Author: lenz

LPGA schedule is finally working in Jeray’s favor

Berwyn golfer Nicole Jeray spent most of the winter in Augusta, Ga., and she had a pass to get into last week’s spectacular Masters tournament there. The Chicago area’s lone member of the Ladies PGA Tour, however, had more important things to do.

“I could have gotten in off my LPGA pass, ‘’ said Jeray. “I’ve been to the Masters numerous times, but now I prefer to watch on TV. Plus, I’ve got work to do for my own tournaments.’’

Hopefully that work will pay off starting this week, when Jeray’s tournament schedule dramatically picks up. It’s hard to improve your golf game in Chicago winters, so Jeray has been staying with her boyfriend and practicing at Jones Creek – a challenging Rees Jones design near the site of the Masters. When the weather improves her she’ll do her practicing back at Cog Hill, where Jones recently renovated the Dubsdread course, and work with her long-time swing instructor, Dr. Jim Suttie.

At 42 Jeray is among the oldest players on the women’s circuit. She qualified for the first time after her 1992 graduation from Northern Illinois University, where she won eight collegiate tournaments – an accomplishment that led to her being the youngest inductee into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

As a professional, however, things haven’t come so easily. Not only was the competition much stiffer, but Jeray has had to deal with narcolepsy – a sleep disorder. Still, she remains the only LPGA card member from Chicago since Medinah’s Deedee Lasker, who competed briefly in the 1970s.

Jeray’s dedication and determination is extraordinary. She has been on and off the premier women’s circuit several times and has been to its fall qualifying school 19 times.

“Kind of crazy, isn’t it,’’ she said. “My game is better than it’s ever been. A lot of the girls now are 18 years old, but I’m a mature player. I feel I can compete.’’

Lending credence to that belief is her standing in one of the LPGA’s more important statistical categories. She is second among all LPGA players in driving accuracy, having hit 86 percent of the fairways in her first three tournaments.

“I’m very straight. I just need to putt,’’ she said. “When I putt I make money. I’ve tried all kinds of putters. Now I’m holding one that I feel I can make anything with, so we’ll see.’’

On years when she didn’t have LPGA privileges Jeray competed on the much less lucrative Symetra (formerly Futures) Tour. Her latest venture to Q-school was in December, when she tied for 17th among 122 finalists. It took her 90 holes of regulation play and five playoff holes to earn playing privileges in 2013.

Her current card, though, hasn’t gotten her into every tournament and she’s been in limbo the last four months. Just an alternate in the field for the season-opening tournament in Australia, she didn’t know she could play until a week before the event. She hurriedly made the long trip there, but missed the cut.

“I wasn’t prepared mentally or physically,’’ she said. “People were dropping out like flies, so I got in. Then at Phoenix I signed up for Monday qualifying and got in.’’

With an uncertain schedule Jeray has played in three of the year’s six events, missed the cut in all of them and hasn’t earned a dime yet. That could change starting this week, when her schedule solidifies. She’s playing the next three weeks – the Lotte Championship, which tees off Wednesday in Hawaii; the North Texas Shootout, April 25-28 in Dallas; and the Kingsmill Championship, May 2-5 in Virginia.

“It’s been frustrating. When I left Q-School I knew I’d get into a lot of events,’’ she said. “But from now on I should get into all of the full-field events the rest of the year.’’

Northwestern golfer breaks a Luke Donald record

Luke Donald was a three-time All-American and an NCAA champion for Northwestern before he went on to his brilliant career as a professional, which included his earning the status of the world’s No. 1 golfer.

One of Donald’s most cherished collegiate records went by the wayside on Tuesday when NU junior Jack Perry posted a 54-hole score of 200 in the two-day NU Spring Invitational at The Glen Club in Glenview.

Perry made 20 birdies and posted rounds of 67, 67 and 66 in winning the individual title by eight strokes over Boo Timko of Ohio State. Perry’s 16-under-par score bettered the NU record for a 54-hole tournament set by Donald at the 2001 U.S. Intercollegiates in Mexico and later tied by David Lipsky in a 2002 event in Greensboro, N.C.

NU coach Pat Goss didn’t want to tell Perry how close he was to the record while play was in progress.

“But I was cheering hard for him,’’ said Goss. “He played flawless all week. He’s been on the cusp of greatness.’’

“I had no idea I was aiming for that accolade (Donald’s record),’’ said Perry. “But obviously it’s a good perk for playing well. I thought the record would be about 185, given the type of player (Donald) is.’’

Goss’ Wildcats won the 14-team event by 12 shots over second place Ohio State, and his only disappointment was that Perry’s 25-foot birdie putt on the last hole didn’t drop. He needed it to shoot 199 – a milestone score at the collegiate level, where most tournaments are over 54 holes.

“One of my goals as a coach is to have a player shoot 199,’’ said Goss. “It seems like such a neat number.’’

“That would have been pretty cool,’’ admitted Perry, “but it was still a good two days. We practice here a lot in these weather conditions, so we were well prepared.’’

Much of that practice was done at the Luke Donald Outdoor Practice Facility, which Donald had built at The Glen Club strictly for use by the men’s and women’s teams at NU.

The two-day tournament was the first significant competition of the Chicago season and good preparation for the Wildcats, who will bid for the Big Ten Championships at French Lick, Ind., in two weeks.

Points should be tired, Streelman well-rest for the Masters

Luke Donald is just one of three Illinois players in their year’s Masters field. The other two – Kevin Streelman and D.A. Points – are in the field for the first time since making their tournament debuts in 2011.

Streelman (75-74) and Points (72-76) both failed to survive the 36-hole cut in their Masters debuts, and they’re coming into this one with different preparations.

Points should be tired. He qualified for the Masters by winning the Shell Houston Open two weeks ago. Rather than take a week off he opted to fulfill a commitment to play in the Valero Texas Open last week. He tied for 53rd place there – his sixth straight week of tournaments and his 11th event in the first three months of the year.

Streelman also played the week after his win, at last month’s Tampa Bay Championship, and tied for 21st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He rested in Arizona the last two weeks while the tour was competing in Texas.

FIRST LOCAL EVENT: Donald’s coach, Pat Goss, will divide his attention between helping Donald and preparing his Northwestern men’s team for one of its biggest tournaments of the season.

On Monday, the day after the Masters, Goss’ Wildcats will host 13 other teams in the Kemper Sports Intercollegiate at The Glen Club in Glenview. It’ll be the first significant competition of the Chicago season and the Wildcats’ last tuneup for the Big Ten Championship April 26-28 at French Lick, Ind.

NU’s tournament has a big Illinois flavor, with the field also including DePaul, Loyola, Chicago State, Bradley, Northern Illinois, Illinois State and Western Illinois. Marquette, Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis, Dayton, Ohio, Ohio State and St. John’s round out the field for the event that calls for 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday.

IPGA DEBUT: First event of the Illinois PGA tournament season is Monday – the Spring Pro-Assistants team competition at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. opens its season on April 23 with the Better Ball of Pairs event at The Glen Club.

Donald has “special short game shot” ready for the Masters

Last year Luke Donald was the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer entering all four of the sport’s major championships. He was No. 1 for 55 weeks, and it was at the 2012 Masters that his duel for the top spot with Rory McIlroy started.

This year’s Masters begins Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club and Donald has dropped to No. 4 in the world (behind Tiger Woods, McIlroy and Justin Rose) and he hasn’t been having a Luke Donald type of year so far. The Northwestern graduate and long-time Chicago area resident had a tie for fourth as his best showing in four starts on the PGA Tour and he missed the cut the week at the European PGA Tour’s Maybank Malaysian Open.

That missed cut in his last tournament appearance was significant, as it was his first MC on the European circuit after surviving in his first 118 events.

Tweeting that he was “hugely disappointed,’’ Donald philosophized that “all good things come to an end eventually’’ and returned to his winter residence in Jupiter, FL., to prepare for the Masters.

His long-time Northwestern coach, Pat Goss, spent last weekend with Donald. Goss says the missed cut is no cause for concern and that Donald has “a special short game shot that he has worked on for Augusta….You won’t be able to miss it when he uses it!’’

But their Masters preparation hasn’t been easy. Donald and Goss were to meet at Augusta National last Thursday but bad weather there led to them hooking up in Florida instead. They went to Augusta for Friday and Saturday practice sessions and the Friday practice round lasted an unusually long 4 ½ hours with Donald playing by himself and hitting plenty of extra shots en route to the green.

“That’s an example of how important he thinks it is to figure out where you can miss it around the greens and how important short game and putting are at Augusta,’’ said Goss. On Saturday Donald practiced in the morning and played 18 holes with fellow competitor Matteo Manassero in the afternoon, then returned to Jupiter before returning to Augusta on Monday.

Donald conducted his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday and is excited to have his 3-year old daughter Elle be his caddy in Wednesday’s par-3 contest. After that it’s all business, as Donald tries again to claim his coveted first major title.

He’s come closest at the Masters – a tie for third in his first one in 2005. His third top-10 there in eight appearances came in a tie for fourth in 2011 but he tied for 32nd last April.

Donald’s tournament results this season aren’t encouraging, but there’s a reason. He initiated swing changes in the offseason in hopes of adding a reliable draw to his list of shot options, and swing tweaks frequently cause temporary setbacks in performance.

In is last extensive interview prior to this week Donald said he’s making progress with his swing change. His best U.S. tournament was his last one, a tie for fourth at the Tampa Bay Championship where he was the defending champion. Kevin Streelman won there, but Donald was pleased after a bogey-free weekend.

“I’ve made a lot of progress. My game is trending,’’ Donald said three weeks ago. “Hopefully I’m peaking at just the right time.’’

He skipped the PGA Tour’s Bay Hill Invitational the following week to go to Malaysia, a move that was due at least in part to the availability of appearance money. Donald, with over $28 million earned in American PGA tournaments alone, didn’t need it but there were other factors.

“I’ve struggled at Bay Hill. I don’t feel like the course suits my game very well,’’ said Donald, who rested during the Shell Houston Open and Valero Texas Open the past two weeks.

“I’ve never played that well at Houston, and I don’t know anything about Valero,’’ said Donald. “Certainly I didn’t want to take three weeks off before Augusta.’’

Donald, like McIlroy, is a member of both the PGA and European tours and playing in Malaysia helped him fulfill commitments in Europe. The absence of the pressure of being No. 1 helps, too.

“There are less people looking at me, less media attention with more on Rory and Tiger,’’ said Donald. “I can go about my business a little bit more.’’

Goss considers Donald’s game “very solid right now’’ and that the swing change won’t be a factor at the Masters.

“The key for him,’’ said Goss, “will be seeing some putts go in. We’ve worked a lot on his putting, and it is technically good. He just needs that confidence that comes from holing some putts.’’

NOTES: Mom’s putter revived Points’ career

Winfield’s Kevin Streelman wasn’t the only Illinois golfer earning a trip to the Masters in March. D.A. Points, the former University of Illinois golfer, also did it by winning the Shell Houston Open last Sunday.

Like Streelman, Points will be making his second Masters appearance next week; both missed the cut in 2011. Unlike Streelman, his recent victory wasn’t his first on the PGA Tour. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2011.

Since that win, though, Points had missed 17 of 25 cuts, including seven of nine this year. When he did survive the 36-hole cuts this season he finished just tied for 63rd and tied for 68th. At Houston, though, he birdied the first five holes en route to a first-round 64, then finished off the win with up-and-down pars on the last two holes on Sunday after enduring a three-hour rain delay.

The clincher was a 13-foot par-putt on the last hole, the last of many he made after putting a 25-year old Ping putter that his mother once used in his bag.

COG SETS THE PACE: First competitive events of the Chicago season will be Saturday and Sunday when Cog Hill conducts Spring Scrambles. They’ll be held on the Nos. 1 and 2 courses on Saturday and the Nos. 2 and 3 courses on Sunday. Entry fee is $60 per team.

The Lemont facility has three of its four courses open. No. 4, Dubsdread – long-time site of the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, will open on April 13 with a $155 greens fee, cart included. The other Jemsek Golf facility, Pine Meadow in Mundelein, opens on Thursday.

READY TO GO: Course operators have been stymied by fluctuating temperatures this spring, but the following courses have announced their openings: Oak Meadows, Maple Meadows and Green Meadows, in WHERE; Settler’s Hill and Tanna Farms, in Geneva; Foxford Hills and Cary Country Club, in Cary; Zigfield Troy, in Woodridge; Chevy Chase, in Wheeling; Arlington Lakes, in Arlington Heights; Ravisloe, in Homewood; and Schaumburg Golf Club.

Cantigny, in Wheaton, is to open on Friday. Fox Run, in Elk Grove, has nine holes open and the back nine – renovated by Aurora architect Greg Martin, will hold a grand re-opening on April 21. Most courses will base their openings on the weather, so a call ahead is advised.

COMING SOON: Eagle Ridge, Illinois’ premier golf resort in Galena, will open its South course next Monday (APRIL 8), The General on April 15 and the East course on April 22. The North layout is open year-around.

French Lick Resort, in Indiana, will open its Golf Academy on Friday.

Streelman looks for a better result in his second Masters

Kevin Streelman may be the best feel-good story in golf these days, and maybe in all of sports.

Last month Streelman, who grew up in Winfield and built his golf game playing and working at both Cantigny and Arrowhead public courses in Wheaton, won the PGA Tour’s Tampa Bay Championship.

That got him into next week’s Masters, and it also improved the décor in the basement of his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. Streelman made it to the Masters for the first time in 2011 after finishing in the top 30 on the PGA Tour’s FedEx standings in 2010. He missed the cut that time, but vowed he’d be back.

“When I left all I could think about was getting back,’’ he said. “In my basement I’ve got my first Masters invitation from 2011 framed, and I put up an empty frame next to it. I used it as motivation.’’

The motivation paid off when Streelman won his first tournament on the PGA Tour at Innisbrook’s Copperhead layout, a Florida course designed by long-time Chicago course architect Larry Packard. Packard, now 100 years old, was on hand for Streelman’s win and his son Roger was the designer at Cantigny, the 27-layout where Streelman worked to earn a college scholarship to Duke. This is where his story of extreme perseverance began.

After captaining the Duke team Streelman put 400,000 miles on three cars criss-crossing the country in search of professional tournaments. Frequently sleeping in those cars, he wasn’t earning much money and at one point his would-be financial sponsors deserted him, leaving Streelman stranded in California without the money to get home on.

Frustrated, he applied for an assistant coaching job at Duke in 2003 and was one of two finalists. He didn’t get the job, which turned out a blessing – even if it took awhile.

Streelman married and settled in Arizona where he cleaned clubs on weekday mornings and resumed work as a caddie – a job he had performed at Wheaton’s Chicago Golf Club to earn money on summer breaks from Duke – on weekends.

This time Streelman did his bag-toting at Whisper Rock, a haven for PGA Tour players — Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples are among the members — in North Scottsdale. He used the money he earned over two years there, as well as Whisper Rock’s excellent practice facilities, to get his game sharp enough for the PGA Tour. Then, while he was playing in the Puerto Rico Open as a PGA rookie in 2008, Whisper Rock owner Greg Pryhus invited him to join the club.

Not only did Streelman go from caddie to club member, he immediately won the club championship.

That was a clear indication that hard work and dedication can pay off, and now Streelman’s career has taken still another upward turn thanks to the win at Tampa Bay. Even a week later the significance of it was hard to fathom.

“It hasn’t entirely sunk in,’’ said Streelman. “It means I belong out there. It has nothing to do with money or trophies. I just love the competition. Now my dream is to be in that position in a major.’’

It could be at this year’s Masters. Streelman felt he knew Augusta National well enough to pass on an early practice round. Instead he took a two-week rest break and won’t arrive at Augusta National until Sunday.

“In 2011 I spent a few weeks there in preparation for my first Masters, but this time I had played four weeks in a row and was really exhausted,’’ Streelman said. He feels rest and better planning will produce a better result in his second try.

“The first time I was overwhelmed,’’ he said. “There were a lot of distractions from family and friends and media requirements.’’

That first Masters was more like a party. Streelman and wife Courtney rented a big house, where they stayed with both sets of parents as well as some brothers and sisters.

“We even had some dogs,’’ said Streelman. “It was fun, but a very hectic week. This time they (family members) will be there again, but Courtney and I are going to get a house by ourselves.’’

It wouldn’t be surprising if Streelman, now 34 and the winner of $7 million in five seasons on tour, made another career jump by challenging at the Masters. Just earning his first PGA Tour win – a milestone that didn’t come until his 153rd start — will change his life, however. It qualified him for the PGA Championship, the World Golf Championship events and the big-money invitationals. He isn’t sure yet whether he’ll be in the U.S. and British Opens, but life as a champion will be better than life as a journeyman.

“I’m really excited, because this helps me with scheduling,’’ said Streelman, who didn’t consider his first win a big surprise. “I had a nice start to the season, and my stats were up from last year. It showed that I’d worked hard in the offseason.’’

KICKOFF AT CANTIGNY: Daily Herald columns will start April 3

The Daily Herald joined forces with the staff of the Cantigny Golf Academy in Wheaton to celebrate the start of another Chicago golf season.

Following introductions by Eileen Brown, the Herald’s director of Innovation and Audience Development, over 80 Daily Herald Total Access subscribers received a tour of the Academy from head professional Patrick Lynch and listened to a preview of the Chicago season presented by golf writers Mike Spellman and Len Ziehm and moderated by sports editor Tom Quinlan.

The March 25 event served as a lead-in to the third year of Ziehm’s weekly columns in the Herald, the first of which runs on April 3.

In addition to the presentations by Lynch, Spellman and Ziehm the golf fans tested their skills at Cantigny’s 10 indoor hitting bays, visited its video swing analysis and club-fitting studios and were given advice on golf-specific fitness training.

Cantigny plans to open its courses on April 5, weather permitting.

Here are some scenes from the kickoff event.

COUNTRY CREEK: Kenny Perry’s home course is a breath of fresh air

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Squeezing in a fast nine holes is a good way to break up a long driving trip. It doesn’t cut severely into the mileage covered and certainly is refreshing.

On our last winter trip we indulged in that practice twice – and with goals in mind. We’d never played golf in Tennessee or Kentucky. Now we have. In both cases we checked out courses in the southern-most part of those states.

Hillcrest Country Club is a private nine-holer in Pulaski, Tenn., just over the Alabama border but about 15 miles off Interstate 65. While it’s a private facility, with a nice dining room and tennis courts, its members told me that golfers from out of the area are welcome. That’s apparently how we got on the course on a nice Sunday afternoon in February with temperatures in the high-50s – and for fees of $15 and with a cart, no less.

Winter tees were in use and much of the grass was dormant. Still, it was golf and Hillcrest’s members were proud of what they have. They enjoyed not only the course but the big driving range as well. While Hillcrest was a long way from the courses we enjoy in season in Illinois or in the winter in Florida, it was still fun, challenging and well worth the stop.

Even more so – on all counts – was Kenny Perry’s Country Creek, the site for our Kentucky golf debut. It’s a few miles over the Tennessee line and about 35 miles from Nashville, Tenn.

Perry, a solid PGA Tour player now competing mainly on the Champions Tour, grew up in Franklin, went to college at Western Kentucky in nearby Bowling Green and feels so strongly about his home state that he took extraordinary steps to qualify for the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2008, when the matches against the Europeans were played at Valhalla in Louisville.

That year Perry caught flak for skipping the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open because he thought he could pile up more Ryder Cup points playing a different schedule. As it turned out, he was right. He earned a spot on the U.S. team and helped the Americans win for the first time since 1999.

It was long before that, though, when Perry decided to create an 18-hole course for his fellow residents of Franklin. The course, which can been seen off Interstate 65, opened in 1995. Its mailing address is 1075 Kenny Perry Drive and the compact pro shop/ clubhouse is filled with his memorabilia.

Perry’s daughter Lesslye came up with the Country Creek name, and Perry has called the course “a dream come true.’’ The layout includes some barns (shown below) left from the days before the land was a golf course.

Though Perry isn’t one of the many tour players who have dabbled regularly in course architecture, he did design Country Creek. I became interested in visiting the place after being one of Perry’s partners in the first pro-am of the 2007 BMW Championship, the FedEx Cup playoff event then played at Cog Hill.

That was one of my most memorable days covering golf. It started with a one-on-one interview with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem in the morning, then the afternoon round with Perry that included me sinking a 50-foot birdie putt. The pro-am round was rained out after 10 holes but Perry, pleasant on the course, was even nicer during the rain delay – a true class act.

Anyway, I had covered Perry’s bid for the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla, when he lost the title to Mark Brooks in a playoff and, of course, followed his unusual game plan to play in the Ryder Cup. Part of it included winning John Deere Classic, another event that I covered up close and personal.

Business obligations took me to Nashville several times a year for awhile, and I stopped by Country Creek for a few minutes on one occasion just to see what Country Creek looked like. It was too cold for anybody to play that day, but not on this most recent trip. Players were lined up to tee off on this chilly but sunny Monday in February, and the $13 greens fee (for seniors with cart for nine holes) might have been part of the enticement.

Maybe Perry should take another stab at course design. His first venture in his hometown has been well received, especially by the locals. They find it especially beautiful in the spring when the flowering is in bloom, but even in the winter the greens were in good shape.

Country Creek, which measures 6,633 yards from the tips, is on the short side for championship play but each hole was a fun challenge – especially the par-3 eighth over water. A steep hill fronts the green, and you’d better hit it all the way to the putting surface (a carry of 119, 137 or 199 yards, depending on the tee you choose) or your ball will roll back down the hill and into the drink. Mine came close to doing that.

Closing in on its second decade, Country Creek is a worthy contribution by Perry to his home town, and its worth a look by occasional visitors as well.

TRENT JONES TRAIL: Cambrian Ridge was a great place to start

GREENVILLE, Ala. – Some things are just meant to be. That seemed to be the case when a chance to play on Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail finally materialized at the end of a 10-week road trip.

This travel-writing journey was to finish up with rounds at Sandestin, on the Florida Panhandle, and Preserve, a Jerry Pate creation in Biloxi, Miss. Alabama had been on the route back to Chicago two previous times on similar trips, but not on this one.

Then Mother Nature intervened. Two days of rain in Destin, FL., and similar conditions — with more severe weather in the forecast at both Destin and Biloxi required a change in travel plans. Rather than go home via Mississippi we journeyed through Alabama. No more golf was planned — at least not initially.

A casual lunch conversation with a local at a Cracker Barrel in this small town revealed a Robert Trent Jones Trail course just a few miles away. The rain had stopped, so we thought a visit was in order. The course was relatively empty, and the price was right. So, why not play?

This was the 21st and last 18-hole round of the trip. It came on, by far, the best course we played on our journey and it also had the lowest greens fee. Go figure. There has to be a message there some place.

The Jones Trail has been in existence for 20 years (the first course opened in 1992). It’s created a boon to Alabama’s economy with its 26 course spread over 11 sites. In fact, The Trail Guide points out, golf is a $1.5 billion industry in Alabama. That’s more than Auburn and Alabama football and basketball revenues combined, and most of it’s due to the Jones Trail. On Oct. 23, 2013, the Trail welcomed its 10 millionth visitor.

All 11 sites are universally regarded as good, but we apparently lucked out in showing up at Cambrian Ridge – a 27-hole facility with an additional nine-hole short course about 40 miles south from the state capitol of Montgomery. It was filled with great, expansive views, one of which is shown here.

According to The Trail Guide Cambrian’s Sherling nine “may be the best on the entire Trail.’’ The Canyon, carved out of former hunting grounds, was the other nine we played. It was our first nine and we weren’t ready for its first hole – a long par-4 that drops 200 feet from the tee to the fairway.

The Wow! Factor was similarly prevalent throughout round but never more than at the finishing holes for both nines. No. 9 on the Sherling and No. 9 on the Canyon share the same wide three-level green. The tee shots of both are impacted by a huge, deep ravine between the fairways (see photo, below). The challenge is especially pronounced on the Sherling. Try to bite off too much yardage and you either lose a ball or take a precarious downhill walk in an effort to find it.

Unfortunately this one spur-of-the-moment round represents my only first-hand knowledge of the Jones Trail courses – at least for now. Believe me, hitting a few of the others on subsequent trips is a must. Golf Magazine has called the Jones Trail the best buy in golf, and I’m not in a position to dispute that.

The pictures shown here are from a February round, when the weather is obviously not ideal. Still, the beauty of shots over water (show here) is evident.


The Jones Trail was conceived by David G. Bronner, chief executive office of Retirement Systems of Alabama. The first Trail course designed by Jones and his design associate, Roger Rulewich, was Oxmoor Valley near Birmingham. The plan was to build eight courses at the roughly the same time. It seemed a dubious possibility then, but obviously the plan worked and the Trail outgrew its original plan.

A few other states have attempted to build trails around the works of famous course architects, the most recent being Indiana with its Pete Dye Golf Trail. None have taken off yet like Alabama’s Jones Trail.

Alabama has 252 courses, but the Jones layouts are special. The Trail consists of 468 holes. Every one of the 27-, 36- or 54-hole facilities have back-to-nature settings and are challenging. Though we’ve steered away from mentioning greens fees in these reports because they’re constantly changing, The Trail Guide declared that “most tee times (are) priced between $46 and $81 year-around.’’

Ross Bridge, in Hoover, is the newest course on the Trail and – according to Tour veterans – the best of the offerings. It hosts the Regions Charity Classic on the Champions Tour.

Magnolia Grove, the southern-most facility on the Trail in Mobile, has 54 holes with two of the 18-holers renovated extensively in the past three years. The northern-most facility on the Trail, Hampton Grove in Huntsville, has 54 holes. So does Brand National, near the Auburn campus; Capitol Hill, in Prattville and Oxmoor Valley.

The Shoals, in Florence, opened in 2004 as the first Trail course to measure more the 8,000 yards. (It’s 8,092 from the black tees).

Silver Lakes, in Anniston, was devastated by a tornado in April 2011. It re-opened five months later with a new look. It has spectacular views of the Appalachian Foothills and its ultra dwarf putting surfaces are – again according to The Trail Guide — “arguably the best on the Trail.’’ No. 7, 8 and 9 on its Heartbreaker nine also may be the Trail’s best finishing stretch.

Anyway, each facility – many of them tied into Marriott or Renaissance resorts – has been positively recognized by various industry publications at one time or another and has its own story to tell. All, I’m sure, are worth telling.

CHICAGO PREVIEW: No Ryder Cup, but season won’t be dull

No Ryder Cup. No Western Amateur. A quiet year is ahead for golf in Chicago, right?

WRONG!!!

Chicago golf is never dull, and this season will be as inspiring as the last one – and maybe even more so. Believe me.

Yes, the epic Ryder Cup at Medinah has come and gone – and will never be forgotten. Already, though, there’s an event on the distant horizon that could take its place. Rich Harvest Farms owner Jerry Rich has been a leader in the establishment of the International Crown women’s team event that will begin in 2014 and be played in Sugar Grove in 2016. You’ll be hearing a lot more about that down the road.

But this is now.

Competition-wise, this is what we have in Chicago in 2013:

Finally the Champions Tour is returning. It’s been missing from Chicago since 2002, but this season the $1.8 million Encompass Championship will be played at North Shore Country Club from June 17-23. It’ll be something different from the previous Chicago tour stops, and figures to be fun. The Encompass Championship will be a full-fledged celebrity event, and Chicago’s never really had one of those.

The BMW Championship is also returning, but this time at a new location. Long-played at Cog Hill prior to its staging in Indianapolis last year, this 2013 version will be played at Conway Farms, the private club in Lake Forest that includes Luke Donald among its members. Conway has hosted plenty of big amateur competitions, but this will be the biggest event ever played at the spiffy Tom Fazio design. Last year’s BMW, at Crooked Stick, was named Tournament of the Year by the PGA Tour.

The Illinois PGA is moving one of its major events. The IPGA Players Championship is leaving long-time home Eagle Ridge in Galena and going to Metamora Fields, a new D.A. Weibring design near Peoria.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. has presented a much-revamped tournament schedule. The biggest change involves the 83rd Illinois State Amateur. Previously a fixture in August, the State Am will move to July 16-18 at Aldeen in Rockford and become a lead-in to the Illinois Open at The Glen Club.

The CDGA also moved its 21st Illinois Mid-Amateur Championship at Flossmoor from May to Aug. 27-28 and scheduled a new event – a Super Senior tourney for players 65 and over on Aug. 5 at Royal Hawk.

In addition to bringing the BMW Championship back to Chicago, the Western Golf Assn. has added another tournament. This one part of the new Web.com Tour playoffs, and will be played in Ft. Wayne, Ind. The WGA also moved its Western Amateur to The Alotian Club in Arkansas. In making a one-year hiatus from its Chicago Western Am rotation, the WGA is also making a one-year adjustment in the tourney format. The event will be spread over six days instead of five to compensate for expected sweltering temperatures in Arkansas.

What strikes me most this early in the year, though, is the increased Chicago presence on the professional tours. I’m intrigued to see how Eric Meierdierks handles his rookie season on the PGA Tour and how the veteran Nicole Jeray does after surviving another gut-wrenching trip to LPGA Tour School. Both of these players have great stories to tell, and the fact that both are playing at the top level of golf is surprising.

Rarely does a Chicago golfer get through a qualifying school for any of the professional tours. But Wilmette’s Meierdierks, a 27-year old with only one previous PGA start to his credit, tied for 14th in the three-stage PGA November elimination that started with 1,558 players and Berwyn’s Jeray, 42, tied for 17th in the LPGA Q-School. She was competing in it for the 19th time.

Meierdierks, though relatively new to the rigorous qualifying procedures, made it easily in the final stage, but the first of the three eliminations was tremendously difficult on an emotional level. It fell six days after the death of his father.

Jeray, meanwhile, had to go to a seven-player playoff for the final four spots in the LPGA nailbiter. An LPGA Tour player off and on for the last two decades, she survived with a 20-foot birdie putt on the fifth extra hole.

Meierdierks’ arrival on the PGA Tour was a feel-good story, just as much as Jeray’s grittiness was on the women’s side. He had been basically a mini-tour player since turning professional in 2009. His career highlight had been a victory in the 2010 Illinois Open at Hawthorn Woods, and he lost that tourney’s 2012 title in a playoff with Max Scodro last August at The Glen Club. Q-School is a huge step up from the big local competitions, but Meierdierks was up to the task.

“It’s been incredible,’’ Meierdierks told me after a few days of reflection. “It’s been a long journey, and it feels really good to finally have a dream come true and see a lot of hard work pay off.’’

In addition to Meierdierks the PGA Tour cast will include University of Illinois alums Scott Langley, who also made it through Q-School, and Luke Guthrie, who earned his playing privileges for 2013 off his great play the last six months of 2012. Prior to Guthrie, Langley and Meierdierks, the last player with local connections to earn privileges on the PGA Tour was Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti, who earned his card by finishing in the top 25 on the Nationwide (now Web.com Tour) money list in 2010. He required shoulder surgery last spring and missed most of what would have been his rookie season on the PGA Tour. Coming off a medical exemption, he hopes to resume playing on the circuit in 2013.

There are also some notable newcomers on the home pro front. Mike Scully ended a 10-year stint as Medinah’s director of golf as soon as the Ryder Cup ended. The plum job has gone to Marty DeAngelo . who had been director of golf at Isleworth – the Florida home club for Tiger Woods and several other PGA Tour players. Scully left Medinah to become director of golf at Desert Mountain, a resort facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., that boasts five 18-hole courses.

Another long-established Chicago private facility, Exmoor in Highland Park, also dipped into the Florida ranks for its next head professional. David Schmaltz had worked as an assistant at Jupiter Club. Naperville Country Club elevated assistant Brian Brown to replace the retiring Jim Arendt and Brendan Adair moved from Prestwick to take the head job at Midlothian.

On the college front Northwestern loaded up both its men’s and women’s teams with new recruits. Men’s coach Pat Goss signed Matt Fitzpatrick of Sheffield, England. He was the British Boys Amateur champion in 2012 and Goss calls him “the most significant player we’ve signed since Luke Donald.’’ NU women’s coach Emily Fletcher also recruited well, signing two state high school champions – Minji Luo (California) and Kacie Komoto (Hawaii).

From the equipment side Batavia club manufacturer Tour Edge made a big splash at the 60th PGA Merchandise Show with its new variable fit driver. It marked the first time Tour Edge has entered the adjustable club area.