Author: lenz

Spieth’s return gives John Deere Classic a gigantic boost

 

Jordan Spieth was just a kid – albeit a very promising golfer – when he played in the John Deere Classic for the first time in 2013.

To say he took advantage of the opportunity is putting it mildly.  Not only did he win the title in the only annual PGA Tour event left in Illinois, his win was the stuff of legends and the golf community in the Quad Cities area – which embraces Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa – never forgot.

After missing the tournament the last nine years, Spieth returns to the JDC this week. The event begins its 72-hole run on Thursday (TOMORROW) at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.

Spieth was 19 when he won his first title in the John Deere Classic. After barely a year of college golf at Texas he had one runner-up finish and six other top-10s in his first PGA Tour season – but Spieth didn’t win until he got to TPC Deere Run.

Then he holed a 44-foot bunker shot for birdie on the last hole of regulation play – his fifth birdie in six holes – to get into a playoff.  A tense six holes later he  knocked off defending champion  and Iowa favorite Zach Johnson and Canadian David Hearn to  become only the fourth teen-ager to win on the PGA Tour, and the first since 1931.

The Spieth story didn’t end there.  He was no one-day  wonder, winning 11 tournaments in his first four years on tour including three major championships.  After finishing seventh in his title defense in 2014 Spieth won the JDC in another  playoff in 2015 — a season he which he also won both the Masters and U.S. Open.

And then Spieth moved on from the event that got his pro career off to such a great start.

“There’s no shortage of playing opportunities,’’ said Andrew Lehman, who replaced Clair Peterson as JDC tournament director in 2023.  “A player will play in 18 to 24 tournament a year and he’ll have 40 to choose from.’’

Spieth chose the JDC only once since his last appearance, but that didn’t work out well.  He was on the grounds but withdrew because of an injury without teeing off. The JDC staff never gave up on bringing Spieth back, however.

“We never stopped trying,’’ said Lehman. “A lot of people felt he’d never be back, but we kept working with him and his team. This year we worked with them for two-three months, but I thought it wasn’t going to happen because it was taking so long and we weren’t hearing anything.  Then (about two weeks ago) they called and said that he had committed.  We’re super excited. He’s the main guy on our sponsor visits that people always asked about.’’

Signature events — big money, small field, no-cut tournaments put on by the PGA Tour as part of its battle with the LIV Tour – were a threat to smaller tournaments.  The JDC doesn’t have Signature status, but the tournament has coped with that dilemma.

“It’s been a tumultuous 18 months in the game of professional golf,’’ said Lehman, “but the last two years have worked in our favor.’’

This year the last of eight Signature events was the Travelers, in Connecticut.  It was played two weeks before the JDC, and only the British Open (July 18-21) is left among the sport’s four majors. That left the JDC with a good week to get top players.

Spieth wasn’t the only one to fit it into its schedule.  Jason Day is back after making just a few appearances in the Quad Cities early in his career.  Sepp Straka is the defending champion.

“Our field this year is the deepest we’ve ever been,’’ said Lehman.  “It’s hard to put a field together, especially when you throw in a holiday with it (the first round coincides with Thursday’s Fourth of July). But the dates this year benefitted us.’’

CDGA Amateur final

Winnetka’s Tyler Greeenspahn, a 19-year old Southern California student, was two-down with two holes to play in the 36-hole championship match of the 104th Chicago District Amateur but he rallied to beat Roselle’s Dan Stringfellow, a Medinah member, on the third hole of a sudden death playoff at Chicago’s Beverly Country Club.

Jarrett Fultz, of Queen City, Ariz., was the overall champion at the Chicago Adaptive Open on Cog Hill’s No. 3 course.  Fultz, 23, was born with cerebral palsy that impacts his putting stroke but he shot 77-71 in the tournament rounds.  Ryanne Jackson, of Madeira Beach, FL, was the women’s overall winner and Kirk Holmberg, of Hutchinson, KS., was the senior overall champion.

Andy Svoboda, the new head pro at Butler National in Oak Brook, has been named to the 10-man U.S. team for the 31st PGA Cup matches against Great Britain and Ireland Sept. 10-15 at Sunriver, in Oregon.

 

Cog Hill hosts inaugural Chicago Adaptive Open

 

Marty Neal, the Libertyville Township Highway Commissioner, has long been an avid golfer. Now 61, he’s been playing for 40 years – and that’s since he lost his right hand after it got caught in a meat-grinder when he was 15.

On May 10 he made his first hole-in-one when his tee shot on the 11th hole at Shepherd’s Crook, in Zion, fell into the cup.  That was a thrill, but not nearly as excited as Neal felt after learning about the inaugural Chicago Adaptive Open.

Created by the Chicago District Golf Association with guidance from Jonathan Snyder, head of the Chicago-based United States Adaptive Golf Alliance, the event will bring together the world’s best golfers with physical and intellectuual disabilities on Cog Hill’s No. 3 course in Lemont this weekend.

There will be 53 competitors, 49 of them men and 20 in the senior category.  They’ll have a practice round on Friday (JUNE 28) and tournament rounds Saturday and Sunday (JUNE 29-30). The tournament rounds will start at 10:10 a.m. both days.

Adaptive golf is growing, and the Chicago event on one of that city’s premier courses, is further evidence of that.

The Cog Hill complex has 72 holes and its No. 4 course, Dubsdread, was the long-time site of the Western Open and hosted a variety of competitions including the U.S. Amateur and BMW Championship. Now the facility will  host one of the first Adaptive tournaments on Dubsdread’s companion course.

Neal, son of the late Libertyville mayor Paul Ryan, has a handicap index of 16 —  not too shabby for a senior player who swings a club with just his left arm.  He plays in a weekly league and frequents suburban courses like Countryside and Pine Meadow, in Mundelein; White Deer Run, in Vernon Hills; and Lake Bluff.

The Chicago Adaptive Open will be an entirely different golf experience, however. Neal promptly paid the $200 entry fee,  went through an elaborate registration process with the European  Handicapped Golf Association,  lined up two sons and his older brother to be his caddies and then took the adventure even further.

“I’m just a regular guy, an average golfer who – on a good day – can shoot in the high 80s or low 90s,’’ said Neal.  “It’ll be so cool to meet someone who is good at golf who has a disability like mine, but I’m also a research participant at the Shirley Ryan Rehabilitating Lab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago).’’

He also serves as a model for students learning to build prosthetics in a Masters program at Northwestern University. He wanted to connect the CDGA, the Shirley Ryan Lab and Northwestern, figuring that all three parties would want to have a presence in the Chicago Adaptive Open. He’ll wear Shirley Ryan apparel in the competition.

The competition will be serious stuff, too.   The event a $15,000 purse, which Snyder says marks the first time prize money will be part of an adaptive golf competition.  The first three finishers in each of 17 sports classifications will get cash prizes. Adaptive events are on the rise since the U.S. Golf Association created a national championship a couple years ago.  Some states, notably Georgia and Indiana, also have their own competitions.

Competitive categories are based on impairment, such as lower limb, arm and visual. Adaptive golf already has its celebrity competitors who are expected at Cog Hill.  Dennis Walters is a World Golf Hall of Famer who has his own television show.  Paralyzed from the waist down he’ll compete in the seated golfers category.

Ryanne Jackson, from Florida, was the overall women’s champion at the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open, staged at Pinehurst – the North Carolina base for the recent U.S. Open. Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of 19, she competed collegiately at Eastern Illinois.

Evan Mathias, born with congenital defects to both legs, has been on prosthetics since he was one year old.  He won the Indiana Adaptive Championship in May, shooting 5-under-par golf over 36 holes and then taking the title in a four-hole playoff.

HERE AND THERE: The Evanston Wilmette Golf Course Association and Kemper Sports have announced the rebranding of Canal Shores, a 100-year old par-60 course that is being upgraded in preparation for a re-opening in 2025.  The course will be renamed The Evans at Canal Shores, underscoring its connection to the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation.

David Paeglow, head professional at Kishwaukee in DeKalb, captured the Illinois Senior Open for the second time.  He was the only player under par, posting a 2-under 142 over 36 holes at Hawthorn Woods. Next stop for him is this week’s U.S. Senior Open in Newport, R.I.

Parker Sands, of Edmond, Okla., captured the 106th playing of the Western Junior at Ruth Lake, in Hinsdale.  Sand won by six strokes after posting a 72-hole scored of 10-under-par 270

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mountain golf makes for a two-sports story at Georgia’s Sky Valley

Golf and Golf Croquet thrive together at Sky Valley in Georgia. (Joy Sarver Photos)

SKY VALLEY, Georgia – This is not a report on your traditional golf travel destinations.  Sky Valley Country Club is in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  At an elevation of 3,297 feet it’s the highest and northern- most course in Georgia.

The location is a plus for this Georgia Golf Trail layout, which justifiably bills itself as “Georgia’s Highest and Coolest City’’  and “Georgia’s Summer Retreat.’’

“We’re the only club in our range that’s open to the public and open year-around,’’ said Ryan DeBois, the club’s general manager. “All but two of the others are completely private and are closed between Nov. 1 and April 30. We’ve had people playing in January.’’

Though the temperatures were on the high side for this area during our visit, Sky Valley attracts plenty of visitors anxious to escape the heat of nearby states – particularly Florida. It’s also a 2 ½-hour drive from Atlanta, so that area provides large numbers of visitors as well.

One minor drawback, though.  The location of Sky Valley – the name of the club as well as the city in which it resides – isn’t easy to pinpoint on maps.

“We’re different.  We straddle the North Carolina and Georgia state lines,’’ said DeBois. “Our back nine is in Georgia but a couple of the holes on the front nine are in North Carolina.’’

Anyway, Sky Valley is located between the towns of Clayton, Ga., and Highlands, N.C.  It’s in Rabun County, Ga., and is included in the Highlands Plateau area that includes Cashiers, N.C.

Sky Valley Country Club, with its historic chimney on the third hole (below), holds a special place on the state lines of both Georgia and North Carolina.

Sky Valley is no mystery to people in the know. Two former Georgia governors and a president of Florida State University have had homes in the mountains overlooking the course, and football coaching legend Nick Saban has been a frequent player there.

There’s been a golf course at Sky Valley since the 1980s. A resort course was built on a cattle farm there, and a chimney from those days still adorns the No. 3 fairway.. The facility had an array of problems surviving until a founders group of neighbors banded together to pull it out of bankruptcy in 2010 and took ownership in 2013.

One member of that group was Milt Gillespie, whose family has had roots in the area since 1821. Gillespie and wife Anne have lived in a beautiful – and one of the very highest – homes on the mountain for 17 years but were also residents of the area when a ski area was operated in Sky Valley from 1964 to 2004.

The Chapel of Sky Valley stands out with its mountain setting.

Bill Watts is the designer on record for the original course, but the present one is a creation of Atlanta architect Bill Bergin in 2007. It has challenging elevation and No. 15 was selected as the best par-3 on the Georgia Golf Trail in 2023.   Veteran superintendent Steve Mason has the 6,961, par 72 facility in fine shape, and the course hosted last year’s Georgia Senior Amateur.

Last year the course had 18,000 rounds, which is well above the array of private courses in the area, and 57 percent of Sky Valley’s rounds came from public play.

Traditional golf isn’t the only “golf’’ played seriously at Sky Valley.  Golf Croquet also has its very serious devotees.  The club has two full-length croquet courts, its participants don the sport’s traditional white attire and competition is readily available with 11 of the area’s private clubs also having croquet facilities. They don’t play the casual backyard version of the sport.

Dale Fenwick, who directs the Sky Valley croquet program, called  Golf Croquet  “a modification of Association Croquet….Association Croquet is a very long , very complicated, strategic game. Association Croquet is to chess what Golf Croquet is to checkers.’’

Fenwick did some further research, using the sport’s historical publications, and learned from a British leaflet from 1896 that Golf Croquet was mentioned as “a game for garden parties.”

The golf connection apparently “was designed to utilize the favorite strokes of drives in golf, but on a moderate size lawn.”

You can find waterfalls whenever you venture around the Sky Valley area. This is one of the best. It’s called Mud Creek Falls and it has a 100-foot vertical drop.

Anyway, Sky Valley has a very friendly membership  consisting of about 300.  One-third are full-time local residents but the majority are four- to six-month season residents of Sky Valley.  They enjoy a nice, modern 13,000 square foot clubhouse that has two dining rooms.  Other facilities include a golf simulator.

The Chapel of Sky Valley’s bell tower plays music at regular intervals every day. There are plenty of trails for hiking and other outdoor recreational pursuits include fly-fishing, tennis, pickleball and swimming.

Lodging for 100 people is available in private homes, condos and timeshares within Sky Valley and VRBO contributes another 60 rooms to the Sky Valley inventory. Fine dining and shopping is available in Highlands, 12 miles away, and other nearby communities.  It’s also worthwhile to check out the abundance of waterfalls and wineries throughout the area.

For further information contact www.skyvalleycountryclub.com.

Sky Valley’s clubhouse is a comfortable place for both the club members and visitors who come to enjoy the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

 

 

 

CDGA’s involvement gave Women’s State Amateur a big boost

 

The Illinois Women’s State Amateur had been conducted by the downstate-based Illinois Women’s Golf Association for 90 years before the IWGA – beset by a loss of members – turned the event over to the Chicago District Golf Association this year.

While the site remained at The Grove, in Long Grove, the shift in leadership produced a significant boost to women’s golf in the state.

The CDGA changed the format from match play to a 54-hole stroke play event, and last week’s tourney produced a wire-to-wire winner in Buffalo Grove’s Haeri Lee. The 24-year old Drake University alum posted rounds of 72, 70 and 76, and her 2-over-par 218 was good for a one-stroke win over Geneva’s Sarah Arnold.

Not only did Lee benefit from the format change, her reward for winning was upgraded, too.  An exemption into the U.S. Women’s Amateur, coming up Aug. 5-11 at Southern Hills in Oklahoma, was also part of the winner’s prize and that was a major incentive in getting Lee to enter. In past years the field for the national tourney was decided only in a series of nation-wide qualifiers.

“It’s been a long-time goal of mine,’’ said Lee.  “I was always kind of close, but I was struggling the last few years, and this was a confidence boost. I’m super excited, and super happy.’’

Now the Women’s State Am has become a more demanding test than the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open, in which both pros and amateurs compete together.  The 29th IWO, coming up July 22-23 at Mistwood in Romeoveille, is played at only 36 holes.

While Lee never surrendered the lead in the Amateur, she did have to survive a final-round charge by playing partner Arnold, who made four birdies in a five-hole stretch to pull into a share of the lead with five holes left in regulation.

Arnold, who plays collegiately at Western Kentucky, won the State Am in 2019 and 2023.  She is the only multiple-winner  since Kerry Postillion won the last of her five titles in 2007.

RADIX CUP ROUT:  The Illinois PGA’s top players walloped the Chicago District’s amateur stars 16-2 in the 62nd playing of the Radix Cup matches at Oak Park Country Club.  It was the largest margin of victory in the series and gave the IPGA a 38-22-2 lead in the rivalry.

This Radix Cup was special, as the professionals honored long-time Oak Park head pro Steve Dunning, who passed away less than a week before last week’s competition.  Carson Solien, the club’s host pro, was part of the IPGA victory and honored Dunning.

“We’ll miss him,’’ said Solien.  “He was an integral part of Oak Park, and a great guy.’’ The American flag behind the clubhouse flew at half staff in Dunning’s memory during the competition.

HERE AND THERE: Samantha Brown, of Westfield, Ind., had been eliminated in the Round of 16 the last two years in the Women’s Western Junior, but not this year.  She defeated Texan Isabel Emanuels in the final at Hinsdale Golf Club.  Both players earned exemptions into the Women’s Western Amateur, coming to Onwentsia in Lake Forest July 15-20.

Kevin Flack of Mauh-Nah-Tee-See, in Rockford, led wire to wire in winning his fourth title in the Illinois PGA Assistants Championship on his home course. He had also won the title in 2019, 2021 and 2022.  Flack, Kevin Healy of Beverly and Matthew Rion of Briarwood all qualified for the national Assistants event in Florida in November.

The 104th Chicago District Amateur begins its four-day run on Monday (JUNE 24)   at Chicago’s Beverly Country Club.

Arlington Lakes will accept 40 teams into its Patriot Cup, a two-person gross scramble to be played on the Fourth of July.

 

 

The evolution of Bryson DeChambeau started in Illinois

Nine years ago Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields.

 

I can’t say I really know Bryson DeChambeau, but it certainly felt like it after he won the U.S. Open on Sunday at Pinehurst in such dramatic fashion.

DeChambeau was just a kid out of Southern Methodist University when he won the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields in 2015.  Chicago rarely gets an event of that stature, and I reported on it throughout. He followed that with two more big wins on Illinois soil.

Two years later DeChambeau, now a budding professional, won his first title on the PGA Tour at TPC Deere Run.  That tournament in downstate Silvis is well-known as an event that regularly produces first-time winners on the PGA Tour. I reported on that one, too.

Finally, last year DeChambeau won the LIV Golf League’s event at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. Not only did he win the individual title, he also captained the Crushers – the team champion – and, yes, I witnessed it all.

I wasn’t on hand in North Carolina, where he outdueled Rory McIlroy in a stirring battle for the Open title but watching the drama unfold underscored for me just how much DeChambeau has developed as a golfer.

At Olympia Fields he was so excited to win he wandered around the grounds with a big smile on his face anxious to have his picture taken and talk with most anyone who wanted to talk with him.

At TPC Deere Run he got emotional at the trophy ceremony, recalling that his idol Payne Stewart was also a winner of the event early in his pro career.  Stewart also attended SMU, and DeChambeau said that was a big reason why he went there.

He donned a Stewart-style cap in the JDC and again used his headware at Pinehurst to honor the late, great player who won the first U.S. Open played at the course in 1999.  That was a hard one to forget by me, too.  Stewart held off Phil Mickelson with a dramatic putt on the final hole, a scenario with an ending much like the DeChambeau-McIlroy battle on Sunday.

And then we come to Rich Harvest Farms, site of  LIV tournaments the last two years but not this one.  It’s moving to Bolingbrook Golf Club in September.  DeChambeau had a lot more fun in his win at Rich Harvest last year, coming from eight shots back in the final round and then edging out Anirban Lahiri, one of his teammates.  They put on a show  mugging for the cameras afterwards.

That was a big weekend but didn’t compare to a LIV event at Greenbrier in West Virginia a few weeks earlier.  DeChambeau shot 61-58 on the weekend to get a victory there.

Though DeChambeau is a two-time Open winner – he won when no spectators were allowed in pandemic times in 2020 at New York’s Winged Foot – his life hasn’t been all fun and games.  Very much a free thinker, DeChambeau made some radical swing and equipment adjustments after beefing up to increase his distance off the tee.  Many questioned his decisions but they paid off.

He also didn’t get along with Brooks Koepka, a PGA Tour rival.  They’re very different personalities. Both jumped to the controversial LIV circuit and have won major championships since making their decisions to leave the PGA Tour. Now, after last week’s win, DeChambeau has become LIV’s most popular player.

One TV commentator labeled DeChambeau “golf’s ultimate showman’’ during the Open.  That may be a stretch, but his personality is refreshing in these days of turmoil in professional golf. He should be a big hit at the LIV tournament in Nashville this week and his budding popularity might even become a factor in getting the PGA Tour and LIV to eventually make peace. Time will tell.

Bryson DeChambeau (left) had fun with Crushers’ teammate Anirban Lahiri after edging him for the title at LIV/Chicago in 2023. (Joy Sarver Photos)

 

 

 

It’d be helpful to get Nicklaus’ take on the PGA-LIV issue

OCALA, FL. – My starting point as a golf writer came at the 1968 Western Open at Olympia Fields.  Jack Nicklaus won it.

Over the next 56 years I’ve reported, commented and interviewed many people in the golf industry. Many times I’ve been asked who is the best interview in the golf world, and my response has never changed:

“It’s Jack Nicklaus.  No question about it, and no one else is even close.’’

Not that you always agree with him, but Nicklaus has a good track record for being inciteful, candid, helpful, informative and expansive.

There was somewhat of a departure from that during his annual sit-down with the media before his Memorial tournament, however. He did have one gripe.  He didn’t like having the Memorial moved to a week before the U.S. Open.

“We’re here because the tour asked us to help them out,’’ said Nicklaus. “When I played I would rarely play a week before any major championship.  So I’m asked to be part of putting on a golf tournament in a week when I would never play.’’

Point well taken, and Nicklaus wasn’t treated so well by the tour with the dates the Honda Classic (now Cognizant Classic of the Palm Beaches) was given, either.  Nicklaus has a deep involvement there but, as the first event on the Florida Swing, even the PGA Tour players living in the area weren’t reluctant to skip it.

Tournament dates weren’t the major issue leading into this year’s two-week Memorial-U.S.  Open stretch, however.  The dragged out negotiations between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf League remain golf’s hottest topic but — as hard as the media members at Ohio’s Muirfield Village tried — Nicklaus wanted to stay clear of it.

“I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the day- to- day of the tour anymore,’’ he said.  “I’m 84 years old.  I haven’t played a tour event since 2005, so I’m a few years removed from that. There are a lot smarter people and a lot better people that are better versed on what’s going on than I as it relates to the problems of the game of golf.’’

Nicklaus was very much involved the last time the PGA Tour was involved in such a controversy.

“That was 1968.  I was 28 years old. Arnold (Palmer) was 38.  And Arnold and I and Gardner Dickenson, who was chairman of the board, really broke away from the PGA of America.  We didn’t have anything against the PGA of America, except that we wanted to run our own business.’’

PGA Tour-LIV is a lot different than that.

Nicklaus contacted PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan a couple months ago in preparation for a previous interview, and their conversation was short.

“I said, Jay, I’m worried a little bit about what’s going on,’ said Nicklaus.  “I said `Are you doing all right or are you not?  He said `We’re doing fine.’  I said, `That’s all I need to know.’’

Given the widespread respect Nicklaus has in the game, his views could be beneficial to bringing peace back to the men’s professional game but that’s not a topic for lengthy discussions.

About as far as he will go is to laud Tiger Woods’ involvement in the negotiations.

“Tiger’s has a lot of experience.  He’s been around long enough.  He’s not going to play a whole lot more.  He can still contribute,’’ said Nicklaus.  “It’s great that he wants to contribute and be part of it.  It’s great that the guys want him to contribute.  I’m delighted to see him on the board.’’

Beyond that, Nicklaus isn’t convinced that a merger is the answer.

“I don’t know whether it’s imperative that that happens,’’ he said.  “It would be better if they all played together more often.  I do think that, but that’s above my pay grade.  To really answer that a hundred percent I’d have to  know all the ramifications of it.’’

Nicklaus doesn’t and, apparently, no one else does either.

 

 

 

Here’s the Illinois players teeing off in the U.S. Open

 

In most years there are two, maybe three, Illinois-connected players in the finals of the U.S. Open.  This year, for the 124th Open that tees off on Thursday  in Pinehurst, N.C., there will be four such players among the 156 starters.

Interestingly, though, none of them are among the area’s regular PGA Tour players. The four range in age from 22 to 44 and three are products of the University of Illinois’ powerhouse program. The other is a club professional who took a job in the area in March.

Just getting on the tee sheet for a U.S. Open is a commendable accomplishment, as only declared professionals or amateurs with a handicap index that does not exceed 0.4 can enter.  Even with those stringent requirements a record 10,187 entered last year.

While some players are exempted into the final field through past peformances most had to survive 109 local qualifying rounds held around the country and then get through one of the thirteen 36-hole final qualifiers held in the U.S., England, Japan and Canada.

Two of the four local participants survived both stages of qualifiers, and only two players in tournament history have done that and gone on to win the coveted title – Ken Venturi in 1964 and Orville Moody in 1969.

Here are this year’s Illinois-connected participants at Pinehurst:

JACKSON BUCHANAN – This 22-year old University of Illinois junior earned a spot in his first U.S. Open proper by shooting 64-67 in the final qualifier in his native Georgia.  Buchanan shared medalist honors in that event and has been a great player for the Illini for three years. He was Big Ten player-of-the-year in helping Illinois win the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championship. As a sophomore, he was the NCAA runner-up in the individual competition.

BRIAN CAMPBELL – This 31-year old Californian was playing for the Illini when he finished as low amateur (tied for 27th place) in the 2015 U.S. Open at Washington’s Chambers Bay.  He also qualified for the Open proper when it was played at Pinehurst in 2014 but didn’t survive the 36-hole cut.  Since turning pro in 2015 he has been a regular on the Korn Ferry Tour.

THOMAS DETRY – Also 31, Detry grew up in Belgium before Illini coach Mike Small recruited him. He got into this week’s field off his position in the top 60 point leaders in the Official World Golf Rankings. Detry climbed into that level with a tie for fourth at the PGA Championship last month. He was the Big Ten champion in 2016 after representing Belgium in three World Amateur Team Championships and Europe in the 2010 Junior Ryder Cup. He’s played in two previous U.S. Opens, tying for 49th at New York’s Winged Foot in 2020 and missing the cut at California’s Torrey Pines in 2021.

ANDY SVOBODA – Named the new head professional at Butler National in Oak Brook in March, the 44-year old graduate of St. John’s University advanced to his sixth U.S. Open by shooting 68-65 at a New Jersey qualifier.  Svoboda had more that $1 million in winnings on both the Korn Ferry and PGA Tours before switching to the club professional ranks. He missed the cut in five of his six previous Opens, surviving all 72 holes en route to a tie for 71st in 2008. He was  in last year’s Open field at Los Angeles Country Club, his first appearance in the finals since 2013. This year qualified for the PGA Championship and was runner-up in the Illinois PGA March Play Championship.

HERE AND THERE: The 91st Illinois Women’s State Amateur runs through Thursday at The Grove in Long Grove. The Chicago District Golf Association is conducting the event for the first time, replacing the Illinois Women’s Golf Association which ran the event for 90 years.

The 62nd Radix Cup matches between the top professionals in the Illinois PGA and top amateurs of the CDGA will be held Thursday at Oak Park Country Club.  The IPGA leads the series 37-22-2.

Brad Key, an Arlington Heights resident and Ivanhoe Club member, won the 21st CDGA Senior Championship at Kishwaukee, in DeKalb.

The Women’s Western Junior runs through Friday at Hinsdale Golf Club, and the Western Junior for boys begins its four-day run at Ruth Lake on Monday. The Illinois Senior Open is Monday and Tuesday at Hawthorn Woods.

 

 

 

 

Cantigny starts a renovation just as Dubsdread re-opens

Bunkers on Dubsdread’s fifth hole sparkle after a long renovation project at Cog Hill.

It may have been coincidental, but two of the Chicago area’s most prominent public golf facilities made announcements on the same day last week that will have a big impact on the area’s golf community.

At Cantigny, in Wheaton, it was the ground-breaking  for an extraordinary three-year redo. At Cog Hill, in Lemont, it was the resumption  of play at what has been the area’s most consistent tournament site.

Cantigny first.

Park Ridge-based course architect Todd Quitno  just began a three-year project to upgrade the 35-year old 27-hole facility that has been particularly notable for its commitment to growing the game through its Youth Links layout.  It won’t be touched in the renovation and – because Cantigny is blessed with 27 holes – its regulars will always have an 18-hole layout available.

Hillside, the shortest of Cantigny’s three nines, will undergo its renovation this year with Woodside and Lakeside combining on the 18-hole scorecard.  Woodside gets its upgrades in 2025 and Lakeside in 2026. Cantigny has hosted five Illinois State Amateurs, but the next scheduled one will be pushed back two years, to 2026.

Quito has taken on major projects at other Chicago area facilities, the Bridges of Poplar Creen, Schaumburg, Chevy Chase and Tam O’Shanter perhaps the most notable. Cantigny was designed by Roger Packard and Andy North with Wadsworth handling the construction process. Wadsworth will also be working with Quitno.

Architect Todd Quitno outlines his plans for a renovation during ground-breaking at Cantigny.

“(Quitno and colleagues) won’t do anything crazy,’’ said Cantigny general manager Terry Hanley.  “We will have a timeless golf course.’’

“Cantigny has been committed to delivering an exceptional golf experience while growing the game,’’ said Steve Skinner, chief executive officer of KemperSports, which manages the facility.  “The renovation reiterates that commitment to maintaining Cantigny as one of the best courses in the Chicago area and the country.’’

At Cog Hill’s 72-hole complex the famed Dubsdread course is back in play.  The Jemsek family closed it early last season and has opened it about two months late this year to allow for its first renovation since 2008.  That one was done by world renowned architect Rees Jones with  associate Greg Muirhead overseeing the project.  Muirhead directed this one.

Dubsdread opened in 1964 and was the site of the 1997 U.S. Amateur and two U.S. Public Links Championships.  The Western Open was played there from 1991 to 2006 and Dubs was also the site of four BMW Championships after the Western Golf Association opted to conduct a FedEx Cup Playoff event that was moved around the country.

A goal of the latest renovation was to make Dubsdread “more player friendly for the daily golfer.’’ That was done through the rebuilding of 89 bunkers, the shifting of fairway bunkers throughout the course and the addition of chipping areas on four holes.

HERE AND THERE:  The John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event, has announced the entries of Patrick Cantlay and Jason Day – two PGA Tour mainstays who have rarely been in attendance at the JDC in the past.  This year’s version is July 4-7 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.

Andy Svoboda, the new head pro at Butler National in Oak Brook, earned a place in the upcoming U.S. Open with a third-place finish in a final qualifier in Summit, N.J.  Two University of Illinois products also advanced to the Open proper at Pinehurst.  Jackson Buchanan, a member of the current Illini team, was co-medalist in Alpharetta, Ga., and alum Brian Campbell tied for second at Durham, N.C.

The Western Golf Association holds the first of its six championships next week.  The Women’s Western Junior, first played in 1920, begins its five-day run at Hinsdale Golf Club and the boys version – the Western Junior – is the following week at another Hinsdale club, Ruth Lake.

Illinois PGA seniors defeated the Chicago District team 3-2 in the 34th annual Thompson Cup matches last week at Chicago’s Ridge Country Club.  The 22nd CDGA Senior Amateur ends its four-day run tomorrow  at Kishwaukee in DeKalb.

The Illinois PGA resumes tournament play with its Assistants Championship on Monday at Mauh-Nah-Tee-See, in Rockford.

 

 

 

My reflections on a mind-boggling two weeks in pro golf

 

OCALA, FL. – Who would have thunk it?

There’s some developments over the last two weeks in the pro golf world that defy the imagination – at least mine. These are changing times in golf, and that’s been the case for a while – but I never would have imagined the following series of events in such a short span.

Some are sad, some strange, some noteworthy.  None are related, but all – in one way or another – are food for thought.  (I’ve  listed them in pretty much chronological order for lack of a better way to put them on display):

RORY – Here you have one of the best players win a big tournament, the Wells Fargo Championship, then file for divorce the next day – and that happened to be the day players like Rory McIlroy could start arriving for the PGA Championship, the second major of the season.

McIlroy’s timing was strange, but that’s not all.  He refused to talk about it, even though social media was smothered with speculation and opinions about the sudden turn of events.  It even spread to Amanda Balionis, the popular TV golf reporter who was reported to be McIlroy’s new love interest. She wouldn’t address the subject either.

Here you have one of the PGA Tour’s best player spokesmen and a TV personality whose job it is to explain what’s going on during tour events, and both are letting the speculation about them run wild.  Granted, it’s their own business, but still…..

SCOTTIE – The world’s best player gets arrested on his way to the second round of the PGA Championship.  To Scottie Scheffler’s credit he – unlike McIlroy – didn’t duck questions about his unfortunate experience at the gates of Quail Hollow.  In fact, he handled the episode with enviable aplomb.  Still, no way an event of this magnitude could have been on any golf follower’s radar.

GRAYSON – This is such a sad development.  Grayson Murray, a PGA Tour player, committed suicide in the middle of a tournament.  It shook up the tour, its fans and – most obviously – his friends among the players.  Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati shared their thoughts publically at that emotional time, and I commend them for doing it.  I strongly believe they were a help to many caught in the mourning process.

NELLY – The best player in women’s golf had won six of her last seven tournaments, then Nelly Korda teed off in the U.S. Women’s Open.  On her third hole she put three balls in the water and took a 10. How does that happen?  Just golf, I guess.

Anyway, Korda missed the 36-hole cut at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania – not surprising, given her early-round nightmare.  What was surprising is all the company she had in failing to qualify for weekend play.

Heading that list was Lexi Thompson, who – at 29 – announced her pending retirement plans before teeing off.  The others on the MC list included defending champion Allisen Corpuz; such LPGA mainstays as Rose Zhang, Brooke Henderson, Lydia Ko, Patty Tavanakit, Sei Young Kim, Leona Maguire, In Gee Chun and Ariya Jutanugarn and you can add No. 1-ranked amateur Ingrid Lindblad and Lottie Woad, winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, to that list.

YUKA – Only 15 Americans were among the 75 players making the cut at Lancaster, but an established player did win the title.  Yuka Saso, the champion for the second time, was unusual for one thing.  While her win was no fluke, she won the title in 2021 representing the Philippines.  This time she won under the flag of Japan.  She explained that she wanted to honor the homes of both of her parents.

Saso was one of only two players to finish the 72 holes under par – the fewest in 10 years.  It’s only fitting to honor the champion but that doesn’t rule out labeling  the latest staging of arguably the biggest event in women’s golf as “The Disaster at Lancaster.’’

CADDIE-MAN – C.T. Pan may be the first player to use four caddies in the same round of any tournament, much less one as prestigious as the Canadian Open.

Pan had one of the premier bag-toters, Mike (Fluff) Cowan, on his bag to start the final round.  Cowan took a fall on the hills at the No. 3 hole, and Pan took a volunteer from the gallery to replace him.  That fan lasted one hole and another replaced him.  That one lasted through the ninth hole before Al Ridell, a nearby resident who has caddied professionally, saw what was happening on television and took over for the final nine.  Pan shot a 69 and finished in a tie for 35th place.

WHAT SHOULD we make of all this?  I guess it should go down simply as “life goes on.’’ Still, it makes me a little apprehensive about the next two weeks on the pro tours, especially with the Memorial and U.S. Open on the schedule.

 

 

Defending champ says PGA Tour needs more John Deere Classics

 

Illinois is one of those few states to have both a PGA Tour and a LIV Tour tournament this year.  The friction between the two circuits is still there, but Sepp Straka downplayed it during the John Deere Classic’s annual Champions Day in Rock Island last week.

Straka will defend his title in Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop at TPC Deere Run in downstate Silvis July 1-7.

Elevated tournaments are trending on the PGA Tour as a response to the bigger purses, smaller fields and no-cut events on the Saudi-backed LIV circuit.  The JDC isn’t one of the elevated PGA stops. It remains a 156-player shootout with a cut after 36 holes and $8 million in prize money, a big drop from the PGA’s elevated events that offer purses in the $20 million range.

The LIV Tour, which also has prize funds in the $20 million range, returns for its third straight year on Sept. 13-15 but at a new site, Bolingbrook Golf Club replacing Rich Harvest Farms.  This year’s event will be the LIV’s season individual championship.

Negotiations between the PGA and LIV meanwhile remain in limbo and an agreement seems even more distant now that two members of the PGA’s negotiating group quit the board in frustration recently.

“It’s more sad for the golf fans than for us (players),’’ said Straka. “Hopefully things get moved a little bit, but it is a pretty slow process and I wouldn’t expect anything to happen in the next few months.’’

Don’t feel sorry for the JDC, however. In fact, Straka believes there should be more tournaments like it.

“The Tour needs more than elevated events,’’ he said.  “None of the stars ever started playing in elevated events when they first came out.  Very few of them had that status.  Stars are created by playing well in these tournaments (like the JDC) and moving up through the ranks. That’s why a lot of  guys still come to this one.  It’s a special place.’’

Straka was the star of last year’s JDC.  He had the gallery on 59-watch until he hit his approach to the final green into the water, leading to a double bogey.  He still won by two shots for his second PGA victory.  He won the last Honda Classic in Florida in 2022 before that tourney changed sponsors.

Last year Straka was runner-up in the British Open behind another former JDC winner, Brian Harman, and he also played on Europe’s winning Ryder Cup team. One of his Euro teammates, Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, finished fourth in last year’s JDC.

Straka, who grew up in Austria before playing collegiately at Georgia, plans to play for Austria again in the Paris Olympics this summer. This year he tied for 16th in both The Players and Masters before missing the cut at the PGA Championship.

U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN: Red hot Nelly Korda, the LPGA’s No. 1-ranked player with six wins in her last seven starts,  will have challenges from two Chicago-connected players when Pennyslvania’s Lancaster Country Club hosts the 72-hole event beginning tomorrow (THURSDAY, MAY 30).

Both Elizabeth Szokol, of Winnetka, and Caroline Smith, of Inverness, survived qualifying tournaments to earn spots in the field.   Szokol is a regular on the LPGA Tour and teamed with Cheyenne Knight to win the circuit’s Dow Great Lakes Invitational last year.

Smith, an amateur, qualified at Briarwood, in Deerfield.  She started her collegiate career at Wake Forest, then transferred to Indiana and helped the Hoosiers to their first Big Ten title in 26 years with a tie for fourth finish as an individual.

HERE AND THERE: Two Chicago area teaching professionals – Jamie Fischer of Conway Farms and Nicole Jeray of Mistwood – finished tied for 11th and tied for 28th respectively in the LPGA Senior Championship in Utah.

Mt. Prospect’s Joe Cermak won the ninth Chicago District Mid-Amateur title at Elgin Country Club last week.  Cermak is director of admissions and assistant golf coach at St. Patrick’s, his high school alma mater.

Ground-breaking for a multi-year renovation of the 27 holes at Cantigny, in Wheaton, will be held at 9 a.m. tomorrow (THURSDAY, MAY 30).

Nancy Towers, of Downers Grove, was an early qualifier for the U.S. Adaptive Open, a championship for the world’s best golfers with disabilities.  She advanced through an Indiana qualifying event.  The main event is July 8-10 in Kansas.