This week the PGA Tour visits the First State for the first time.
Wilmington Country Club will play host, marking the PGA Tour’s first-ever event in the state of Delaware and the 10th different venue to host the BMW Championship since the inception of the FedEx Cup in 2007.
“You’ve got to hit it as far as you can and hit a lot of fairways,” advised BMW defending champion and reigning FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay.
Delaware becomes the 41st state in the union to host a Tour event, but that means there are still nine states that are still hoping their day in the sun is still to come.
Maine is one of the nine remaining states that have never hosted a Tour event. Professional golf has been absent from northeast New England, five states within the Mountain Time Zone and Alaska. Some states barely avoided making the list. Nebraska was spared solely by the 1933 Nebraska Open, Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene hosted the 1992 Merrill Lynch Shootout and Arkansas made headlines with the Arlington Hotel Open from 1955-63.
Some of these states have hosted Nationwide, Champions and LPGA events, but the locals are waiting patiently for Rory, Tiger and Jordan to grace them with their presence.
Here’s a list of some of the golf courses that could potentially host the stars of the PGA Tour someday. (Special thanks to longtime Golfweek reader and journalist Peter Kollmann, who helped with the research.)
Photo courtesy Fort Wainright MWR.
Our choice: Chena Bend, Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks – The Chena River winds through this course near Fort Wainwright military base. If the pros come here to a layout that ranks second in the state in Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play, it had better be in mid-summer.
Photo courtesy Sugarloaf Golf Club.
Our choice: Sugarloaf, Carrabassett Valley – Robert Trent Jones’ mountain jewel would make a great fit for Jim Furyk and his caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan, a Maine resident.
No. 16 at Old Works.
Our choice: Old Works, Anaconda – Jack Nicklaus’ creativity glows here, as the course near the Continental Divide sits on the former site of a century-old copper smelter. It ranks second in the state in Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play.
Eric Evans watches his tee shot on the 15th hole during quarterfinal play at the 116th New Hampshire Amateur at Portsmouth CC. [Mike Zhe/Seacoastonline]
Our choice: Portsmouth Country Club, Portsmouth – Less than an hour’s drive from Boston, the forested course plays along Great Bay. It’s one of the Granite State’s best.
Our choice: Santa Ana Golf Club, Santa Ana Pueblo – Just 20 minutes north of Albuquerque and close enough to the airport to offer easy access but far enough from town to feel like an escape, this links-style course weaves through the desert along the Rio Grande. Fast greens, eight lakes and a handful of arroyos influence play and would test the pros. It will be co-host to the PGA Professional Championship in 2023.
Hawktree Golf Club, No. 2 in North Dakota on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in 2020 (Courtesy of Hawktree Golf Club)
Our choice: Hawktree, Bismarck – This links-style design, ranked third in the state in Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play, in a rugged prairie region features black-coal bunkers. The Hawk is calling. Will the PGA Tour answer?
Our choice: The Club at Red Rock, Rapid City – Dramatic elevation changes are a feature at this course that routs through Black Hills terrain and has tall ponderosa pine trees.
Our choice: Green Mountain National, Killington – Situated in the majestic Green Mountains, Killington also has many up-and-down holes.
Our choice: Powder Horn Golf Club, Sheridan – At this 27-hole gem designed by Dick Bailey, pros would enjoy the Mountain Nine, which has a small Swilcan Bridge replica, and the Stag Nine, with Old West charm.
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