The Westchester Country Club (or Westchester Biltmore Country Club) was founded by John McEntee Bowman, who hired Walter Travis to design two golf courses in the Town of Harrison, New York as a luxury resort hotel. The West Course was designed for championship play and has hosted PGA tournaments since 1963. The South Course was originally designed for women and higher handicap golfers. Around 1997, the South Course was reconstructed with longer tees, new sand and grass bunkers, water hazards, and some new greens. The South Course is now more competitive with the West Course to accommodate low handicap golfers.
Westchester Country Club hosted its first PGA tournament in 1963 with the Thunderbird Classic. The Thunderbird was also held in 1964 and 1965. There was no PGA tournament at Westchester Country Club in 1966, and starting in 1967 the West Course has annually hosted the Westchester Classic stop on the PGA Tour. (The tournament name has changed several times since then due to sponsorship switches, and is now called The Barclays.) On January 14, 2008, an article in the Journal News announced the PGA Tour's desire to terminate its affiliation with Westchester Country Club. The decision was made primarily because of Tiger Woods' refusal to play in the tournament in 2007 and the tournament's subsequent low TV ratings and low attendance. On Saturday, January 26, 2008, a compromise agreement was made between the club and the PGA Tour at a Town Hall Meeting at the club. The PGA paid WCC $1.1 million to move the tournament from Harrison to Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ, for the 2008 event. In a second compromise agreement, the PGA Tour recently awarded Westchester Country Club a major tournament on the Champions Tour. The 2011 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship will be played on the renovated West Course during August. This is one of the biggest stops on the Senior Tour.
Read more about Westchester Country Club: Notable Members Past and Present
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