PGA Tour returning to Cog Hill in Lemont

After going a year without a big-time golf tournament in the area, 2009 promises a return to prominence for the Chicago area with a pair of biggies on the schedule.

The fun begins in August when the top women players from the United States take on the best Europe has to offer in the Solheim Cup at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove (solheimcup.com) Aug 17-23.

Less than a month later (Sept. 10-13), the BMW Championship returns to Cog Hill in Lemont, according to a partial schedule released by the PGA Tour on Tuesday.

It will be the first of three straight years the tournament will be played over a Cog Hill layout that will look quite different from the one Tiger Woods tamed in 2007.

Famed course architect Rees Jones began a major renovation of the course shortly after the 2007 event concluded.

The BMW is the final FedExCup playoff event prior to the Tour Championship in Atlanta.