Both Danny Mulhearn, the head professional at Glen Oak in Glen Ellyn, and Jim Billiter, in his first year as Kemper’s head man, were past champions of the event – but that’s where the similarity ends.

Mulhearn, 50, won his title in 1998 but entered this week’s event as the No. 20 seed. Billiter, 30, was the 2015 titlist and the No. 3 seed. Mulhearn walked in all six of his matches in the four-day tournament. Billiter, who was at least 30 yards longer than Mulhearn off every tee shot, rode in all of his six matches.

Youth ended up being served, as Billiter took the $4,800 first-place check with a 1-up victory but Mulhearn left with a good feeling, too, and downplayed the walking aspect.

“It’s easier to walk, with the cart path only (policy, used when courses are softened from heavy rains),’’ said Mulhearn. “I felt good all day. Playing six rounds of golf and taking Jimmy to the 18th hole makes me feel good.’’

“Walking keeps you in rhythm,’’ said Billiter, “and I love walking.’’

But not with the physical demands that playing two matches for three straight days entails.

“Danny always walks. His club is a big supporter of the Evans Scholars (the Western Golf Association’s foundation that sends caddies to college),’’ said Billiter. “I give him credit for that. He played very steady, and that put a lot of pressure on me.’’

Mulhearn eventually cracked when his 5-iron tee shot at the par-3 seventeenth hole wound up in a bad lie in a green-side bunker. His escape shot went over the green and he chipped long on his third shot. That enabled Billiter to win the hole with a conceded par and he took a 1-up lead to the No. 18 tee.

Again showing his superior power , Billiter blasted his drive well past Mulhearn’s but his ball ended up in a bunker – one that Billiter had never reached before. He was left with a 160-yard approach against the wind after Mulhearn had put his second shot on the back of the green.

Billiter responded with the shot clinched him the tournament, his ball ending up on the front fringe of the green. After Mulhearn missed his long birdie putt Billiter lipped out a birdie try before Mulhearn conceded him a par and the match.

Billiter was an assistant pro at Merit Club, in Libertyville, when he won the tournament for the first time. He felt it was harder to win with the pressures of being the host pro but got the job done without playing his best.

He had to eliminate three-time winner Curtis Malm, of White Eagle in Naperville, 2 and 1 in Thursday morning’s semifinals to reach the championship match. Mulhearn got there with a 4 and 2 victory over Skokie’s Garrett Chaussard. The Match Play is the first of the Illinois PGA’s four major tournaments of the season. The next two are both in August — the Illinois Open and Illinois PGA Championship.

The first tee shot of 117th U.S. Open at Wisconsin’s Erin Hills course, is still five weeks away but the battle to get there got into full swing this week with one notable surprise. Northwestern freshman Everton Hawkins not only survived one of the local qualifying rounds, he was also the medalist.

The U.S. Golf Association accepted 9,485 entries – the fifth highest in history – and Hawkins was one of 8,979 who began the road to Erin Hills at the local level. There will be 114 local eliminations held across the U.S. and Canada through May 18 and 525 survivors will go to sectional play May 22 through June 5. That’s when the 156 starters at Erin Hills will be decided.

Hawkins, from Irvine, Calif., wasn’t one of Northwestern’s stars during the Wildcats’ drive to next week’s NCAA regional play but he was red hot at Midlane, in Wadsworth, on Monday. He shot a 4-under-par 66, one better than McHenry pro Peter Kindstrom, in leading four players into sectional play. Hawkins’ more-heralded NU teammates, Dylan Wu and Ryan Lumsden wound up the first and second alternates.

Others to advance to sectional play from the 72 entrants at Midlane were Park Ridge’s Anthony Albano and Andrew Hansen of Mequon, Wis. Both shot 69s.

Wu and Lumsden were first-team all-Big Ten selections and Wu had the lowest stroke average in the conference during the league season. They, along with Hawkins, will be trying to get the Wildcats into the NCAA finals next week in NCAA regional play. The men’s finals are May 26-31 at Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove.

The Midlane competition was one of three Open locals scheduled in Illinois. Illini Country Club, in Springfield, also hosted one on Monday with its 62 players largely from downstate. Shane Smith, of Godfrey, was the only one to break par. He shot a 2-under 70 and Ian Nelson, of Macomb; Gideon Smith, of Quincy; and Michael Suhre, of Edwardsville, survived a six-players-for-three-spots playoffs to become the other sectional qualifiers there. All the Illini qualifiers were professionals

Cantigny, in Wheaton, will host the other Illinois local qualifier next Monday (MAY15) with 90 players battling for five sectional berths. Illinois hopefuls don’t necessarily have to go there, however.

Vince India, the Web.com Tour player from Deerfield, for instance, will put his Open hopes on the line on Thursday at The Bull at Pinehurst Farms – a Jack Nicklaus-designed course in Sheboygan Falls, Wis., because that better fits his tournament schedule.

Here and there

The qualifiers for the women’s portion of the NCAA finals at Rich Harvest will be determined Wednesday (TODAY) with the conclusion of four 54-hole regional eliminations. Northwestern is making its bid in Albuquerque, N.M., and Illinois in Athens, Ga. The qualifiers compete at Rich Harvest from May 19-24.

Canadian Taylor Pendrith has received the third of four sponsor’s invites into next month’s Rust-Oleum Championship, a Web.com Tour stop at Ivanhoe Club. Pendrith, who played collegiately at Kent State, won the 2014 Porter Cup and was third on the Canadian Tour money list in 2015.

The Illinois PGA Match Play Championship, first of four major events on the section schedule, is near a climax at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer. The semifinals are Thursday morning with the final in the afternoon.

The Western Golf Association has announced that Sean Maruyama will attempt to become the first Western Junior champion in 76 years to successfully defend his title. Maruyama, who has made a verbal commitment to attend UCLA, plans to compete in the 100th playing of the Western Junior – the oldest national junior tournament, at Park Ridge Country Club next month.

Cantigny, the only Illinois course among the 30 selected for the U.S. Golf Association’s Play9 initiative, begins its participation on Sunday (MAY 14). Play9 events are also scheduled there on June 11, July 9, August 13, September 10 and October 8.

Chicago’s Wilson Sporting Goods will have a second season of its Driver vs. Driver competition on The Golf Channel. Deadline for inventors to enter the competition is June 4.

Kemper Lakes, for 28 years, has been a focal point for tournament golf in the Chicago area and it’ll again host the first big local tournament of the season this month. The 66th staging of the Illinois PGA Match Play Championship, however, will have some new looks.

Within the last year Kemper Lakes has completed a major bunker project and hired a head professional who is among the best players in the local ranks. Both could factor into the tournament, which starts its four-day run on May 8.

Kemper isn’t the oldest private club in the Chicago area by a long shot but its tournament history betters most of the others and the Illinois PGA has benefitted greatly from its connection, whether the club was in its public phase or after it became a private venue.

Back in its early years Kemper was a big player on the national – and even the world – stage. Its biggest event was the 1989 PGA Championship, won by Payne Stewart, but the course also hosted the 1992 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 2001 U.S. Women’s Public Links Championship, annual Senior PGA Tour stops from 1996-2001, four Grand Slams of Golf and a Buy.com Tour event in 2002.

Now, though, its biggest event is on the local front – just as it was in the past when all the national events were also stopping by.

From 1979 until 2002 Kemper Lakes was the site of the Illinois PGA Championship. Then the club went private. Fortunately for both the club and IPGA that decision didn’t preclude their relationship for long.

Kemper was suddenly a much quieter place tournament-wise after it went private. A glimmer of the thrill-packed early years returned when the IPGA brought its best players to the facility, which is – depesnding on the whims of local politicians – located in Long Grove, Hawthorn Woods or Kildeer.

In 2006 Kemper returned to the local tournament scene as the site of the IPGA Match Play Championship. That didn’t have the impact of the IPGA Championship but the early spring dates fit the club’s schedule and helped the club retain its local profile. From the IPGA side the tournament received a huge boost in prestige by moving to Kemper Lakes. It was clearly and win-win for both parties.

The Match Play brings out most all the IPGA members who still have a competitive side. The opening day field numbers is capped at 128 players. They are seeded according to last year’s Bernardi Points standings. If the field doesn’t fill up the top seeded players receive first-round byes.

Once the shooting begins its dawn-to-dusk golf for four days with the highlight coming on Thursday, when the tourney concludes with semifinals in the morning and the championship match in the afternoon. Last year’s final saw Kyle Bauer, the 11-year head pro at Glen View Club, defeating 2010 champion Travis Johnson of Medinah 4 and 3.

Though match play golf is known for its unpredictable nature, the tournament has been won by established players most of the time since it was played at Kemper Lakes. Last year’s final was one of the more unusual, though Johns, a long ball-hitting left-handed golfer, usually had a 50-yard advantage over Bauer after their tee shots but that didn’t prevent Bauer from winning handily.

A year earlier the tourney had a surprise winner, too. That’s when Jim Billiter, a long-time assistant pro at Merit Club in Libertyville, got his game together for a march to his first big win. He beat Johns along the way, too.

“That was the only match in which I was under par,’’ recalled Billiter. “You have to play like that to hang in there with a player like Travis Johns. Otherwise it was more of a survival walk.’’

This year Billiter is no longer a Merit Club assistant. He’s the first-year head pro at Kemper Lakes. How that plays into his bid to win the title again remains to be seen but his increased knowledge of the course certainly can’t hurt.

Kemper, despite its rich history as a tournament host, hasn’t stressed playing talent in choosing its head professionals in the past. Only Emil Esposito, Kemper’s first head pro, had a notable playing resume. He was a for Illinois PGA and Illinois Open champion.

Billiter had a brilliant 2015. He followed his Match Play win with a victory in the IPGA Championship on Medinah’s No. 1 course but – despite winning two of the section’s four major titles – couldn’t claim the Player-of-the-Year award. That was because a club commitment prevented him from competing in the Illinois Open, the IPGA’s biggest tournament.

Matt Swann’s departure for a club job in Michigan during the winter created an opening in the Kemper pro shop and Billiter, who spent 11 seasons as Don Pieper’s assistant at Merit Club, was hired as Kemper’s head man. Billiter got married on March 3 and took the Kemper job a week later. He’s slowly adjusting to his new position.

“So far, so good, but we haven’t had a big event yet,’’ he said. The Match Play will kick activity into high gear at Kemper, and the players will notice some upgrades. Libertyville architect Rick Jacobson completed a bunker renovation – the bunkers are now white – and some holes were lengthened. Billiter pronounced the bunkers as “beautiful’’ and the course “in great shape and perfect for match play.’’

The upgrades weren’t made for the benefit of the IPGA tourney. They were made at least in part to land a bigger tournament and it worked. The club landed the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and that means the return of big-time tournament golf to the club in 2018. This year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will come to Olympia Fields from June 27 to July 2.

Last year while at Merit Club Billiter worked with the best in women’s golf, too, as that club hosted the LPGA’s International Crown team event. That marked a rare return of tournament play to the Libertyville club, but more big events will likely be coming to Kemper Lakes.

Billiter, though, still won’t be able to play in the Illinois Open. While general manager John Hosteland has encouraged Billiter to compete, the Illinois Open dates won’t work for Billiter at Kemper any more than they did at Merit Club. “We have massive events on Monday and Tuesday (of tournament week),’’ he said. “That tournament is getting hard to win anyway, because more and more great college players are in it now.’’

Northwestern and Illinois were both selected to play in the NCAA women’s golf championship, the finals of which will be played at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove next month. To get to Rich Harvest, however, both teams must survive regional tournaments.

Coach Emily Fletcher’s Northwestern team was awarded the No. 3 seed in a regional to be played at The Champions Course in Albuquerque, N.M. The University of New Mexico will host that event. Illinois drew the No. 8 seed in a regional on the University of Georgia’s course in Athens. All teams learned their fate via The Golf Channel’s selection show on Thursday morning.

Notre Dame’s Emma Albrecht was selected as an individual and will compete in the regional on Ohio State’s Scarlet course in Columbus, Ohio. The regional tournaments will run May 8-10.

Each of four regionals were assigned 18 teams and six individual qualifiers. Those 834 golfers will be whittled to 132 for the finals at Rich Harvest, which run from May 19-24.

Northwestern, an NCAA qualifier for the fifth straight year, had its best NCAA finish last year – a tie for ninth, one stroke shy of qualifying for the match play climax to the tournament. NU was second in last week’s Big Ten Championships behind Michigan State, but the Wildcats drew a far better NCAA seed than the Spartans, who were tabbed No. 14 in the same regional.

Four other Big Ten teams – Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin – were assigned to the Columbus regional.

Fletcher learned of her team’s assignment at Rich Harvest, where owner Jerry Rich was gearing his club up to host another big tournament.

The NCAA men’s finals will also be played at Rich Harvest as soon as the women’s tournament is over. That climax to the collegiate season will run from May 26-31 and the men’s teams will learn their regional assignments next Thursday.

One of the men’s selection announcement gatherings will be at Wrigley Field. Mike Small, coach of Illinois’ perennial powerhouse, and Luke Donald, an NCAA individual champion while a student at Northwestern, will be throwing out the first ball at the Cubs-Phillies game that day and Donald is also scheduled to sing at the Seventh Inning Stretch.