No golfer ever has had the success that Hale Irwin has enjoyed on Chicago courses. Not Fred Couples, not Mark O’Meara, not Bernhard Langer, not Tom Lehman, not even Illinois Golf Hall of Famer Jay Haas or Nick Price – the last winner of back-to-back Western Opens at Cog Hill back in the early 1990s….
Author: lenz
Nick Price returns to Champions Tour at Encompass event
Some of Nick Price’s best days in a Hall of Fame career on the PGA Tour came in Chicago, when he won back-to-back Western Opens at Cog Hill in 1993 and 1994. Price’s participation in this week’s new Encompass Championship is big news on the Champions Tour simply because he’s playing again. He hasn’t competed…
Couples, Lehman, two ex-Bulls give Encompass plenty of star power
Everything’s coming together for next week’s Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club in Glenview. Fred Couples and Tom Lehman have formally entered the first Champions Tour stop in Chicago since 2002, assuring the event one of the strongest fields on the 50-and-over circuit. The 81 starters include all of the top 10 on the…
Mistwood’s new Performance Center is spectacular
Mistwood Golf Club, the long-time Illinois Women’s Open site in Romeoville, closed early the last two years and opened a bit later than most of the other Chicago public courses this spring. Now those hard decisions, made by owner Jim McWethy and his veteran staff, are paying off. The August closings in 2011 and 2012…
Johnson’s JDC title defense is almost as captivating as Stricker’s was last year
Clair Peterson, tournament director for the John Deere Classic, has felt blessed – and with good reason. From 2009-2011 he had a very popular champion whose presence enhanced the interest in the JDC. Steve Stricker, from nearby Madison, Wis., tried to become only the fifth golfer in 140 years to win a major professional tournament…
Wait to get into U.S. Open begins for Medinah’s Travis Johns
Sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open, aptly dubbed “golf’s longest day,’’ was especially long for the Chicago players hoping to land a berth in the Open proper at Pennsylvania’s Merion course in two weeks. None made it through Monday’s 11 nation-wide 36-hole sectionals, and newly named Medinah assistant pro Travis Johns is the only one…
Chicago hopefuls talke U.S. Open dreams to St. Louis’ Old Warson
St. Louis was the site of the Senior PGA Championship, which concluded on Sunday, and it’ll also be the place of choice for the Chicago golfers who survived local qualifying for the 113th U.S. Open, to be played later this month at Merion in Ardmore, Pa. Old Warson Country Club, in St., Louis, will have…
SENIOR PGA: Kohki Idoki overcomes three Champions Tour superstars
ST. LOUIS – Who would have expected this? Three of the top stars in American golf were in position to win the 74th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club on Sunday. None did. The first major title of the year on the Champions Tour instead went to Kohki Idoki, a 5-foot 5-inch 136-pound Japanese golfer…
SENIOR PGA: Perry-Cochran scenario makes for a neat story
ST. LOUIS – It’s not unusual for the PGA to pair friends in the first two rounds of its tournaments. That’s why Kenny Perry and Russ Cochran played together in the first two rounds of the 74th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club. The results, though, don’t always come out they did on Thursday and…
TRAVERSE CITY, MICH.: Two resorts have withstood the tests of time
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Golf course openings are rare in these tough economic times. Three decades ago that wasn’t the case, but none back then were as celebrated as Jack Nicklaus’ The Bear at Grand Traverse Resort. Grand Traverse, then just five years old, took an extraordinary step when The Bear was ready for play….