By Madhu Mayer
Nearly 50,000 people are expected to come out over three days and cheer for their favorite golfers when the LIV pro tournament will make a stop at Bolingbrook Golf Club this fall.
Mayor Mary Alexander-Basta announced at a press conference this week that Bolingbrook Golf Club, 2001 Rodeo Drive, will host the 2024 LIV Individual Championship from Sept. 13 to 15. The Championship is their final event for the year.
LIV Golf, a Saudi Arabia-backed league, was initially supposed to hold a Chicago leg of its tournament at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. Instead, it chose Bolingbrook Golf Club, operated by Kemper Sports and features a 7,104-yard layout designed by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest.
Bolingbrook Golf Club, which opened in 2002, ranks second on the NBC Golfpass list of Top 50 public golf courses in the United States. It is for that reason and proximity to I-55 as to why the Bolingbrook golf course was chosen to host the event, according to LIV Golf.
LIV Chicago is believed to be the first “large-scale, high stakes” golf event to ever be held at the Bolingbrook golf course, according to a press release from LIV Golf. Tickets for the championship event will go on sale May 8, according to LIV Golf. Bolingbrook Golf Club has hosted the Tom Dreesen Celebrity Golf Tournament and Bo Jackson Give Me A Chance fundraiser in the past. Ticket information can be obtained by calling (630) 771-9400.
LIV Golf was formed in 2021 amidst controversy as many of the most popular players in the PGA Tour, like Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson, took the huge contracts and decided to play in the Saudi-backed league.
Alexander-Basta said she is working with Bolingbrook Police and Fire departments to ensure the tournament will have the least impact on nearby residents as spectators will have to be shuttled to and from the golf course. But she expects the three-day event to be an economic boom to local hotels and restaurants in the area.
Laughing, former Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar said, “They told me we’d never get a golf tournament.”
Bolingbrook resident Keith Doocy said he cannot wait to see the world-class golfers in action.
“Guys like Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson were major winners in the PGA,” he said. “It will be great to see them in action at a golf course right in my backyard.”