During the BMW Championship, Cherry Hills head pro John Ogden provided The Denver Post his thoughts after each round. Here are his final thoughts:
Billy Horschel is a wonderful champion. He’s a confident champion, and he’s been playing hot. If you look at his card, he did what he needed to do to win.
He maintained the lead the whole day, even when Ryan Palmer tied it before his misfortunes on No. 12 and No. 13 that really did him in. Billy still had to get it up-and-down on No. 15 and make a good putt. On 16 he made a good putt and then, even though he has a two-shot lead on 18, he has to get up there and make a good shot — and he hit a wonderful tee shot.
Obviously, Sergio Garcia has to be disappointed. These guys have to be tired. That’s the only way I can explain it. I was surprised Sergio didn’t try to go for the green in two on No. 17. If he could have made a birdie there, he puts a lot of pressure on Billy. Unfortunately for Sergio, he makes a triple-bogey 8.
Billy is a young, up-and-coming player, and I’m proud to have him as a champion at Cherry Hills. He’s a proud Florida Gator, and him wearing orange on a Broncos Sunday was good karma.
This week was incredible, and I can’t say enough about the tournament’s general chairman, George Solich, and the job he’s done for the past 4½ years. He’s poured his heart and soul and his money to bring this to Cherry Hills and Denver.
A lot of people asked me this week about another event coming to Cherry Hills.
This club has a wonderful relationship with the PGA Tour, the Western Golf Association, the U.S. Golf Association and the PGA of America. I think the club has to sit and think about what we want to do.
The members of the club will make the decision that is right for Cherry Hills.
I don’t know if that’s something in 10 years, five years. Historically, we do something every 10 years. But if you look, we’ve done three championships in the past nine years with the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open, the 2012 U.S. Amateur and now the BMW Championship.
I was on the first tee every day, and Sunday I thanked every player for coming. They all said they would love to come back. Every one of them said, “We’d love to be back.”
That says a lot when the best players in the world want to come play your place. Cherry Hills is not a modern golf course. It has subtle greens. It’s not a long golf course by any means. But they enjoyed it.
People love to come to here, and for me it’s great to share this great golf course by having fans come walk the grounds and see the best players in the world.
Championship golf is a part of our culture. It is who we are.
