Lake County Excited to Host 2015 BMW Championship

Conway Farms Golf Club, located in Lake Forest, Illinois will host the 2015 BMW Championship after a very successful 2013 BMW Championship, which saw 130,000 tickets sold. The 2013 BMW Championship was named the PGA Tour’s “Tournament of the Year”.

“The overwhelming support we received from Chicagoland golf fans, the professionalism of the staff at Conway Farms and the hospitality of its members made the decision to return to Conway Farms an easy one,” said Vince Pellegrino, the Western Golf Association’s senior vice president of tournaments.

To put into perspective the massive scale of visitors that attended the 2013 BMW Championship, if compared to the 700,000 residents that span across Lake County, about 17% of the County’s population were accounted for. This event generated sold out hotel rooms, increased restaurant business and an overall economic impact of $30 million. “This is a fantastic opportunity again to showcase Lake County to the golf world. We are thrilled to have the BMW Championship return to the area, Conway Farms Golf Club and Lake Forest,” said Maureen Riedy, Visit Lake County President.  

Local communities will once again be expecting to receive an increase in visitor spending and overnight stays during September in anticipation of the event. “It was definitely a profitable month for the tourism industry and helped extend the summer travel season another month in Lake County,” added Riedy. The tourism industry in Lake County is a $1 billion dollar industry and supports 10,120 travel related jobs.

The 2013 BMW Championship was the first time in more than 40 years that Chicago’s North Shore community hosted the PGA TOUR’s best players. The previous time that the BMW Championship was held in Lake County was 1972. Future BMW Championships have yet to be determined but the Western Golf Association is reportedly looking to bring the event back to the Chicago area every other year.

Visit Lake County has built out a separate golf category on their website, VisitLakeCounty.org to inform golfers of the world class amenities, course information and links to courses to book tee times online while golfers are in the area for business or leisure.

Visit Lake County serves as the official destination marketing organization for Lake County, Illinois and partners with municipalities, hotels, attractions and hospitality related businesses to stimulate visitor spending throughout the county.  Visit Lake County provides travel resources for visitors through 1-800-LAKE-NOW and www.VisitLakeCounty.org.