Author: lenz

Ryder Cup is the real climax to this PGA Tour season

Let the greatest show in golf begin.

With all due respect, it’s not any major championship. It’s not the FedEx Cup Playoffs. It wasn’t the return of the sport to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years.

No, the greatest show in golf isn’t even a tournament. It’s the Ryder Cup, and the 41st playing of the matches between the U.S. and Europe is coming up Sept. 27 through Oct. 2 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in the Minneapolis suburb of Chaska, Minn.

The Ryder Cup wasn’t always the greatest show in golf. It only became that after the Europeans started winning regularly. Now it’s one of the great team competitions in all of sports. Patriotism abounds, creating a memorable spectacle no matter which team wins.

I’m happy to say I’ve been involved with Ryder Cups beyond just being a reporter of what goes on in the matches every couple years. In both the Ryder Cup at Medinah in 2012 and this year’s version at Hazeltine my involvement has included participating in a book — along with Nick Novelli, the great Chicago photographer — for the host club’s membership.

For Hazeltine’s members, they learned the Ryder Cup would be coming via a PGA of America announcement in 2002 but their preparations really heated up at Medinah. They came and learned there, then refined their plans after watching the 2014 version of the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, in Scotland. Now it’s Hazeltine’s turn to show what it can do as the host club.

Hazeltine is even better qualified historically to host this Ryder Cup than Medinah was four years ago. Given Medinah’s rich tournament history, that may be hard to believe. Consider this, however. Hazeltine didn’t even open until 1962, roughly 40 years after Medinah, but it has already hosted two U.S. Opens (1970, 1991), two U.S. Women’s Opens (1966, 1977), two PGA Championships (2002, 2009), the U.S. Senior Open (1983) and the U.S. Amateur (2006).

The Ryder Cup is all that’s missing from the club’s resume, and that will soon be corrected. Only one club has hosted all those big events plus the Ryder Cup. That would be North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2, which opened in 1907 – 55 years before Hazeltine. Pinehurst became the first course to host both the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens in back-to-back weeks in 2014. It also hosted the U.S. Senior Open (1994), the PGA Championship (1936), the U.S. Opens of 1999 and 2005 and the Ryder Cup (1951).

Enough about history, though that’s always important for any serious golfer’s perspective. Now it’s about choosing up sides, and that’ll take the entire month of September.

Because of the schedule changes made to accommodate the Olympics, the team selections were pushed back roughly two weeks. The first eight players on the U.S. team were finalized on Aug. 28 after The Barclays – first of the four tournaments of the FedEx Cup Playoffs – concluded in New York.

U.S. captain Davis Love III will announce three of his four captain’s picks on Sept. 11, after the BMW Championship concludes at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis. The final pick will be announced on Sept. 25, at The Tour Championship in Atlanta. This is a change from previous Ryder Cups, and there’ll be more suspense with the captain’s picks announced so close to the matches themselves.

Darren Clarke, the European captain, got the top four players off the European Tour point list and the next five off the World point list after the Race to Dubai’s Made in Denmark tournament that concluded on Aug. 28. That leaves him just three captain’s picks, to be made in early September.

Though Europe has won the last three stagings of the competition, Clarke’s team figures to be a younger one this time and will be without Ian Poulter, always an emotional leader of his team’s Ryder Cup effort.

Poulter is in a four-month long rehab from a foot ailment which caused his to drop out of tournament play in June. Poulter, though, will be one of Clarke’s vice captains, the others being Thomas Bjorn, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie and Sam Torrance.

The U.S. has a 25-13-2 edge in the series but hasn’t won the Ryder Cup since 2008 and has triumphed only three times since 1999. The last loss on home soil, at Medinah, was especially deflating. The U.S. had a huge meltdown in the concluding singles matches and went down to a 14 ½-13 ½ defeat.

Love has four vice captains – Minnesota native Tom Lehman, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods. The staffs from both teams will make appearances at Hazeltine to arrange practice sessions for the players in early September.

As for the club, Hazeltine looks much different than Hazeltine. Medinah has the bigger clubhouse but Hazeltine has the newer one. It was built in 2010.

Medinah has three courses on its premises. It also offers a variety of other activities for its members – like tennis, swimming and skeet and trap shooting. Hazeltine is all about golf. Though it has only one, very respected, course there is plenty of open space around the club and that makes it a most desirable tournament venue.

Tom Bendelow was the original designer of Medinah’s No. 3 course, which was the site of the 2012 Ryder Cup and most of the tournaments played at the club, but other designers made updates over the years to ready the course for big events. Robert Trent Jones designed the Hazeltine course, but it won’t play as he envisioned it for the Ryder Cup.

The hole rotation has been altered since the 2009 PGA was played there to accommodate the construction of chalets for corporate hospitality. The last four holes of each nine were switched to make for a better spectator experience.

At Medinah overall course conditioning was a major problem leading right up to the start of play, but all went well in the end. At Hazeltine there wasn’t as much tension. What there was came in the installation of a new bunker system. Work on that was completed in the dead of winter, two months before the course even opened for play.

Bunkers are a key part of the Hazeltine playing experience, and the course has 108 of them. They account for the same square footage as the putting surfaces – about three acres each. That’s an eye-catching statistic, because bunkers typically are about one-third the size of the putting surfaces.

FedEx Cup hopes are on the line for Streelman, Donald at BMW Championship

Only three events remain in the PGA Tour’s 2015-16 season, and all will have very select fields.

This week’s BMW Championship, at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind., will feature the 70 survivors in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The top 30 after it’s over advance to The Tour Championship Sept. 22-25 at East Lake in Atlanta and then the season concludes with the Ryder Cup – the high-profile competition between 12-player teams from the U.S. and Europe – Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.

The BMW could well be the season-ender for both Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman and Luke Donald, the former Northwestern star. They remained in the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings after the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston concluded on Monday but need great weeks at Crooked Stick to be among the 30 who will tee it up at East Lake, where a $10 million bonus awaits the playoff champion.

Donald was bypassed in the selections for Europe’s Ryder Cup team and Streelman is a highly unlikely candidate for the four wild card spots available on the U.S. squad. Captain Davis Love III will announce three after the BMW Championship and his final one after The Tour Championship.

Both Streelman and Donald survived the final 36-hole of the season at the Deutsche Bank Championship, but that was about all. Streelman tied for 57th place and Donald tied for 65th. Both dropped in the FedEx standings because of those finishes, Donald from 53rd at the start of the week to No. 60 and Streelman from 57th to No. 63.

Still, both are assured big paydays this week, as there’s no 36-hole cut in the BMW Championship. The 70 qualifiers will share the hefty $8 million prize fund — the purse at all four of the playoff events.

The BMW Championship, conducted by the Chicago-based Western Golf Association, rotates in and out of Chicago every other year. Last year it was played at Conway Farms, in Lake Forest, with Jason Day winning the title. It’ll be back at Conway in 2017 and the only other future sites that have been determined are Aronimink in Pennsylvania in 2018 and Medinah in 2019.

Crooked Stick, a Pete Dye design in the Indianapolis suburbs, hosted the BMW Championship in 2012 with Rory McIlroy winning. A suddenly revived McIlroy also won the Deutsche Bank title on Monday after putting a new putter in his bag and hiring a new putting coach. Going 19-under-par in his final 69 holes he overcame a six-stroke deficit in the final round to climb to No. 4 in the FedEx standings.

Any player ranked in the top five who wins at East Lake will also pocket the $10 million bonus. The top three going in are Patrick Reed, Day and Dustin Johnson while Adam Scott is No. 5. If none of the top five win The Tour Championship the top prize will be up for grabs.

As for Streelman and Donald, both will have to play their best at Crooked Stick and hope that’ll be good enough to get into the top 30. Dramatic climbs in the standings are possible in the volatile scoring system, however. Billy Hurley, for instance, improved from 77th to 51st with a strong showing at Boston and Hudson Swafford climbed from 82nd to 61st.

Here and there

The start of the Web.com Tour Playoffs will coincide with the BMW Championship. First of the four events, which bring together the top 75 from the Web.com circuit and those ranked between 125 and 200 on the PGA Tour, is the DAP Championship at Canterbury in Cleveland. The field includes Elmhurst’s PGA veteran, Mark Wilson, and former University of Illinois golfers Luke Guthrie and D.A. Points.

Bloomington’s Todd Mitchell won the 24th Illinois State Mid-Amateur for the fifth time last week at Flossmoor Country Club. The fifth title pulled Mitchell into a tie with Jim Frisina for most wins in a single state amateur championship. Frisina won the Illinois State Amateur five times between 1942 and 1958.

Next big event on the state calendar is the 30th Illinois State Senior Amateur, which runs Monday through Wednesday (SEPT 12-14) at Bloomington Country Club. Mistwood’s McWethy Cup is also on tap for Monday in Romeoville.

Roads to the Ryder Cup offer some interesting playing options

So, you’ve been lucky enough to wangle tickets to the 41st Ryder Cup at Hazeltine? Lucky you – and you might benefit still further by enjoying some of the courses on your way to and from Chaska, MN.

Chicago golfers have a couple options on how to drive to Hazeltine. You could drive along Lake Michigan, going through Kenosha and Milwaukee before heading west through the heart of Wisconsin. Or, you could journey through Illinois along Routes 90 and 94, going through Rockford and Madison. The golf options are better going through Rockford but, either way, there are good public-accessible courses along the way that comfortably affordable.

Here’s a guide to playing possibilities. Their proximity to the highways leading to Hazeltine were a high priority in their selection.

VIA KENOSHA AND MILWAUKEE

A good first stop could be Ives Grove, a 27-hole facility in Sturtevant, just over the Illinois line. It’s got an abundance of bunkers (110, to be exact), but walking is allowed and the course is affordable. Even at weekend prime time for riders the fee is under $50. And, if for some reason Ives Grove doesn’t work out, there’s nearby Browns Lake in Burlington, which has been around since 1921. Both are managed by H&H Fairways.
INFO: hhfairway.com, brownslakegc.com or ivesgrovegl.com.

The second stop was chosen for location more than anything else. Brookfield Hills, in Brookfield, is 15 miles west of Milwaukee and it couldn’t be any closer to I-94. The course touches the east-bound lanes of the interstate. This family-owned course has been open since 1971 but it’s not a full-length layout. A par 62, it measures only 4,926 yards but there’s still some challenging holes.
INFO: brookfieldhillsgolf.com.

A suggested third stop is much different than the first two. Lake Mills has been challenging golfers for 85 years. Located on Main Street in the town of the same name, Lake Mills is a 6,745-yard par-72 layout with a busy dining spot, Mulligan’s on the Green. It’s 28 miles from the golfing hotbed of Madison.
INFO: lakemillsgolfclub.com.

You can’t get through the Madison area without finding a good course close to your route. Lake Windsor, in Windsor, is a 6,390-yard, par-72 layout that opened in 1961 and has been famly-owned since 2005. It’s supplemented by an impressive clubhouse that provides full service dining.
INFO: lakewindsor.com.

As is the case while cruising through Madison, you won’t have any trouble finding a good course in the Wisconsin Dells area. Probably the best known is Trappers Turn, which is blessed with 27 holes (the Arbor, Canyon and Lake nines) all jointly designed by two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North and Roger Packard. It’s one of the top golf facilities in the Badger State.
INFO: TrappersTurn.com.

Stillwater, MN., just over the Wisconsin line, is a three-hour drive from the Dells and it features StoneRidge, one of the best public courses in Minnesota. It’s a links-style Bobby Weed design that opened to the public in 2000.
INFO: stoneridgegc.com.

VIA ROCKFORD AND MADISON.

You don’t even leave Illinois before hitting Aldeen, in Rockford. It’s one of the best public courses in the state and hosted the Illinois State Amateur in 2013. The course, designed by Dick Nugent, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Measuring 7,131 yards from the tips, it’s a real test for even the best players.
INFO: aldeengolfclub.com.

Barely an hour’s drive from Rockford along Rt. 90 is Madison, home to a wide range of quality layouts. None are better than University Ridge, which is on the edge of both Madison and the town of Verona. A Robert Trent Jones Jr. design that opened in 1991, it’s the home course for both the men’s and women’s teams of the University of Wisconsin and this year it became a Champions Tour site when host Steve Stricker brought the American Family Insurance Championship there in June.
INFO: universityridge.com.

On to the Wisconsin Dells and another great layout – Wild Rock. It’s connected to the Wilderness Resort, which means there’s some stay and play options available. Wild Rock was designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, the same architectural team that designed another Wisconsin course, Erin Hills. That layout will host the U.S. Open in 2017.
INFO: wildrockgolf.com.

Golf options dwindle after leaving the Dells, but Routes 90 and 94 split at the town of Tomah, and that’s a good stop-off point because the Hiawatha Golf Club is locate there. It’s a good gathering place for the local golf enthusiasts with its 6,550-yard course, the front nine of which was built in 1959 and the back in 1994.
INFO: golfhiawatha.com.

Hudson is the last town in Wisconsin before you enter Minnesota and it has a course well worth checking out. Troy Burne is a Tom Lehman Signature Design. Lehman will be one of the assistants for U.S. captain Davis Love III at the Ryder Cup. Troy Burne features 120 bunkers and is known for its consistently fine conditioning.
INFO: troyburne.com.

Cross into Minnesota and more good courses are available. One of the best is Prestwick, in Woodbury. At 6,876 yards from the back tees with large undulating greens and many elevated tees, this layout is made for the serious player.
INFO: Prestwick.com.

These courses were chosen in large part because of their proximity to the route to Hazeltine. If you have time to stray a bit from that route there’s many great courses available to you – especially in Wisconsin. Among them are Brown Deer, in Milwaukee; Hawks Landing, Madison; Glen Erin, Janesville; Lawsonia, Green Lake; Morningstar, Waukesha; Sentry World, Stevens Point; Caste Course at Northern Bay, Arkdale; and Oaks, Cottage Grove.
INFO: Check out the Wisconsin Golf Trail, golfwisconsin.com.

First-ever renovation worked wonders at Arlington Lakes

Arlington Lakes has been an 18-hole facility operated by the Arlington Heights Park District since 1979, so it was due for its first renovation. The result, though, was far beyond most expectations when the course re-opened on July 1.

The course had been closed for 13 months to allow architect Mike Benkusky to completely renovate a layout that was designed by the late St. Charles architect David Gill on what had been a Nike Missile Base. The course is built on just 90 acres so expanding beyond the 5,432 yard, par 68 specifications wasn’t possible.

What Benkusky could do, though, was modernize the layout and make it much more versatile for its players. That was done in two major steps: Benkusky flipped the nines, allowing for the creation of three- and six-hole loops for shorter rounds at certain times, and the extraordinary number of bunkers was reduced by two-thirds.

Tim Govern, operations manager for Arlington Lakes, is intrigued by the possibilities that the loops will create. He envisions more players – those with some time constraints — being enticed by the option of playing just three or six holes. Nos. 3, 6, 9 and 18 all come back to the clubhouse. Such playing options will be priced accordingly, and attractively. For example, a quick three holes would cost just $5 for juniors and seniors on weekdays.

“We’ll probably never be the most prestigious course to play, but we’ll always hope to be a course for fun golf at fantastic rates,’’ said Govern. “The course is finally going to be what it should be – a great, community municipal course.’’

Govern was understandably excited about that aspect of the new look but players teeing off during and immediately after the July 1 grand opening also were delighted by the well-conditioned putting surfaces, nine of which are brand new, and the increased number of tee placements. The course also has wall to wall cart paths now, allowing for play in more inclement weather conditions.

The new loops and the terrific greens are big improvements, but the bunker reduction will be the most appreciated aspect of the renovation for players who visited the course frequently in the past. It certainly is a boost for superintendent Al Bevers.

“We went from 106 traps to 37, or from 97,000 square feet (of bunker space) to 37,000 square feet,’’ said Bevers. That makes for much less maintenance work and much less frustration for more casual players.

Gill’s original design likely called for more bunkers to offset the inevitable lack of length. They did serve the purpose of making a short course more challenging, but that had drawbacks as well.

“The crazy bunkers that we had before were just too darn difficult for the clientele,’’ said Govern. Many of the surviving bunkers are now adorned with fescue edges.

Bevers and a five-man crew handled the bulk of the work, which also included the adding of a half-acre of lake space to provide better drainage. Seventy trees were also removed and some new ones were planted in strategic places.

As far as the rotation goes, Benkusky did much more than switch the nines. He also created three new holes (Nos. 7, 8 and 9) to improve the flow of play and congestion around the clubhouse, but water still comes into play on nine of the holes. The clubhouse also was upgraded in the $2.4 million project with a new patio area the most eye-catching improvement.

“This offers a lot for everybody,’’ said Benkusky. “We hope it brings the families out.’’

Based in Lake in the Hills, Benkusky has worked on a wide variety of Chicago area courses since opening his design firm in 2005. Among them are public facilities Ft. Sheridan, Brae Loch, Countryside and Red Tail and privates Hawthorn Woods, Itasca and St. Charles Country Club – the site of this year’s Illinois State Amateur.

Small walks his way to 12th Illinois PGA title

Mike Small, the very successful men’s golf coach at the University of Illinois, won another Illinois PGA Championship on Wednesday. So what else is new?

Actually Small’s record 12th victory in the 94th playing of the tournament wasn’t like any of the others except for the fact that it came on the South Course at Olympia Fields Country Club. Small, an honorary member at the south suburban private facility, has won the premier event for the state’s club professionals there three times. His 12 overall victories have come in just a 14-year span.

No. 12, though, had some unusual twists. It was the first time since the 1950s that the IPGA Championship was an all-walking tournament. Power carts weren’t prevalent back then, and most players have used them in the competition since at least the 1970s.

Carts weren’t allowed for any of the three rounds this week because heavy rains – 10 inches fell in the two weeks before the IPGA arrived – left the fairways too soft and necessitated the use of the lift, clean and place rule all three days.

The decision to ban power carts was made on Sunday night, and that created a last-minute demand for caddies for Monday’s first round. Almost half of the 137 entrants used bag-toters recruited by Olympia caddie master Jim Salvatore. Only two players withdrew after the walking-only rule was invoked.

Adding to the unusual nature of a walking-only tournament was the fact that the IPGA Championship’s main sponsor over the last 14 years, Nadler Golf Cars, is a provider of power carts.

And that wasn’t the only strange twist to the event. This Small victory was due as much to the collapse of playing partner Curtis Malm as it was to Small’s play.

“I was never in this one until the last few holes,’’ admitted Small, who opened with a 71 on Monday before finishing 67-68. His 10-under-par 206 score for the 54 holes resulted a two-stroke victory.

Malm, the head professional at White Eagle in Naperville, led most of the way. He took a one-stroke lead over playing partner Travis Johns, the Medinah teaching pro, into the final round with Small another stroke back.

Small didn’t make his presence felt until the 361-yard sixth hole, when he put a 3-iron shot from 203 yards to within a foot of the cup, setting up his first birdie. Then it became a two-man battle with Small not getting sole possession of the lead until Malm three-putted for bogey at No. 16. Prior to that Small needed birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 just to hang with Malm.

And then came the par-4 seventeenth. Malm, reeling from the missed three-footer that knocked him out of the lead, sent his drive far right into thick brush. He lined up to play the shot from there, but his hand got caught in a vine on a practice backswing.

“I wanted to see if there would be any resistance,’’ said Malm, who wound up with scratches on the back of his hand. “After that it was an easy call to take an unplayable.’’

That wouldn’t be the only penalty shot he’d take on that hole. Hitting three, his next shot hit a tree and went back in the brush. That necessitated another penalty stroke and Malm wound up with a triple bogey seven. Instead of contending, he was now in third place behind – Johns moved into second — three shots behind Small with just one hole to go.

“Curtis played great. I feel bad for him,’’ said Small. “But that’s momentum. There’s momentum in golf. We talk to our team about that all the time.’’

Malm battled back to make birdie on the finishing hole, and that put him in a three-way tie for second with Johns and Brian Brodell, the teaching pro at Mistwood in Romeoville. It was Malm’s third runner-up finish in the IPGA Championship in the last five years.

Small took $11,200 from the tournament’s $71,019 purse – both significant increases from a year ago.

Small goes for No. 12 in Illinois PGA Championship

Mike Small considers himself a coach first and a still-competitive player second. Next week, however, those roles may be blurred a bit.

The University of Illinois men’s coach goes after his 12th title in the 94th Illinois PGA Championship. The event begins its three-day run on Monday on the South Course at Olympia Fields Country Club.

Next month Small returns to Olympic Fields as a coach, as his Illini host the 11th playing of the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational. It’ll be a highlight of the fall season for the Illini, who will also make another Chicago appearance on Oct. 9-10 in the Northern Intercollegiate event at Beverly Country Club.

First things first, though. Small has won his 11 IPGA titles since 2001 and he captured the crown both times during that stretch when it was played at Olympia Fields, of which he is a member. He is in the rare position of not being the defending champion this time, however. Small tied for seventh in last year’s IPGA Championship at Medinah’s No. 1 Course. Jim Billiter, assistant pro at Merit Club in Libertyville, won the title there.

Small, who won his last two IPGA Championships back-to-back in 2013 and 2014, goes into this one standing second to Glen View’s Kyle Bauer in the section’s player-of-the-year race. Small has been player-of-the-year three times, but a limited tournament schedule related to his coaching duties has hampered his chances in recent years.

Bauer leads the standings, largely off his win in the first of the section’s four major events – May’s IPGA Match Play Championship — while Small’s tournament season has featured a tie for ninth in the Illinois Open and a tie for 43rd on the national level at the U.S. Senior Open.

Two former players of the year, Medinah’s Travis Johns and White Eagle’s Curtis Malm, are third and fourth in the standings behind Bauer and Small. Maximum points are on the line in the IPGA Championship, so next week’s results will go a long way to determining this year’s player of the year.

Donald got hot at the right time

Luke Donald, the former Northwestern star and world’s No. 1-ranked golfer, couldn’t have picked a better time to play his best tournament of this PGA Tour season. He finished solo second, behind 21-year old South Korean Si Woo Kim, in the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., on Sunday.

The Wyndham was the last tournament offering FedEx Cup points. The lucrative four-tournament FedEx Cup Playoffs begin on Thursday with The Barclays at Bethpage Black in New York.

In finishing second Donald improved his place in the FedEx Cup standings from No. 99 to No. 48. No player made a bigger climb in the Wyndham, which had a field full of players hoping to position themselves for a playoff run.

By getting to No. 48 Donald seems assured of spots in the first three FedEx events – the Barclays, the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston and the BMW Championship — played this year at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis. All three are $8 million tournaments. Only the top 125 on the FedEx list qualified for The Barclays. The top 100 after Sunday’s finish advance to the Deutsche Bank and the top 70 after that compete in the BMW Championship.

Not only did Donald climb in the standings last week, he also made a hole-in-one during the event. That earned him a lifetime of Wyndham vacations as well as a one-week vacation for his caddie.

Here and there

Eagle Brook, in Geneva, has announced the completion of a $2.5 million improvement project that started in January. The clubhouse underwent an extensive renovation, changes were made to the golf course and a new fitness center and wellness studio were created.

Baltimore Country Club has been named the site for the 2017 and 2018 Big Ten men’s championships. A site for 2017 has not been determined.

The Arlington Amateur has been scheduled for Sept. 10-11 on Arlington Lakes’ recently-renovated course.

Deerpath, in Lake Forest, celebrated its 90th anniversary on Sunday with the event also marking the start of a master plan renovation.

John Blumenshine, playing out of Cantigny in Wheaton, was the only player under par in the 4th Chicago District Super Senior Amateur. He posted a 2-under 69 at Biltmore, in Barrington.

Next event on the CDGA schedule is the 24th Illinois State Mid-Amateur, which begins a two-day run at Flossmoor Country Club next Tuesday.

Pieters is in, Donald out for European Ryder Cuppers

University of Illinois product Thomas Pieters is in, and former Northwestern star and world No. 1 Luke Donald is out.

That summed up Tuesday’s announcement of the European team’s three captain’s picks for the 41st Ryder Cup, coming up Sept. 27 through Oct. 2 at Hazeltine National in Minnesota. Darren Clarke, captain of Team Europe, revealed his picks in England and two of the selections – Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer – were obvious. On a team loaded with six Ryder Cup rookies, those two provide much-needed experience.

Then it came down to Pieters, Scotland’s Russell Knox (ranked No. 20 in the world), Donald and Graham McDowell – another veteran Ryder Cupper.

Clarke ruled out Donald and McDowell, saying on The Golf Channel that “Neither is firing on all cylinders.’’ Then it came down to Pieters, from Belgium, and Knox.

“I had to go with my gut feeling,’’ Clarke said. “When I told (Pieters) he was over the moon. He’ll be a world No. 1 at some stage.’’

Pieters, 24, is one of the many budding professional stars to come through coach Mike Small’s powerhouse program at Illinois. After starring for the Illini Pieters opted to play predominantly on the European PGA Tour where he has won three times, the most recent win coming on Sunday in Denmark.

Donald, who last played the Ryder Cup at Medinah in 2012, jumped into contention with a solo second place finish two weeks ago in the Wyndham Classic. He had a dismal final round on Sunday, shooting 75 to drop 26 places into a tie for 53rd place at The Barclays – first of the four FedEx Cup Playoff events in New York.

The last day at The Barclays was also difficult for Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman. He also shot 75 after being in contention for three rounds and wound up tied for 22nd place. Both, though, remained well into the top 100 in the FedEx overall standings and are in the field for the Deutsche Bank Championship, which tees off on Friday in Boston.

Donald is No. 53 and Streelman No. 57 entering the second $8 million playoff event and they must remain in the top 70 to play in the third – the BMW Championship, which will be played Sept. 8-11 at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis.

Pieters’ Ryder Cup selection culminates a big week for ex-Illini golfers. Brian Campbell clinched his PGA Tour card for the 2016-17 season by finishing 15th on this season’s Web.com Tour money list. Thomas Detry, another Belgian, won the European Challenge Tour’s Bridgestone event in England on Sunday by a whopping 12 strokes. He opened that event with a 60 en route to claiming his first professional victory.

Ryder Cup visits Cog Hill, Wrigley

The first-ever Ryder Cup Trophy Tour, a month-long 5,000-mile journey to promote the team matches between the U.S. and European stars, will include stops at both Cog Hill, in Lemont, and Wrigley Field.

Cog Hill’s PGA Junior League will welcome the trophy on Sept. 7 and it will be at Wrigley Field Sept. 16 during the Cubs-Brewers game. A day later the trophy will be in South Bend, Ind., during the Notre Dame-Michigan State football game. Those represent three of the 20 appearances the Cup will make in 13 American cities.

IPGA, Mid-Am wrap up

The final rounds of both the 94th Illinois PGA Championship and the 24th Illinois State Mid-Amateur Championship are on tap for today (WEDNESDAY).

The IPGA Championship ends its 54-hole run on Olympia Fields’ South Course while the final 18 of the 36-hole Mid-Am concludes at Flossmoor Country Club, the tourney site for the sixth straight year.

Here and there

Emily Fletcher, the very successful coach of the Northwestern women’s team, will receive the coveted Woman of Distinction Award from the Women’s Western Golf Association at the organization’s annual meeting Oct. 6 at Indian Hill in Winnetka

Brian Payne and his wife Elizabeth, both former Northwestern golfers from Flossmoor, qualified for their respective U.S. Mid-Amateur national championships. The men’s and women’s finals will be played Sept. 10-15 at courses in Pennsylvania.

Batavia club manufacturer Tour Edge has named Australian John Craig as its executive vice president effective Jan. 1.

The American Junior Golf Association named Megan Furtney, of South Elgin, as one of 20 players in the 12-15 age group to its 15th Junior All-Star team. The team consists of players from nine states and three countries.

U.S. Open countdown is on at Erin Hills

Ron Whitten, Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry were the creative geniuses behind Erin Hills.

ERIN, Wisconsin – The first thing you notice is the scorecard. The official yardage for Erin Hills at the 2017 U.S. Open is whopping 7,693 yards. That may make it the longest course in the 117-year history of the U.S. Open, though U.S. Golf Association staffers on site weren’t ready to confirm that.

“But don’t be alarmed by that,’’ said USGA managing director Jeff Hall at the media preview day at the course. “This will be the first time we’ve played a par-72 course in the U.S. Open since 1992. Tour players aren’t accustomed to have four par-5s at a U.S. Open but they’ll get that opportunity at Erin Hills.’’

The par-5s are No. 1, which is listed at 560 yards but could play as long as 608; No.7, listed at 607 but could play as short as 576 or as long as 619; No. 14, listed at 594 but could play as long as 650; and No. 18, listed at 637 but could play as long as 675.

The tourney is June 15-18, 2017 – the first U.S. Open ever played in Wisconsin and the first one in the Midwest since Olympia Fields hosted in 2003. Golf’s biggest event has sites set through 2026 and none of the succeeding ones are even remotely close to the Midwest.

Both course superintendent Zach Reineking and the architectural team of Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten were on hand for the preview day and joined Hall and the media contingent on the tour of the course.

Erin Hills will be open for public play through Oct. 6, and then the public won’t be able to play until after the 117th playing of the Open next June.

Hall set the greens will be in the 13 to 13 ½ range for the Open and will be slower than the surfaces this year at Oakmont.

Some other tidbits on the upcoming big event:

Few changes have been made since Erin Hills hosted the 2011 U.S. Open. The only notable one is at No. 3, and that wasn’t a major thing.

Reineking said 385 trees have been taken down in recent years and only six are left. None come into play except perhaps the only at No. 15 – and the future of that tree is in doubt. Since last year a new, elaborate practice range has been built near the clubhouse and parking lot.

The USGA estimates the economic impact of the 2017 U.S. Open on the Milwaukee area at between $120 and $135 million.

Community support has been outstanding. The USGA needed about 5,000 volunteers and received applications from 7,956. More than half of the volunteers were from Wisconsin and 52 were from foreign countries.

Though the planning remains a work in progress, tentative plans call for two spectator parking lots, both free to those using them.

The USGA will open its merchandise online shop on Sept. 8.

Though Erin Hills is built on 652 acres the USGA is planning for 35,000 spectators per day. The ticket sale was launched in June and sellouts for the four tournaments are expected. The four tournaments rounds have been sellouts for the last 29 years.

The USGA’s Jeff Hall (left) and superintendent Zach Reineking provided an inside look at Erin Hills.

Johnson outlasts Inkster in record 6-hole Legends’ playoff

Trish Johnson is the center of attention at The Legends Championship awards ceremony.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – The longest playoff in the 16-year history of The Legends Tour and the first in the Legends Championship’s four-year run was an epic, no doubt about it.

England’s Trish Johnson battled defending champion Juli Inkster through six extra holes on Sunday before an Inkster letdown handed the title and $37,700 first prize to Johnson.

Juli Inkster takes a long walk to the clubhouse after losing six-hole playoff.
“I wish I could say I enjoyed that, but I really didn’t,’’ said Johnson. “It was a battle for survival at the end.’’

Indeed it was, just like the final round of a year ago when Inkster – making her Legends Tour debut – overtook Johnson with three birdies on the last five holes. There were some similarities this time.

Johnson and Inkster were in a three-way tie with Becky Iverson at the start of the day. Johnson’s early birdies gave her a three-stroke lead on the field, but she got nervous after three-putting at No. 6.

“I totally lost my confidence,’’ she said. “After that I didn’t feel comfortable at all.’’

Still, she retained her three-stroke edge at the turn and another birdie at No. 10 put Johnson up four shots with eight holes to play. The tournament was far from over at that point, however.

Juli Inkster (left) and Trish Johnson trudge down the 18th fairway for the last time in their six-hole playoff.

“Juli did the same as she did last year,’’ said Johnson. “She made three birdies in the last five-six holes, and I felt I should have done better coming in. I got a little defensive, and I knew what Juli was gong to do because she always does that.’’

Actually, despite her big lead, Johnson was in danger of losing the title in the regulation 36 holes when Inkster – playing in the next-to-the-last twosome in front of Johnson — made a 10-foot birdie putt at No. 18 to get to 5-under-par for the tournament. That pulled her into a tie for the lead and Johnson and to scramble for a par to force the playoff.

The 18th hole, set up at 480 yards on Sunday, was designated as the lone playoff hole – and Johnson didn’t like that.

“I love the French Lick Resort, but I hate No. 18. I can’t play it,’’ she said. “I’ve played it 20 times (in Legends Championships) and I never made a birdie. It doesn’t suit my eye.’’

Steve Ferguson presents the winner’s trophy to Trish Johnson.

Both players had their chances to win in the extra session. Johnson had a 12-foot birdie putt hit the hole and spin out on the second extra hole and Inkster had a 10-footer that did the same on the fourth.

Finally they got to the sixth extra hole, with spectators staying around to watch the drama from mounds beside the No. 18 fairway. After both players made pars on the first five holes Inkster cracked first. She hit he second shot on the dogleg right par-5 in to the heather and it took a small search party to find it.

Inkster took an unplayable lie, adding a stroke, and then made a bad drop. Her ball stayed in thick rough and she moved her first attempt to get out only four yards. Her next attempt – her fifth shot on the hole – hit the green, but Johnson ended the playoff by two-putting for another par.

Johnson and Inkster dominated the field for the second straight year. Both shot 71s in the second round to finish at 5-under 139 for the regulation 36 holes. Endland’s Laura Davies was three shots back in third place but Jean Bartholomew had the best round of the tournament – a 7-under-par 65 – in finished in a tie for sixth.

The Honors Division, for seven players 63 and over, again went to Jan Stephenson. She has now won the division in four straight Legends Tour events.

Jan Stephenson celebrates her win in the Honors Division with French Lick director of golf Dave Harner.

Another Inkster, Johnson duel at The Legends Championship?

The storm is coming, but Legends’ players kept on practicing after their rounds at Pete Dye Course.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Becky Iverson started fast, Juli Inkster finished strong and Trish Johnson’s consistency was critical. In the end they shared the lead after Saturday’s first round of The Legends Championship on the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort.

Rounds started off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees after afternoon rains entered the weather forecast and the last players putted out before the weather turned bad.

“We got incredibly lucky,’’ said Johnson, last year’s runner-up to Inkster in this, the major tournament of the season on The Legends Tour. “I thought we were going to get annihilated when we started hearing the storm on the 12th tee. Then it stopped. We got away with murder.’’

England’s Trish Johnson faces the cameras after gaining a share of the first-round lead.

All the 58 players in the field were happy to get the round in, and plans for Sunday’s final 18 call for all to start off No. 1.

Iverson was at the top of the leaderboard most of the day after making three birdies in the first four holes. All came off solid iron shots that left her short birdie puts and she eventually got to 5-under for the round before struggling in with a 4-under 68.

“I was pretty tired,’’ said Iverson. “Golf should be 14 holes. It would have been great if we had quit after 14.’’

Iverson, who works as director of golf at The Bridges course in Madison, Wis., was the only one of the leaders to begin play at No. 10 and her highlight came on a 40-foot birdie putt at No. 13. She showed signs of stumbling after a bogey at No. 7 – her 16th hole of the day – and she needed to sink 10-footers to save pars on her last two holes.

Inkster, beginning defense of her title, threatened to fall off the pace when she lost a ball on the par-5 fourteenth hole.

“But I made a good bogey there, and that was key. It kept my round together,’’ said Inkster, who bounced back with an 18-foot birdie putt on the next hole and then posted her 68 – good for a share of the lead — with a four-foot birdie on a left-to-right breaker at No. 18.

For Johnson, winner of the Scottish Open just two years ago, the key was steady play. Her four birdies came from six feet or less.

Defending champion Juli Inkster gets special attention after her closing birdie pulled her into a tie for the lead.

“It’s an incredibly difficult golf course but, like anything, if it suits your eye you seem to play well,’’ said Johnson. “Who knows why?’’

Johnson was the first-round leader last year but Inkster, then making her debut on the circuit for players who have reached their 45th birthday, made birdies on Nos. 13, 15, 17 and 18 in the final round to beat Johnson by two strokes.

In today’s final round they’ll also have to battle with perennial contender Rosie Jones and Michele Redman, the University of Minnesota women’s coach. They’re just one shot back and Wendy Doolan and Patty Sheehan trail the leaders by two.

A repeat also looms in the seven-player Honors Division, whose players who have reached their 63rd birthday. Jan Stephenson has ruled the Honors category at the last three Legends tournaments offering that competitive category. The string started last year at French Lick.

Stephenson, who shot 74 for a three-stroke lead over Shelley Hamlin, wasn’t happy with her putting. She had three three-putts.

“But this golf course does fit me,’’ she said. “I love the trophy. I love winning playing against the girls I grew up playing with I’ve got no shot against the others, but I know I can shoot low out here.’’

Just an optical illusion, but Rosie Jones look like she’s putting down the cart path on the 18th hole.