and 1996 British Open Champion hit the ball right where he wanted on Thursday, rolling in six birdies en route to a 65 that temporarily put him on the first page of the leaderboard.
It marked the first time since the Tour started recording such stats in 1980 that anyone older than 60 has fired a round a 65 or better.
“I’ve been aiming for this week for a while. I live in Arizona, and we’ve been able to play golf all the way through this COVID-19 thing, so I’ve been playing a lot, practicing a lot,” Lehman said. “My game feels pretty good. I love the golf course. It benefits people who put the ball in the fairway, no doubt. Today I hit it straight and made a few putts.”
Lehman’s only real misstep came on No. 3 when he dropped his approach in the sand and failed to get up and down.
Aside from that, the 1996 PGA Tour Player of the Year did what he needed to do to compete with one of the strongest fields the Schwab has ever seen. He hit fairways and avoided trouble, taking advantage of the day’s calm conditions.
“I really like the way I played. Do I feel like I’m capable of shooting a 65 out here at Colonial? Well, for certain I do,” Lehman said. “Did I expect to do it today? Well, I would be probably lying if I said I fully expected to play and shoot such a low score. But I did expect to play well. To me, I kind of felt like if I could just finish out 2-under, 3-under, I would have been really happy with that. To get a couple more is definitely frosting on the cake.”
Lehman, 60, has long been known for his many charitable efforts, which have been recognized with numerous awards, and most recently has directed his attention to projects that benefit at-risk kids and adults who could be at risk for colon cancer. He’s long been known as a man of faith.
When asked about the death of George Floyd, and what it meant to him as a native of Minnesota, Lehman let his feelings be known.
“There’s so much to say about that. What I would say is this: I think everybody needs to feel deeply what happened and to hurt deeply because of what happened to George Floyd,” Lehman said. “I think everybody needs to understand that when you have an absolute disregard for the suffering or pain of somebody else or the death that you cause on somebody else, if you have no regard for that, you are a part of the problem and you need to get your (expletive) together.
“I would say that’s probably the thing I took away from it is let’s just understand that we’re all human beings and need to care about each other. If you can’t do that, then I feel sorry for you.”
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The Tour left the 8:46 a.m. tee time blank in honor of Floyd at both the Charles Schwab Challenge and the Korn Ferry Tour Challenge with a one-minute moment of silence beginning with three horn blasts.
Lehman said he appreciated the gesture.
“I think everybody chooses to do things in their own way. I think pausing for — to me is like a time of prayer. I prayed. I just prayed for our country. I prayed for that man’s family, for George’s family. I prayed for his soul,” Lehman said. “I just prayed that the chaos that we live in can be wisely moved forward so that decisions are made that actually are meaningful and helpful.”
As for the rest of the week, Lehman is hoping to stay near the top of the leaderboard, and he knows that means keeping the ball in the thin stuff.
“(There’s) a lot of rough out there, and for me, I’ve got to drive it well. If I don’t drive it well, I’m quite a ways back in some pretty thick rough,” Lehman said. “In order to play well for the next three days, I need to keep putting the ball in the fairway.”
