The John Deere Classic isn’t the biggest event on the PGA Tour, but it’s the circuit’s only annual Illinois stop and this week’s staging is – by far – the biggest golf event in the state in 2021.

TPC Deere Run, on the outskirts of Moline, again hosts the $6.2 million championship that begins its four-day, 72-hole run on Thursday. It’ll be the tourney’s 50^th anniversary celebrated a year late.  The tournament was canceled in 2020 due to pandemic concerns.

A tourney trademark has been its abundance of first-time winners on the PGA Tour.  There have been 23 of them in

tourney’s first 49 years, and that list includes eventual top stars Payne Stewart, Jordan Spieth and Bryson DeChambeau.

It also includes Dylan Frittelli, this week’s defending champion. None of the first-time winners could defend their title.  In fact, the only players to win back-to-back were the tourney’s first champion, Deane Beman (1971-72) and Steve Stricker, who pulled off a three-peat from 2009-11.

Stricker, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, could be a factor again this week even though he’s now playing with the 50-and-over circuit.  He won the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship by a whopping six-stroke margin last week at Ohio’s venerable Firestone course and is skipping the next major on PGA Tour Champions, the U.S. Senior Open, to return to the JDC instead.

Frittelli’s chances this week don’t appear nearly as good as Stricker’s. Frittelli had two top-10 finishes in big events after his win in the JDC — a tie for fifth in the 2020 Masters and ninth-place showing the the WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play Championship in March.

He’s missed the cut in six of his last seven starts, though.  There was a brief return to form when Frittelli shot a 65 in U.S. Open qualifying and tied for 46^th in the main event, but he missed cuts the last two weeks leading into his title defense.

“Not to sound too cliché, but (winning the JDC) gave me a sense of belonging.  That solidifies the fact that I’m on the PGA Tour and can be here long term,’’ said Frittelli. Looking back on his win two years ago.  “I don’t know how many winners there have been – probably a thousand that have done that.  As you get more wins, more stature, you realize that was basically the thing that started the domino effect.  You’ve obviously got to get over that hill before you can win two or three times.  I’m proud to have made that step at the John Deere Classic.’’

Winning the JDC doesn’t mean immediate success.  Michael Kim was the winner in 2018, a year before Frittelli.  Kim set the JDC scoring record at 27-under-par 257 for the 72 holes and won by eight shots. Then his game went sour.  Kim showed up for his title defense with a string of 27 missed cuts in a row and made it 28 in the year that Frittelli had his breakthrough.

The South African-born Frittelli, 31, had a great amateur career, winning the World Junior in 2007 and holing the winning putt for the University of Texas to give the Longhorns the 2012 NCAA team title.

In addition to Stricker, Frittelli and Kim, the past champions in the JDC’s 156 starters this week include  Ryan Moore (2016), Brian Harman (2014),  Zach Johnson (2012), Jonathan Byrd (2007), John Senden (2006) and Sean O’Hair (2005).  The field also features Chicago-based PGA Tour members Kevin Streelman and Doug Ghim and some formidable late entries includes Brandt Snedeker and Daniel Berger.

Tournament director Clair Peterson also awarded sponsor exemptions to six college stars, and at least two of them – Illinois’ Michael Feagles and Illinois State’s David Perkins – will make their professional debuts this week.

This year’s golf calendar isn’t as loaded with big events as it normally is.  That’s why next week figures to be the biggest of the local season.  It features the biggest annual women’s event of the year followed immediately by Illinois’ only PGA Tour stop of 2021.

The 26^th Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open leads things off at Mistwood Golf Club, in Romeoville. It tees off on Tuesday (JULY 6) with a 36-hole session to determine the qualifiers for the final 18 the following day.  As soon as the IWO wraps up the spotlight shifts to downstate Silvis for the 50^th playing of the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic. Neither event was played in 2020 because of pandemic concerns.

Mistwood is beginning an extraordinary stretch as a tournament site, with the Illinois State Amateur coming up just two weeks after the IWO, and the women’s event is special this year given the recent selection of its late founder Phil Kosin into the next induction class into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame. The induction ceremonies will be on Oct. 1 at The Glen Club, in Glenview.

Kosin, who succumbed to cancer in 2009, started the event at Odyssey, in Tinley Park.  After four stagings there – and with strong support from then Mistwood owner Jim McWethy – Kosin moved the event to Romeoville, its home ever since.  McWethy passed away last June after battling lung problems.

Two-time champion Nicole Jeray, now on the Mistwood teaching staff, and recently-crowned Illinois Women’s State Amateur champion Grace Curran head the field.

“Having not held the tournament last year, our entry numbers are a little down,’’ said Andy Mickelson, Mistwood’s director of golf. “We probably have a stronger amateur field than professionals.’’

Mickelson said the purse and champion’s payout will be about the same as recent years – a $20,000 prize fund with $5,000 for the champion, assuming she’s a professional.

ONE FOR THE BOOKS: Rarely have Chicago players won the prestigious Women’s Western Junior title, but Barrington’s Mara Janess pulled off that feat last week at Aurora Country Club.  Soon to enter her senior year at Barrington High School, Janess has already committed to play golf at the University of Michigan.

Before she goes collegiate, however, Janess will take on adults in the Women’s Western Amateur, which begins July 19 at Park Ridge Country Club.

“I played in the Women’s Western Amateur last year, and can’t wait for this year,’’ said Janess, who was the Illinois Class 2A high school champion in 2019.  “It’s such a great field every year, and it’s one of my favorite events.’’

Janess won’t play in the Illinois Women’s Open because it conflicts with her qualifying round for the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

The Women’s Western Junior has been played for 94 years and rarely has a local player won.  Before Janess the last to do it was Kate Lillie, of St. Charles, in 2016.  Most notable local winner of the title was legendary Carol Mann, an Olympia Fields golfer who went on to a Hall of Fame career after being crowned the Western Junior champion at Inverness in 1958.

Between Mann and Janess there were only three Chicago area winners of the coveted title – Mari McDougall of Midlothian in 1977, Ashley Armstrong of Flossmoor in 2011 and Lillie.

HERE AND THERE:  Michael Feagles, a fifth-year senior at Illinois, has joined Illinois State’s David Perkins in deciding to begin his professional career at the July 8-11 John Deere Classic.  Feagles and Perkins were among six college stars offered exemptions into the tourney.…Nick Tenuta, a senior-to-be at Louisville playing out of Mount Prospect Golf Club, won the 101^st Chicago District Amateur title with a 5 and 4 win over Butterfield member Brett Tomfohrde, of Chicago, in their 36-hole title match at Bull Valley, in Woodstock….Caleb Surrat, of Matthews, N.C., was the only player under par for 72 holes in the 103^rd boys’ Western Junior tourney at Onwentsia, in Lake Forest.  Finishing 65-67 in a 36-hole final day, Surrat was at 3-under 277 in capturing the oldest tourney in junior golf. He’ll play collegiately at Tennessee.

While the 121^st U.S. Open is history, there’ll be plenty of  tradition in evidence this week in the Chicago amateur ranks. Heading the busy schedule is the Chicago District Amateur, at Bull Valley in Woodstock. It’s being played for the 101^st time.

The Western Golf Association is also contesting its two junior championships this week, and they are rich in history as well.  The Western Junior, first played in 1914, is the oldest national junior championship in golf.  The Women’s Western Junior Championship was first played in 1920.

None of the three were played in 2020 because of pandemic concerns.

While the CDGA Amateur is a prestigious event, it’ll be without two of Illinois’ best amateurs who were the stars of the show the last time the tournament was held. Jordan Less and David Perkins shared the last CDGA Player-of-the-Year award, issued in 2019. They also were finalists in the an epic final in the last playing of the CDGA Am, Less winning in 37 holes.

Now, however, Less, of Elmhurst, and Perkins, of East Peoria, are ready to turn pro. Both completed their college careers, Less at Northern Illinois and Perkins at Illinois State. Perkins plans to turn pro at next month’s John Deere Classic.  He’s in the field for that PGA Tour stop on a sponsor’s exemption.

Less will play in the Illinois State Amateur next month, then turn pro at the Illinois Open in August. Less was low amateur in the last two Illinois Opens and a stalwart for the CDGA amateur team in last week’s Radix Cup matches.

While Less is ready to make a big jump career-wise, one thing won’t change.  He’ll still be doing most of his practicing at Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove.  Rich Harvest is the home course for Northern Illinois’ teams, and owner Jerry Rich is allowing Less to continue to use the private club’s facilities though his collegiate eligibility is over.

“I’m excited for Jordan’s future, both in golf and in life,’’ said Rich.  “I expect to find him honing his skills at Rich Harvest Farms while mentoring Northern Illinois University players and earning his membership on a professional tour.’’

The CDGA Amateur drew over 300 entries and the field was whittled to 78 through exemptions and four qualifying tournaments.  The championship proper opened with a 36-hole qualifying session on Monday, and the low 16 and ties began the match play portion on Tuesday. Quarterfinal and semifinals matches will be played on Wednesday (TODAY) and the champion will be crowned in a 36-hole final on Thursday.

JUNIOR DOUBLEHEADER:  The Western Golf Association will conduct its junior championships concurrently, but on different courses.  Onwentsia, in Lake Forest, will host the boys and Aurora Country Club will be the girls venue.

Both tournaments started on Monday with the boys ending on Thursday and the girls on Friday. The girls championship, held in conjunction with the Women’s Western Golf Association, is being played in the Chicago area for the firt time since Knollwood, in Lake Forest, hosted in 2014.

Past winners of the boys tourney include Rickie Fowler and Jim Furyk while the girls champions of the past include Christie Kerr and Nancy Lopez.  Lopez was a three-time winner from 1972-74.

HERE AND THERE:  Grace Curran, a University of Minnesota golfer from New Lenox, dominated the 88^th Illinois Women’s State Amateur at Pine Meadow, in Mundelein.  She shot a 2-under-par 70 to lead the qualifying round, then won all five of her matches.  Megan Furtney, of St. Charles and Duke, was Curran’s 2 and 1 victim in the title match….Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman hovered among the top 10 at the U.S. Open until a 72-73 finish on the weekend dropped him into a tie for 15^th.  Still, it was his second-best showing in eight appearances in the finals.  He tied for 13^th in 2016…..Northbrook’s Nick Hardy opened 68-69 in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Wichita Open, then withdrew after developing a wrist injury. Highwood’s Patrick Flavin, who posted a 62 in the third round, wound up in a tie for 10^th….The top players in the Illinois PGA defeated the CDGA’s top amateurs 11-7 last week at River Forest Country Club.  The IPGA has a 36-20-2 edge in the series.

Len Ziehm, a 2019 inductee into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, is part of the Golfers on Golf Radio 820 show, which is broadcast at 4 p.m. on Saturdays.  He is also co-host of the Ziehm & Spears Golf Podcast Series on social media outlets and his writings can be found at www.lenziehmongolf.com.

Nobody is going to pick Andy Pope, Dylan Frittelli or Dylan Meyer to win the 121st U.S. Open when it tees off Thursday at Torrey Pines in California. Still, all three have tee times and high hopes.

All were survivors of what has been dubbed “Golf’s Longest Day,’’ when nine 36-hole qualifiers played across the country determine the last of the 156 qualifiers for the Open proper.

For Pope, from Glen Ellyn, being ready for the U.S. Open is nothing new. The 37-year old Korn Ferry Tour veteran didn’t have much momentum going into last week’s U.S. Open sectional qualifier, having missed three straight cuts and tying for 66^th place in the two Korn Ferry tourneys leading into his elimination in New York.

So what happened? Pope shot 67-70 and finished third in a qualifier that had four spots at Torrey Pines available. Pope has had only limited success on the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit, but he’s been consistent at U.S. Open time.

With entries world-wide annually in the 10,000 range Pope has made it into the 156 starters in five of the last six U.S. Opens that included qualifying (the field for the pandemic-impacted 2020 tourney was all invitees).  And Pope made the cut in two of the four Opens he played in.

And then there’s Frittelli, the South African-born reigning champion of the John Deere Classic. His chances for playing in the U.S. Open weren’t promising before his sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio.  With his title defense in the JDC coming up next month Frittelli had missed the cut in four straight PGA Tour stops before his qualifier.

So what happened? Playing in a field that featured a big contingent of PGA Tour players who had not met U.S. Open qualifications, Frittelli got hot in his afternoon round, shooting a 65.  That put him at 8-under-par 136 for his 36 holes and in a tie for sixth place.  Sixteen spots at Torrey Pines were available in Columbus.

“It was a long day, and my first time in Columbus,’’ Frittelli said in a media session last week designed to preview the 50^th anniversary celebration of the July 8-11 John Deere Classic in Silvis, IL. “I made two eagles in the afternoon round and was in the last group to finish before sunset. It was a pretty magical day.’’

Unlike most every player in this week’s field, Frittelli has a victory on the Torrey Pines course. He won the 2007 World Junior title there – and by a five-stroke margin, no less.

“I went there to get the attention of college coaches,’’ said Frittelli, who went on to play on an NCAA championship team at Texas.  “That golf course has changed a little since then.’’

The other Dylan – ex-lllinois star Dylan Meyer – was also an unlikely qualifier in that he has no pro tour membership this year and has had trouble getting into tournaments.  He qualified in a sectional in Springfield, Ohio.

Unlike Pope and Frittelli, Meyer has already proven himself in the U.S. Open.  He made his professional debut in the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, in New York, and tied for 20^th.

JDC EXEMPTIONS: Michael Feagles of Illinois and David Perkins of Illinois State headed six collegiate players awarded sponsor exemptions into next month’s John Deere Classic.  Others were Tripp Kinney, of Iowa State; Alex Schaake,  Iowa; Luke Kluger, Kansas; and Willie Mack, Bethune-Cookman.

Meanwhile, Illinois alums Nick Hardy and Brian Campbell had top-10 finishes in the BMW Charity Championship  on the Korn Ferry Tour, and Illini coach Mike Small, making a rare appearance on PGA Tour Champions, tied for 37^th in the American Family Insurance Championship in Wisconsin.

BITS AND PIECES:  Team USA took a 33-17 victory over the International team in last weekend’s Arnold Palmer Cup matches at Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove….Mark Hensby, a past champion in the Illinois State Amateur, Illinois Open and John Deere Classic, trying to make his first cut on the PGA Tour in five years at the Palmetto Championship, withdrew after getting 10 penalty strokes for playing the wrong ball in the first round…..The 59^th Radix Cup matches between the top players in the Illinois PGA and Chicago District Golf Association is on tap for Thursday at Oak Park Country Club…The 88^th Illinois Women’s State Amateur completes its three-day run on Thursday at Pine Meadow, in Mundelein.

Jerry Rich, owner of Rich Harvest Farms, has never been reluctant to bring big amateur golf events to his private club in Sugar Grove, and this week is one of the biggest.

The 25^th anniversary of the Arnold Palmer Cup, a Ryder Cup-style competition that will be staged from Friday through Sunday. It’ll mark the second time Rich Harvest has hosted the event, the first being in 2015 when the United States team of collegiate stars defeated an International squad, 18-12.

This week’s matches will be much different than six years ago, however.  The first was all-men. This one will have men and women playing side by side as partners, the result of a format change made four years ago.  The last staging at Rich Harvest welcomed spectators.  This one is closed to the public due to pandemic concerns.

Competitors in previous Arnold Palmer Cups have included nine winners of major championships, and over 100 have gone on to careers on the PGA or LPGA tours. Regardless of the format used, the competition has been tightly contested with the U.S. leading the series 12-11-1.

This year’s  competition includes two players with Illinois connections. Northwestern sophomore Irene Kim, the Big Ten women’s golfer of the year, is on the U.S. team and Adrien Dumont de Chassart, from Belgium, was a stalwart on the Illinois team that reached the match play portion of last week’s NCAA Championship. He’ll play for the International squad.

U.S. OPEN-BOUND: Monday was the annual “The Longest Day in Golf,’’ with nine 36-hole sectional qualifiers for the June 17-20 U.S. Open at California’s Torrey Pines. Twenty-two players with Illinois connections were among the 837 nation-wide who either survived local qualifiers or were exempt for the sectionals, and only three earned spots at Torrey Pines.

Glen Ellyn’s Andy Pope, a journeyman on the Korn Ferry Tour, continued his extraordinary success in Open qualifiers.  He shot 67, the low score in the morning round at the sectional in Purchase, N.Y., then followed up with a 70 in the afternoon to finish third.  His sectional offered four spots at Torrey Pines, so Pope becomes a U.S. Open finalist for the fifth time in the last six years of qualifying.

There were no qualifiers last year due to pandemic concerns.  The U.S. Golf Association filled out the field by issuing invitations to players its committee deemed deserving, and Pope wasn’t among them.

Another Korn Ferry Tour member, Northwestern alum Dylan Wu, advanced through a sectional in Rockville, Md.,l shooting 66-71 to finish second. Dylan Meyer, a former star for Illinois who hasn’t earned membership on any tour for this season, was among seven qualifiers in a sectional at Springfield, Ohio. He tied for fifth there while former Illini teammate Nick Hardy came up one shot short of advancing to a playoff that determined the final survivors.

Bryce Emory, the reigning Illinois Open champion from Aurora, was a similar near-miss in the Columbus, Ohio, elimination. Due to a costly bogey on the 17^th hole of his afternoon round he finished one shot out of a five-man playoff to decide the final four qualifiers for Torrey Pines. That sectional, which included most of the PGA Tour players who were not otherwise qualified for the Open, offered 16 spots at Torrey Pines.

Tyler Isenhart, a redshirt freshman at Baylor University who attended high school at Geneva, appeared on the brink of advancing after leading the morning round at Springfield with a 66.  He faded to a 79 in the afternoon to drop out of contention.

HERE AND THERE: The Baths of Blackwolf Run, the new 10-hole par-3 course that includes a two-acre putting green, opened this week in Kohler, Wis…..The Chicago District Senior Amateur concludes its four-day run on Thursday at Merit Club, in Libertyville….A new season of Dave Lockhart’s Golf360 TV show started this week on NBC Sports Chicago.  The CDGA has taken over as presenting sponsor and ex-Bears’ center Patrick Mannelly returns as host….Bolingbrook Golf Club will host one of eight 72-hole tournaments on the new Forme Tour.  The professional circuit has players from 21 countries and provides a path to the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour.  The Bolingbrook stop is July 20-23.