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september 17, 2015 - BMW

BMW Championship: “Groundhog Day” in Chicago

Bill Murray earned international fame in his role as reporter Phil Conners,
who was caught in a time warp in the comedy “Groundhog Day”. Born in 1950 on
the outskirts of Chicago, the actor’s outing at the Pro-Am ahead of the BMW
Championship at Conway Farms #golf Club was no less entertaining. Murray is not
only a successful actor, director and producer, but also a passionate golfer, whose
qualities as an entertainer also transcend to the fairways and greens.
Together with his five brothers – the Murray brothers very rarely appear together in
public – #billmurray was one of the big crowd-pullers at the Gardner Heidrick Pro-
Am, which traditionally opens the #bmw Championship. Former NFL star Brian
Urlacher of the #chicago Bulls and Fred Hoiberg, head coach of the #chicago Bulls
NBA basketball team, also teed off at the Pro-Am. In doing so, they were
supporting the Evans Scholars Foundation, which will receive all proceeds from the
BMW Championship. The Evans Scholars Foundation awards college scholarships
to caddies. Since 2007, when #bmw became title partner of the tournament, over
19.6 million US dollars have been raised. All of the Murray brothers were caddies in
their youth. Ed, the oldest of the brothers, was actually the recipient of an Evans
scholarship.
After his round, Urlacher, his playing partner Henrik Stenson (number four in the
FedExCup), and his caddie and Evans scholar Jordan Pounder went head to head
in the #bmw i8 Challenge: to be the first to manoeuvre a #golf ball into the hole as
quickly as possible using a radio-controlled model of the revolutionary plug-inhybrid
sports car. Defence specialist Urlacher, who retired from American football in
2013, was one of the top footballers of his era in his position. Like Stenson,
however, was unable to keep pace with Pounder, whose victory made him the
patron of a 10,000 Dollar donation to the Evans Scholars Foundation from #bmw of
North America.
“I struggled with that in Munich too,” said Stenson, who had faced a similar
challenge at the opening of the #bmw International Open in June. “At some point
today, the only thing that seemed to matter was defence and trying to keep the
opposition’s balls away from the hole. It was all over for me after that. But it was
great fun again. The Evans Scholars Foundation does a fantastic job, and we are
always happy to support it.”
From Thursday, the spotlight in #chicago will be on the best golfers in the world.
And it promises to be a thrilling drama – in a sporting sense: of the 70 world-class
players wo have qualified for the penultimate round of the FedExCup Playoffs, less
than half – just 30 – will progress to the season finale: the TOUR Championship in
Atlanta. The overall FedExCup winner will receive a bonus of 10 million US dollars.
However, the script has the potential for more than one happy ending. This year,
two spectacular Hole-in-One prizes are up for grabs at the #bmw Championship: a
BMW i8 (for the first ace on hole 11) and the new #bmw 7 Series (for the first holein-
one on the 17th).
The pros are not the only ones in with a chance of winning the new #bmw 7 Series.
For the first time ever during the #bmw Championship, the first seven spectators to
successfully reach the green from the #bmw Fan Challenge in the BMW
Experience on Saturday, September 19, will be invited to participate in the BMW
Shootout from the 17th hole, following the conclusion of play. Any participant to
record a hole-in-one during the shootout, will walk away with an all new #bmw 7
series, the most innovative car in its class.That would be the kind of story that
Hollywood would love.