Western Open's new rotation format will include St. Louis

CHICAGO -- The Western Open, one of the oldest stops on the PGA tour, is getting a name change and will rotate from the Chicago suburbs to other Midwestern cities -- including St. Louis -- under an agreement announced Monday.

The tournament will be called the BMW Championship beginning in 2007, when it is moved from July to September and becomes part of a new championship points race.

Under the six-year agreement between BMW, the PGA tour and the Western Golf Association, the tournament will begin rotating locales in 2008.

This year's Cialis Western Open will be played next month at Cog Hill Golf Club in Lemont, Ill., its home since 1991. Cog Hill also will host the 2007 tournament.

The tournament will be played in St. Louis at the Bellerive Country Club in 2008, return to Chicago in 2009 and every second year thereafter, go to the Crooked Stick Golf Club outside of Indianapolis in 2010 and to a yet-to-be-determined location in the Midwest in 2012.

-- AP