Author: lenz

ILLINOIS STATE AMATEUR: Tee-K Kelly is halfway to a sweep

ROCKFORD – Tee-K Kelly had an inkling this would be his week at the 83rd Illinois State Amateur golf championship at Aldeen Golf Club.

“I told my Dad on the first day that this was the most nervous I’ve been in a long time, because I knew I had a shot to win,’’ he said. “And a couple weeks ago I made it my goal to win the State Am and the State Open back-to-back as an amateur.’’

Now Kelly is halfway there. He won the three-day Amateur on Thursday and can complete the sweep next week in the 64th Illinois Open, which tees off on Monday at The Glen Club in Glenview. The only player to win both titles in the same year was David Ogrin in 1980.

On Thursday Kelly overcame two rivals who owned two-stroke leads during final round before posting his 7-under-par 281 total for the tourney’s 72 holes. Kelly had a three-stroke edge on Springfield’s Jake Erickson, a recent Southern Illinois University graduate, and Lincolnshire’s Jack Watson, who will enter his junior season at Wisconsin in the fall..

Erickson was up two after seven holes, but put his tee shot in the water at No. 8 and made double bogey. Watson, Kelly’s playing partner, was two ahead with six to play when he splashed his tee shot at the par-3 13th and made triple bogey.

Kelly hit a 7-iron tee shot from 179 yards to eight feet at the same hole and made the birdie putt, creating a four-shot swing that put Kelly at the top of the leaderboard.

“I could tell things got a little more edgy at that point,’’ said Kelly, who completed a less-than-satisfactory freshman season at Ohio State in the spring after being named Co-Player of the Year in the DuPage Valley Conference as a high school senior at Wheaton-Warrenville South.

“I got off to a hot start (at Ohio State) in the fall,’’ said Kelly, “but I struggled with my swing in the spring. It put a lot of doubt in my mind.’’

He was able to work through those doubts at his home club, Medinah, and won his biggest title yet on Thursday. His mother, Blue Kinander Kelly, also grew up at the club that hosted last September’s Ryder Cup matches. She helped Tulsa to an NCAA title in 1988 before winning the Chicago Women’s District Golf Assn. championship seven times.

For Watson the letdown on the final nine produced a feeling of déjà vu. In last year’s State Am he played in the final group in the last round and shot 78 as Glenview’s Quinn Prchal took the title a few weeks before entering his freshman year at Princeton University. Prchal tied for seventh in his title defense.

“Unfortunately a bitter taste again,’’ said Watson, who sat out last year’s college season after making his third transfer. He started at Kansas State, then went to Kent State. He’ll have two seasons of eligibility with the Badgers.

DOWNSTATE ILLINOIS: Rock River is steeped in history

ROCK FALLS, IL. — I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for golf history. That explains why it seemed a good idea to stop by what had been Rock River Country Club en route to the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic in Silvis, about 40 miles further west.

Officially known now as Rock River Golf & Pool, the facility is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2013.

How many courses in downstate Illinois are still around after 100 years?

Several clubs in the Chicago suburbs have long past their year No. 100. The Downers Grove golf course was America’s first 18-hole course when it opened in 1892. It was reduced to a nine-holer long ago and is now owned by the Downers Grove Park District.

That course was originally called Chicago Golf Club, and its members soon wanted a better facility so they built another 18-holer in Wheaton in 1893 and that layout is now considered America’s first 18-hole layout. Private clubs Onwentsia, Midlothian and Glen View also opened before 1900 as did Jackson Park, which became the first public course in the Midwest in 1899.

The Rock River visit, though, showed that golf clubs thrived in downstate Illinois a century ago, too. Probably the best example of that is in Rock Island, where the Arsenal Golf Club has a course dating to 1897. It was a private club serving military personnel until 2010. Now the sporty layout on the Mississippi River is open to the public.

Rock River, however, is something different and we got a bigger dose of its history purely by accident. A day after our visit the course hosted the Ladies Lincoln Highway tournament. It’s almost as rich in history as the course it was played on this year. The 36-hole Ladies Lincoln Highway event is the longest-running ladies tournament of its kind in the United States and many of this year’s players were preparing for it when we played our round on the course.

First held in 1923 at Dixon Country Club, the tourney came to Rock River in 1925 and it had a notable caddie – Ronald Reagan – in its early years. He spent his childhood growing up in Dixon and the surrounding communities. Sandi Ivey, co-chairman of the Ladies Lincoln Highway event, provided pictorial evidence of the future U.S. President’s involvement as a bag-toter for the women golfers.

Some women have played in the Ladies Lincoln Highway tournament for more than 40 years, and some who can’t play anymore still turn out to watch.

This year’s Ladies Lincoln Highway tourney had some history made as well. Ember Schuldt, a 21-year old University of Illinois senior from Sterling’s Emerald Hill course, shot 68-67 to win the tournament for the eighth straight year. Her father Don was her caddie in the first round and her brother Frank was on the bag for the second.

Schuldt, who has played in the event every year since she was 13, won by six shots over Connie Ellett of Kishwaukee, in DeKalb. Schuldt’s latest win served as a springboard. Two days later she finished second in a qualifying event for the U.S. Women’s Amateur, so she’ll be playing in the finals of that national championship at Charleston, S.C., from Aug. 5-11.

The designer of may be a mystery, but he knew how to incorporate some beautiful views of the Rock River into his course.

A stop at Rock River is well worth it if you’re cruising down Rt. 88. The course is just off the Rock Falls exit and has a Supper Club that serves tasty, fairly-priced cuisine and offers a friendly atmosphere. The course is a bargain, too; these two seniors paid $30 total for an 18-hole walking round that included pull carts. Rock River doesn’t have any steep hills and the greens and tees are close together (except for the area between nines), so it’s a fun walking course. You don’t find many better courses for walkers.

Unlike most of the old Chicago clubs, Rock River’s history is sketchy. The course was built on farmland. It was limited to seven holes initially but quickly was expanded to nine for its opening in September, 1913. Those holes comprise the present front nine, which measures 2,707 yards from the tips.

Most memorable hole on either nine is No. 7, an uphill par-3 with water left and trees right, but the most striking features of the course are the views of the Rock River.

There’s one par-5 on each nine, the longer one being No. 11, at 485 yards. The back side, built in the 1960s, is notably longer than the front at 3,213 yards but the whole course is still under 6,000 (official yardage is 5,920).

A private club for most of its existence, Rock River is now open to the public. While the owners have plenty of photographic memorabilia to chronicle the course’s past, no one could name the course architects.

Illinois’ two biggest tournaments are now back-to-back

The Chicago District Golf Assn. revamped its tournament schedule this year, and the biggest change comes this week when the men’s 83rd Illinois State Amateur tees off a month earlier than previous years.

It began a three-day 72-hole run at Aldeen, in Rockford, on Tuesday. After its conclusion on Thursday many of the same players will head for The Glen Club in Glenview, where the 64th Illinois Open tees off on Monday.

Both tourneys are steeped in history, and the back-to-back scheduling puts Glenview’s Quinn Prchal in the spotlight first. He was one of the youngest-ever winners in the State Amateur last year. Then 18, he took the title shortly after his graduation from Glenbrook South High School. He’ll try to defend after a successful freshman season at Princeton University, during which he was named the Ivy League’s Rookie of the Year.

Prchal broke a string of five straight State Am titles for Big Ten golfers. This time he’ll try to become the first repeat champion since Todd Mitchell of Bloomington ruled in 2002-03. Mitchell, who is also in the field at Aldeen, is one of only three players to win back-to-back since the tournament went to a stroke play format in 1963. The other two – Bob Zender and D.A. Points – went on to become regulars on the PGA Tour.

The State Am has 137 starters, 114 of whom earned their spots at 10 state-wide qualifying rounds. Among the 23 players exempt from those was Aurora’s Bryce Emory, who won the CDGA Amateur and will try to become the fifth player to sweep the CDGA’s two premier titles in the same year. Those who accomplished that feat were Dave Huske (1963), Mike Milligan (1974), Dave Ogrin (1980) and Joel Hirsch (1988).

Prchal also entered the Illinois Open, but he won’t be in the spotlight at The Glen unless he wins at Aldeen. The player to watch in the Open is Illinois coach Mike Small, who will try again for a fifth title to tie Gary Pinns for the most wins in tourney history.

Small won for the last time in 2007 and was runner-up the next two years. Pinns won his last crown in 1990.

A record-tying win would be in keeping with the great year Small has enjoyed. In June he guided his Illini to a fifth straight Big Ten title and a runner-up finish in the NCAA championship. Then he tied for fourth in the Professional Players National Championship in Oregon, a feat that earned him another berth in August’s PGA Championship and a spot on the U.S. team for September’s PGA Cup matches against Europe in England.

In October Small, 47, will become the youngest inductee into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame.

All of Small’s Illinois Open wins came at The Glen, which will host the tourney for a record eighth time next week. The tourney was played there from 2002-2007 and returned in 2012, when Chicago mini-tour player and Notre Dame graduate Max Scodro took the title in a five-hole playoff with 2010 winner Eric Meierdierks.

Meierdierks earned his PGA Tour card last fall and won’t return to this year’s Illinois Open where 156 players will tee off on Monday. The field, which includes a much more than usual 71 amateurs, will be cut to the low 50 and ties after Tuesday’s round. The survivors will play another 18 on Wednesday to decide the champion.

In the Illinois State Amateur the cut will come after Wednesday’s round, with the low 30 and ties or any player within 10 strokes of the lead going 36 holes on Thursday before the winner is crowned.

Did you know?

Bloomington’s Lauren English, runner-up in the recent Illinois Women’s Amateur, defeated Michigan’s Samantha Troyanovich, the reigning Illinois Women’s Open champion, in the round of 64 at last week’s Women’s Western Amateur in Dayton, Ohio. English was eliminated in the round of 32. Troyanovich will begin defense of her IWO title at Mistwood in Romeoville on July 31.

The Mount Prospect-based Bricton Group has taken over management of the Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa in Galena. Texas-based Touchstone Golf will manage Eagle Ridge’s four courses.

The Encompass Championship, which brought the Champions Tour back to Chicago for the first time since 2002 last month, has announced June 16-22 dates for 2014. The event will return to North Shore in Glenview.

JDC: Spieth becomes PGA Tour’s first teenage champion in 82 years

SILVIS, IL. – It’s not unusual for golfers to get their first PGA Tour victory at the John Deere Classic. Jordan Spieth became the 19th player in the tourney’s 43-year history to do it on Sunday.

Spieth’s win, though, was different from all the others – a lot different.

Still two weeks away from his 20th birthday Spieth became the first teenager to win a PGA Tour event in 82 years. Ralph Guldahl was also 19 when he won the Santa Monica Open, a match play tournament staged at Riviera Country Club in 1931.

Until his two-foot par putt dropped on the fifth hole of a sudden death playoff Spieth wasn’t event a PGA Tour member. He left college after helping Texas to the NCAA title as a freshman and has been getting into PGA Tour events through sponsor exemptions. JDC director Clair Peterson gave Spieth such invites the last two years and he was still an amateur when he tied for 58th last year.

On Sunday he started the day six shots behind leader Daniel Summerhays with little hope of winning.

“I didn’t think I was in contention. I thought I’d have to shoot eight- or nine-under, and then I made bogey on the first hole,’’ said Spieth. “After that I just battled and grinded.’’

And, he got very lucky.

Spieth holed a bunker shot on the last hole of regulation play, the ball dropping on one bounce to complete a 6-under-par 65.

“The luckiest shot of my life,’’ said Spieth. “It was going six-seven feet past.’’

He wound up in a playoff when defending champion Zach Johnson made bogey on his last hole and Canadian David Hearn put his drives on the last two holes in the rough and couldn’t make birdie on either one. Spieth made birdies on five of his last six holes, but more tension was ahead.

In the three-man playoff Johnson had a chip to win hit the flagstick and stay out of the hole. Hearn had two putts inside 10 feet to win, but they wouldn’t fall, either, and when all three players put their drives in the right trees on the fifth extra hole only Spieth was left with a clear shot to the green.

“I dodged multiple bullets,’’ admitted Spieth. “I don’t know what I did to deserve those breaks, but I got so lucky. I was just swinging free. I had no nerves.’’

At least not until the playoff wound down. Once he had the playoff won there was the matter of making last-minute plans to board the JDC jet to this week’s British Open in Scotland. Spieth would haven’t been eligible for the year’s third major championship had he not won on Sunday. He figured the magnitude of his win would hit him on the flight across the pond. He never expected the success he’s had as a rookie pro.

“I had a plan, and it got exceeded,’’ he said “I just wanted to earn my tour card this year.’’

Now he’s all the way up to No. 11 in the FedEx Cup point race and assured a spot in next year’s Masters and most of the other big tournaments. Not bad for a young player who got into 17 PGA Tour events via invites or qualifiers and made 12 cuts. Sunday’s win was his fifth top-10 finish on the premier circuit and it earned him $828,000 from the JDC’s $4.6 million purse.

As for the two local players who made the cut, neither Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti (68, tie for 33rd) or Winfield’s Kevin Streelman (71, tie for 44th) were part of the day-long excitement. Streelman had a disappointing weekend, settling for two par rounds before joining 27 other players on the flight from the Quad Cities Airport directly to British Open.

Affrunti at least had an interesting finish. His playing partner, Dicky Pride, was stung by a bee on the 17th hole and wanted immediate treatment. They needed 40 minutes to play the final hole after letting the twosome behind them play through.

JDC: Changing of the guard after Summerhays shoots 62?

SILVIS, IL. – Could Sunday bring a changing of the guard at the John Deere Classic? Saturday’s developments at TPC Deere Run certainly suggested that’s a strong possibility.

Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker, the poster boys for the PGA Tour stop over the last four years, fell off the pace in the third round as up-and-comers Daniel Summerhays and David Hearn moved to the top of the leaderboard.

Summerhays posted the day’s best score, a 9-under-par 62, and hit the 54-hole stop at 19-under 194. Hearn, like Summerhays a non-winner on the PGA circuit, carded a 64 and is two strokes back.

Defending champion Johnson is hardly out of it after posting a 67, but he’s three behind Summerhays and won’t be in the final twosome the last round.

“I’ve got the advantage on them from the experience standpoint, but not the scoring standpoint,’’ said Johnson, an Iowa native who has long been on the tournament’s board of directors. “Both are great players. I hope they’re intimidated by me, but I doubt it. I’m not a very intimidating figure. My guess is they’ll come out firing. I can’t image they wouldn’t.’’

As for three-time winner Stricker, he couldn’t make a birdie in the first nine Saturday – a rarity on a course that yields plenty of them – and is nine shots back after carding a 69

“Playing the front nine and watching everybody just lap me, that was tough to see,’’ said Stricker, who went 11 holes without a bird but still holds out hope for Sunday. “I’ll just have to put up a low number, and they’re out there.’’

Summerhays and Hearn both started birdie-birdie on Saturday and kept up the hot pace. Summerhays made nine birdies. He isn’t qualified for next week’s British Open, but he’ll be on Sunday night’s jet to Scotland if he wins the tournament.

That’d mean a radical change in travel for the Brigham Young University graduate who delayed his golf career to serve a two-year Mormon Mission in Chile in 2003-05. He’s been traveling to tournaments in a motor home the past four years with his wife and three young sons, the oldest of whom is 5.

Summerhays comes from a golfing family. He’s the nephew of Bruce Summerhays, a Champions Tour player, and his brother Boyd plays on the Canadian PGA Tour. Summerhays is also the cousin of former LPGA player Carrie Roberts, who is now the women’s golf coach at BYU.

Prior to turning pro Summerhays became the first amateur to win a tournament on the Nationwide (now Buy.com) Tour. He hopes the JDC will be his first on the PGA circuit, and pictures of past champions on the clubhouse wall are serving as inspiration.

“This tournament has been a good launching pad for a lot of players,’’ said Summerhays, who enjoys interacting with the galleries and did plenty of it during his hot round on Saturday.

“When I’m playing well my mentality is to make as many birdies as you can,’’ he said. That mindset is a necessity at one of the PGA Tour’s lowest-scoring tournaments. Eight of the players in the top 10 shot 66 or better in the third round.

Winfield’s Kevin Streelman and Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti, the Chicago players who made the cut, couldn’t do it and dropped down the standings. Affrunti nearly holed out at the par-3 17th, putting his tee shot one foot from the cup, but he posted a 69 and dropped 12 places into a tie for 38th place.

Streelman struggled home with a 71 and dropped 19 spots, to a tie for 24th.

JDC: Zach Johnson doesn’t need to be perfect to retain lead

SILVIS, IL. – Zach Johnson is not only on the board of directors for the John Deere Classic, he’s also the defending champion.

Those roles might seem a burden for the PGA Tour’s leading member from nearby Iowa, but so far Johnson’s kept his focus. He tacked a second round 66 to the 64 he posted in the first and his 12-under-par 130 has the 2007 Masters champion at the top of the leaderboard entering Saturday’s third round at TPC Deere Run.

There’s only one problem. Plenty of other players have gone low in this annual birdie-fest, too. Johnson shared the first round lead with Camilo Villegas and was tied for the top spot with Lucas Glover and Patrick Reed at the $4.8 million tourney’s halfway point on Friday.

Johnson’s presence, though, looms large with the huge galleries that turned out for the first two rounds. His driving wasn’t as good on Friday as it was on Thursday, but – in a critical part of his round – Johnson made par saves on holes 5-7 and then chipped in at No. 8.

“My short game was tremendous. I putted great,’’ said Johnson. “I know I can play well around here. I like the fact that I don’t have to be perfect.’’

Johnson has 18 straight rounds in the 60s at TPC Deere Run and Friday’s was his ninth bogey-free card, a record for the tourney that was first played in 1971 and has been a low-scoring affair ever since even when course changes were made.

Chev Reavie, who is three strokes off the lead, shot 61 on Friday. Glover had 62 and Reed 63.

“Having me at the top of the leaderboard is pretty irrelevant to them,’’ said Johnson who had a tie for second in 2009 and a tie for third in 2011 – years in which Steve Stricker was accomplishing a three-peat. Johnson ended Stricker’s run while beating Troy Matteson in a two-hole sudden death playoff for the title last year.

Stricker, playing with Johnson the first two rounds, uncharacteristically three-putted the last hole from 13 feet on Friday, the bogey dropping him three off the lead instead of the one it would have been had he rolled in his birdie putt. Still, with 36 holes to play, Stricker’s not out of it but he won’t be paired with Johnson for the first weekend round.

“He’s playing great,’’ said Stricker. “He’s obviously has a great feeling for this course, much like I do. It’s been fun playing with him and fun to feed off his energy and the crowd.’’

Also looming as a contender is Winfield’s Kevin Streelman, who shot his second straight 66 on Friday and is two off the lead. Four players scored better, but Streelman’s ball-striking has been almost flawless. He hit 14 of 14 fairways on Friday and 31 of 36 greens in regulation in the first two rounds.

Streelman spent several days with Cog Hill putting guru Kevin Weeks and claimed one of Weeks’s putters for the JDC. He’s in position to win for the second time this season if his two 5-under rounds carry over to the weekend.

“It’s where we need to be,’’ said Streelman. “I wanted to average 5-under each round. That would give us a chance at the end on Sunday.’’

Bradley, bigger foreign contingent give JDC strongest field ever

Zach Johnson’s title defense and three-time winner Steve Stricker’s return to the PGA Tour may be the focal points of the John Deere Classic, which tees off Thursday in Silvis, IL., on the outskirts of the Quad Cities.

The 43-year old $4.6 million championship, though, may have its best field ever thanks to the first-ever participation of major champions Keegan Bradley and Trevor Immelman. It doesn’t hurt that Ryo Ishikawa, the young Japanese sensation, is also making his first appearance in the U.S. event immediately preceding the British Open.

Bradley won the 2011 PGA Championship and Immelman the 2008 Masters. They’re among 11 winners of major championships who will be boarding the jet from the Quad Cities Airport on Sunday night for the direct flight to Scotland and the third major championship of 2013 at Muirfield.

The JDC field was immediately upgraded when director Clair Peterson ordered the first chartered jet to the British in 2008.

“The charter has made it possible for us to attract more international players who may or may not be exempt for the British Open,’’ said Peterson. “It’s no secret that golf is an international game, and the jet enables us to compete for players we might not have been able to attract before we had it.’’

Never has the JDC foreign contingent been as strong as it is this year. That 39-player group includes 11 Australians and seven Koreans including Si Woo Kim – the youngest player to graduate through the PGA Tour’s qualifying school. He was 17 when he survived the rigorous 90-hole competition but couldn’t compete until he turned 18. The JDC will be his first tournament.

Of the six players from Sweden among the 156 starters are JDC rookies Jonas Blixt (winner of the Greenbriar Classic on Sunday), Peter Hanson, Robert Karlsson and Henrik Norlander. Nine players in the field are exempt for the British and more could get in through their play at TPC Deere Run.

The tourney has a Thursday-Sunday run. It’s the PGA Tour’s only summer visit to Illinois; the BMW Championship stops at Conway Farms in Lake Forest in September.

Another Senior Open for Sobb

Ivanhoe pro Jim Sobb has qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, which tees off Thursday at Omaha Country Club in Nebraska. He made it to the 50-and-over major championship by finishing second in a 58-player sectional elimination in Minnesota.

Sobb, who also qualified for the Senior Open in 2006 and 2009, had some heart-breaking match play losses this spring. He bowed in 21 holes to Gary Groh of Bob O’Link in the Illinois PGA Senior Match Play final after losing a semifinal to Biltmore’s Doug Bauman in the section’s regular Match Play event.

Joining Sobb at Omaha will be Blue Island’s Jerry Vidovic, who got into the Senior Open as first alternate at the Chicago sectional, held at Ruth Lake in Hinsdale. Vidovic got a spot in the field when Olin Browne withdrew.

Singhsumalee hopes to go national

Naperville’s Bing Singhsumalee, the 16-year old champion of this year’s Illinois Women’s Amateur, heads the field in Wednesday’s sectional qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Biltmore, in North Barrington.

State amateur champions of previous last two years – Nora Lucas (2011) and Elizabeth Szokol (2012)– are also in the 62-player field that competes for seven berths in the finals at Country Club of Charleston in South Carolina.

When Singhsumalee won her state title she was believed to be the youngest winner of the 80-year old tournament. The Illinois Women’s Golf Assn. made a further check of its records, however, and found that nine-time winner Lois Drafke was only 15 when she won for the first time in 1953.

Did you know?

Matt Fitzpatrick, a Northwestern recruit from Sheffield, England, qualified for next week’s British Open. Fitzpatrick, who will be an NU freshman in the fall, survived a 36-hole elimination to play at Muirfield.

The men’s three-day Illinois State Amateur tees off next Tuesday at Aldeen in Rockford. Princeton University sophomore Quinn Prchal, from Glenview, is defending champion.

LZOG adds a fifth partner — Brian Weis’ GolfTrips and GolfWisconsin

Lenziehmongolf.com is delighted to announce another partnership agreement, this one with veteran Wisconsin golf writer Brian Weis.

Weis is publisher of GolfTrips.com – a network of golf travel and directory sites that include
GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfers.com and GolfAlabama.com.

Brian Weis’ websites expand our Travel options.

His venture into golf began in 2004 with the launching of GolfWisconsin.com. Its success spurred the creation of a network of sites, and GolfTrips.com was born in 2007.

Weis is a member of Golf Writers Assn. of America, International Network of Golf, Golf Travel Writers of America and International Golf Travel Writers of America.

With the addition of Weis, the lenziehmongolf.com website has partnerships with five golf sites. Two others are travel-focused – GolfNow Chicago, published by Indiana resident Cheryl Justak, and HackersCentral, published by Minnesota’s Bruce Stasch. Now Wisconsin is covered, too.

All partner sites are a bit different in scope. Rory Spears (Golfersongolf) and Tim Cronin (IllinoisGolfer) are both Chicago-based and focus primarily on golf developments in Illinois.

Here’s some tips for your visit to the John Deere Classic

It’s almost here now, the only annual Illinois stop on the PGA Tour.

Yes, the John Deere Classic is something special. Those visiting the spiffy TPC Deere Run course in Silvis, on the outskirts of the Quad Cities, will realize that in a hurry if they’re first-time visitors to this July 8-14 shootout.

The JDC is one of the few medium-size markets left on the PGA Tour. Milwaukee and Detroit lost their longstanding tournaments in recent years, but that won’t happen to the JDC as long as John Deere is around to sponsor the biggest sports event near its home base, roughly a two-hour drive from the Chicago city limits.

John Deere wasn’t always the sponsor. The tourney started as the Quad Cities Open in 1972 when Deane Beman – later the commissioner of the PGA Tour – won the title by beating Tom Watson. The tourney was held at Crow Valley, a private club in Bettendorf, Ia., the first three years.

In 1975 the event moved to another private facility, Oakwood in Coal Valley, IL., and remained at the short (6,602 yards) facility until 1999. Then one of the tourney’s former champions, D.A. Weibring (1991, 1995), completed design work on TPC Deere Run. The course has immediately been a favorite of PGA Tour players.

Sponsors came and went until John Deere took over in 1999 in a match made in sponsor heaven. Not only is the well-established Deere & Company a fixture in nearby Moline, it’s also the PGA Tour’s official equipment supplier, landscape products supplier, course equipment leasing company and official irrigation supplier. Its roots in professional golf run deep.

Over the years the tourney has grown with the times. It delivers a $20 million economic impact to the Quad Cities annually and fulfilled its main goal: helping local charities.

Last year the JDC donated $6.79 million to 493 charities. That put the JDC in the top 10 on the PGA Tour in overall charity dollar donations and it ranked No. 1 on the circuit in per capita fundraising. The PGA Tour recognized that accomplishment in declaring the Quad Cities its Most Engaged Community of 2012.

In recent years the tourney has been blessed with extraordinarily good story lines, a big help for tournament director Clair Peterson in promoting the event beyond the Quad Cities area.

The popular Steve Stricker won the tournament three years in a row, from 2009 through 2011. Last year his bid for an extremely rare four-peat was followed world-wide. Though Stricker was the main attraction, the tourney also was the scene for a PGA record round of 59 by Paul Goydos during the Stricker reign and the last two championships were climaxed by spectacular finishes.

Stricker achieved his three-peat by getting up-and-down from a fairway bunker in 2011 to edge Kyle Stanley and Zach Johnson, every bit as popular a winner as Stricker was, put a 6-iron from that same bunker (193 yards away) to within a foot of the cup to win a sudden death playoff with Troy Matteson last year.

This year Johnson, a long-time JDC board member who grew up in Cedar Rapids, IA., will try to become the fourth player to win the tournament in consecutive years.

Peterson can’t expect similarly spectacular finishes this year. That would be asking a lot, but don’t bet against it. The atmosphere at the JDC is always pleasant, no matter who wins. Here’s some tips to make your visit even more enjoyable:

BE PREPARED to walk at least a little bit. The views of the course from spots near the Rock River (my favorite is from the No. 4 green) are spectacular. Plus, there are plenty of players worth watching. Johnson and Stricker are the main ones, with Stricker making one of his few appearances of 2012 after deciding to cut back on his schedule.

There are some other guys who won tournaments this year – Boo Weekley (Colonial), Kevin Streelman (Tampa Bay), D.A. Points (Houston), Derek Ernst (Wells Fargo) and Sang-Moon Moon Bae (Byron Nelson). Some other recent past JDC champions – Sean O’Hair, John Senden and Jonathan Byrd – will also be competing, and if you want to see a star of the future check out Steven Ihm. He’s a junior at the University of Iowa and the first Hawkeyes’ collegian in the 43-year history of the tournament to receive a sponsor’s exemption.

EVENTUALLY finding a seat will be necessary. Obviously one behind the No. 18 green is ideal, but there are other good ones. If you can wangle admission to a hospitality tent the best viewing is behind the green at No. 16 – the par-3 along the Rock River.

On the front nine there’s good viewing behind the green at No. 4 and along the fairway at No. 9 – a par-4 that figures to be the toughest hole on the course. I also enjoy a spot near the green at the short par-4 14th on the back side. This hole is reachable off the tee for the PGA stars and the elevation changes around the green make for interesting viewing.

YOU’LL probably get hungry, too. The tournament became legendary for its pork chop sandwiches long before it settled at TPC Deere Run. Fortunately tournament organizers recognized that, and the pork chop sandwiches are still on sale around the 16th green, 17th tee and 18th green. They’re not to be missed.

Also, new this year is the Greenside Club, an air-conditioned sports bar beside the 18th green. You might want to check it out, too.

WANT A BARGAIN? Go to TPC Deere Run on Monday or Tuesday. Admission is free on those days. Tuesday is also ideal for youngsters, as Chick-fil-A Youth Day Activities will be going on all day and the Dan Boever Youth Golf Show will be staged on the driving range at 2 p.m.

Seniors (60 or older) get in for $18 on Thursday – the first round of the tournament. Children 12 and under are free when accompanied by a paid adult and those 13-18 can get in for half price at the gate.

Ticket prices aren’t bad anyway — $24 for any one day admission Wednesday through Sunday and $34 for one day clubhouse admission. Other ticket options are available through the tournament office.

PARKING? There’s a fee, but not a big one. General parking is $5 and you get a free shuttle to the main gate. VIP parking is $10, with the free shuttle taking you to the clubhouse.

Those money amounts aren’t hefty, but the players will be playing for big bucks. Their purse is $4.6 million with the champion getting $828,000.

Add Palmer Cup to the big events Jerry Rich is bringing to Sugar Grove

Big golf events used to be commonplace in Chicago. Now, not so much.

No U.S. Opens or PGA Championships are scheduled in these parts. The PGA Tour comes only every other year, for the BMW Championship. The LPGA and Buy.com Tour no longer make annual stops here. Only the Champions Tour, with its new Encompass Championship, offers that.

Enter Jerry Rich. His influence on the golf landscape is a broad one.

He built his own course, Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove – and it’s one of the best in the country. He’s also been a leader in growing the game, thanks to his non-profit Kids Golf Foundation that has impacted the lives of 150,000 youth since its founding in 1998. The respected caddie program at Rich Harvest has also helped in that regard.

Rich Harvest may be an ultra-private club, but Rich has used his course for numerous fundraisers, most notably the Bob Murphy Pro-Am that has been held the past 10 years.

The point of this piece, though, is what Rich has been doing lately. That’s extraordinary, too.

In January he was in Florida to participate in the announcement of a new LPGA event – the International Crown – at the massive PGA Merchandise Show. Less than six months later Rich was at the forefront of another announcement, when Arnold Palmer reported that his Palmer Cup event would be played at Rich Harvest in 2015.

Life hasn’t been easy for Rich the past few years. He won his own battle with cancer in the months leading up to Rich Harvest hosting its biggest event so far – the 2009 Solheim Cup battle between the LPGA teams from the U.S. and Europe. Then, last month Rich lost his wife Betty after her lengthy battle with health problems.

Through all that Rich has worked behind the scenes to underscore his commitment to amateur golf and keep the big events coming.

The Solheim – which brought 120,000 spectators to Sugar Grove — may have provided the biggest boost to Rich Harvest’s international profile, but prior to that the course hosted the Western Junior Championship and Mid-American Conference Championship in 2003 and 2012 and the NCAA Division I Central Regional in 2007. (The latter will return to Rich Harvest in 2014).

Even with the Palmer Cup and International Crown on the horizon, Rich Harvest will be the site of two more Western Golf Assn. championships – the Western Amateur in 2015 and the Centennial Western Junior in 2017.

Make no mistake, though. The Palmer Cup will take the course’s impact on college golf to a higher level and the International Crown will be the biggest event yet on Rich Harvest’s calendar. Those events may seem a bit far down the road now, but they will merit periodic updates leading up to their stagings. Let this be the first one.

The Palmer Cup dates to 1997, when the legendary Arnold Palmer created an annual Ryder Cup-style competition between the college stars of the U.S. and Europe.

“A unique event – the 10 best Americans against the 10 best European-born (college) players,’’ said Rich. “Arnold wants to bring it to a whole new level and raise a little more money, because they don’t have the sponsors in Europe that we have here.’’

Former PGA of America president Jim Awtrey contacted Rich on Palmer’s behalf in the winter of 2012. An agreement to host the event was made this spring.

In landing a Palmer Cup Rich Harvest joins the list of famous layouts that have hosted the competition. Past venues in the U.S. include Baltusrol, Kiawah, Whistling Straits and Cherry Hills while the matches in Europe have been held at St. Andrews, Royal Liverpool, Ballybunion, Prestwick, Royal Portrush and Royal County Down.

Past participants in the matches include Luke Donald, Russell Henley Jonathan Byrd, Lucas Glover, Ben Curtis, Hunter Mahan, Graeme McDowell, Dustin Johnson and Bill Haas. So, count on the pro stars of the future coming to Rich Harvest in 2015.

Rich went right from the Palmer Cup announcement, made during the 20 1/2-9 ½ U.S. victory in this year’s Palmer Cup at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club in June, to Baltimore for more meetings on the International Crown. This will also be a biennial team event, with LPGA stars from eight countries competing. This first staging will be at Cave’s Valley in Maryland in 2014.

“It’s going to be huge, the biggest thing that ever happened to the LPGA,’’ said Rich. “I told Mike Whan (LPGA commissioner) that he has one of the greatest products in the world and that we had to create an event that would bring the great players in. This way the American public can start identifying with these girls.’’

The rosters for each country will be determined on a two-year point system, and competition for both player and country to qualify for the event will be intense. That’ll become more evident as the inaugural International Crown approaches and determination of the 32 players and eight countries is on the line.

Though he was prominent in the creation of the event Rich didn’t want to host the first one. He wanted additional time to develop data that would be helpful in staging the event long-term That led to Rich and his staff gathering information on 1,800 girls high school teams in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. They’ll play a prominent role prior to and during the event’s staging at Rich Harvest.

Rich has given me an inkling of the exciting things coming down the road regarding the International Crown, but we’ll leave the announcements to him and his capable staff. Suffice it to say, Rich Harvest’s first venture with the International Crown probably won’t be its last.

“We’re hoping we can keep the International Crown here forever,’’ Rich said. “Mike Whan gave me until the end of the year to find sponsors, and possibly Rich Harvest could do it. Chicago needs that event, and I’d rather have these (players from different countries) come to Chicago.’’

More to the point, if big golf events are to be played here with any regularity Chicago needs the efforts of Jerry Rich to make it happen.