In 2012, some players and media members complained Crooked Stick was too easy for the world’s best pro golfers. Rory McIlroy won that event with a 20-under par score. It is the world’s third oldest amateur championship behind the British Amateur (1885) and the U.S. We do think it will be better from an efficiency stand point this year.” The junior tournament at Crooked Stick is named after Pete and Alice Dye, the famous course architects who made their home alongside the 18th … The money came from a combination of sources, including tournament revenue and member contributions, he added.
The tournament will mark the first time America’s newest and arguably brightest golfing star, Jordan Spieth, has played in a PGA Tour event in Indiana, which should ratchet up interest in the event, organizers said. The Indiana Amateur is the longest running and most prestigious amateur golf event in the state of Indiana. The 1991 PGA Championship was the 73rd PGA Championship, held August 8–11 at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, a suburb north of Indianapolis. Twenty-four of those recipients caddied at Crooked Stick, including current Evans Scholar Joe Conway, a freshman at Purdue University. “We don’t make any changes to the course without Pete’s involvement,” Pancake said. Rory McIlroy won the 2012 BMW Championship at Crooked Stick, and Dustin Johnson claimed the title when the event returned for an encore in 2016.The two BMW Championships raised nearly $6 million for the WGA-supported Evans Scholars Foundation.
All proceeds from the 2020 Western Amateur also will benefit the Foundation, which funds full tuition and housing college scholarships for caddies.“Crooked Stick’s members and staff have been excellent partners with us, both for our championships and through their support of our mission to send caddies to college on Evans Scholarships,” said Vince Pellegrino, WGA senior vice president of tournaments.
“Those holes will play longer than in 2012,” Pancake said. The boxes come with 25 tickets per day for the six-day event and sold for $50,000 each, including food and beverage. Crooked Stick hosted the inaugural Dye Junior Invitational, which included a field of 33 girls and 33 boys.
Event organizers are promising to streamline parking and transportation to get the multitude of spectators to and from Crooked Stick. Several major changes have been—and are being made—to the legendary Pete Dye course and spectator areas for the 2016 BMW Championship, which will be held at the private Carmel course Sept. 8-11. Coxhall Gardens at 2000 W. 116th St. will be used for parking and shuttling spectators to and from Crooked Stick again this year, but White said the transportation plan will be “a little different.” “We’re still fine tuning the parking and transportation plan,” White said. Tickets—which include food and beverages—sell for $425 on Thursday and Friday and $475 per day on Saturday and Sunday. The most recent work on the course began in 2014 and includes overhauling 90 sand traps with new sand and improved drainage, and adding seven bunkers along the seventh and 10th holes. Crooked Stick Golf Club is ready to tee off for an event this fall that will draw the world’s 70 best golfers, 150,000 fans and have a $30 million economic impact on the region. They sold out so quickly that the course is constructing more near the 14th green. “It’s also an opportunity for our membership to interact closely with the future stars of the game and develop lifelong friendships.