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By John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor

LEMONT, Ill. -- Early during each week of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, local scribes and talking heads have taken their shots. You can't really blame them; that is what they do. Opinion-driven media like sports talk radio hosts and columnists need controversy to thrive. It is the nature of the business. They are like mothers-in-law who just can't accept that their little boy or girl is growing up. But each week, those critics have become converts. The competition, regardless of the absentees, has transcended all criticism.

Both players such as Tiger Woods and the Chicago area fans are enjoying the cooler weather at Cog Hill this year. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

This week was no different. The marriage of the BMW Championship and the Playoffs was a dubious one for many in Chicagoland. The tournament had enjoyed a holiday summer date for many years. Over steamy July 4th weekends, the Western Open had become a family affair. Of course, the move to early fall was going to draw some criticism. But what the critics couldn't see was that this wasn't just a move, it was a marriage. Furthermore, this wedding had all four of the superstitious elements required for success -- something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

No PGA TOUR event outside of the majors can boast a richer history. Willie Smith shot two 78s to take the inaugural Western Open title in 1899. He pounded the host pro at Glen View Golf Club in an 18-hole playoff and took home the $50 first prize. Since then, nearly every big name in the game has won in Chicago.

Names like Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson have won the Wadley Trophy. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson continued the tradition and etched their names in that silver as well. In recent years, Tiger Woods has won the Western Golf Association's championship three times.

But the old Western Open changed its stripes this year. The inaugural BMW Championship brings a new name, as well as a new face to this historic event. From the stark white trimming of the corporate tents and grandstands to the expo village filled with vintage cars, this tournament has a new look. In typical BMW fashion, the tournament has taken on a sleeker, more modern, tone while keeping its traditions and history close. Another innovation is the fact that the old Western Open has a new set of wheels.

On Sunday, it will fill up the tank and head south where it will set up shop in St. Louis. On the even-numbered years the BMW Championship will alternate between the city with the arch and Indianapolis, returning to Chicago in between.

This year, like every year since 1991, Chicago's annual PGA TOUR event has borrowed the Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill Golf Club from the Jemsek family. The first family of golf in Chicago has molded the way that public golf has been viewed and played in the area. The public has access to play Dubsdread -- or any of the other three courses at Cog Hill -- every week of golf season. Well, every week but BMW Championship week. That week the Jemsek's play gracious host to the best players in the world. They lend more than their property, they offer a spirit that has fostered golf and golfers in the area for nearly a decade.

This week at Cog Hill, all the efforts of the Jemseks, BMW and the Western Golf Association have been rewarded. Anyone who participated in the Western Open over July 4th weekend will tell you that for all the graciousness, the weather was unkind. Temperatures pushed toward the triple digits with high humidity. It was stagnant, musty and dangerous. No player on TOUR will tell you that the move to September was a bad idea. This week, other than a few wet minutes on Friday morning, has been glorious. Temperatures in the mid-70s under azure blue skies have greeted the players. In a word, it has been glorious.

Like the first two weeks of the Playoffs, the competition has been sizzling. Steve Stricker got things going by outdueling K.J. Choi at The Barclays -- finally prevailing by making birdie on the last three holes. The battle Phil Mickelson won over Tiger Woods on Labor Day at the Deutsche Bank Championship may just become the stuff of legend. Sunday at the BMW Championship promises more drama involving the world No. 1.

It is hard to quantify success in these situations. Television ratings and attendance can only tell part of the story. But as we go into the final round of the BMW Championship, it would have been hard to imagine that they could have been this good. Of course we are still on the Playoffs honeymoon. But what a heck of a honeymoon it has been.