The B.C. Open was a

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tournament in

Broome County, New York Broome County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the county had a population of 198,683. Its county seat is Binghamton. The county was named for John Broome, the state's lieutenant governor whe ...

, held annually from 1971 to

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. In 1971, it was called the Broome County Open, and the next year it switched to the B.C. Open. In

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, it became a PGA Tour regular 72-hole money event. From

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, it took place during the same week as

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

, so the leading players were not available and it was one of the smaller events on the PGA Tour schedule. The purse for the final edition in 2006 was $3 million. The tournament was played at the En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott in

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

for every event through

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. In 2006, severe flooding of the adjacent

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

forced the event to move to the Atunyote Golf Club at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

. The event was operated by Broome County Community Charities, Inc. Since its inception, the B.C. Open has turned back to local charities in excess of $7.4 million through 2003. It was partially named after the comic strip '' B.C.'', created by Johnny Hart, who was born and raised in Endicott. Johnny Hart's ''B.C.'' characters were used in advertising the event. The B.C. Open was held for the last time on the PGA Tour in 2006 due to a schedule revamp based on the introduction of the

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction in 2007 marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Since its inception, the competition has been sponsored by FedEx. In 2022, the PGA Tour ...

. The success of the Turning Stone event in 2006 led to that venue hosting a " Fall Series" event beginning in 2007, the Turning Stone Resort Championship. The Broome County Community Charities has hosted a Champions Tour event at the En-Joie Golf Course beginning in 2007, the Dick's Sporting Goods Open.

Tournament highlights

*1973: Hubert Green wins the B.C. Open the first time it is considered an official PGA Tour event. He finishes six shots ahead of Dwight Nevil. *1974: En Joie Golf Club assistant pro Richie Karl birdies the first hole of a sudden death playoff to defeat Bruce Crampton. *1978:

Tom Kite Thomas Oliver Kite Jr. (born December 9, 1949) is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He won the U.S. Open in 1992 and spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1989 and 1994. Early life a ...

shoots a first round 66 on his way to a wire-to-wire five shot victory over Mark Hayes. *1979: Howard Twitty earns his first PGA Tour triumph after Tom Purtzer and

Doug Tewell Douglas Fred Tewell (born August 27, 1949) is an American professional golfer who has won several tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level, including two senior major championships. Early life and amateur career Tewell was ...

each come to the 72nd hole tied for the lead but falter by making bogey and double bogey respectively. *1982: Calvin Peete opens the final round with a double bogey but still wins the tournament easily by seven shots over

Jerry Pate Jerome Kendrick Pate (born September 16, 1953) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour Champions, formerly on the PGA Tour. As a 22-year-old rookie, he won the U.S. Open in 1976. Early life Born in Macon, Georgia, he was one of six ...

. *1984:

Wayne Levi Wayne John Levi (born February 22, 1952) is an American professional golfer. Early life Levi was born in Little Falls (city), New York, Little Falls, New York and attended high school in Herkimer, New York. He enrolled at Oswego State University ...

birdies the 71st and 72nd holes to finish one shot ahead of Hal Sutton and Russ Cochran. *1987: Joey Sindelar becomes the first person to win the B.C. Open twice. He finishes four shots ahead of

Jeff Sluman Jeffrey George Sluman (born September 11, 1957) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous professional golf tournaments including six PGA Tour victories. Early life and amateur career Sluman was born and reared in Rochester, New Yo ...

. *1991:

Fred Couples Frederick Steven Couples (born October 3, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has competed on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. A former World No. 1, he has won 64 professional tournaments, most notably the Masters Tournament ...

tunes up for the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

matches by competing at the B.C. Open. He beats

Peter Jacobsen Peter Erling Jacobsen (born March 4, 1954) is an American professional golfer and commentator on Golf Channel and NBC. He has played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. He has won seven events on the PGA Tour and two events on the Champion ...

by three shots. *1992: John Daly wins for the first time since his 1991 PGA Championship victory. He finishes six shots ahead of Joel Edwards, Ken Green, Jay Haas, and Nolan Henke. *1993: Blaine McCallister birdies the 72nd hole to win by one shot over Denis Watson. *1995: Hal Sutton shoots a final round 61 to claim his first PGA Tour win in over nine years. He finishes one shot ahead of Jim McGovern. *1997: Gabriel Hjertstedt becomes the first Swedish born golfer to win on the PGA Tour. He finishes one shot ahead of Andrew Magee, Chris Perry, and

Lee Rinker Lee Cross Rinker (born November 10, 1960) is an American professional golfer. Rinker was born in Stuart, Florida. He played college golf at the University of Alabama and turned professional in 1983 Rinker joined the PGA Tour in 1983, but strugg ...

. *2000:

Brad Faxon Bradford John Faxon Jr. (born August 1, 1961) is an American professional golfer. He has won eight times on the PGA Tour. Early life and amateur career Faxon was born in Oceanport, New Jersey and raised in Barrington, Rhode Island. He attended F ...

becomes the only B.C. Open winner to successfully defend his title. He beats Esteban Toledo by one shot. *2002: Spike McRoy shoots a final round 65 to overcome a seven-stroke deficit and finish one shot ahead of

Fred Funk Frederick Funk (born June 14, 1956) is an American professional golfer. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the PGA Tour, where he was an eight-time winner. Funk's signature win came at The Players Championship ...

. *2003: Coming off a Champions Tour triumph just two weeks earlier,

Craig Stadler Craig Robert Stadler (born June 2, 1953) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level, including one major championship, the 1982 Masters Tournament. Early life Stadler was bo ...

shoots a final round 63 to win the B.C. Open by one shot over

Alex Čejka Alexander Čejka (born 2 December 1970) is a Czech-German professional golfer. Čejka was born in Mariánské Lázně, Czechoslovakia. He left the country with his parents as a refugee at the age of nine, eventually settling in Munich, where ...

and Steve Lowery. *2006: John Rollins shoots a final round 63 to win the last B.C. Open. He finishes one shot ahead of Bob May.Rollins nips May to win B.C. Open
/ref>

Winners

Notes

References

External links

Tournament results (1973-2006) at GolfObserver.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bc Open Former PGA Tour events Golf tournaments in New York (state) Sports in Binghamton, New York Recurring sporting events established in 1971 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2006 1971 establishments in New York (state) 2006 disestablishments in New York (state)