The First State’s first PGA Tour event might be the last place you want to be with more than 100,000 people expected to swarm Wilmington Country Club this week.
If you’re not a golf fan — or just want to avoid traffic jams — there are some hotspots you should avoid, chiefly Kennett Pike in Greenville where the exclusive 335-acre property is nestled alongside Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware’s vaunted Chateau Country.
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Practice rounds begin Tuesday with gates opening at 8 a.m. and running through 6 p.m. The Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am on Wednesday has gates opening at 6:30 a.m. Both will be aired on the Golf Channel.
The 70-player tournament with $15 million in prizes runs Thursday through Sunday with gates opening at 8 a.m. Thursday and Friday and 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Those rounds will be split between NBC and Golf Channel for those watching from home.
The only road closure scheduled will be Kirk Road just south of the country club between Montchanin Road and Kennett Pike Monday through Sunday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., said Charles “C.R.” McLeod, a DelDOT spokesman. Residents will have access at all times through credentials they have been issued.
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Buck Road, which is just to the south of Kirk Road and connects Montchanin Road and Kennett Pike will serve as the detour.
With no official public parking near the course, golf fans will be shuttled to Greenville from satellite parking locations. Given the number of fans expected, there may be traffic congestion near those sites at high-traffic times.
General parking will be divided between two locations: Delaware Park’s G Lot (777 Delaware Park Blvd., Stanton) to the south and Longwood Gardens’ L Lot (1010 East Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania) to the north. All drivers must pre-purchase parking ($10-$30) at bmwchampionship.com.
BMW owners have their own free first-come, fist-serve parking option called the O Lot located at 3 Beaver Valley Road at the intersection of Concord Pike and Naamans Road in Brandywine Hundred. It is already sold out for Saturday and Sunday.
While there is no official public parking near the golf course, signs offering $50 field parking at the former Twin Lakes Brewery site (4210 Kennett Pike) about a mile south of the tournament site have been spotted.
Rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft will only be allowed to drop spectators off at the designated drop-off/pick-up location about a half-mile north of the country club at 4901 Kennett Pike.
DelDOT will not be doing any construction west of Del. 141 throughout the week, McLeod said.
He warned there may be some intermittent lane shifts on Kennett Pike in front of Wilmington Country Club to help with the flow of shuttle buses while maintaining through traffic.
“It will be busier than normal but manageable,” he said.
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Traffic around Delaware Park will likely be heavier than normal, according to McLeod, and DelDOT will have staff there to to help.
Additional parking areas being used this week include the south end of Concord Mall (volunteers), eastern lots of the Brandywine Town Center (hospitality) and Alexis I. du Pont High School (media).
As the penultimate event in the PGA Tour FedexCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship will include the top 70 players in the FedexCup standings. The top 30 players after the tournament will advance to the PGA Tour Championship on Aug. 25 in Atlanta.
The one-time-in-Delaware event is estimated to bring more than $30 million to the Wilmington-area economy.
This will be the third time in five years that the BMW Championship will take place on the East Coast. The tournament is usually played on courses in the Midwest.
Wilmington Country Club’s South Course is one of the top courses in the United States, according to Golf Digest, and although it has never hosted a professional event, it has hosted prestigious amateur events including the 1913 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 1965 and 1978 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 1971 U.S. Amateur, the 1978 U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur and the 2003 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
Wilmington Country Club also hosted the 2013 Palmer Cup between the U.S. and Europe. That U.S. team featured the 2019 BMW Champion Justin Thomas, who currently sits in the top 10 of the FedexCup standings, which is led by Scottie Scheffler.
Siera Jones contributed to this report. Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and Twitter (@ryancormier).
