Northbrook’s Nick Hardy is now a winner on the PGA Tour. He teamed up with a long-time friend, Davis Riley, to capture the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday in Avondale, La.  It was the first win on golf’s premier circuit for both of them.

The Zurich Classic is the only team event on the PGA Tour schedule, but the champions receive exempt status on the circuit for two years.  That’s especially important for Hardy, who had been using a medical exemption to get into some tournaments.

Last year, on the fourth hole of the final round of the Zurich Classic, Hardy suffered a wrist injury that put him out of action for a month in his rookie PGA season.  He had to have a strong finish in the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour playoff series to retain his PGA Tour card for this year.

The pairing with Riley was a spur of the moment thing, but it worked out big-time.

Hardy, who starred at the University of Illinois before turning pro, had planned to partner with another Thomas Detry, another Illini alum.

“Detry got asked by the Ryder Cup captain (Luke Donald) to play with Victor Perez, so the Illini pairing was vanished after that,’’ said Hardy. “A couple or three weeks ago we (Hardy and Riley) texted each other, and we got hooked up then.’’

The two had known each other since being paired in an American Junior Golf Assn. event when Hardy was 14 years old. Hardy is 27 and Davis, who played collegiately at Alabama, is 26.

Hardy became the first Illinois player to win on the PGA Tour since Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman was the Travelers champion at Hartford, Ct., in 2014.

“Once Nick texted me and was looking for a partner I was excited,’’ said Riley. “He’s a good buddy of mine and obviously a real good player.  It was a perfect match. We have very similar games. We’re both solid ball strikers.’’

Hardy, who turned pro in 2018, was making his 51^st PGA Tour start in the Zurich Classic. He had made 29 of his first 50 cuts and earned $1,688,360 before he and Riley split the $1,242,700 first-place check in the Zurich Classic.

In this wrap-around season, prior to the big win, Hardy had four top-25 finishes, his best being a tie for fifth in the Sanderson Farms tournament in October. He had missed the cut in six of his last eight starts before everything came together in the Zurich Classic.

“I’ve been hitting the ball great all year,’’ said Hardy. “Finally, to get some momentum going into this format with Davis, seeing the ball go in, it’s definitely been nice.  The only difference is a little momentum here and there.  That’s really all it takes.’’

The Zurich format calls for best ball scoring in the first and third rounds and alternate shot in the second and fourth.  The Hardy-Riley team posted a tournament record 30-under-par 258 score for the 72 holes and won by two strokes over the Canadian pairing of Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin.

While Hardy contributed significantly throughout the four days Riley made the key shots on Sunday on back nine par-3s.  His tee shot at No. 14 stopped within inches of the cup, leaving Hardy a tap-in for birdie, and Riley holed a putt from off the green for another deuce at No. 17.

They became the 20^th and 21^st first-time PGA Tour winners at the Zurich Classic, which dates back to 1970. The only PGA Tour event with more first-time champions is the John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop. The JDC has 23 in 51 years.

Both Hardy and Riley will play in this week’s Mexican Open, where world No. 1 Jon Rahm, winner of the Masters three weeks ago, is the defending champion.

Last year Highwood’s Patrick Flavin tried to make it to the PGA Tour the hard way – through the Monday qualifiers.  He wasn’t successful, but he came close.

Flavin finished No. 153 on the FedEx Cup standings.  The top 125 earned full PGA Tour membership in the current 2022-23 season and the top 150 got conditional status. Flavin had a consolation prize.  By finishing in the top 200 he earned a place in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, and that assured him full status on the PGA’s alternate tour for this season.

So, this week Flavin is playing in LeCom Suncoast Classic — the FedEx stop in Lakewood Ranch, FL. — instead of the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans.  He has no complaints, though.

“I took a chance last year, and it paid off,’’  said Flavin. “I’ve seen a ton of improvement in my game.  I very much appreciate playing on the Korn Ferry, but I’d like to get back to having my practice rounds with Nick Hardy (PGA Tour regular from Northbrook) again.’’

Flavin, 27, has played in seven Korn Ferry events this season and made the cut in four, his best finishes being a tie for 14^th in Panama in February and a tie for 21^st last week at the Veritex Championship in Texas.

“Relative to last year, it was more stressful playing in all those Monday qualifiers,’’ he said.  “This year I plan to play the whole Korn Ferry season.’’

His role on that circuit isn’t just as a player, either.  Flavin was voted onto the 12-member Korn Ferry Player Advisory Committee and is getting an up close look at the complicated inner workings of both his and the PGA Tour, which is now getting competition from the Saudi-backed LIV Tour.

“It’s a crazy time in golf, and the PGA is a massive entity,’’ said Flavin,  “but golf has never been in a better place. We’ve had purse increases that have trickled down to the Korn Ferry Tour.’’

He’s hoping to steer those purse increases down to two circuits he played on previously – the Canadian and Latinoamerica tours.

For now, though, his primary focus is getting to the PGA Tour full-time.  The opportunities he had last year aren’t available now, thanks to a series of changes made by the PGA Tour to combat the LIV Tour arrival.

“Now the only way (to get to the PGA Tour) is through the Korn Ferry Tour,’’ said Flavin. While the Chicago area had several members of that circuit in recent years, only Flavin and Deerfield’s Vince India have full-time membership now.

NO. 3 ILLINI HOST TOURNEY: The University of Illinois men’s team, now up to No. 3 in the national collegiate rankings, hosts its first tournament in the Champaign-Urbana area since the 2010 season beginning on Saturday.

A field of nine teams will battle over 36 holes starting a 7:30 a.m. on Saturday with the final 18 teeing off at 8 a.m. on Sunday at the 7,538-yard par-71 Atkins Golf Club. In addition to the host Illini the field includes Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Indiana, Loyola Marymount, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and Northwestern.

PGA TEAMWORK: No PGA Tour event is like this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans.  It’s a two-man team event and most Illinois-connected players will compete.  Here are those in the 80-team field:

Hardy will play with Davis Riley, D.A. Points with Jimmy Walker, Luke Donald with Eduoardo Molinari and Doug Ghim with Kramer Hickok.

HERE AND THERE: The first competitions on the Chicago District Golf Association calendar are next Monday (APRIL 24) –a U.S. Open local qualifier at Cantigny in Wheaton and a CDGA Mid-Amateur qualifier at Maple Meadows in Wood Dale. There’s another Mid-Am qualifier the next day at Sunset Valley in Highland Park….The first Illinois PGA event of the season – last week’s Pro-Pro-Pro at Mistwood — was postponed because of bad weather. It was rescheduled for May 1.

The Masters, as always, hogged the golf spotlight as spring kicked in, but now that’s changing – especially at the University of Illinois.

Mike Small’s Illini men’s team is ranked No. 5 in the nation with two regular-season tournaments remaining – this week’s Tiger Collegiate Invitational in Columbia, Mo., and then the Fighting Illini Collegiate April 22-23 – the first tournament Small’s team has hosted in the Champaign-Urbana area since the 2011-12 season. That event will be played at the newly-renovated Atkins Golf Club.

After that comes the Big Ten and NCAA championships.  The Illini will be strong contenders in both but the climax to the season will lead into the departure of Justin Bardgett, Small’s assistant coach the last four years. He has accepted a position as director of collegiate relations with the PGA Tour and will depart after the Illini season is over.

“The decision to leave Illinois was very difficult, but ultimately this opportunity couldn’t be passed on for my family and me,’’ said Bardgett.  “But first I’m excited to close out our strong season by chasing championship with our guys.’’

“His talents will surely be missed,’’ said Small,  “but I know Justin will continue to do great things in his new career path with PGA Tour University.’’

COURSE OPENINGS: Many area courses, impacted by changing weather conditions, make last-minute decisions on their spring openings.  A handful, though, have announced their openings already and Nickol Knoll, Arlington Heights’ fun nine-hole par-3, will open on Saturday (APRIL 15).

Facilities that have already announced their openings are Mistwood, in Romeoville; Arlington Lakes, Mount Prospect, Heritage Oaks, Settler’s Hill (Batavia), and Ravisoe (Homewood).

PGA HOPE: KemperSports and the Illinois PGA Foundation have partnered on a series of free six-week clinics that will begin in May and conclude in October. Instructors will be trained in adaptive golf and military cultural competency.  The title for the nation-wide program stands for “Helping Our Patriots Everywhere.’’

The Kemper/IPGA series starts May 24 at Harborside International, Chicago.  Other starting dats are May 25 at Winnetka Golf Club, June 7 at Bolingbrook, June 20 at Cantigny in Wheaton and Aug. 31 at Deerpath in Lake Forest.

In addition to announcing the opening of registration for PGA Hope, the IPGA is ready to open its tournament season.  First event is on Monday, the Pro-Pro-Pro Scramble at Mistwood.

HERE AND THERE: Dave Lockhart’s Golf 360 TV show, hosted by Katie Kearney and featuring former Bears’ long snapper Patrick Mannelly, is scheduled to begin on June 4. It’ll be carried on NBC Sports Chicago with first one coming from Klein Creek in Winfield.  Each monthly episode with aire eight-10 times over a 30-day period.

The Masters’ conclusion triggers the return of Chicago-connect players to the PGA Tour.  Luke Donald, Doug Ghim, Nick Hardy and Kevin Streelman are in the field for this week’s RBC Heritage Classic in Hilton Head, S.C.  Donald, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, needed a sponsor’s exemption to get in the field this time but Donald has had great success over the years in the event, finishing as the runner-up four times and in third place twice.

The Chicago District Golf Association opens its tournament season on Monday, April 24 with a U.S. Open local qualifier at Cantigny and at CDGA Mid-Amateur qualifier at Maple Meadows in Wood Dale. The social calendar tees off on May 2 with the CDGA/Kemper Two-Person Scramble at The Glen Club, in Glenview.

Tickets have just gone on sale for the John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop.  It’ll be played July 5-9 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.

A new PGA Superstore location has just opened in Orland Park.

If ever a golf tournament merited a look-back two days after its conclusion it was this just-completed Masters. It was a strange one, to put it mildly.

I’ve been to several Masters played in bad weather, but this one had a 40-degree temperature change between Thursday’s first round and Saturday’s third. Rory McIlroy, still in search of a career Grand Slam, didn’t come close to making the 36-hole cut and an amateur finished in the top 20 for the first time in 18 years. (Sam Bennett is a fifth-year senior at Texas A&M who will play in a few PGA Tour events after his college season is over.)

Those are interesting tidbits, but the overriding issue of this Masters was the presence of LIV Tour players. That was the elephant in the room throughout.  Thankfully there was little public bickering between LIV players and their detractors on the PGA Tour and DP World (European) Tour.

What did it all prove, though? Not much, really.

The best player did win, though it’s strange how Jon Rahm did it.  Rahm opened the tournament with a four-putt double bogey, trailed Brooks Koepka well into the final round but still won by four shots.

Rahm’s a PGA Tour guy, but showings by the LIV group weren’t too shabby.  Eighteen of the 88 in the field were LIV players, and 12 made the cut. Koepka and Phil Mickelson tied for second and another, Patrick Reed, tied for fourth.

Mickelson, who had only one top-10 in the LIV Tour’s first 10 tournaments, looked much thinner than in his pre-LIV days but shot 65 in the final round at Augusta National – the best round by a player over 50 years old in Masters history. Afterwards he called it a good week for the players on the fledgling Saudi-backed circuit.

“We’re all grateful that we were able to play and compete here,’’ he said, “and it’s tremendous for this tournament to have all the best player in the world.’’

The Masters wouldn’t have had nearly as strong a field had the club members opted to follow the PGA Tour’s lead and ban the LIV contingent.

Koepka, who was in charge of the tournament until the back nine on Sunday, played into the hands of LIV detractors who have criticized the circuit for its 54-hole tournaments.  The two other big circuits play 72-holers. While the Masters was in progress Koepka, who had five tournaments in 2023 (three on the LIV circuit and two others) in advance of the Masters, called himself tournament-ready.  Not so afterwards.

“LIV doesn’t prepare us for the majors,’’ he said.  “My body is used to playing three rounds.’’

Oh, well….

What happens next in this ongoing saga that has become such a negative distraction to tournament golf?  It’s anybody’s guess but Thomas Pieters, the former University of Illinois star from Belgium, wanted his parents at this Masters.  He qualified through being in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings at the end of 2022.  Now he’s a LIV player and gets short-changed in the rankings because 54-hole tournaments aren’t recognized.

“I took my parents because this could be my last one,’’ said Pieters who tied for 48^th on Sunday.  “I’m just being realistic.  I don’t know what will happen.  Time will tell.’’

What we do know is that LIV players will be eligible for the last three major tournaments – next month’s PGA Championship, the U.S. Open in June and the British Open in July.  They’ll also be available for Chicago viewing when the circuit returns to Rich Harvest Farms in September.

When you’re a regular golf writer there’s an annual challenge.  You’re obligated to pick the winner of the Masters.

I’m in my 55^th year writing about the sport and have made my pick – in print — every year since 1986. Getting it right isn’t easy.  I’ve been right only twice – Fred Couples in 1992 and Scottie Scheffler last year.

A very well-known national columnist told me that was “a gutty pick’’  after Scheffler went wire-to-wire. I see a lot of the Florida tournaments, though, and I was very comfortable with Scheffler.  He had dominated the first three months of the last PGA Tour season.

This year’s prognosticating is completely different.  For the record my pick is Sam Burns.  Like Scheffler last year, he is playing well at just the right time.  Three weeks ago he was going after his third straight win in the Valspar Championship, the last event on the annual Florida Swing.

Three-peats are rare on the PGA Tour, and Burns didn’t get this one. He hung tough, though, shooting a final round 67 at the respected Copperhead course to climb 19 spots into sixth place.

A week later he won the WCT Dell Technologies Match Play Championship in Texas. Five days of matches is a good test for determining who is best ready to play, and Burns did it by beating Scheffler in the semifinals and needing only 13 holes to capture the final. Now, after a week’s rest, he’ll go after the 87^th Masters.

Not that I need any advice from others on making Masters picks, but it was interesting to hear two-time U.S. Open champion turned TV analyst Curtis Strange’s assessment last week.

“We know how good a player this guy has been, but now all of a sudden he comes into the Masters in great form,’’ Strange offered on a conference call set up by ESPN.  “I look at players, their talent level, of course, but what’s their current form.’’

There’s another significant factor in studying the field this year. The year’s first major championship always lives up to its claim of being “a tournament like no other,’’ and this year it’s even more so.  The LIV factor can’t be downplayed this week.

Eighteen LIV Tour players are in the Masters field.  Six are past champions.  Those six have won a combined nine titles at Augusta National.  Phil Mickelson has won three, but has done little in his two seasons with the fledgling new circuit that has had only 10 tournaments. Same with Bubba Watson, who won two Masters.

Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson are also past Masters champions who jumped from the PGA Tour to the Saudi-backed LIV circuit.  Barred from competing on the PGA Tour, they haven’t played much tournament golf since making the switch. Whether that’ll matter this week is to be determined.

Much to the credit of Augusta National members, LIV membership wasn’t a factor in issuing Masters invitations.  They wanted their usually strong field, and that wouldn’t have been possible without hitting the LIV ranks.  Once Augusta made its decision the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and British Open organizers followed suit.

The LIV golfers who seem the most likely to challenge this week are not former champions.  Australian Cam Smith won the last major title, the British Open, last July.  He’s been a top-10 finisher in four Masters, including the last three. The champion at last year’s LIV event at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Smith was the Masters runner-up in 2020 and tied for third last year.

And then there’s Brooks Koepka, winner of four major titles.  He became the first two-time winner on the LIV circuit last week in Orlando, shooting 65-65-68 at Orange County National.

“I’m finally healthy, and able to play some good golf,’’ said Koepka.  “That showed my capabilities of what I can do when I’m healthy.  Going into next week, that’s what you want to see.  And that course was a good test for Augusta.  The greens speeds were pretty fast, similar to Augusta, and they had some good slopes.’’

Koepka doesn’t think the contentiousness that has developed between PGA and LIV players will be a problem at the Masters, but the two main anti-LIV spokesmen – Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy – will be there. So, stay tuned.

The countdown to the year’s first major golf championship is on.  The first tee shot in the 87^th playing of the Masters isn’t until next week, but – with Augusta National’s membership expanding its event in recent years — the preliminaries start this week.

Unless Luke Donald, Doug Ghim, Nick Hardy or Kevin Streelman can pull of a win in this week’s Valero Texas Open the Masters will again be without a Chicago player next week. The last time a local player competed in the Masters was in 2016 when, Ghim, still an amateur, tied for 50^th place.

Locals, however, have had success in the Masters preliminaries – the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which started in 2019, and the Drive, Chip & Putt finals, first contested at the Georgia club in 2014.

The ANWA starts its 54-hole run on Wednesday.  The first two rounds will be played at Champions Retreat, a nearby course, then all of its competitors play a practice round at Augusta National on Friday. Spectators start arriving at the Masters site for Saturday’s final round.

While several Illinois-connected players were invited to previous ANWA tourneys, the one competing this week seems a bonafide contender.  Crystal Wang, a fifth-year senior at the University of Illinois from Diamond Bar, Calif., won her first collegiate tournament on Sunday, making birdies on three of the last four holes at the Clemson Invitational.

Last year Michael Jorski, of Clarendon Hills, was the winner in the Drive, Chip & Putt’s boys 12-13 division.  He’s not among the 80 finalists this year, but four Chicago area players survived the regional qualifier held at Medinah.

Qualifiers for Sunday’s Drive, Chip & Putt finals at Augusta National hail from 29 states and Canada.  They were the survivors from 342 local qualifiers and 10 regional eliminations held across the country over the previous year. Northbrook’s Martha Kuwahara looms as a strong contender in the girls 14-15 age group.  Also a qualifier for the finals in 2022, she smacked a 268-yard drive en route to winning at the Medinah regional.

One of nine returnees nation-wide from last year’s finals, she’s excited about her return to Augusta National.

“I really want redemption from last year,’’ she said.  “This year I feel I can do a lot better.’’

The other three Chicago qualifiers are boys – Emory Munoz of Lockport in the 7-9 age group; William Comiskey, of Hinsdale, in the 10-11 category; and Ben Patel, of North Aurora, in 12-13. Kuwahara plays locally at The Glen Club, Comiskey and Munoz at Cog Hill and Patel at Black Sheep.

The first two rounds of the ANWA as well as five hours of Drive, Chip & Putt coverage will be televised on The Golf Channel and Peacock. The final round of the ANWA will be carried on NBC and Peacock.  CBS, which has televised the Masters since 1956, will again carry the main event.

HERE AND THERE: The Masters will have 89 starters plus the winner of the Valero Texas Open, assuming he hadn’t qualified previously. All 89 were invited by Augusta National, and they include 18 playing on the PGA Tour’s rival LIV Tour.  That group includes six former Masters champions. The LIV circuit competes at Orange County National in Orlando, FL., starting on Friday.

Masters invitees also include J.T. Poston, winner of last year’s John Deere Classic, and Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who starred for the University of Illinois from 2012-16.

Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim, while not qualified for the Masters, had his best finish in 12 starts in the PGA Tour’s wrap-around season on Sunday – a tie for 16^th in the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic.

Robert Sereci has announced that he’ll end his eight-year stint as general manager and chief operating officer at Medinah Country Club on May 25.

Jake Mendoza is back on the maintenance staff at Rich Harvest Farms, the Sugar Grove club that hosts the LIV Tour in September. He was at Rich Harvest from 2005-08 and has also had stints at Medinah, Winged Foot and Detroit Golf Club.

PALM HARBOR, FL. – The final round of the PGA Tour’s four-week Florida Swing was an unusual one.  Taylor Moore won the Valspar Championship on Sunday, but Adam Schenk and Jordan Spieth – paired in the final group – created all the drama.

It was their shortcomings on the three tough finishing holes at the Copperhead Course – the stretch is called the Snake Pit – that allowed Moore to win and Schenk and Spieth to have animated talks with their caddies  at critical moments. They were evident as TV cameras zeroed in.

That wasn’t unusual for three-time major champion Spieth, whose relationship with bag-toter Michael Greller has been well publicized, but Schenk has a special caddie, too.  David Cooke was a two-time Illinois Open champion, and Schenk regularly brought him into post-round discussions with the media during the tournament.

“David and I did about as good as we could have done with how I hit it (on Sunday),’’ said Schenk, who finished one stroke behind Moore in second place and one ahead of Spieth.  “I told David I wasn’t worried about the field.  I wasn’t worried about Jordan.  I wanted to play my game. I wanted David and I just to do the best that we could do from what we did. We did that.’’

Unfortunately for the Schenk-Cooke team, a bad drive on the last hole prevented both from claiming a first PGA Tour victory.

Schenk led the tournament most of the way and provided more subjects for conversation than just his caddie.  His wife Kourtney, expecting their first child in a month, made an overnight trip from Indiana the night before the final round in hopes of seeing Adam win. She walked the final 18 with Spieth’s wife,  Annie, but neither could celebrate a win when the tournament was over.

Cooke, who grew up in Bolingbrook, and Schenk were golf teammates at Purdue when they were freshmen.  Then Cooke transferred to North Carolina State for his final three collegiate seasons and Schenk finished at Purdue.

While still an amateur Cooke won the 2015 Illinois Open by five shots after shooting a final round 63 at Royal Melbourne in Long Grove.  The win came just eight months after his brother and sometimes caddie Chad had died for a heart disorder playing a pickup basketball game.

Three years later, after turning pro, Cooke won the Illinois Open again – this time by four shots over current PGA Tour player Nick Hardy at The Glen Club in Glenview.

That win was special, too, as Cooke hurried from there to his wedding and then took his new bride, Clair, to Europe where he made a short – and unsuccessful – bid to earn a place on the pro tour there. It was during that year that he altered his career plans.

“I loved Europe but played terrible,’’ Cooke said then.  “I love caddying and getting exposure to the PGA Tour.’’

Only four players – Gary Pinns, Mike Small, Dick Hart and Marty Schiene – have won more Illinois Opens than Cooke, but he was on the bag of PGA Tour player Chesson Hadley when his title defense approached. Cooke opted for the steady job as a caddie and stuck with it.

His hookup with Schenk is a comfortable one.  Schenk grew up and still lives in Vincennes, Ind., and he remains a Hoosier at heart. His swing instructor is Anthony Bradley, at French Lick Resort, and he’s represented another Indiana facility, Victoria National.

Though that first big win eluded him, Schenk – who played his 10^th straight week of tournaments at the Valspar — wants Cooke by his side as their PGA Tour adventure continues.

“We have a lot of discussions.  I love working with David,’’ said Schenk.  “We know our trouble areas, we know what we’re good at, and we just try to play to our strengths.’’

That philosophy is working.  Schenk has won $6 million since joining the PGA Tour in 2018.  This season he has made 12 of 17 cuts, including seven of his last eight starts.

Life on the PGA Tour hasn’t been easy for the Chicago-connected players, but that could change this week.

Luke Donald, Doug Ghim, Nick Hardy, Kevin Streelman and Dylan Wu are all in the field for the Valspar Championship, the last of the four tournaments on the circuit’s Florida Swing.

With a paint company as the title sponsor, the Valspar bills itself as “the most colorful tournament on the PGA Tour’’ and it has some other unusual features.

All five courses at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, just outside of Tampa, were designed by legendary Chicago architect Larry Packard and the resort’s owner is Sheila Johnson, who went to Proviso East High School and the University of Illinois.

The Chicago fivesome  in the field will battle for a share of the $8.1 million in prize money when the tournament tees off on the Copperhead Course on Thursday. Donald (2012) and Streelman (2013) are past champions.

Only Wu, the former Northwestern star, has played well lately, however. Hardy has missed his last four cuts, Ghim has missed seven of his last eight and Streelman three of his last four.

Donald, 45, and Streelman, 44, are PGA veterans who won when the tournament had other names.  It was the Transitions Championship when Donald won and the Tampa Bay Championship when Streelman took the title.

Wu, though, has blossomed in the last two months.  He had strong finishes in his two starts in Florida, tying for 10^th in the Honda Classic and tying for 35^th at last week’s Players Championship.  He was the last player to make the field at The Players, getting in off his position on the FedEx Cup point list.

In addition to earning $114,166 in in one of golf’s best-playing tournaments Wu was up close to the excitement as Aaron Rai, his third-round playing partner, made one of the tourney’s three holes-in-one.

At the end of the 72 holes Wu matched the score of Sam Burns, who will be in the spotlight this week at Innisbrook.  Burns will be going after his third straight title on the Copperhead course.

Only nine players have won a PGA Tour event three straight years since World War II.  Tiger Woods did it four times at four different tournaments, last accomplishing the feat in 2007.  Arnold Palmer did it at two events in the 1960s.

Last player to notch a three-peat was Steve Stricker, who ruled the John Deere Classic from 2009-11. Other three-peaters since World War II were Gene Littler, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson and Stuart Appleby.

None of the Chicago fivesome has qualified for the Masters yet, and time is running out.  Each will probably have to win a tournament to play at the year’s first major tournament at Augusta National starting on April 6. The Valspar and Valero Texas Open are the only tournaments before then that advance champions to the Masters.

The Valspar has a stronger field than usual, despite the PGA Tour’s creation of “elevated’’ tournaments to lure the top stars.  Valspar is not an “elevated’’ event but this week’s field includes Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jordan Spieth. They have rarely competed in previous Valspars.

Thomas (PGA Championship) and Fitzpatrick (U.S. Open) will defend major titles later this year. Spieth, who has wins in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, won the Valspar in 2015.

HERE AND THERE:  Mark Hensby, had wins at the Illinois State Amateur, Illinois Open and John Deere Classic earlier in his golf career.  Now, at 51, he’s making a splash on PGA Tour Champions.  Hensby tied for third in the Cologuard Classic in Arizona on Sunday, and that was his second top-three finish in three starts on the 50-and-over circuit in 2023.