[6] Colorado Springs Bmw Becomes Today Discuss

As many as 50 additional private planes — some with PGA Tour players aboard — are expected to descend on Centennial Airport this week for the start of the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club, officials say.

It’s the start of a transportation flurry of vehicles in the air and on the road that will mark the prestigious third leg of the coveted $10 million FedEx Cup.

Along with the regular flow of corporate executives and jets that make the airport its home hub, Centennial officials say the additional aero-influx from the Denver area’s first PGA event in eight years should prove a challenge — but not insurmountable or unexpected.

“Historically, Centennial Airport has been the airport of choice for professional sports events like this, as well as others, such as the 2008 Democratic National Convention and the Broncos’ playoffs games earlier this year,” said Deborah Grigsby Smith, the airport’s public information officer.

Centennial is the nation’s third-busiest general-aviation airport — Denver International Airport is classed as commercial aviation and the nation’s fifth busiest — so it was expected the BMW would bring additional business.

“If you’re a single-engine pilot with your Cessna, yeah, movement on the ramp might be a bit of a challenge,” Grigsby Smith said. “But being busy isn’t new to us.”

The 70 or so players for the BMW Championship will be coming from the Boston area after the Deutsche Bank Championship. The big challenge is that event ends Monday on Labor Day, not the traditional Sunday finish for PGA Tour events. The BMW practice rounds begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday at Cherry Hills.

Eric Hilcoff is the PGA Tour’s travel guru, whose job it is to get tour players crisscrossing the nation for 45 events each season. While he says he has little to do with the “four or five” players who travel by their own private planes, he’s the one all the others rely on.

After 24 years, the University of Colorado graduate has “a pretty good rapport” with what he describes as his “extended family.”

“They’d rather see me on a Sunday than a Friday,” said Hilcoff, 52. “Often it’s 70-plus guys all wanting to change their travel plans all in the same two-hour window.”

With no players cut, the BMW is a rare tournament in which Hilcoff can approach Friday without trepidation. Still, a number of players might want plans made for family to join them in Colorado, ramping up his workload.

“Likely 30 to 40 percent of the players are part of a program that has use of the private planes but don’t necessarily use it each week,” he said. “Those with family might want them out with them, and sometimes that gets tricky to schedule.”

Hilcoff will help with logistics if players ask for transportation to and from the hotel blocked for the PGA Tour’s use — this year the JW Marriott in Cherry Creek.

Errors are easy to make, but often avoided — he still regrets having booked a player to Ontario, Calif., when the destination was Canada — but player friendships make it easy to work through.

“I still get practical jokes on me,” Hilcoff quipped. “Like the time Jason Dufner took my iPad and flipped it into Chinese. I didn’t know what to do and had to find someone who could read Chinese to fix it. Not easy.”

He has gotten even too, such as the time a particularly difficult player insisted on last-minute, first-class plane tickets.

“He was expecting a comfy seat and a nice steak to relax,” Hilcoff chuckled. “He got the seat. And he got a vegetarian Hindu meal.”

David Migoya: 303-954-1506, Media or Media

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