Saturday morning green fee: $69. (The course is closed for the season but may re-open when weather permits. It’s scheduled to open for the 2019 season on March 1.
Caddie Service: No.
Walker friendly: No.
Fairways: zoysia.
Greens: bentgrass.
THE REVIEW
For starters…This is an extension of the French Lick Resort, which is 20 miles away. Sultan’s Run is owned by Jasper resident Steve Braun whose brother Mike has recently elected to a U.S. Senate seat. French Lick, which has hosted the Senior LPGA Championship the last two years, has three courses – the Pete Dye Course, the Donald Ross Course and Valley Links, a nine-hole course designed as a tribute to old-time architect Tom Bendelow – on its property and Sultan’s Run is another option.
Play because…: Sultan’s Run, designated as “affiliated’’ with French Lick, provides a fun layout for players looking for another place to play in the area, plus Jasper is a bigger community with more dining and retail options than French Lick has. The Pete Dye Course and Donald Ross Course are among the very best in Indiana. Sultan’s Run is more on the sporty side.
Takeaway: Alvin C. Ruxer, who donated the land for the course, was into show horses and one of his best was named Supreme Sultan. The golf course derived its name from that and each of the holes is named after one of Ruxer’s horses. Head professional Jeff Howerton has been on the job for seven seasons during which the course hosted the 2016 Indiana Senior Open and qualifiers for a Web.com Tour event at nearby Victoria National. The Indiana Golf Course of the Year in 2015, Sultan’s Run is a worthy, more economical partner course for the French Lick layouts.
THE RATINGS (1 to 10 scale, 10 being the highest)
FUN METER OVERALL: 8.5.
Food/beverage 8.0
Pro shop: 8.0
Clubhouse 8.5
Difficulty: 9.0
Pace of Play: 8.5
THE COURSE
Best Par-5: No. 13 (574 yards from the back tees, 538, 481, 407. Located near the entry to the course, both the tee and green are elevated on this hole.
Best Par-4: No. 9 (412 yards from the tips, 393,280, 271). A very picturesque hole, you can’t see the green from the tee on this dogleg left that also features a big ravine.
Best Par-3: No. 12 (209 from the back tee, 191, 145, 128). A nice-looking short hole, there’s water behind the green that features a fountain.
Lake Oconee, spread over 119 acres, impacts most every hole on the Reynolds courses. GREENSBORO, Georgia – Georgia is already considered a big-time golf destination. How could it not be when the Masters is played annually in Augusta and the PGA’s Tour Championship in Atlanta?
Don’t be surprised if another biggie is coming soon, either. Recent developments at Reynolds Lake Oconee, which is located roughly midway between Atlanta and Augusta, suggest that’s a distinct possibility.
First, consider the recent arrival of Mike Scully as the resort’s general manager. Scully knows all about big golf events. As director of golf at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago for more than a decade he played a lead organizational role in the staging of the 2012 Ryder Cup matches there.
Two weeks after that devastating American loss to the Europeans in that competition Scully was in Arizona starting a job as director of golf at Desert Mountain, a resort with five courses. Desert Mountain was to host the Charles Schwab Cup, a climax to the PGA Tour Champions season, three weeks later.
General manager Mike Scully is no stranger to hosting big golf events.“As soon as I got there I was in a meeting with our board of directors and they were freaking out about putting four tents behind the 18th green,’’ said Scully. “To me that was like a member-guest at Medinah. We had 87 tents at Medinah for the Ryder Cup, so I told them we could figure it out.’’
Figure it out they did, and Scully stayed on at Desert Mountain for another six years. Earlier this year he moved to Reynolds Lake Oconee where he was entrusted with the broader duties of general manager.
A star football player who was a member of the University of Illinois’ 1984 Rose Bowl team, Scully moved to this beautiful multi-course resort that was already a popular golf destination. It has 3,700 members and a Ritz Carlton Hotel in the middle of the property, and last year there were 140,000 rounds of golf played there
Reynolds Lake Oconee has taken on some ambitious projects since Scully’s arrival. The entire teaching staff was changed at the TaylorMade Kingdom facility. TaylorMade had exclusive rights with Reynolds’ members and guests until its contract expired recently. The facility is still there but Scully opened the pro shop to other equipment companies. That big change was introduced during Masters week when 60 vendors were on the premises.
The biggest change may be yet to come. Jack Nicklaus has been on the property during the renovation of the Reynolds’ championship course, Great Waters. It’ll re-open in the fall, and Nicklaus has already promised the new look will be “spectacular.’’ The Landing is the oldest of the Reynolds courses but it remains challenging for even the best players.
During the renovation the course was opened up to permit more views of the 119-acre Lake Oconee and the course was lengthened to 7,800 yards. That makes it more attractive as a major tournament site.
“Great Waters would be a great for the Charles Schwab Cup, given its field size and hotel requirements, or a women’s event,’’ said Scully, who has found happiness in a hurry in the South.
It’s not like Reynolds Lake Oconee, with its 117 golf holes, hasn’t welcomed championship events before –. but it’s been awhile.
Great Waters hosted the Andersen Consulting World Championship from 1995-97 and just before the Nicklaus renovation it hosted two big American Junior Golf Association events – the Rolex Tournament of Champions in 2016 and the Justin Rose Junior All-Star Invitational in 2017. Bob Cupp designed two of the Reynolds courses. This hole has a jagged shoreline to the green.
It’ll be a whole new ball game once Great Waters re-opens, and Scully has the background to deal with the biggest of the big events based on where he’s been in the golf world.
“Medinah, on the private side, was the best of the best,’’ he said. “My time in the desert was training time to do this job and get into the GM side. Now this is home. The two things I love here is southern hospitality and that it comes with a strong Midwest feel. I didn’t have that in Arizona. That West Coast vibe just wasn’t me.’’ Even in spring weather the conditioning of all the Reynolds courses was excellent.
Great Waters may be the resort’s championship layout but the others are good, too. Here’s what they’re all about:
THE LANDING – The first course built on Lake Oconee in 1986, it’s a Bob Cupp design. Originally known as Port Armor Golf Club, Reynolds acquired it in 2005 and it’s filled with stunning elevation changes and is a serious challenge for even the most talented players. A top college event, the Linger Longer Invitational, was played there from 2006-2017 and the Georgia Open was contested there in 2006.
THE PRESERVE – Cupp also was the designer of this one, which opened in 1988, and he had PGA Tour regulars Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller available as consultants. It was a smash hit immediately, being named Best New Resort Course of 1988 by Golf Digest magazine.
THE NATIONAL – Architect Tom Fazio unveiled the first of this 27-hole project in 1997 when the Ridge and Bluff nines were ready. The Cove opened in 2000. These nines wind through a forest and feature large, undulating greens.
THE OCONEE: Rees Jones, known as the “Open Doctor’’ for his re-designs of seven U.S. Open venues, five PGA Championship courses and three layouts that have hosted Ryder Cup matches, had this course ready for a 2002 opening. Water comes into play on nine holes, but the feature of this layout is its stunning par-3s. The Oconee’s biggest year was 2007 when the NCAA Mach Play Championship and PGA Cup matches were played there.
THE CREEK CLUB: Jim Engh became Golf Digest’s first Architect of the Year in part for his work on this members-only course. He was brought in in 2007 to create something different from the resort’s other courses and he delivered. Through the use of four sets of tees the Creek Club can be altered by as much as 160 yards from one playing to the next. The back nine is also unusual in that it has three par-3s, three par-4s and three par-5s. With a Ritz Carlton Hotel on the property, there are many other eye-catching sites at Reynolds Lake Oconee away from the resort’s golf courses. Here are some of them.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jennifer Kupcho was a convincing winner in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur on Saturday, but women’s golf may have been the biggest benefactor.
For the third straight year the top women players had a new high profile event to build on. In 2017 it was the Senior LPGA Championship at Indiana’s French Lick Resort. In 2018 it was the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton. The ANWA had far fewer players than both of those but it had also more hoopla and far bigger galleries. The post-round awards ceremony was very Masters-like, too.
“Just walking up the fairway with so many people is a feeling like no other,’’ said Kupcho. “This tournament showed how good we are. It exceeded my expectations, and it was the most organized tournament I’ve ever played in. The women’s game will come up stronger because of it.’’
Saturday’s gallery marched four deep on both sides of the fairways when Kupcho and Mexico’s Maria Fassi were wrapping up their day-long duel for the title.
Kupcho, the reigning NCAA champion and No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, took control thanks to a torrid stretch on holes 13 through 16. She played them in eagle-par-birdie-birdie and added another bird with a 25-footer to conclude the tournament.
Fassi had opened a two-stroke lead when they arrived at the No. 13 tee, a key par-5 in Augusta National’s famed Amen Corner. Kupcho carried the creek fronting the green with a 3-hybrid second shot from 211 yards, then rolled in an eight-footer with a two-foot break for the only eagle of the tournament.
“Being two back I knew I had to make a move’’ she said. The eagle meant Kupcho and Fassi were tied again and Kupcho pulled away with her three birdies in the remaining five holes. She posted a 67 in the final round, the best score of the day.
Fassi and Kupcho are long-time friends. Fassi plays collegiately for Arkansas, Kupcho for Wake Forest. Both have already earned LPGA playing privileges and deferred turning pro until after their college seasons are over.
Finishing at 10-under-par 206 for 54 holes, Kupcho had a four-stroke advantage on Fassi at the finish but their duel was spirited in the middle of the round when they took turns holding the lead. Kupcho led the tournament until the eighth hole on Saturday, when a migraine attack hampered her for the next four holes.
That’s when Fassi made a move, but she couldn’t sustain it.
The tourney started with 72 invited players, and 25 countries were represented. Augusta National was set up at 6,365 yards for the ANWA. The men will play it at 7,475 yards when the Masters tees off on Thursday.
Fred Ridley, the Augusta National president who announced the creation of the first women’s competition at storied Augusta National at the 2018 Masters, saw nothing but positives from the first staging.
“Focusing on women’s accomplishments in general, not just in golf and sports, is good for society,’’ he said. It’s good for everybody’’
The final round started with ceremonial tee shots from four of the greats of women’s golf—Se Ri Pak, Lorena Ochoa, Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam. They had the same good vibes that Ridley had.
“When they announced it last year I had chills wishing I could be an amateur again so I could come and play,’’ said Lopez.
“It was so exciting to see the players after their rounds, their smiles all up to their ears,’’ said Sorenstam. “They can’t stop smiling and it’s a dream come true. I’m so happy for them.’’
The inaugural ANWA got the climax to another season of golf at Augusta National off to a rousing start. The national finals of the Drive, Chip and Putt competition for youngsters between the ages of 6 and 15 will be held today (SUNDAY) and then the men take over on Monday for three days of preparations for the Masters.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Augusta National Golf Club has been a trend-setter since legendary player Bobby Jones led its creation in the 1930s. Jones also organized the Masters — at least arguably the world’s most popular golf tournament — in 1934. Today women finally get their chance to play the iconic course in a tournament setting.
Or at least 30 of them will. They were the survivors from the 72 invited international players who went 36 holes on the nearby Champions Retreat club this week to decide who would compete amidst loads of fanfare Saturday.
This marks the third straight year of breakthrough events for women golfers. In 2017 the Ladies PGA Tour staged its first Senior LPGA Championship at French Lick Resort in Indiana. Last year the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open was played at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton. The ANWA has fewer players but much more hoopla than either of them.
All the ANWA players had a closed-to-the-public practice round on Friday at Augusta National and LPGA legends Annika Sorenstam, Nancy Lopez, Lorena Ochoa and Se Ri Pak were on hand to greet them when they finished play. Today all four players will hit ceremonial tee shots. Pak will go first, then Ochoa, then Lopez and finally Sorenstam.
“It’s such an honor, such a great moment in golf, for us to make up a group like Arnold (Palmer), Jack (Nicklaus) and Gary (Player) did,’’ said Lopez. “It’s exciting to be part of history.’’
As for the current players one, from the beginning of the week, has stood out throughout the buildup to the final round. Jennifer Kupcho is already the reigning NCAA champion and No. 1 in the Official World Amateur Rankings.
The Wake Forest senior was the only player seated with Augusta National president Fred Ridley and Diana Murphy, a former U.S, Golf Association president and the fourth woman member of the club, at the first of four straight nights of pre-tournament banquets. Kopcho also had the honor of hitting the first tee shot on Wednesday. She shared the first-round lead with 16-year old California phenom Zoe Santos and led solo after Thursday’s Round 2.
Kopcho played her first 31 holes of the tourney without a bogey and she still hasn’t had a three-putt. Still, her margin is just one shot over Mexico’s Maria Fassi going into today’s (SATURDAY) final 18. Fassi, a longer hitter, will be her playing partner.
“We’ll have a lot of fun’’ said Kopcho. “We are good friends, and we’re both good at golf – really good at golf. We’ll make a lot of birdies, and it will be pretty fun to watch us.’’
In addition to Friday’s practice round Kopcho had a look at Augusta National during a practice with her Wake Forest teammates. Though she’s yet to play the course in competition she has watched the Masters on television and believes “I know it well.’’
“But you don’t see the greens on TV, and that’s the toughest part of the course,’’ said Kopcho. “So, I think I know the course, but not the greens. If you’re above the hole you’re just trying to two-putt. You don’t want to be having a five-footer coming back. That’s going to be a big thing out there.’’
She was told the greens at Champions Retreat were similar to what Augusta National will offer today.
“But I’m sure they will be faster.’’ said Kopcho, “and I would say I’m a pretty good fast green putter. I’m pretty good at figuring out how hard to hit it.’’
The tourney started with players from 25 countries ranging in age from 14 to 23. Of the 30 still in contention 17 are from countries outside the U.S. NBC Sports will broadcast the final round from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Jennifer Kupcho has been at the top of the leaderboard throughout the first 36 holes.
EVANS, Ga. — The 30 women who will be the first to compete on Augusta National’s famed course were decided on Thursday. NCAA champion Jennifer Kopcho, the Wake Forest senior and No. 1 in the Official World Amateur Rankings, headed the list after playing two rounds at Champions Retreat in 5-under-par 139.
Champions Retreat, a private club that has one nine designed by Arnold Palmer and the other by Jack Nicklaus, was the warmup site for the ground-breaking tourney’s grand climax – the final 18 on Augusta National on Saturday.
All the select players in the international field will get in a round on the famed course today. For the three players with Illinois connections among the 72 invited by Augusta National that will be the end of their tournament road. None came close to making the 36-hole cut.
Illinois junior Tristyn Nowlin tied for 52nd after posting a 76 on Thursday. She was 9-over-par for the tournament and six shots shy of the cut line. Northwestern senior Stephanie Lau tied for 69th after shooting an 81 on Thursday and Missouri junior Jessica Yuen, from Bolingbrook, had an 82 and tied for 71st. None were happy about bowing out of the competition without playing the final round. Jennifer Kupcho, the world’s No. 1-ranked women’s amateur, celebrates with her father and caddie Mike after Thursday’s second round.
“I have to keep in mind that it was special to be part of something historic and play a small part in it,’’ said Lao, who was named the Big 10 Women’s Golfer of the Week on Wednesday off on her performance in last week’s Arizona State tournament. She shared medalist honors in that one and will leave on Saturday for Northwestern’s next tournament – the Silverado Showdown in California. It tees off on Sunday.
Lao will enter the professional ranks after Northwestern’s season is over and she looks on the Augusta experience as only a minor setback.
“I just try to look at it on a micro level and a macro level,’’ she said. “On the macro level I have to remember the big picture. On the micro-level, it’s still golf at the end of the day. I’m just trying to hone my skills and enjoy it as long as I can.’’
Nowlin is also off to a college event, the Clemson tournament, on Saturday after getting in her first competition of 2019 at Champions Retreat. She had been recovering from February wrist surgery until being cleared to play to weeks ago.
“I’m very glad to be back in competition,’’ she said. Her Illini team still has the Big Ten tournament and NCAA eliminations coming up.
Yuen’s Missouri team is doubtful for the NCAAs based on its current ranking but that could improve if the Tigers do well in the Southeastern Conference tournament. Like Nowlin, Yuen has battled a wrist injury and received her ANWA invitation only last week after another player withdrew because of injury.
“I wasn’t fully aware of this tournament until I got here,’’ said Yuen. “It’s huge, bigger than the U.S. Amateur.’’
At first, though, she wasn’t sure she should go because her game was struggling
“I’m glad I got the phone call,’’ she said. “I earned my way in, and my coach said I had to go. Playing here has been great. I’m so honored to be here.’’
Kupcho has either led solo or shared the lead throughout the first 36 holes. Her first bogey didn’t come until the 31st hole and she is still without a three-putt. Her lead, however, is only one shot over Mexico’s Maria Fassi. Zoe Campos, a 16-year old California phenom, is in seventh place entering the final round.
Illinois’ Tristyn Nowlin, flanked by parents Elizabeth and Phillip, celebrate the start of ANWA. EVANS, Ga. – The weather couldn’t have been better for the first round of the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club. Augusta National president Fred Ridley and Diana Murphy, a former U.S. Golf Association president who became the fourth woman member of Augusta National, were on hand when Jennifer Kupcho smacked the first tee shot.
Kupcho, the reigning NCAA champion for Wake Forest and No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, continued on to post a 4-under-par 68 and claim a share of the first-round lead with 16-year old California phenom Zoe Campos.
That made for a fitting start to Augusta National’s long-awaited entry into women’s golf. It came 84 years after the club founded the Masters tournament, an event that gave an immediate boost to the men’s game.
Three players with Illinois connections were among the 72 players invited by the club for the historic event. The first round didn’t bring out the best in any of them. Tristyn Nowlin, a University of Illinois junior, did the best. She posted a 76 and is in a tie for 40th place. Jessica Yuen was honored to be a part of the select field at the ANWA.
Jessica Yuen, a Missouri junior from Bolingbrook, carded an 80 and is tied for 66th and Northwestern senior Stephanie Lau posted an 81 and is tied for 69th. The top 30 after today’s second round at Champions Retreat will become the first women to play a tournament round at Augusta National, the site of Saturday’s final 18 of the 54-hole test.
Those who miss the cut can play Augusta National during Friday’s practice round before their time at the tournament comes to an end. After today’s round the scene here shifts to iconic Augusta National. The women’s tourney will wrap up there on Saturday and the national finals of the Drive, Chip and Putt youth event will be held on Sunday before the Masters entries take over the course for the first major men’s championship of 2019.
Of the locals Nowlin has the best chance of competing on Saturday but it’d be a shocker if she did it. Nowlin is playing in her first tournament of the year. She had wrist surgery in February, missed every event of the Illini’s spring season so far and wasn’t cleared to even practice until two weeks ago.
“I’m not exactly where I want to be, but I’m working with what I’ve got,’’ said Nowlin, the runner-up and low amateur at last summer’s Illinois Women’s Open. Northwestern’s Stephanie Lao squeezed in ANWA between two big college tournaments.
Nowlin got through Illinois’s fall season thanks to two cortisone shots that lessened the pain of tendinitis.
“Then this past winter break it got worse, to the point I couldn’t grip a club at all,’’ she said. Her invitation to the ANWA came on Jan. 10 and – after two more cortisone shots didn’t help – she decided on surgery. It was performed in Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 5.
Nowlin didn’t want to miss the opportunity of being in the first field of Augusta National’s first women’s tournament, however. When she’s done with it she’ll head directly to South Carolina to rejoin her college team for the Clemson tournament.
Lau is also off to a college event on Saturday, with the NU women competing in California. Yuen, who has had her own wrist problems, had to miss a fall tournament during a stretch in which she was sidelined for three weeks. Still she was happy to be one of two late invitees to the ANWA. Yuen got the call last Wednesday after another player withdrew because of injury.
“I’m so honored to be here,’’ said Yuen after getting her first look at Augusta National on Tuesday. “I was surprised how green it is. It’s like another world.’’
AUGUSTA, Georgia — Last year the biggest new event in golf was the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, which was conducted in July at the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton. This year’s biggest new event tees off today in Augusta, Ga., with three Chicago-connected players in the international field of 72.
This one is called the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. It’s a 54-hole competition put on by the members of Augusta National Golf Club. They have staged the Masters tournament, arguably the most popular golf competition in the world, since 1934 when legendary player Bobby Jones organized the event on the course he created.
That tournament had an immediate Chicago connection as well. Horton Smith, then the head professional at Oak Park Country Club, won the first title and also won it again two years later.
In more recent years Augusta members have been pushed to do more for the good of the game and they responded. Augusta National eventually welcomed black members, then added women. In more recent years the club opened its gates the Sunday before the Masters to host the national finals of the nation-wide Drive, Chip & Putt competition.
This week Augusta National is a trend-setter again. In an effort to bolster women’s golf the club created the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The 72 elite players invited by the club membership start the tournament with rounds at Champions Retreat, another Augusta club, Wednesday and Thursday. The low 30 qualify for the final round, which will be played on the Augusta National layout that will again be the site of next week’s Masters.
All the players in the field players will get a closed-to-the-public practice round at Augusta National on Friday and the reward for winning the title on Saturday is substantial. Not only will the first champion assume a significant place in golf history, she will also be given a five-year exemption to play in the tournament, receive spots in this year’s U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s British Open and be welcomed at events put on by the U.S. Golf Association, PGA of America and Royal & Ancient Golf Club.
The final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur will be televised from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (CDT) by NBC Sports.
Unlike next week’s Masters, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur will have a noteworthy local contingent. Topping the list is Northwestern junior Stephanie Lau, who is coming in on a hot streak. She posted a 7-under-par 209 for 54 holes to finish in a three-way tie for first place in a big college tournament – the Ping/Arizona State Invitational – last week. It pales in comparison to this week’s event, however.
“When I heard he announcement of this event I was more than excited for women’s golf,’’ said Lau. “The message that Augusta National brings to the table with its deep-rooted history is tremendous and speaks volumes to every woman golfer out there. I am so humbled and grateful to be invited and be a small part of it.’’
A mainstay on coach Emily Fletcher’s powerhouse teams of the past three years, Lau is making a big name for herself even before finishing her collegiate career. In addition to being invited to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur she also was named to the first U.S. women’s team that will compete in the Palmer Cup matches in June. For the last 23 years that event has been limited to male collegiate players.
Two other college stars will join Lau in bidding to be in the first women’s field to compete on Augusta National’s historic links. Illinois junior Tristyn Nowlin was runner-up in last year’s Illinois Womens’s Open at Mistwood in Romeoville. Nowlin, from Richmond, Ky., was beaten for that title by Hannah Kim, one of Lau’s NU teammates who was making her professional debut and would also win the Tennessee Women’s Open the following week.
Third member of the Augusta trio is Jessica Yuen, a junior at Missouri who developed her game in the elaborate teaching program at Mistwood. Yuen was invited only last week when another player withdrew because of injury. Yuen had four top-10 finishes in five starts in 2018 fall collegiate season. She also owns two of the top three single season scoring averages in Mizzou history.
On to the finals
While entries have just opened across the country for the 2020 Drive, Chip & Putt competition the best in 2018 will compete Sunday at Augusta National in the climax to that year’s competition. The finalists include four from the Chicago area – Lilian She, 9, from Buffalo Grove; Luciano Giangrossi, 9, from Evanston; Joseph Luchtenburg, 13, from West Chicago; and Joshua Pehl, 14, from Sugar Grove.
The Illinois PGA conducted 10 qualifying tournaments and two sub-regionals last year and those events drew over 2,000 participants in the 7-15 age range. Sunday’s finals will be televised from 7 a.m. to noon on The Golf Channel.
Chicago area players reaching the Ladies PGA Tour are few and far between. Only Nicole Jeray made it regularly over the last three decades and this year she’s decided to focus on a teaching job at Mistwood, in Romeoville.
There will still be a local rooting interest on the premier women’s tour, however. The timing was perfect for Winnetka’s Elizabeth Szokol to have a breakthrough season on the LPGA’s Symetra Tour in 2018, and that earned her a place in the big time of women’s golf.
The Szokol story began as she was about to enter high school at New Trier. She had been an avid tennis player but knee problems contributed to her looking for another sport. She opted for golf and immediately became a key part of New Trier’s powerhouse teams. She was on the varsity all four years, and her teams finished in the top three of the Illinois prep championship each season. That included a state title in 2010.
From there it was on to Northwestern for two seasons, the second of which saw Szokol earn second-team all-Big Ten honors as well as a spot on the conference’s All Academic team. She was also the Illinois Women’s Amateur champion in 2012.
Despite all that success on the home front Szokol opted to transfer to Virginia for her junior season and she finished her collegiate career there in style, finishing as co-medalist in an NCAA regional in her senior season. She was also 20th as an individual in the NCAA finals and part of a Virginia team that finished fifth in the nation.
“Playing on the LPGA Tour was always a dream, something I wanted to do,’’ said Szokol. “I saw improvement every year, and winning the NCAA Regional my senior year was a confidence builder.’’
Good college players don’t always make it at the professional level, however. Szokol had to survive three stages of 72-hole qualifying tournaments to just earn a spot on the Symetra circuit.
The first was in Palm Springs, Calif., where 350 players competed for 80 spots in the second stage. Szokol survived that and headed to Venice, Fla., where over 200 competed for 90 places in the third and final stage. She got survived those, too, and got through her rookie pro season with only limited success.
“That first year I found out that professional golf is a lot different than it was in college,’’ she said. “The second year I had things to figure out. Mainly it was time management. I had to find a good balance between practice and playing.’’
That task was made more difficult by a major health problem. Szokol needed knee surgery to fix extensive cartilage damage and wanted to have it in December of 2017. It had to be delayed a month, however, because no donor cartilage was available. After getting the surgery in January Szokol found herself in a brace from her left ankle to her hip. She had to learn how to walk again while her Symetra rivals were gearing up for the start of another season.
Amazingly, Szokol missed only the season-opening tournament of the 2018 season in Winter Haven, Fla. She started swinging a club while that event was going on and played in the next stop in Beaumont, Tex. The breakthrough came in the third event – the IOA Invitational in Atlanta.
Closing with a 4-under-par 68 Szokol came from five shots back on a windy day to claim a one-stroke victory. To play so well so quickly after surgery was a surprise to many, but not Szokol.
“My game was there and I putted well,’’ she said. Szokol didn’t win again in 2018 but she had seven top-10 finishes and a strong third in the season-ending Symetra Tour Championship. Her $76,612 in season winnings was good for fourth place on the year’s money list, and the top 10 were awarded their LPGA Tour cards.
Though there’s a big difference between the LPGA and Symetra circuits, the momentum from last year didn’t wear off when Szokol finally got her chance in the big time. Her first two tournaments were in Australia in February. A bad second round led to her missing the 36-hole cut in her LPGA debut but she rebounded the following week by tying for 58th in the Women’s Australian Open. That enabled Szokol to claim her first LPGA check — for $3,360.
“It was definitely great to go and play,’’ she said. “I was happy to get my first two starts and now I expect to play a lot. I’m guaranteed to play in all the full-field events except the majors.’’
Her tournament schedule resumed in mid-March in Phoenix and she expects to play in six tournaments on the West Coast in March and April.
When in Chicago she practices at Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe but her swing coach isn’t there. Szokol is working with Kim Lewellen, her college coach at Virginia who has since moved on to Wake Forest. Szokol also has her first agent and sponsorship agreements with Ping and Titleist.
Luke Donald is back. Could there be a better feel-good story to mark the start of another Chicago golf season?
One of the greatest players to ever come out of the Chicago amateur ranks, Donald has gone through over two years of difficult times. A herniated disc in his back severely curtailed his play, but – if his strong showing in last week’s PGA Tour stop is any indication – Donald is finally on the comeback trail.
Donald, born and raised in England, blossomed at Northwestern. He was the NCAA champion in 1999 and – after a stunning series of successes — rose to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings in 2012. He stayed there for a while, too – 40 straight weeks and 56 overall. Donald also stayed connected to the Chicago scene, as a member of Conway Farms, in Lake Forest, and a major contributor to the First Tee of Greater Chicago and the Northwestern golf program.
Pat Goss, Donald’s coach at Northwestern, has remained one of his swing instructors and the present Wildcats benefit from the practice facility Donald created at The Glen Club in Glenview. It was only in the last few months that Donald sold his Northfield home. He has also been a long-time resident of Jupiter, FL., where he can practice year-around at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Bear’s Club.
Donald’s back problems started in 2017, a year in which he endured eight straight missed cuts after a second-place finish at the RBC Heritage Classic in Hilton Head, S.C. In 2018 he made only eight tournament starts and missed the cut in six. This year he missed the cut in his first tournament, the Sony Open in Hawaii, in January and then didn’t play again until last week’s Valspar Championship in Florida.
“Backs are tricky, and there were a few things the physios I’ve been working with didn’t like. They thought if I went too hard too early that I could run into some issues,’’ said Donald. He’s playing this season on a Major Medical Extension, meaning he has 15 starts available to earn enough FedEx Cup points to retain full membership on the PGA Tour.
Donald made his second of those starta at the Valspar — the last tournament Donald won, in 2012, and the last in which he survived a 36-hole cut, 376 days earlier. With all the forced time off his world ranking had dropped to No. 919.
Last week he did much more than survive the cut, and you had to be there to fully appreciate that accomplishment. Donald tied for ninth place and was in contention to win through 10 holes of Sunday’s final round. Then a double bogey on a par-5 derailed his chances of overhauling another Englishman, Paul Casey. Casey became the first repeat champion in the tournament’s 19-year history but Donald left with an optimistic outlook.
“People go through injuries. It’s just part of our sport,’’ he said. “I’ve been pretty lucky. This is my 18th season and I only had six months off with a wrist injury. The goal for (the Valspar) was to play four rounds and feel pretty good at the end of the tournament. It had been awhile since I’d done that.’’
Donald is taking this week off, then will play in the Valero Texas Open. He’s not eligible for the Masters the week after that but will be back in the field at the Heritage Classic April 18-21. Donald has a great record there, finishing second five times and third twice.
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BITS: Arlington Heights resident Doug Ghim moved into the critical No. 25 position in the Web.com Tour standings with his 19th place finish in last week’s Chitimacha Louisiana Open. If he can stay in the top 25 through the end of the season Ghim will earn PGA Tour membership for the 2019-20 season.
Lisa Quinn, executive director of the First Tee of Greater Chicago the past seven years, has announced her resignation from the post. She will remain on the job though May 31 to assist in the transition process.
Two new directors of golf have been named at Chicago area facilities. Brian Hilko has taken over at Orchard Valley, in Aurora, and Ben Nactwey at Fox Bend, in Oswego.
Batavia-based club manufacturer Tour Edge has re-signed three-time World Long Drive champion Phillis Meti to play its EXS driver.
Two Illinois golfers have posted resounding victories in collegiate tournaments. Illinois freshman Adrien Dumont de Chassart was a six-shot winner at North Carolina’s Tar Heel Invitational and Illinois State’s Trent Wallace won the South Florida Invitational by five.
A pairing with world No. 1 Dustin Johnson didn’t keep Paul Casey (dark shirt) from winning again. PALM HARBOR, Florida — It took 19 years, but the Valspar Championship now has a repeat champion. England’s Paul Casey backed up his victory in 2018 with another triumph on Sunday at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course.
Valspar hasn’t been the title sponsor throughout the PGA Tour’s run at Innisbrook, but no player could win twice in a row at Coppershead until Casey, 41, did it.
In 2018 his final round 65 overhauled, among others, runner-up Tiger Woods. On Sunday a 1-over-par 72 was good enough to win.
“It feels a little different, but not any less cool,’’ said Casey, who finished at 8-under-par 276 for the 72 holes.
Casey was paired with world No. 1 Dustin Johnson in the final round, a daunting task for any player.
“I felt Dustin was the favorite, but it didn’t mean I didn’t think I could beat him,’’ said Casey. He had other challengers, the most serious of which were Louis Oosthuizen, who closed with a 69 and Jason Kokrak, who shot 71. They tied for second, one stroke behind Casey.
Casey shared the lead with Austin Cook at 6-under-par 136 after two rounds and led Johnson by one going into the final 18.
The last player to repeat as a champion at PGA Tour event was Brooks Kopeka at the 2018 U.S. Open.
Luke Donald, the 2012 champion at Innisbrook when the tourney was named the Transitions Championship, had a chance to win again. Sidelined by injury most of the last two years, Donald started the day in a tie for fourth place and quickly made his presence known with an eagle on the first hole of the final round.
Donald dropped back after that and finished in a tie for ninth. Not only was his last win on Copperhead seven years ago but the former world No. 1 made his last cut in the 2018 Valspar Championship.
