The Korn Ferry Tour, the developmental circuit for players trying to make it to the PGA Tour, makes its annual Chicago area stop  this week.  Its NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank, begins its 72-hole run on Thursday at The Glen Club in Glenview.

Scottie Scheffler, now the game’s No. 1 player, was the tourney’s first champion.  He won in 2019 when the event was known as the Evans Scholars Invitational, and that was his first professional victory. Other promising young players want to follow in Scheffler’s footsteps.

Trace Crowe had an unusual path to winning the NV5 title last year. He had missed seven straight cuts and was without a top 10 in 28 career rounds on the Korn Ferry circuit. Then, after getting into contention, he had a triple bogey on the second hole of the final round at The Glen before posting his 25-under-par 259 final score.

Crowe was only the fourth player to win a Korn Ferry tournament after making a triple bogey in the final round, the first being former world No. 1 David Duval in the 1993 Korn Ferry Championship. Crowe rallied after his mishap, making  eight birdies and carding a 5-under-par 66 before beating Patrick Fishburn in a two-hole playoff. Now Crowe’s a member of the PGA Tour.

Illinois-connected players on the PGA’s development circuit were numerous over the years, but this year’s Korn Ferry membership has only three — University of Illinois alums Brian Campbell and Dylan Meyer and Brad Hopfinger, a former Illinois Amateur and Illinois Open champion.

Campbell appears on the brink of earning his PGA Tour card, standing eighth on the Korn Ferry  point list with the top 30 at season’s end advancing to the premier circuit.

Beaudreau wins IWO

Lauren Beaudreau, a Benet Academy and Notre Dame product, captured the 29^th Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood in Romeoville.  Beaudreau, playing out of Marco Island, FL., grew up in Lemont.  She finished the 36-hole event at 3-under-par 141 on Tuesday.

Beaudreau owned a one-stroke edge on three golfers, headed by two-time champion and Mistwood teaching professional Nicole Jeray.  Also at 142 were two collegiate players competing out of Inverness – Caroline Smith and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra.

Smith is a redshirt senior at Indiana and help the Hoosiers to the Big Ten title last season. Lopez-Chacarra, from Spain, plays collegiate at Wake Forest.

HERE AND THERE

Lake Forest’s Pierce Grieve captured the 93^rd Illinois State Amateur in a three-hole playoff with Marcus Smith of Rockford. Grieve, a 6-6 left-handed golfer, captured the title at Atkins Golf Club, the newly-renovated home course for the University of Illinois teams in Urbana.  Grieve is now headed to the U.S. Amateur.

Farah O’Keefe, a University of Texas freshman, was both the medalist and champion at last week’s 124^th Women’s Western Amateur at Onwentsia, in Lake Forest. Her victim in the title match was Californian Elise Lee, an incoming freshman at Northwestern.

Medinah Country Club has opened its famed No. 3 course for members play. The course, site of the 2012 Ryder Cup matches as well as multiple playings of the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, was closed all of last year for a major renovation.  Power cart usage hasn’t been allowed yet, and there’ll be no guest play until 2025. The course will host the President’s Cup in 2026.

Geneva’s Katherine Lemke, Inverness’ Caroline Smith and Barrington’s Mara Janess are among the 156 qualifiers for the U.S. Women’s Amatuer, to be held Aug. 5-11 at Southern Hills in Oklahoma.

Architect Todd Quitno is overseeing the building of a new 16,000 square foot putting green and short game practice facility at Vernon Hills’ course. He is also the designer of Canal Shores, which plans to have 12 of its 19 renovated holes open for play on Aug. 1.  The Evanston course will also have a new name – The Evans at Canal Shores – to honor Chick Evans, founder of the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation.

Scheduling conflicts have been a problem for Chicago’s tournament organizers for years. This week marks the first big conflict of this season, and the two tournaments involved are very big ones.

The 93^rd Illinois State Amateur and the 124^th Women’s Western Amateur both teed of on Tuesday. The State Am concludes on Thursday and the Women’s Western wraps ups up with a 7:30 a.m. championship match on Saturday.

This conflict isn’t as problematic as some in the past because only the Women’s Western is played on a Chicago area course.  Onwentsia, in Lake Forest, which hosted the first two championships in 1901 and 1902, is the host site for the fifth time.

Rarely has the Chicago District Golf Association taken the State Am outside of the Chicago area, but this time it’s being played at Atkins Golf Club, in Urbana.  The choice of Atkins is significant because it’s the home of the University of Illinois men’s teams, which have consistently been a collegiate powerhouse under coach Mike Small.

Atkins has recently been renovated to benefit the Illini program.  It had been known as Stone Creek, and the tournament was played there in 2004 when T.C. Ford won the title. This year the tourney will have a field weakened by the absence of Hinsdale’s Mike McClear, who won the last two years.  He turned professional after a great collegiate career at Iowa.

Three of last year’s top five are back, however. T.J. Barger, of Bloomington, was second and Pekin’s Mason Merkel and Rockford’s Marcus Smith tied for fourth. The tourney drew 565 entrants, and it was whittled to 138 starters at Atkins through eight state-wide qualifying rounds.

The starters range from 15-year old Michael Hahn to 71-year old former champion Mike Milligan.  Low players in the qualifying sessions were Pierce Greve and Nick Fernberg.  Both posted 6-under-par 66s, Greve at Lake Bluff in the first elimination and Fernberg at Sanctuary at New Lenox in the last one.

The field has two 18-hole rounds before the field will be cut to the low 35 and ties on Wednesday.  The survivors will go 36  more holes to determine the champion on Thursday. In an upgrade from previous tourneys, this year’s winner will also get an invitation to next month’s U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine, in Minnesota.

The Women’s Western may be the most prestigious in women’s amateur golf.  It’s been played for an uninterrupted 123 years.  One of Chicago’s very first stars, Bessie Anthony, won the first two years. Later winners include LPGA mainstays Nancy Lopez, Cristie Kerr, Grace Park, Brittany Lang, Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn. Past competitors have won 135 major titles and 60 have played in the Solheim Cup.

This year’s event has 120 starters, all with handicaps of 5.4 or less. The last seven Women’s Western Amateurs have been held at Chicago courses with Californian Jasmine Koo taking the title last year at White Eagle in Naperville.

Two rounds of stroke play qualifying start this year’s tournament.  The second is today and the low 32 will advance to three days of match play to decide the champion.  The first round and Round of 16 will be played on Thursday, the Round of eight and semifinals are Friday to determine the two finalists.

The Chicago area has five of its stars in the field headed by two-time Illinois State Amateur winner Sarah Arnold of Geneva.  She won the state title in 2019 and 2023 and was the runner-up this year.  Other locals competing at Onwentsia are Emily Krall of Lake Forest, Samatha Postillion, Burr Ridge; Caroline Smith, Inverness; and Mara Janess, Barrington.

There are far more contenders from out of the area  with players from 28 states and 17 countries competing this week. The best of those may be college players – Caitlyn Macnab, Missississpi; Anna Morgan, Furman; Sadie Englemann and Annabelle Pancake, Stanford; Farah O’Keefe, Texas; and Kelly Xu, Clemson.

 

 

SILVIS, IL. – Saturday’s third round was the traditional moving day at the John Deere Classic, and Jordan Spieth set the tone for that.

His fast start inspired others with later tee times, especially Davis Thompson. Thompson shot the week’s low round – a  9-under-par 62 – and will take a two-stroke lead over Eric Cole, Aaron Rai and Hayden Springer into Sunday’s final round at TPC Deere Run.

Spieth, who skipped the JDC for nine years after his last win here, showed flashes of the spectacular form he displayed in years past, but he had too big a deficit to have much of an impact on the leaderboard at the end of the day.

Starting in a tie for 47^th place, the two-time JDC champion scorched the front nine with a 29, then worked his way in for an 8-under-par 63.  That boosted him 35 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 12^th.

“Just a good solid round. No chip-ins,  nothing spectacular, no crazy ones,’’ said Spieth.  “Anything is going to be a lull from a 29.’’

Spieth was briefly tied for the lead after 12 holes, then got caught in a club choice dilemma at the 13^th. That led to his only bogey and he let a good birdie chance get away at No. 14.

“If I par (at 13) and birdie 14 from the position I was in I shoot 32 on the back and a 61,’’ said Spieth.

Could-a, should-a, would-a!

Spieth goes into Sunday’s  final round seven strokes behind Thompson, who stands at 21-under-par 192 after 54 holes. So, get ready for another first-time PGA Tour winner – a JDC tradition.  There have been 23 of them in the tournament’s 53-year history, with Spieth among them.

Despite his stunning third round, that 24^th first-time winner might not be Thompson. Cole, Rai and Springer all have yet to win on golf’s premier circuit.

Thompson has had three runner-up finishes, with two of them coming in his last six starts. He tied for second last week in the Rocket Mortgage Championship in Detroit and was also a runner-up in the new Myrtle Beach Classic in May. In between his finishes included a tie for ninth in the U.S. Open.

Jon Rahm, now on the LIV Tour, was the first winner to thwart Thompson’s bid for win No. 1. They shared the 54-hole lead before Rahm won by a stroke in their duel at last year’s American Express Championship in California.

“Last week I was four back going into Sunday and didn’t know what it would take to win that golf tournament,’’ said Thompson. “It’s a new week.  I’ve been playing well and will just try to keep it going. Hopefully I’ve got one more good one in me.’’

The last first-time winner at the JDC was Dylan Frittelli in 2019. In addition to Spieth other first-time winners here include TPC Deere Run designer D.A. Weibring, Scott Hoch, Payne Stewart, David Toms, ex-Illinois Amateur and Open champion Mark Hensby, reigning British Open champion Brian Harman and reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.

After three days of beautiful weather tournament officials are expecting a sudden change for the final round.  Bad weather is expected early in the morning and late in the afternoon.  To compensate the 77 survivors will again play in threesomes but play will begin off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees beginning at 9:25 a.m. Last tee time is 11:37.

 

 

 

 

 

SILVIS, IL. – Friday’s cut day at the John Deere Classic wasn’t pretty, but it produced some popular results.

Jordan Spieth, a playoff champion at TPC Deere Run twice before skipping the Illinois’ only annual PGA stop the previous nine years, was below the projected cut line with six holes remaining in his second round. He made birdies at Nos. 14 and 17 to finish the first 36 holes at 6-under-par 136, meaning he’ll play in the two weekend rounds.

Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman was in more serious jeopardy but made three birdies in the last three holes to survive on the number  at 5-under 137. Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim (-6) and defending champion Sepp Straka (-5) also are still alive, though far behind co-leaders C.T. Pan of Taiwan and Aaron Rai of England. They’re at 8-under 128 after posting 63s on Friday.

Spieth, reflecting on his dramatic wins in  2013 and 2015, thought he was getting into contention.

“I could start attacking by getting some birdies early,’’ he said.  “Then I just messed up 11 and 12.  All of a sudden I was behind the cut line. Unfortunately I’ve been in that position far too often this year, and it’s very frustrating and annoying.’’

Hayden Springer, the unheralded PGA Tour rookie who exploded for a 59 in the opening round on Thursday, was tied with Pan and Rai after 11 holes.  Then he endured a four-hole stretch of bogey-bogey-birdie-double bogey and settled for a par 71. He’s in a six-way tie for fourth, two shots behind the leaders.

Pan lost his veteran caddie recently when 76-year old Mike “Fluff’’ Cowan opted to return to Jim Furyk’s bag. Pan called that “unfortunate.’’

“They’ve had a great partnership, and Fluff always wanted to finish his career with Jim,’’ said Pan.  “This week I have Ben Hulka caddying for me.  We worked together for a year or two.  He’s been good.’’

What wasn’t so good was some “conversation’’ that Pan had with the Taiwan Olympic committee Thursday night.  Pan won the bronze medal in the 2020 Olympics and will be in this year’s competition in Paris later this summer.

“I had terrible sleep,’’ said Pan. “We had a really serious conversation, just trying to figure out all the arrangements before I go there.  It didn’t go well.  I can tell you that.’’

Rai shook off a late collapse in last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, where he tied for second.

“I was really pleased with that,’’ he said.  “From the whole of last week there were so many more positives than negatives. I was able to reset and start well obviously this week.’’

The longest of long shots heading into the second half of the tournament is amateur Luke Clanton.  The Florida State product made the cut at the U.S. Open and was 10^th last week in Detroit.  He played on a sponsor’s exemption there and also has one at the JDC. His 63-67 start put him in the six-way tie for fourth after the first half of the tournament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jordan Spieth was just a kid – albeit a very promising golfer – when he played in the John Deere Classic for the first time in 2013.

To say he took advantage of the opportunity is putting it mildly.  Not only did he win the title in the only annual PGA Tour event left in Illinois, his win was the stuff of legends and the golf community in the Quad Cities area – which embraces Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa – never forgot.

After missing the tournament the last nine years, Spieth returns to the JDC this week. The event begins its 72-hole run on Thursday (TOMORROW) at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.

Spieth was 19 when he won his first title in the John Deere Classic. After barely a year of college golf at Texas he had one runner-up finish and six other top-10s in his first PGA Tour season – but Spieth didn’t win until he got to TPC Deere Run.

Then he holed a 44-foot bunker shot for birdie on the last hole of regulation play – his fifth birdie in six holes – to get into a playoff.  A tense six holes later he  knocked off defending champion  and Iowa favorite Zach Johnson and Canadian David Hearn to  become only the fourth teen-ager to win on the PGA Tour, and the first since 1931.

The Spieth story didn’t end there.  He was no one-day  wonder, winning 11 tournaments in his first four years on tour including three major championships.  After finishing seventh in his title defense in 2014 Spieth won the JDC in another  playoff in 2015 — a season he which he also won both the Masters and U.S. Open.

And then Spieth moved on from the event that got his pro career off to such a great start.

“There’s no shortage of playing opportunities,’’ said Andrew Lehman, who replaced Clair Peterson as JDC tournament director in 2023.  “A player will play in 18 to 24 tournament a year and he’ll have 40 to choose from.’’

Spieth chose the JDC only once since his last appearance, but that didn’t work out well.  He was on the grounds but withdrew because of an injury without teeing off. The JDC staff never gave up on bringing Spieth back, however.

“We never stopped trying,’’ said Lehman. “A lot of people felt he’d never be back, but we kept working with him and his team. This year we worked with them for two-three months, but I thought it wasn’t going to happen because it was taking so long and we weren’t hearing anything.  Then (about two weeks ago) they called and said that he had committed.  We’re super excited. He’s the main guy on our sponsor visits that people always asked about.’’

Signature events — big money, small field, no-cut tournaments put on by the PGA Tour as part of its battle with the LIV Tour – were a threat to smaller tournaments.  The JDC doesn’t have Signature status, but the tournament has coped with that dilemma.

“It’s been a tumultuous 18 months in the game of professional golf,’’ said Lehman, “but the last two years have worked in our favor.’’

This year the last of eight Signature events was the Travelers, in Connecticut.  It was played two weeks before the JDC, and only the British Open (July 18-21) is left among the sport’s four majors. That left the JDC with a good week to get top players.

Spieth wasn’t the only one to fit it into its schedule.  Jason Day is back after making just a few appearances in the Quad Cities early in his career.  Sepp Straka is the defending champion.

“Our field this year is the deepest we’ve ever been,’’ said Lehman.  “It’s hard to put a field together, especially when you throw in a holiday with it (the first round coincides with Thursday’s Fourth of July). But the dates this year benefitted us.’’

CDGA Amateur final

Winnetka’s Tyler Greeenspahn, a 19-year old Southern California student, was two-down with two holes to play in the 36-hole championship match of the 104^th Chicago District Amateur but he rallied to beat Roselle’s Dan Stringfellow, a Medinah member, on the third hole of a sudden death playoff at Chicago’s Beverly Country Club.

Jarrett Fultz, of Queen City, Ariz., was the overall champion at the Chicago Adaptive Open on Cog Hill’s No. 3 course.  Fultz, 23, was born with cerebral palsy that impacts his putting stroke but he shot 77-71 in the tournament rounds.  Ryanne Jackson, of Madeira Beach, FL, was the women’s overall winner and Kirk Holmberg, of Hutchinson, KS., was the senior overall champion.

Andy Svoboda, the new head pro at Butler National in Oak Brook, has been named to the 10-man U.S. team for the 31^st PGA Cup matches against Great Britain and Ireland Sept. 10-15 at Sunriver, in Oregon.

 

 

Marty Neal, the Libertyville Township Highway Commissioner, has long been an avid golfer. Now 61, he’s been playing for 40 years – and that’s since he lost his right hand after it got caught in a meat-grinder when he was 15.

On May 10 he made his first hole-in-one when his tee shot on the 11^th hole at Shepherd’s Crook, in Zion, fell into the cup.  That was a thrill, but not nearly as excited as Neal felt after learning about the inaugural Chicago Adaptive Open.

Created by the Chicago District Golf Association with guidance from Jonathan Snyder, head of the Chicago-based United States Adaptive Golf Alliance, the event will bring together the world’s best golfers with physical and intellectuual disabilities on Cog Hill’s No. 3 course in Lemont this weekend.

There will be 53 competitors, 49 of them men and 20 in the senior category.  They’ll have a practice round on Friday (JUNE 28) and tournament rounds Saturday and Sunday (JUNE 29-30). The tournament rounds will start at 10:10 a.m. both days.

Adaptive golf is growing, and the Chicago event on one of that city’s premier courses, is further evidence of that.

The Cog Hill complex has 72 holes and its No. 4 course, Dubsdread, was the long-time site of the Western Open and hosted a variety of competitions including the U.S. Amateur and BMW Championship. Now the facility will  host one of the first Adaptive tournaments on Dubsdread’s companion course.

Neal, son of the late Libertyville mayor Paul Ryan, has a handicap index of 16 —  not too shabby for a senior player who swings a club with just his left arm.  He plays in a weekly league and frequents suburban courses like Countryside and Pine Meadow, in Mundelein; White Deer Run, in Vernon Hills; and Lake Bluff.

The Chicago Adaptive Open will be an entirely different golf experience, however. Neal promptly paid the $200 entry fee,  went through an elaborate registration process with the European  Handicapped Golf Association,  lined up two sons and his older brother to be his caddies and then took the adventure even further.

“I’m just a regular guy, an average golfer who – on a good day – can shoot in the high 80s or low 90s,’’ said Neal.  “It’ll be so cool to meet someone who is good at golf who has a disability like mine, but I’m also a research participant at the Shirley Ryan Rehabilitating Lab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago).’’

He also serves as a model for students learning to build prosthetics in a Masters program at Northwestern University. He wanted to connect the CDGA, the Shirley Ryan Lab and Northwestern, figuring that all three parties would want to have a presence in the Chicago Adaptive Open. He’ll wear Shirley Ryan apparel in the competition.

The competition will be serious stuff, too.   The event a $15,000 purse, which Snyder says marks the first time prize money will be part of an adaptive golf competition.  The first three finishers in each of 17 sports classifications will get cash prizes. Adaptive events are on the rise since the U.S. Golf Association created a national championship a couple years ago.  Some states, notably Georgia and Indiana, also have their own competitions.

Competitive categories are based on impairment, such as lower limb, arm and visual. Adaptive golf already has its celebrity competitors who are expected at Cog Hill.  Dennis Walters is a World Golf Hall of Famer who has his own television show.  Paralyzed from the waist down he’ll compete in the seated golfers category.

Ryanne Jackson, from Florida, was the overall women’s champion at the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open, staged at Pinehurst – the North Carolina base for the recent U.S. Open. Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of 19, she competed collegiately at Eastern Illinois.

Evan Mathias, born with congenital defects to both legs, has been on prosthetics since he was one year old.  He won the Indiana Adaptive Championship in May, shooting 5-under-par golf over 36 holes and then taking the title in a four-hole playoff.

HERE AND THERE: The Evanston Wilmette Golf Course Association and Kemper Sports have announced the rebranding of Canal Shores, a 100-year old par-60 course that is being upgraded in preparation for a re-opening in 2025.  The course will be renamed The Evans at Canal Shores, underscoring its connection to the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation.

David Paeglow, head professional at Kishwaukee in DeKalb, captured the Illinois Senior Open for the second time.  He was the only player under par, posting a 2-under 142 over 36 holes at Hawthorn Woods. Next stop for him is this week’s U.S. Senior Open in Newport, R.I.

Parker Sands, of Edmond, Okla., captured the 106^th playing of the Western Junior at Ruth Lake, in Hinsdale.  Sand won by six strokes after posting a 72-hole scored of 10-under-par 270

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Illinois Women’s State Amateur had been conducted by the downstate-based Illinois Women’s Golf Association for 90 years before the IWGA – beset by a loss of members – turned the event over to the Chicago District Golf Association this year.

While the site remained at The Grove, in Long Grove, the shift in leadership produced a significant boost to women’s golf in the state.

The CDGA changed the format from match play to a 54-hole stroke play event, and last week’s tourney produced a wire-to-wire winner in Buffalo Grove’s Haeri Lee. The 24-year old Drake University alum posted rounds of 72, 70 and 76, and her 2-over-par 218 was good for a one-stroke win over Geneva’s Sarah Arnold.

Not only did Lee benefit from the format change, her reward for winning was upgraded, too.  An exemption into the U.S. Women’s Amateur, coming up Aug. 5-11 at Southern Hills in Oklahoma, was also part of the winner’s prize and that was a major incentive in getting Lee to enter. In past years the field for the national tourney was decided only in a series of nation-wide qualifiers.

“It’s been a long-time goal of mine,’’ said Lee.  “I was always kind of close, but I was struggling the last few years, and this was a confidence boost. I’m super excited, and super happy.’’

Now the Women’s State Am has become a more demanding test than the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open, in which both pros and amateurs compete together.  The 29^th IWO, coming up July 22-23 at Mistwood in Romeoveille, is played at only 36 holes.

While Lee never surrendered the lead in the Amateur, she did have to survive a final-round charge by playing partner Arnold, who made four birdies in a five-hole stretch to pull into a share of the lead with five holes left in regulation.

Arnold, who plays collegiately at Western Kentucky, won the State Am in 2019 and 2023.  She is the only multiple-winner  since Kerry Postillion won the last of her five titles in 2007.

RADIX CUP ROUT:  The Illinois PGA’s top players walloped the Chicago District’s amateur stars 16-2 in the 62^nd playing of the Radix Cup matches at Oak Park Country Club.  It was the largest margin of victory in the series and gave the IPGA a 38-22-2 lead in the rivalry.

This Radix Cup was special, as the professionals honored long-time Oak Park head pro Steve Dunning, who passed away less than a week before last week’s competition.  Carson Solien, the club’s host pro, was part of the IPGA victory and honored Dunning.

“We’ll miss him,’’ said Solien.  “He was an integral part of Oak Park, and a great guy.’’ The American flag behind the clubhouse flew at half staff in Dunning’s memory during the competition.

HERE AND THERE: Samantha Brown, of Westfield, Ind., had been eliminated in the Round of 16 the last two years in the Women’s Western Junior, but not this year.  She defeated Texan Isabel Emanuels in the final at Hinsdale Golf Club.  Both players earned exemptions into the Women’s Western Amateur, coming to Onwentsia in Lake Forest July 15-20.

Kevin Flack of Mauh-Nah-Tee-See, in Rockford, led wire to wire in winning his fourth title in the Illinois PGA Assistants Championship on his home course. He had also won the title in 2019, 2021 and 2022.  Flack, Kevin Healy of Beverly and Matthew Rion of Briarwood all qualified for the national Assistants event in Florida in November.

The 104^th Chicago District Amateur begins its four-day run on Monday (JUNE 24)   at Chicago’s Beverly Country Club.

Arlington Lakes will accept 40 teams into its Patriot Cup, a two-person gross scramble to be played on the Fourth of July.