Bellerive to host 2001 Amex Championship

Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis will serve as host for the 2001 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship.

“Bellerive Country Club, with its rich history and tradition, is an ideal venue to host a World Golf Championships event,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “It will serve as a true championship calibre test for the international field that composes the American Express Championship.”

The American Express Championship was held at Valderrama Golf Club in Sotogrande, Andalucia, Spain in 1999 and will return there this Nov. 7-12.
Tiger Woods won the Gene Sarazen Cup as champion of the inaugural American Express Championship, defeating Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez in a playoff. The 2001 American Express Championship will be played Sept. 13-16.

“We are thrilled that the International Federation of PGA Tours is rewarding our commitment to bring world-class golf to Bellerive Country Club and the sports fans of St. Louis,” said Jerry Ritter, the Bellerive chairman of the 2001 American Express Championship. “We can’t think of a better signature event to further usher in the new millennium than to host this prestigious golf championship, which will bring global attention to St. Louis,” Ritter added. “We stand ready to welcome back the touring professionals who competed in the PGA Championship here in 1992, as well as to greet the new generation of golf greats who make their first visit to Bellerive.”

Bellerive CC was founded in 1897 as the Field Club of St. Louis. In 1909 the club was relocated to northwest St. Louis County. In the late 1950s it was determined that the club should move again, with a 353-acre site in West St. Louis County chosen as the new location. Robert Trent Jones, Sr., who was on the committee that chose the new location, designed the new course.

The course is perennially listed among the top 100 in the United States, making Golf Digest’s list each year since the ranking began in 1996. Bellerive served as host for the 1965 U.S. Open, which Gary Player won in an 18-hole playoff over Kel Nagle.