Wheaton's Streelman has faith he'll achieve his dream at BMW

After signing a slew of autographs en route from the practice green to the driving range Wednesday at Cog Hill, Wheaton's Kevin Streelman paused to think about all the memories he's had at the course that will serve as host for this week's BMW Championship.

"I grew up taking lessons from Dr. Jim Suttie in the barn back there," Streelman said, pointing to the far end of the driving range. "This is kind of a culmination of a lifelong dream of mine."

And making it back to Cog Hill for the BMW, the third of four FedEx Cup playoff events, has been a yearlong dream and his top priority since the 2010 season began.

"It was," Streelman said. "Goals can obviously change as you do well or poorly, but the beauty of the FedEx Cup playoff system that we have now is that great play gets rewarded at the time of the playoffs.

"I played well at Barclay's (third place in the playoff opener) and made a nice jump in points, so now my goals have changed to not only get here, which is awesome, but to hopefully get to Atlanta (for the season-ending The Tour Championship). To do that I need to play well here, and I want to play well here in front of all my friends and family."

And boy will there be a lot of those on-site this week.

"We personally assigned about 130-140 tickets for friends and family and there are a bunch of others that got them on their own," said Streelman, who ranks 26th in FedEx Cup points and has made nearly $1.2 million in purse money. "Who knows how many will be here, but I'm really excited to see who makes it out."

For those who think athletes often forget where they came from, take Streelman out of that equation. The Wheaton Warrenville South alum (he was born in Winfield and raised in Wheaton) has secured tickets for all the current members of the WW South boys and girls golf teams, as well as the JV squads.

"Yep, trying to take care of all of them," said Streelman, who credits his parents for his giving ways. "I was raised in a strong working class, Christian home in Wheaton. My parents are sweet, hard-working people who treat people right and instilled that in me at an early age."

But keeping those values week in and week out isn't always the easiest thing for players who often get spoiled silly on Tour.

"At times you have to fight it," admitted Streelman, who plays guitar at the Tour's weekly Bible studies meetings. "We're spoiled out here, so you have to be careful to expect anything else different from others. For me, my faith keeps me very grounded."

And he's needed it with the kind of season he's experienced.

"This year has been a funny year for me, a test of my patience," he said. "I got off to such a good start with three Top 10s in my first seven events and almost won in Puerto Rico. And then all of a sudden I went through a dry spell in the summer, but I kept my attitude good and stayed patient - things are starting to feel good right now. And it's a good time of the year to start feeling good."

And now he's only a few good rounds away from securing a top-30 spot and a trip to Atlanta.

"It's my American dream," he said with a smile. "It just goes to show that with a lot of hard work, you can achieve your dreams."