Author: lenz

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Flower Hole is still golf’s most beautiful

When you visit the SentryWorld course in Stevens Point, WI., there’s always the temptation to get overwhelmed by its world-renowned Flower Hole. I’ve seen lots of beautiful golf holes, but No. 16 at SentryWorld remains my choice as the most beautiful.

The course opened in 1982 and was recently renovated by Robert Trent Jones Jr. in collaboration with Bruce Charlton and Jay Blasi. I’d planned to make the unveiling of the renovated layout, but it was rained out.

An aerial view shows just how extensive the flowering of SentryWorld’s No. 16 is.

Still, I can report that the Flower Hole hasn’t lost a thing in the changes. Never the most difficult hole in golf with tee placements ranging from 97 to 176 yards, it now is adorned with over 50,000 flowers. The hole had about 42,000 before the renovation.

Long respected for his architectural work, Robert Trent Jones Jr. has created a mini-controversy with his assessment of new No. 5 hole, a par-5. He calls that hole “one of the most beautiful holes at SentryWorld and, for that matter, in all of golf.’’

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: WWGA honors two of its long-time leaders

Long before there was a Ladies Professional Golf Assn. there was the Women’s Western Golf Assn. This organization has spearheaded golf for girls and women since 1901.

Susan Wagner has represented the WWGA on the public relations and media side.

This week the WWGA honored two of its longstanding leaders. Susan Wagner and Audrey Peterson were presented with Woman of Distinction Awards at the WWGA’s annual meeting at Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield, IL.

Both are extremely deserving of this recognition. Between the two of them they’ve spent over 70 years volunteering their time, energy and talent to both the WWGA and its Foundation, which has awarded academic scholarships for the past 43 years.

Over the years the program has distributed over $3.35 million to 600 scholars from 45 states.

Wagner, formerly of Flossmoor and now living in Florida, has been a WWGA director since 1977, when the Western Amateur tournament was held at her home club. In recent years she has served as the WWGA’s national public relations and media director. She was the organization’s president in 1997-98.

Peterson, a director since 1980, was the WWGA president in 1991-92. She has also worked in a variety of other areas and has chaired the organization’s Amateur, Junior and Senior championships. Her home club is Blackhawk, in Madison, WI.

Audrey Peterson, a frequent competitor in WWGA competitions, was a past president and tournament chairman for the organization.

The Woman of Distinction awards are a big deal for this organization, which doesn’t get the attention it once did when it conducted the Women’s Western Open – for years the biggest event available for women professional players. Its champions included Helen Hicks, Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg, Betsy Rawls, Louise Suggs, Mickey Wright, Carol Mann, Susie Maxwell and Kathy Whitworth.

Chicago golf historian Tim Cronin outlined the WWGA’s rich history in its latest annual meeting, and that spotlight the Women’s Western Open. That event ran from 1930 to 1967 and its revival has been a subject of discussion in Chicago golf circles for years – especially since the WWGA’s more recent merger with the Western Golf Assn.

Past winners of the Woman of Distinction awards were Suggs, Nancy Lopez, Peggy Kirk Bell, Betty James, Wiffi Smith, Mann, Whitworth and Wright on the professional level and Carol Semple Thompson, June Beebe Atwood, Alice Dye, Judy Bell, Ann Upchurch and Co McArthur on the amateur side.

Ownership change

Mike Munro, who created one of the nation’s first indoor golf practice facilities in the country, revealed that he’s sold his White Pines Golf Dome in Bensenville, IL., to KemperSports, the widely-respected Northbrook-based golf management firm.

Munro operated the Dome for 23 years and will still be involved in the operation of the facility – a hotspot for Chicago golfers during the chilly winter months.

Not so good

The first event of the PGA Tour’s 2014-15 season wasn’t a good one for Illinois’ players. Kevin Streelman, D.A. Points and Mark Wilson all missed the cut at the Frys.com Open in California.

Sainz, Small come up short in Chicago Open; Ruthkoski wins in playoff

Andy Ruthkoski celebrates after his birdie putts wins playoff for Chicago Open title.
Carlos Sainz Jr., the new PGA Tour member from Elgin, was in position to defend his Chicago Open title Tuesday and Mike Small, the University of Illinois men’s coach, had a chance to win, too. He jumped into a tie for the lead after making five birdies in a row in a furious back nine charge at Cantigny in Wheaton.

Sainz and Small could only finish in a five-way for third place in the last major event of the local golf season, however. Andy Ruthkoski of Muskegon, Mich., nabbed the title, beating Lewis University graduate Casey Pyne, of Bloomington, with a 10-foot birdie putt to conclude a two-hole sudden death playoff.

Windy conditions hampered scoring on the final day of the 54-hole test. Ruthkoski and Pyne, who played on the Dakotas Tour this year, were the only players to finish under par. Both posted 2-under 214 totals before going to extra holes. Pyne and Small had the best scores of the final round with 4-under 68s.

Small, who won a record 11th Illinois PGA Championship in August and celebrated his Illini’s climb to the No. 1 national ranking in collegiate golf last week, saw his hopes evaporate with a double bogey at No. 16. Sainz, playing in the last group, shared the lead several times until his drive at No. 18 found water in front of the green.

“A bad shot at the wrong time,’’ said Sainz. “I don’t usually hit driver on that hole. I got a little too aggressive.’’

Dakotas Tour player Casey Pyne battled his way into a playoff for the Chicago Open title.

He was forced to gamble after both Ruthkoski and Pyne posted their 2-under scores. Sainz needed a birdie on the last to get into the playoff.

A 2005 Michigan State graduate, Ruthkoski grabbed the lead with great chip shots that set up birdies at Nos. 11 and 12. He hit a pitching wedge from 103 yards to one foot for the first one and chipped to within inches from 44 yards out for the second, then endured a long wait before he could claim the $10,000 first prize.

The Chicago Open, revived as a fundraiser for the Illinois Junior Golf Assn. last year, was played for the 25th time since its first staging in 1914. Its champions when the event was part of a more loosely organized PGA Tour included Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ken Venturi. Luke Donald also won it while still an amateur.

“I really like looking at the trophy and seeing the names that have won it,’’ said Ruthkoski. “It’s an honor to have my name with them.’’

Ruthkoski has played in six PGA Tour events and earned money in three of them, but hasn’t cashed a check on that circuit since 2009. He was invited to the Chicago Open by virtue of repeating as winner of the Michigan PGA Tournament of Champions in July.

Golf has endured some tough times lately — so let’s all just enjoy the game

Over the course of the last year or so I’ve been asked my views from a variety of people – inside and outside the Chicagoland Golf community – about the state of the golf industry. They were, of course, triggered by the general state of the economy.

Because golf is an activity requiring the spending of discretionary income, there has been the perception that play is down, that courses will close or at least lapse on their usual conditioning procedures, that potential young golfers are preferring other recreational opportunities.

Granted, I’m an eternal optimist on most everything and — as an avid life-long golfer and member of the industry myself — I want to see the game thrive. Still, I’m not blind and I have, for quite a few years, travelled widely across the United States in pursuit of golf projects of one sort or another. This year I’ve played golf in eight states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina) and witnessed a major championship (the PGA in Kentucky) in another.

That has caused me to wonder what the recent fuss is all about, where all the gloom and doom sentiment is coming from. I don’t see it at all. We may be long removed from golf’s boom times of the 1990s, when it seemed a new course was opening in the Chicago every month, but there’s plenty of evidence – nationally and locally – that the game is healthy and steadily getting stronger.

Let’s check out our Chicago area first. There either has been or will be major course work done at 22 courses, and Chicagoland Golf teammate Rory Spears, who keeps diligent track of such developments, admits he might have even missed a few.

These projects span private clubs (Kemper Lakes, Midlothian, Conway Farms, Medinah, Old Elm, Olympia Fields, Skokie, Wynstone, Glen Oak and Bob O’Link) to various types of public facilities (Arlington Lakes, Oak Meadows, Fox Run, Arrowhead, Mt. Prospect, Glenview Park District, Wilmette, Wedgewood, Settler’s Hill, Mistwood, Pine Meadow and Prairie Bluffs).

The biggest, of course, was done at Mistwood where owner Jim McWethy – in the deepest of dark times – ordered a renovation of a course that was already pretty good, the building of an elaborate Performance Center and construction of a new clubhouse (to be ready by next June) and threw in some significant upgrades to a nearby dome that caters to winter golfers.

Last month McWethy admitted to me that “the economy is not good, and golf is an activity that is being challenged.’’

Still, he committed big dollars to make his end of the golf industry better.

“It goes back to my fundamental belief that, if you do a good job with every aspect of it, there’s still enough business out there,’’ said McWethy. “There’s still a lot of people playing golf.’’

For every course closing (Plum Tree National, Rolling Knolls), there are many more course operators telling me about play at their facilities picking up as the season progressed.

Kemper Sports, the Northbrook-based course management company, is making regular announcement of facilities now under its direction. The Illinois PGA is in the process of expanding its biggest championship, the Illinois Open. The Western Golf Assn. has taken on the operation of a fourth big tournament (the Web.com Tour’s Hotel Fitness Championship) to raise more money for its Evans Scholars Foundation and the Chicago District Golf Assn. is celebrating its centennial in style.

More positive developments are happening throughout the Midwest. In Wisconsin the SentryWorld course has re-opened after an extensive renovation and Chicago’s Mike Keiser has begun construction of Sand Valley, which is projected to be as much a smash hit as his Oregon complex, Bandon Dunes. Lawsonia, one of Wisconsin’s oldest but most respected layouts, opened a new pub after changing management companies.

In Michigan, where over 800 public courses have made it a golfers’ mecca, one of the top layouts – Forest Dunes – will be getting a companion course designed by Tom Doak, who just completed the makeover of Medinah’s No. 1 layout. Treetops created a fancy-sounding new event – the National Par-3 Championship — and the sprawling Boyne Resorts just polished off a three-hole upgrade of its Crooked Tree and a bunker renovation of The Moor, and both big projects were done concurrently.

And big things aren’t happening in just the Midwest. Roger Warren, the former president of the PGA of America who heads South Carolina’s Kiawah Resort, hasn’t been deflated by economic issues – though he knows they exist.

“We had the best year in the history of the resort last year,’’ Warren told me in March, and we’ve experienced four years of double digit growth from 2009 on. I know it flies in the face of what’s happened in the rest of the game, but there’s a segment in this country that’s doing just fine – and that’s my customer.’’

Kiawah has five courses, the most prominent being its Ocean Course. But the Osprey Point layout got a makeover this year, Cougar Point will get one in 2015 and Oak Point in 2016.

And then, of course, there’s Pinehurst. The North Carolina resort expanded to a nine-course complex, adding its first Jack Nicklaus design, in the same year it hosted both the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open. Then the greens on the famed No. 2 course were re-grassed immediately after the two back-to-back national championships. The results were overwhelmingly successful.

“We’ve been packed. There’s very few tee times through the second week of November,’’ Pinehurst vice president Jack Bickert reported. “We’re looking at the biggest September-October-November in our history and our advanced bookings have been tremendous through next spring.’’

OK, what else do you need to know? Work is being done and money being spent to make golf a better game. Young players may not be taking up golf in big enough numbers, but the PGA of America’s new Junior League is addressing that problem. Women’s golf received a big boost with the creation of the International Crown, a global event that was founded in part by the visionary efforts of Rich Harvest’s Jerry Rich.

Let’s sum things up. A struggling economy, an injury to Tiger Woods that may have hurt TV ratings and a big tournament shortage in the Chicago area didn’t help matters but the golf world – here and nation-wide – survived. We should all just get on with our enjoyment of this great game.

Will new PGA Tour member Sainz defend his Chicago Open title?

Sure, there’s plenty of golf to be played in the Chicago area for a few more weeks but the Chicago Open will be it as far as big-time competition goes. It begins with a pro-am on Oct. 3 and the three-day, 54-hole tournament proper tees off on Oct. 5, with everything again going on at Cantigny, in Wheaton.

The Chicago Open has had a checkered past. Marty Schiene, the men’s coach at Chicago State University and a former PGA Tour player, triggered the creation of the present version when he was the Illinois Junior Golf Assn. president in 2013. He envisioned the event as both a fundraiser for the Illinois Junior Golf Assn. and a tuneup for players preparing for the Web.com Tour qualifying school, which offers playing privileges on the PGA Tour’s satellite circuit for the 2014-15 season.

That wasn’t always the scenario for the Chicago Open, a tournament which has a history dating to 1914 – the year the Chicago District Golf Assn. was founded.

The first tournament called the Chicago Open was held at Chicago Golf Club and was won by Bob Gardner, a Hinsdale Golf Club member who beat a field of 18 others – all members of CDGA clubs. At times the Chicago Open was considered a stop on what we know now as the PGA Tour, with its champions including Macdonald Smith (1926), Johnny Farrell (1927), Abe Espinosa (1928), Gene Sarazen (1937), Sam Snead (1938), Ben Hogan (1941, 1942 and 1947), Byron Nelson (1945 and 1946), Bobby Locke (1948) and Ken Venturi (1958 and 1959).

During those years the tourney participants also included such notables as Walter Hagen, Tommy Armour, Johnny Revolta, Billy Casper, Gary Player and even the legendary Bobby Jones.

The names of the champions weren’t so lustrous in the other years, though Luke Donald – still a college boy at Northwestern – was the winner in 2000.

In all there have been 24 tournaments called the Chicago Open, so this year’s version represents the tourney’s 25th anniversary and it’ll be played at Cantigny, which is also celebrating its 25th season. There’s some symmetry there.

The IJGA, formed in 1967, conducts over 100 events annually for golfers between the ages of 8 and 18. The organization revived the tournament last year after an 18-year absence during Schiene’s presidency, and it blossomed into the primary fundraiser for the IJGA. The revival event, also held at Cantigny, offered a $50,000 purse. This year’s Chicago Open will be similar to that one, when players from 18 states and three foreign countries were among the entrants.

Given the change in stature, the last Chicago Open had a fitting champion. Carlos Sainz Jr., from Elgin, was an alumnus of IJGA events. He has hopes of playing on the PGA, and last year’s event helped him progress towards that goal. Sainz, who is scheduled to defend his title, comes in as a much more seasoned player this time.

His game blossomed at the right time in 2013, when he won an event on the Canadian PGA Tour and lost the Illinois Open title in a playoff before winning the Chicago Open. He did it by making five birdies in the first seven holes of the final round en route to posting a 68. That gave him a 6-under-par 210 for the 54 holes and a two-stroke advantage on runner-up Matt Thompson of Marshall, Mich. That provided a springboard to the good things that happened shortly after that.

Sainz went on to earn playing privileges on the Web.com Tour in the aftermath of his Chicago Open victory and, after struggling for most of his rookie season, came on strong at the end earn a place in the Web.com Tour Finals, which offered 25 berths on the PGA Tour for the 2015 season. The Finals concluded on Sept. 21.

In addition to Sainz this year’s early entrants included Mike Small, the University of Illinois men’s coach who won the Illinois PGA Championship for a record 11th time in August, and Australia-born Mark Hensby, who has already scored an Illinois slam of sorts. Hensby won the Illinois State Amateur in 1994, the Illinois Open in 1996 and the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic at downstate Silvis in 2004.

Small tied for eighth in last year’s Chicago Open and will squeeze a tournament appearance in between his coaching duties with the nationally-ranked Illini. The only other Chicago are player in the top 10 last year was Libertyville’s Michael Schachner, who tied for fourth. That’s an indicative of the widespread quality in the field that can be expected again at Cantigny.

The IJGA scheduled five qualifying rounds to supplement the field of invitees and exempted players. First was held at Milwaukee’s Brown Deer course, former site of the PGA Tour’s Greater Milwaukee Open.

Others were at Metamora Fields, the central Illinois course that hosts the Illinois PGA Players Championship, and Village Links of Glen Ellyn, long-time site of Western Open Monday qualifiers. The final two were played at Lake Michigan Hills, in Benton Harbor, Mich., and Makray Memorial, in Barrington.

The pro-am is Friday, Oct. 3. The following day a free junior walking clinic will be conducted amidst afternoon practice rounds. The 54-hole tourney will be conducted over the next three days.

As was the case last year, many of the Chicago Open participants will try to do what Sainz did in 2013 – use the event as a springboard to a good showing at the Web.com Tour Q-School. The first stage of the Q-School begins on Oct.7, the second stage on Nov. 11 and the finals are Dec. 11-16 at Palm Beach Gardens, FL.

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Dancing Rabbit, Tunica National are Mississippi’s hot spots

CHOCTAW, MS. – Determining the best golf options in your first visit to an area isn’t easy. We faced that situation in our first-ever visit to the state of Mississippi, and I don’t think we could have made any better selections. The state has less than 200 courses, but the ones we found were all top of the line.

Dancing Rabbit’s clubhouse has everything, including eight rooms for lodging.

The seven-day stay started with a few days at Old Waverly, generally considered the state’s best private club, then continued with rounds at two of the premier public facilities – Dancing Rabbit and Tunica National.

Old Waverly, which hosted a premier event on the LPGA Legends Tour while we were there, was in pristine condition. It was one of the best private facilities I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve had the good fortune to visit plenty of good ones over the years.

We were every bit as much taken by Dancing Rabbit and Tunica National, however.

Dancing Rabbit, a 36-hole club at Pearl River Resort near the town of Philadelphia in the central part of the state, may be the most decorated club in Mississippi. Its Azaleas and Oaks courses were both designed by well-respected architect Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate, a former U.S. Open champion. Fazio also includes Chicago favorites The Glen Club and Conway Farms in his design portfolio. That reflects the quality of the courses at Dancing Rabbit.

While I’m not one to take the various course rating systems as gospel it is interesting to note that one of the longest standing ones, published by Golf Magazine, rated the Azaleas course ahead of Chicago favorites Cantigny, The General at Eagle Ridge and Kemper Lakes in one of Its Top 100 You Can Play lists.

The Azaleas was Dancing Rabbit’s first course, built in 1997. It’s also been listed in ratings by Golf Digest, Golf & Travel, Golfweek and Mississippi Magazine. It’s a tighter and tougher course than The Oaks, which opened in 1999, but I’m not convinced that it’s any better. Both are par-72s that measure over 7,000 yards from the tips, have five sets of tees per hole and offer rounds that wind through the woods with plenty of rolling hills and streams.

You get a cheerful-looking welcome when you arrive at Dancing Rabbit.

Dancing Rabbit is a great selection for a golf getaway because it has plenty of lodging options. On the property is the Dancing Rabbit Inn, and there’s also eight rooms available in the clubhouse. That’s in addition to the Pearl River Resort and the Golden Moon and Silver Star casinos, which offer alternate forms of entertainment. All told, the area has over 1,000 hotel rooms and 11 restaurants.

If you’re worried about the heat and humidity that Mississippi is known for, it wasn’t oppressive at either of the courses because there’s plenty of shade around the tree-lined cart paths.

Tunica National, on the outskirts of Memphis near Robinsonville, MS., is entirely different. This course, designed by former PGA Tour star Mark McCumber, features generous fairways and is all about fun. Though user-friendly, there are plenty of challenges created by strategically placed water hazards and bunkers.

Like the Dancing Rabbit courses, Tunica National features five sets of tees per hole but – at 7,402 yards – it plays longer from the back tees than either The Azaleas or The Oaks. Tunica also features an outstanding, spacious practice area.

Tunica National, managed by Chicago-based KemperSports, is also in a casino-rich area. There are nine of them nearby, and over 40 hotels are also in close proximity. The Tunica clubhouse is also unusual in that it includes four indoor clay tennis courts.

This rabbit isn’t dancing, but it makes for a striking tee marker.

As for Old Waverly, it’s rich in tradition as the site of the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open and it’s also been dubbed as The Country Club of Mississippi. Pate was also involved in its design, working with architect Bob Cupp prior to the course’s opening in 1988.

While not a public venue in the style of Dancing Rabbit or Tunica National, Old Waverly does offer lodging in the form of cottages, villas and condos for members and guests in the small town of West Point in the northeast part of the state. Beautiful homes are in evidence around the course and the layout has also been recognized by both Golfweek and Golf Digest.

In addition to its attractive golf setting, the club has also been a popular site for corporate meetings, weddings and other special events.

All three facilities are different and have their own special features. There was one common threat, however. Mississippi has promoted itself as “the hospitality state,’’ and that was clearly evident at all three locations.

Medinah reflects on its Ryder Cup, looks to the future

This week the world golf spotlight in on Gleneagles in Scotland, where the 40th Ryder Cup matches begin on Friday. Don Larson, who was chairman of the 39th Ryder Cup at Medinah, headed overseas to witness how things unfold this time, but he’ll never forget that epic week at Medinah in September of 2012.

“Now it’s like going to someone else’s wedding,’’ said Larson, who was also the chairman of the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah and a leader in that tournament’s staging there in 2006.

All those big events were exciting, but none more so than the Ryder Cup.

“I can’t believe ours was two years ago,’’ said Larson. “It was a lifetime event for a lot of people. One thing is for certain: that tournament will be remembered for a long time.’’

Medinah has changed a bit since the European team’s gigantic rally in the singles matches on the final day deflated a U.S. team in dramatic fashion. Renovation work began on Medinah’s No. 1 course 13 hours after the last putt dropped on the No. 3 layout to conclude the Ryder Cup.

The next day director of golf Mike Scully resigned from Medinah to take a similar job at Desert Mountain in Arizona. Medinah’s membership has undergone minimal changes since the Ryder Cup, and the club has a few openings for new ones. Since the Ryder Cup is the biggest event in golf, it’s highly unlikely Medinah will ever host a bigger event and it figures to be quite awhile before any major event comes there.

“We’ve talked with both the USGA (U.S. Golf Assn.) and PGA (of America),’’ said Larson, “but they’re locked up way in advance now. A lot of clubs want to host tournaments, and the USGA and PGA can have their pick of locations now. We’ll have to see what’s offered us.’’

Medinah is one of only five clubs that have hosted a U.S. Open, a PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup. The U.S. Open came three times (1949, 1975, 1990) and the PGA twice (1999, 2006). The club is still attractive for select events and would probably be willing.

“They’re a big undertaking,’’ said Larson. “What sets us apart is our championship golf course, our location, a willing membership and our facility.’’

Not many clubs anywhere have the space and clubhouse that Medinah has, and those are necessities for golf’s biggest events. So, Medinah could well host a big one again.

“We’re definitely not an every year place (which would rule out a PGA Tour stop),’’ said Larson, “but an event every six-eight years years would work out.’’

In the meantime, the club members and their guests aren’t playing their famed No. 3 course as much as they once did. Tee times were hard to come by leading up to the Ryder Cup. To correct that the club hired Michigan architect Tom Doak to elevate the stature of its No. 1 layout, and he did a good job.

“People can walk out to play No. 3 now,’’ said Larson, “and the demand to play No. 1 is extreme. The newness will come off eventually, but its fun to play. It’s a great golf course, and people are really excited about it.’’

IPGA showdown

The Illinois PGA Player of the Year will likely be decided at the last of the second’s four major championships. The IPGA Players Championship will run Monday and Tuesday (SEPT 29-30) at Metamora Fields.

Curtis Malm, head professional at White Eagle in Naperville, owns a 14-point lead on Medinah assistant Travis Johns going in the Players event. Malm is seeking his third straight Player of the Year award.

Here and there

Matt Swan, formerly an assistant t Westmoreland in Wilmette, has been named the new head professional at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove.

The Illinois Super Senior Open concludes its two-day run on Wednesday at Pine Meadow in Mundelein.

Ed Whitaker, of downstate Tremont, won the Illinois State Senior Amateur last week at Royal Country Club of Long Grove. He had a four-stroke edge on Skoie’s Paul Hindsley.

Sainz’ title defense in Chicago Open is in limbo

Carlos Sainz Jr. will be the focal point of the Chicago Open, the last big tournament of the local season – assuming he plays, that is.

Sainz, 28, earned his PGA Tour card two weeks ago and the premier circuit’s 2014-15 season begins next week. The Chicago Open features a pro-am on Friday and tournament rounds Sunday through Tuesday (OCT 3-5) at Cantigny, in Wheaton.

The first event of the PGA Tour’s next season is the Frys.com Open, a California event that starts two days after the Chicago Open concludes. The problem is, Sainz hasn’t secured a place in the field for what might be his first PGA Tour event and he might not know if he’s in until the last minute.

Latest report is that he’s the No. 6 alternate in the Frys.com Open. He’s also the defending champion in the Chicago Open. The Frys.com Open has a $5 million prize fund. Last year’s Chicago Open paid $50,00 last year, but it does offer Sainz a competitive event. As a tour player, he must go where the money is, and he played tournaments 14 weeks in a row at one point this season.

In addition to playing lots of tournaments this year, he also found competition in Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Panama and Mexico in addition to the U.S. So, squeezing in events in Chicago and San Martin, Calif., in the same week isn’t that big a deal.

“I’ll play the Chicago Open unless I know I’m in the Frys,’’ said Sainz. “As of now I’m not. We’ll see how things go.’’

Sainz, who grew up in Elgin and attended Larkin High School before moving on to Mississippi State University, doesn’t have much priority on the PGA Tour’s performance list. He was No. 49 of the 50 qualifiers off the Web.com Tour’s advancement list. That means he’ll have trouble getting into the big-money PGA Tour events.

“I’ll get into 15-20 events,’’ he said. “It comes down to, when I get in, I’ve got to be ready to play. It might be harder for me, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’ll get in enough events, in my eyes, to make it.’’

So, Sainz will be watching the priority list on a daily basis to see if enough players withdraw for him to compete. If enough drop out early enough he could skip the Chicago Open and head straight to California. He could also try to get into the Frys event via a Monday qualifying tournament, but he’d prefer competing in the Chicago Open to doing that.

“I’ll know where I stand,’’ he said. “Every tournament has between two and 10 guys withdraw. If I’m close I’ll play the Chicago Open, then head to California and practice there Wednesday and play in the tournament.’’

Sainz will face a similar dilemma for most of the season. In fact, he might not get into a PGA Tour event until January. His money total come September will determine where he plays next season. If he’s in the top 125 he’ll remain on the PGA Tour for another season. If not, he’ll be back to the Web.com Tour Finals, where he earned his PGA Tour card for this season.

The Chicago Open will be played for the 25th time, and is part of Cantigny’s 25th anniversary season. The Chicago Open, though has had an on-again, off-again history. The Illinois Junior Golf Assn. revived it last year as its primary fundraiser.

This year’s tourney has 147 entrants. In addition to Sainz they include Mark Hensby, former winner of the Illinois State Amateur, Illinois Open and PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic; Illinois men’s coach Mike Small, who won the Illinois PGA Championship for a record 11 times in August; and former Northwestern star Jack Perry.

Steinhauer’s bomb brings Handa Cup back to U.S.

WEST POINT, MS. – Given the Americans’ lack of success in the last three Ryder Cup matches and the last two Solheim Cups, Sunday’s U.S. victory in the ISPS Handa Cup represented a breath of fresh air.

Captain Nancy Lopez and her U.S. team celebrate the regaining of the Handa Cup.

The U.S. had struggled in the previous two Handa Cups, the premier team event put on by the LPGA Legends Tour. After six straight victories the World teams managed a tie with the U.S. in 2012 and its first victory in 2013.

This year’s ninth staging was up for grabs after the teams battled to a 12-12 tie after Saturday’s best ball and alternate shot matches. In Sunday’s 12 singles matches, however, it was a different story. The U.S. got the better of those, winning 28-20 to take a 7-1-1 edge in the series.

Both teams sent out their big guns early. Reigning Scottish Open champion Trish Johnson was 5-under-par on the front nine en route to winning the day’s first match against Laurie Rinker, winner of the Legends Championship last month.

Beth Daniel put the U.S. ahead with a win over Lorie Kane in Match 2 and the third – a much anticipated duel between Juli Inkster, in her first Legends competition at age 54, and England’s Laura Davies was an epic.

Davies was 1-up before her tee shot went left at No. 9 and ended up a lost ball. She took a bogey to Inkster’s birdie, and Inkster never trailed again. She matched Johnson as the best player of the final day, touring Old Waverly Golf Club in 5-under par.

“I had a lot of chances,’’ said Inkster after catching fire on the same course on which she won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1999. “I had three-putted for bogey at the fifth and three-putted for double bogey at the seventh, so Laura owed me a little and I made some putts on the back nine. It all works out.’’

Inkster was delighted with her visit to the Legends and may play another event before the year is out.

“I enjoyed playing. I had a blast hanging out with the gals I grew up with and went to college with and played a lot of golf with. It’s been a lot of fun. I’d love to come back if they invited me back.’’

That’s certain to happen, and Inkster said she might play in November’s 36-hole Walgreen’s Charities Championship in Florida if she doesn’t make the field for an LPGA stop in Japan.

Inkster’s win over Davies gave the U.S. a 16-14 lead, and the groups playing behind them couldn’t keep pace. The U.S. seemed headed for victory at that point, though, leading in six of the remaining nine matches and standing all square in two others.

The World team got within 19-17 after more matches were completed but Pat Bradley’s gutty double bogey on the last hole, which netted a point for a tied match with Alison Nicholas, kept the U.S. comfortably in front at 24-18.

“If ever there was a good double bogey, that was it,’’ said Bradley. “I wanted to show all the youngsters here that you should never give up.’’

She didn’t, and Sherri Steinhauer clinched the Cup for the U.S. in the next match with a dramatic 30-foot putt on the last hole against Alicia Dibos.

“I remember some advice I received when we were way down,’’ said Steinhauer. “Get your point, get your point, get your point! My goal was just to get my point.’’

Steinhauer hadn’t played a competitive round since getting a bad break in August’s Legends Championship at French Lick, in Indiana. She shot a course record 63 in the second round at the challenging Pete Dye Course to get within striking distance of leader Rinker, but the final round was rained out and Rinker was declared the champion.

Since that near miss Steinhauer suffered torn cartilage in her ribs and wasn’t sure if she could play at Old Waverly.

“I was so excited to come here,’’ she said. “This was all about playing as a team, and our team just jelled. Any time you play for your country you want to play well.’’

The last two matches couldn’t affect the team outcome, and both Old Waverly owner George Bryan and Legends chief executive office Jane Blalock said they’d welcome a return to the beautiful Mississippi club.

“I hope it happens,’’ said World captain Sally Little, despite admitting “their team beat ours at our best.’’

“It’s been a fun week,’’ said U.S. captain Nancy Lopez. “This competition was special. Our team played its heart out. We had to really play well.’’

Davies-Johnson duo dominates first day of Handa Cup

WEST POINT, MS. – Juli Inkster received a rude welcome in her debut on the LPGA Legends Tour on Saturday.

Winner of seven major titles in a Hall of Fame career on the LPGA circuit, Inkster partnered with Meg Mallon in both of her matches in the ninth annual ISPS Handa Cup at Old Waverly Golf Club – the site of Inkster’s first win in the U.S. Women’s Open in 1999.

The Inkster-Mallon team drew the World team’s premier pairing, Laura Davies and Trish Johnson, and the U.S. pair was no match for them. In fact, no team was in the first day of the two-day competition that concludes with 12 singles matches on Sunday.

Davies and Johnson were 5-under-par in winning their best ball match with Inkster and Mallon on Old Waverly’s front nine. Matchups were shuffled for the afternoon nine-hole matches, played in a modified alternate shot format.

The format change didn’t cool off the Davies-Johnson team. They were also 5-under in polishing off the U.S. team of Val Skinner and Rosie Jones in the last match of the day. The result created a 12-12 tie, meaning today’s singles matches will decide who gets the Handa Cup.

Davies, Johnson and eight other members of the current World team also played last year, when the U.S. was beaten for the first time. The U.S. still leads the series 6-1-1, but the World squad has a draw and victory in the last two.

Inkster and Mallon recovered from their morning defeat to defeat Liselotte Neumann and Alicia Dibos in the first match of the afternoon session. The U.S. trailed 7-5 after the morning session and the Inkster-Mallon effort was a springboard to tying up the competition at the end of the day.

Davies and Johnson have been factors on more than just the Legends circuit, for players who have reached their 45th birthday, this season. The long-hitting Davies finished in the top 10 at the Women’s British Open and Johnson won the Scottish Open.

That dynamic duo was broken up for singles play, but World captain Sally Little put them in prominent positions for the final day of the competition as well. Little had first choice in the pairings decisions for Sunday, and she opted to send Johnson out first.

U.S. captain Nancy Lopez will send Laurie Rinker against Johnson. Lopez then named Beth Daniel for the second match, where she’ll face Lorie Kane. Little came back with Davies in the third match. Her opponent? Inkster.

That could be the match of the day, as the World squad hopes to retain the Cup with a strong singles showing much like it produced last year in a 27-21 win at Hermitage in Nashville, Tenn.

Daniel was sent out first by then-U.S. captain Joanne Carner against Davies last year. Daniel took a stirring victory, but the World squad was better the rest of the way.

Notably absent from last year’s winning World side is Australian Jan Stephenson, who rolled in the 30-foot putt on the final green in the next-to-the-last match to clinch her team’s first Cup win. Stephenson is here, but pulled out of the competition on Friday due to a wrist injury.

Dawn Coe Jones, who is Little’s assistant captain, stepped into the lineup as Stephenson’s replacement and was a factor in Day 1. Playing with different partners, her teams earned points for halving both of their matches. Last year Jones was scheduled to play but came up with an injury. She helped her team win by working as a caddie instead.