Doug Ghim doesn’t play in many Chicago tournaments — but he’s ready for this one.
Doug Ghim lives in Arlington Heights but the Chicago area rarely gets a chance to see how good he is. Wednesday, though, was one of those days.
Ghim started fast and finished strong to climb into a tie for second place after two rounds of the stroke play competition at the 114th Western Amateur at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest. Posting scores of 69 and 71, he trails England’s Sam Horsfield by one stroke entering Thursday’s 36-hole session, which will decide the 16 qualifiers for the match play portion of the competition on Friday and Saturday.
The field was cut from Tuesday’s 156 starters to the low 44 and ties for Thursday’s double round. Ghim is tied with four others, among them Todd Mitchell — the 38-year old veteran from Bloomington – at the 36-hole mark. Northbrook’s Nick Hardy is also in the mix, two strokes behind Ghim.
Ghim has taken an unusual path to success. He skipped high school competition at Buffalo Grove after his freshman year, preferring instead to play in national junior tournaments. Then, rather than attend college close to home, he opted for the perennial powerhouse program at Texas.
Both Ghim and Hardy are entering their junior seasons. Hardy is at Illinois, and he has enjoyed a great summer. He won the Illinois State Amateur by 10 strokes and finished as low amateur at the Illinois Open in the last three weeks. Ghim didn’t play in either one.
“I wanted to play the State Am but was late for registration,’’ he said, “and I didn’t have time to qualify for the Illinois Open, which was a bummer. I wanted to play. I wish I could have given Nick a run for his money but I just totally forgot that I wasn’t exempt for those events. It didn’t even cross my mind that I’d have to qualify.’’
The No. 9-ranked amateur in the world, Ghim has a loftier status than Hardy, who is No. 24. They could meet in the Western Am, but both have to survive Thursday’s 36-hole session to qualify for the Sweet 16 first.
“It might seem like I’m not trying to play locally, but I love playing around here, where I can sleep in my own bed,’’ said Ghim. “It’s nice to have this big tournament, with the best players in the world, in my hometown.’’
Ghim is used to big tournaments. He played for Team USA in the Palmer Cup in England this summer and also competed in tournaments in Pittsburgh and San Francisco.
Very little golf will be played at Knollwood after the Western Am ends on Saturday. After a members event on Sunday and an outing on Monday the course will be closes to enable a re-grassing of the greens. Those surfaces are a big challenge for the field in the Western Am.
“I’ve been drawing off my experience of two years ago (when he was the Western Am medalist at Beverly Country Club in Chicago),’’ said Ghim. “The courses are similar, and the greens may be firmer than those at Beverly.’’
“They’re a lot like Beverly’s, maybe even faster,’’ chimed in Hardy. “They’re not hard to read, just hard to putt. I love how they have Knollwood in this condition and, if I can win, it’d be my biggest win ever. But we’ve still got to get to match play. Then it’s anyone’s tournament.’’
Ten straight days of major tournament action in the Chicago area comes to an end on Wednesday with the conclusion of the Illinois Open at Royal Fox in St. Charles, but the break won’t be a long one.
The 114th Western Amateur tees off next week, starting with practice rounds on Monday at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest. No tournament is as physically demanding as the Western Am. There will be 18-hole rounds Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 2-3, before the 156-man starting field is whittled to the low 44 and ties.
Those players will go 36 holes on Thursday Aug. 4, and the top 16 will advance to match play to decide the champion. There will be two rounds of matches on Friday, Aug. 5, with the semifinals and final on Saturday, Aug. 6.
Few non-professional tournaments carry the prestige of the Western Am, and only two are older – the British Amateur, which dates to 1885, and the U.S. Amateur, which was first played in 1895. Past Western champions include Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard and Tiger Woods.
This year’s elite invitational field has representatives from 20 countries. The defending champion is Dawson Armstrong of Brentwood, Tenn., a sophomore at Lipscomb University. Armstrong emerged the surprise champion at Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove, when he overcame Aaron Wise in a playoff that went 20 holes.
Wise went on to become the NCAA medalist and lead Oregon to the team title. He recently turned professional and will play in next month’s John Deere Classic on a sponsor’s exemption.
Six members of this year’s Western Amateur field played in the U.S. Open at Oakmont in June and nine qualified for at least one of golf’s major championships played over the last two years.
“The depth of our field is what has made the Western Amateur one of the most prestigious amateur golf championships in the world for more than a century,’’ said Vince Pellegrino, senior vice president of tournaments for the Western Golf Association.
The WGA also conducts the Western Junior and BMW Championship, a PGA Tour event coming up at Crooked Stick in Indiana in September. The Western Am, though, provides more golf than either of those. The finalists will play the equivalent of two 72-hole tournaments plus a practice round in a five-day period.
That’s what makes it special, according to Adam Wood, a junior-to-be at Duke from Zionsville, Ind. He won the Western Junior in 2012 and was a Sweet 16 qualifier in last year’s Western Am.
“We love to have longer tournaments,’’ said Wood. “The players love a format like this one. The more golf you can play, the better.’’
Local entries are headed by Northbrook’s Nick Hardy, who played in the last two U.S. Opens, was a Western semifinalist last year and won the Illinois State Amateur with a stunning 28-under-par performance last week. Also likely to contend are Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim, a junior at Texas; Wheaton’s Tee-K Kelly, the State Am runner-up and a two-time winner of that title; and Bolingbrook’s David Cooke, the 2015 Illinois Open winner..
Here and there
Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman has the last tee time (2:15 p.m, EDT) off the first tee in the PGA Championship’s first round Thursday at Baltusrol, in New Jersey. Luke Donald, the only other player with local ties in the field, has a more attractive pairing. He’ll go off with Matt Kuchar and Danny Lee at 1:05 p.m.
Dennis Johnsen, general manager and head professional at Pine Meadow in Mundelein, has been named the recipient of the PGA of America’s National Youth Player Development Award.
Medinah will host the second playing of the Bush Cup, a Walker Cup-style match between Army West Point and Northwestern, on Oct. 14. In last year’s first Bush Cup West Point and Yale played to a tie at Winged Foot, in New York. David Feherty will receive the Bush Foundation’s Humanitarian Award at the event’s dinner.
The Illinois PGA seniors and assistants will hold stroke play events on Monday (AUG 1) at Flossmoor Country Club.
The Chicago District Golf Association will conduct qualifiers for the U.S. Mid-Amateur at Willow Crest in Oak Brook on Thursday and Cantigny, in Wheaton, on Monday. The CDGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship will also begin a four-day run at Eagle Brook in Geneva on Monday.
Par-3 holes like this one are the trademark of the Beloit Club’s most charming layout.
BELOIT, Wisconsin – The last two decades have done wonders for golf in Wisconsin. Look no further than the creations of Blackwolf Run, Whistling Straits, Erin Hills and – most recently – Sand Valley. And don’t forget the recent major upgrades at SentryWorld and Lawsonia.
The Beloit Club should count in that mix as well, though it doesn’t have a high-profile tournament course and isn’t open to the public, either.
A private facility since its opening in 1909, the Beloit Club’s transformation in just the last two years has carried over to most positive changes in the town of 30,000 in which it resides. Golf is just part of it.
Prior to taking on its present name in 2014 the Beloit Club was known as the Country Club of Beloit. Its course was designed by Tom Bendelow, who seems to have designed a vast majority of the layouts that went up in the Midwest in the early 1900s. Bendelow’s designs were pretty basic things but, surprisingly, many are still most relevant now – though renovations and upgrades were inevitable. That’s been the case at the Beloit Club.
Stanley Pelchar, who designed courses mainly in the 1920s, is also listed among the architects of record as is Bob Lohman, who started his successful Illinois firm in 1984. Beloit Club GM Kent Instefjord has been up close and personal with the golf boom in Wisconsin.
The city of Beloit, just over the Illinois line from Rockford, was one of many that struggled in the economic downturns of the last decade and its only private golf club did as well. The club’s membership dipped to 115 before help from life-long area resident Diane Hendricks was requested.
Hendricks, a billionaire who deemed a private golf club a necessary amenity in her community, decided she’d simply purchase the club. That’s when exciting things started to happen. Hendricks, whose ownership of some 65 companies began when she and her late husband Ken took over ABC Supply — the largest wholesale distributor of roofing and siding materials, has invested $15 million in the Beloit Club project.
Every building on the property — from the clubhouse to the swimming pool to the maintenance facility and cart barn — is now brand new. Oliphant/Haltom was brought in to manage the golf course and that led to the removal of 500 trees in what was largely a cleanup effort.
The course, which measures 6,847 yards from the back tees and 5,160 from the front, is great for walking and fun for players of all abilities. The square-shaped tee boxes and mowed paths from greens to tees enhance a most pleasant setting. Best of all, though, are the four par-3s – Nos. 3, 7, 10 and 16. Taken collectively, I can’t recall seeing a better combination of short holes – though I’ll admit that’s an argumentative appraisal. The building of the Beloit Club’s very attractive new clubhouse was completed in just five months.
Kent Instefjord, the Beloit Club’s general manager, arrived when the upgrading began but he was already well versed in the spectacular golf growth in the Badger state. Raised in nearby Janesville, he worked at Blackwolf Run before a stint as head professional at Whistling Straits from 1998 to 2003 and was also general manager and director of golf at Erin Hills from 2006 to 2010. Instefjord had similar roles at high profile clubs in Missouri (St. Albans) and Arizona (LaPaloma) before returning closer to home for the Beloit Club revival.
Since his arrival the membership has climbed to 380 – with 100 coming just this year –and the upgrading is far from finished. An expansion of the lockerrooms and pro shop and the creation of a spa and lodge to accommodate overnight guests is also in the works.
The next new thing, though, will come off the Beloit Club property. The Ironworks Golf Lab has a scheduled October opening in Beloit’s soon-to-be-bustling downtown area. It’ll be open to the public and offer, among other things, three indoor golf simulators with the Beloit Club staff running the operation. This may not look like much now, but it’ll soon be an indoor golf facility in downtown Beloit.
At first glance it appeared the John Deere Classic got a bad deal when the PGA Tour moved the tournament off its usual July dates and scheduled the tourney opposite next week’s Olympics’ golf competition in Brazil.
Subsequently, though, a large contingent of top players – among them JDC defending champion Jordan Spieth and world No. 1 Jason Day – pulled out of the Olympics citing concerns over the Zika virus. That diminished the quality of the field in Brazil and opened the door for at least some of the potential Olympians to play at the JDC instead.
None have entered as yet, but – with the four tourney rounds beginning next Thursday, Aug. 11 — they still have until Friday afternoon to do it. Even without any of the players opting to skip the Olympics, the JDC won’t be suffering with its new, temporary dates. Next year the tourney will return to its familiar place on the schedule, the week before the British Open.
“This year has been a little different,’’ said JDC director Clair Peterson. “It’s given us a little extra time for setup and sponsors and volunteers have stuck with us. Plus, ticket sales are about the same as they were last year at this time.’’
In a normal year the JDC, played at TPC Deere Run in Silvis on the outskirts of Moline, would fall in the middle of the four major championships. Because of the compressed schedule the last of the four majors for this year ended on Sunday with Jimmy Walker’s victory in the PGA Championship.
JDC mainstays Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker will be in next week’s field and more big name players might consider entering with FedEx Cup Playoff and Ryder Cup points still on the line. Those events fall after the last putt drops in the first Olympics’ golf competition since 1904.
To compensate in part for the date change Peterson was given more sponsor exemptions this year. He’s always used them wisely, and this time he invited five college stars who just turned professional – NCAA medalist Aaron Wise (Oregon), Big Ten player of the year Charlie Danielson (Illinois), Jon Rahm (Arizona State), Lee McCoy (Georgia) and Jordan Niebrugge (Oklahoma State).
On Monday Peterson added a promising Chicago area player, Frankfort’s Brian Bullington, to the list. He played at Lincoln-Way East High School and the University of Iowa before joining the PGA’s Latinoamerica Tour after turning pro a year ago.
Bullington, who finished 25th in last week’s Illinois Open, has lots of experience at TPC Deere Run. He played in four tournaments there – but all came before he even entered high school. The Plantation Junior Golf Tour held an annual event there.
“I played for the first time there when I was 9 years old, so I’ve come pretty much full circle to play my first PGA Tour event there,’’ said Bullington.
“We’ve been the launching point for the careers of players coming out of college, and we like that,’’ said Peterson, mentioning Johnson, Day, Spieth, Justin Thomas, Camilo Villegas, Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau, Lucas Glover, Webb Simpson and Bill Haas among the players who were given kick-starts to the pro careers via JDC sponsor exemptions.
This year’s commitment list includes five players (in addition to Johnson) who have won major titles: Argentina’s Angel Cabrera (2007 U.S. Open and 2009 Masters), South African Trevor Immelman (2008 Masters), Lucas Glover (2009 U.S. Open), Stewart Cink (2009 British Open) and David Toms (2001 PGA).
The JDC – now in its 46th year and the only PGA Tour event played annually in Illinois – offers $4.8 million in prize money with the champion getting $864,000. There’ll be free admission to the Monday and Tuesday practice rounds. A pro-am on Wednesday, Aug. 10, will precede the four days of tournament play.
Here and there
The Western Amateur field will shrink from the 156 starters on Tuesday to the low 44 and ties after Wednesday’s round at Knollwood, in Lake Forest. The 16 qualifiers for the match play portion of the tourney will be decided after Thursday’s 36-hole session and two rounds of matches are on tap for both Friday and Saturday.
David Impastato, owner of Studio 59 Golf Learning Center in Batavia and former director of golf operations at Cog Hill and head professional at St. Charles Country Club, has been named an instructor for Golf Channel Academy.
The 15th Chicago District Senior Amateur begins its three-day run on Monday at Wynstone, in North Barrington, and the Illinois PGA Senior Championship will be conducted Monday and Tuesday at Whisper Creek, in Huntley.
The SpeedGolf World Championship will return to The Glen Club in Glenview on Oct. 17-18.
Before the month is out golfers will pour into the World’s Largest 19th Hole in Myrtle Beach.
The entry number is already over 2,900 from 25 countries, but there’s still room for more in the 33rd annual Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship. The deadline to enter the event, labeled “Every Man’s Major,’’ is Aug. 6 and the competition runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2.
Nearly 60 of Myrtle Beach’s best courses participate in the event, which includes four rounds of golf, a gift bag and nightly entry into the World’s Largest 19th Hole – which features free food and drinks, live entertainment, a golf expo and other attractions at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
Golfers are assigned flights based on gender, age and handicap. At the conclusion of four rounds all flight winners and ties advance to the 18-hole championship playoff where the overall champion is crowned. Players with handicaps as low as three and as high as 34 have won the overall title.
Opening near for Hilton Head’s newest course
Atlantic Dunes gives Hilton Head a new look. (Photo, The Sea Pines Resort/Rob Tipson)
The Ocean Course may have been the most historic layout at Hilton Head, S.C., but it is no more.
Love Golf Design, founded by U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III and his brother Mark, have directed a complete reconstruction and recreation of the first course built on Hilton Head. It’ll be known as Atlantic Dunes when it opens for play in October.
Atlantic Dunes will feature a pronounced seaside ambience accented by coquina shells and seaside grasses. The design goal was to incorporate elements of the surrounding beachfront along with the area’s bounty of native pines and oaks lining the fairways.
Love and lead architect Scot Sherman entirely rebuilt some holes to accommodate modern shot values. The course will benefit both visually and strategically from restoration of natural sand dunes as well as the creation of new dunes. Tens of thousands of indigenous plants have also been installed in these areas.
Michigan’s Gull Lake View will soon have a sixth course
Gull Lake View has welcomed golfers for over 50 years.
Way back in 1963 Darl and Letha Scott built a nine-hole course in Southwest Michigan. Very soon the family-run operation will have its sixth 18-holer.
Stoatin Brae – which means Grand Hill in Scottish Gaelic – will be only the second course of the six not designed by members of the Scott family. It’s billed as a departure from the other five that have holes cutting through the trees and hills on the area’s natural rolling land in the town of Richland, near Kalamazoo.
Eric Iverson, Don Placek, Brian Schneider and Brian Slawnik – all senior associates for Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design of Traverse City, Mich. — worked with the Scott family on determining the site for Soatin Brae. Doak was not involved in the project.
The new course is on a site located atop an open grassy bluff overlooking the Kalamazoo River Valley and there’s one point where golfers scan see 15 flagsticks on a clear day. The course’s restaurant, named Blue Stern after a native grass that is growing on the course, will open at about the same time as the par-71, 6,800-yard layout.
Island Resort is adding second course
Island Resort & Casino in Harris, Mich., has begun construction on its second course. Tony Mancilla, general manager of the resort in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, said the layout will be called Sage Run. The name references 10 holes that will run significantly downhill on the course.
Paul Albanese is the course architect. He also designed Sweetgrass, the resort’s other course that is the site of the Symetra Tour’s Island Resort Championship.
Nine fairways of Sage Run will be planted beginning this month and the other nine in the spring. A soft opening is planned for the fall of 2017 and a grand opening in 2018.
Mission Inn plans Centennial celebration
The passage of time has only made El Campeon a better golf course.The El Campeon course at Florida’s Mission Inn Resort and Club turns 100 in 2017 but the celebration will start early. The “100th Anniversary Golfers Getaway Package’’ will be offered beginning in October and will run through Jan. 15, 2015.
Designed by George O’Neil, a golf professional and architect from Chicago Golf Club, El Campeon was originally known as the Floridian when it opened in Howey-in-the-Hills near Orlando. It was one of the first courses in Florida to feature grass greens rather than the oil-sand greens common a century ago. It was also one of only two courses in the state built to what was then considered the “regulation’’ length of 6,300 yards.
The course took its present name when the Beucher family, transplants from the Chicago area, bought the resort in 1964. The course has 85-foot elevations changes, a rarity for central Florida layouts.
Reynolds Lake Oconee welcomes AJGA
The American Junior Golf Association and Reynolds Lake Oconee, in Greensboro, Ga., has announced a five-year partnership on a new championship event – the AJGA Junior All-Star Invitational. It’ll cap a season-long Road to Reynolds sequence of events for players ages 12 to 15 participating in the AJGA’s American College Development Services Series.
The event, to be held for the first time in 2017, will have an international field of 96 male and female players determined by the Polo Golf Rankings. They’ll compete over 54 holes. The Rolex Tournament of Champions, an international event for top-ranked boys and girls in the 12-18 age group, will also return to Reynolds Lake Oconee in 2021.
Bits and pieces
French Lick Resort, in southern Indiana, will host the LPGA Legends Championship for the fourth straight year from Aug. 18-21 on its Pete Dye Course. Sandra Haynie and Elaine Crosby will be inducted into the Legends Hall of Fame as part of the tourney activities.
The Inn on Woodlake, the boutique hotel for Wisconsin’s Destination Kohler, is expanding. Plans call for the Inn to get a combination of four-bedroom and two-bedroom units along with additional single rooms. The Inn is a popular spot for golfers coming to play Whistling Straits — home to three previous PGA Championships and the Ryder Cup site in 2020 — and/or Blackwolf Run, which has hosted two U.S. Women’s Opens.
Oglebay Park, in Wheeling, W. Va., announced that its courses were not affected by the recent floods that devastated the state. Oglebay has two 18-holers – The Speidel Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Arnold Palmer, and the 5,600-yard original course called the Crispin.
Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Golf & Spa Resort, in Los Cabos, Mexico, is expanding with the creation of The Towers at Pacifica, three new structures featuring distinct accommodations, enhanced amenities and first-class personalized services.
Cobble Beach, in Kemble, Ontario, has announced an “Unlimited Golf’’ special– $99 from Monday-Wednesday, on its Doug Carrick-designed course that has been ranked among the best public courses in Canada. After 4 p.m. the price drops to $69.
Illinois PGA president Jim Opp presents Illinois Open trophy to Carlos Sainz Jr.
Golf has been played in the Chicago area for 124 years, and – as far as local players go — there’s never been a two-week stretch quite like the one that ended with a rousing Illinois Open victory by Elgin’s Carlos Sainz Jr. on Wednesday.
Those two weeks — in tournaments played on three courses in St. Charles that are only a few miles apart – produced record victories in both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open. Those events are the biggest events annually for local players.
The epic two weeks started with Nick Hardy, a University of Illinois junior-to-be from Northbrook, devouring the field in the Illinois State Amateur with a 28-under-par performance over 72 holes at St. Charles Country Club. The State Am has been played for 86 years and Hardy’s 260 score for 72 holes erased a record that had stood for 46 years and his relation to par score eliminated a record that had been standing for 32 years.
Hardy was only part of the supporting cast on Wednesday, however. He hung on for low amateur status in the Illinois Open, edging playing partner Branden Mounce of El Paso and Kevin Flack of Belvidere by one stroke. The Open was played on two St. Charles courses, Royal Fox and Royal Hawk, and Hardy was fourth overall.
Sainz shot shot 67-65-65, with the last two rounds one off the course record in the eight Illinois Opens played at Royal Fox. Flack and Wheaton’s Tee-K Kelly, runner-up in last week’s Illinois State Amateur, also posted 65s on Wednesday but Sainz was clearly the star of this show.
He played like a PGA Tour player — which he was last year and hopes to be again – against the best professionals and amateurs who also reside in Illinois. The tourney had 638 entries and the 156 in the finals were determined after seven state-wide qualifying tournaments.
The Illinois Open, which has been played for 67 years, is contested over 54 holes. Sainz was a five-stroke winner over long-hitting Christian Heavens, a mini-tour pro from Fairview Heights near St. Louis. Like Hardy the week before, Sainz rewrote the tournament record books with his 17-under-par 197 performance. The records he erased weren’t as longstanding as those made irrelevant by Hardy. Bolingbrook’s David Cooke set the old records – 15-under 199 for 54 holes over the Royal Melbourne and Hawthorn Woods courses just last year.
“This was big – something I’ve wanted to win as a pro the last four-five years and almost did the last time I played it,’’ said Sainz, who was also low amateur in the tournament before turning pro.
Sainz was on a role in 2013. He won for the first time on the Canadian PGA Tour, flew to Chicago that night and three days later made it into a playoff in the Illinois Open that was eventually won by Antioch’s Joe Kinney. Sainz was exhausted after seven straight days of pressure-packed tournament golf but returned a few weeks later to win the now defunct Chicago Open.
The momentum gained from those tournaments helped Sainz get playing privileges on the PGA Tour in 2015 but he didn’t earn enough money to keep his tour card. He hopes to get it back, and Wednesday’s win was a step in the right direction. He’ll rejoin the Canadian circuit – now called the Mackenzie Tour – next week in preparation to another crack at the PGA’s fall qualifying school.
“When you’re playing well you’ve got to feel you’re going to win the tournament. That’s how I feel at the Illinois Open,’’ said Sainz. “Now I’ve got to learn to do it at the national level, and on bigger stages.’’
He has shown signs of doing that. He was 20-something under par in a similarly handy win in South Florida last winter.
“But that was a long time ago,’’ said Sainz. “It’s nice to have a solid week again.’’
He had this Illinois Open in hand from the get-go after owning a four-shot lead to start the final round. That lead grew to as many as six strokes as he made birdies on four of the first six holes and then coasted in. The highlight of his final round were 25-foot birdie putts at the third and 16th holes.
“I felt great all day and controlled my emotions well,’’ said Sainz, who picked up $17,500 for his victory.
Royal Fox’ course in St. Charles is again presenting a challenge for Illinois Open finalists.
Usually a golfer makes his mark in the Illinois Open and uses it as a springboard to earn a regular spot on the PGA Tour. For Carlos Sainz, though, it’s been the other way around – at least for now.
Sainz had a strong showing in the 2013 Illinois Open, losing the title to Joe Kinney in a three-way playoff, and then earned his PGA Tour card at qualifying school. Last season Sainz was a regular on the big circuit but didn’t earn enough money to keep his card, so now he’s starting the process all over again. On Tuesday he showed lots of progress.
A 65 over the Royal Fox course in St. Charles propelled the Elgin resident to a four-stroke lead in the 67th playing of the biggest championship for state residents. He’ll go for the title in the final 18 of the 54-hole test on Wednesday.
Sainz owns a four-shot lead on 2014 champion Brad Hopfinger and Christian Heavens, who could become the event’s first African American champion if he gets hot in the last round. The top two amateurs — Branden Mounce of El Paso and Nick Hardy of Northbrook — are five strokes back along with Andy Mickelson, director of golf at Mistwood in Romeoville.. Another amateur, 16-year old high schooler Tommy Kuhl of Morton, is another shot back.
If Hardy rallies to win he’d be the second player to win the Illinois Amateur and Open titles in the same year. David Ogrin accomplished that feat in 1980.
Given the size of his lead, though, the tournament is Sainz to lose. After rounds of 67 and 65 he’s at 11-under-par and showing the form that got him to the PGA Tour in the first place. This year he’s splitting time between the Web.com and Canadian circuits while shaking off the disappointment of his rookie PGA Tour season.
“It was frustrating,’’ admitted Sainz, “but it was a great learning experience. It’s the same game out there, but those players are really good. The PGA Tour is really competitive. You know that coming out but don’t really know it until you’re there.’’
Sainz earned most of his $124,115 PGA Tour winnings in one tournament – a top-10 finish in the Sanderson Farms Classic in Mississippi. He went to college at Mississippi State and is now training at the school’s new practice facility at Mossy Oak Golf Club.
“Playing on the PGA Tour only made me better,’’ said Sainz. “It gave me a taste of it, and I really want to get back there. I feel I have the game to do it.’’
His top challengers on Wednesday have never made it to the big time. Hopfinger spent this season between the Web.com and PGA Latinoamerica circuits. Heavens turned pro after being a First Tee graduate of Georgetown College in Kentucky in 2011. He’s tested his game playing “pretty much all over the play, wherever I can find an affordable tour.’’
Hopfinger is the last of seven players to win both the Illinois Amateur (2011) and Open. Mounce spent his freshman year at Illinois State and is transferring to Bradley. Hardy, a sparking 28 under par in winning the Illinois State Amateur last week at St. Charles Country Club, is headed for his junior season at Illinois. Mickelson is the reigning PGA Assistants champion.
The pros will have a bit more incentive in the final round than they’ve had in recent years. Carrie Williams, in her first year as Illinois PGA executive director, announced that the purse will hit the $100,00 level for the first time since 2003. That’s in large part because the entries were up from 537 last year to 638.
The 67th Illinois Open had two co-leaders after Monday’s first round, and neither was exactly a surprise.
Christian Heavens, a touring pro from Fairview Heights near St. Louis, had the best score in the seven state-wide qualifying rounds – an 8-under-par 64 at Effingham Country Club on June 24 – and that good play carried over to Monday’s first round of the finals when he shot a 6-under par 66 in the morning over the Royal Hawk course that is co-hosting the 54-hole event.
The other 66 was by Royal Hawk pro Brian Carroll, who played his opening round on his home course in the afternoon. He birdied the first hole, triggering a 5-under-par front nine, and coasted in from there.
“A fun day,’’ said Carroll, who reported early to make sure all was going smoothly in the pro shop and then concentrated on playing. “I’m very happy with how I played. Now I’ve got to do the same thing the next two days on a different golf course. There’s still a long way to go.’’
Carroll conceded that home course knowledge might have been a factor.
“Some people think I have a great advantage playing here, but I’ve only played Royal Hawk twice all year,’’ he said. “Most golf pros don’t get to play all that much.’’
A full-time player six years ago before entering the club pro ranks, Carroll has played only 27 holes this year at nearby Royal Fox over a two-day span, one of which was in bad weather. Royal Hawk and neighboring Royal Fox are co-hosting the finals and all the best scoring came at Royal Hawk on Monday.
The group one stroke behind Heavens and Carroll – Bloomington’s Brandon Holtz, Lockport’s Andy Mickelson, Elgin’s Carlos Sainz and Northbrook’s Nick Hardy – also played their first round of the tournament at Royal Hawk and will play their second on Tuesday at Royal Fox, which will also be the site of Wednesday’s final round.
Hardy, the only amateur among the 66 and 67 shooters, won the Illinois State Amateur with a rousing 28-under-par performance at nearby St. Charles Country Club last week. He’s trying to become only the second player to win both the state’s Amateur and Open in the same year. David Ogrin, a PGA Tour journeyman, did it in 1980.
Mickelson, the reigning PGA Assistants national champion, is director of golf at Mistwood in Romeoville and Sainz was a PGA Tour member last year.
Holtz’ round was the exact opposite of Heavens.’ Holtz had two eagles in his first five holes at Royal Hawk and was 5-under-par after six holes before cooling off. Heavens finished strong. He made five birdies in the last six holes.
The Gailes course, with pot bunkers galore, holds a special place in Michigan golf. OSCODA, Michigan – I’ve always tended to shy away from dwelling on greens fees in reporting on golf travel destinations. There’s a good reason for that. Course owners, by necessity, are constantly changing what they charge their golfers and these reports can’t keep up with that. They’re written with the expectation of a long shelf life.
So, when a course is described by many as “the best golf buy in Michigan,’’ that’s a hard claim to substantiate.
But then there’s the Lakewood Shores Resort, which has been operating for over three decades within a short walk of Lake Huron and proclaims itself as “Michigan’s Best Value Resort!’’ It has three courses, each very different from the other two, and price is definitely a plus – though we’re still not going to get into specific figures.
Let’s put it this way: the resort’s promotional literature states “we believe in offering great golf along with comfortable lodging in a truly sincere and friendly atmosphere at an affordable rate.’’
I can’t quibble with any of that. Floral gardens on The Serradella course are most pleasing to the eye at Lakewood Shores’ clubhouse.
What’s most striking about Lakewood Shores is the variety in its courses in a relatively out-of-the-way segment of this golf-rich state.
The Serradella came first, a parkland style layout designed by Bruce Matthews that opened in 1969. It has minimal hazards, wide fairways, large greens and a tradition for having extraordinary floral gardens. That was the only course when Craig Peters arrived on the scene.
Stan Aldridge, already established in Michigan golf as the owner of the private Indianwood in Lake Orion, had just purchased the property and Peters – a former Notre Dame golfer – had decided that it was time to give up trying to be a touring pro. Lakewood Shores and Peters were an ideal fit. He is now in his 29th year at Lakewood Shores, serving as both general manager and director of golf. The Blackshirt course, No. 17 shown here, has a completely different look than The Gailes
Lakewood Shores will probably never be as well known as Indianwood. It was the site of the 1930 Western Open, won by Gene Sarazen, but thrived more after Aldridge purchased it in 1981. Since then it has hosted two U.S. Women’s Opens – 1989, won by Betsy King, and 1994, won by Patty Sheehan – and the 2012 U.S. Senior Open. Roger Chapman was the champion in that one.
Aldridge, who was eventually inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, expanded his portfolio by adding two courses to his original purchase of Lakewood Shores. Best known of the trio of 18-holers there is The Gailes, which was Golf Digest’s Best New Resort Course of 1993.
Lots of Midwest courses have been promoted as Scottish-style links courses, but this one is way ahead of its counterparts. It has double greens, an array of sod-faced pot bunkers and long fescue grasses. I’ve played lots of courses in over 30 years of Michigan visits, but haven’t encountered one like this one. Aldridge’s son Kevin is the designer of record for The Gailes, though Bob Cupp also had a hand in the project.
Kevin Aldridge did all the design work at the second course added after the Aldridge purchase. It’s called Blackshire, a great walking course with a rugged feel thanks to the hardwoods, large sand waste areas and undulations in the greens that are incorporated into the design. It opened in 2001.
In 2004 The Wee Links was added, an 18-hole pitch and putt course also designed by Aldridge with holes ranging from 50 to 105 yards. It can be played free of charge if you’re a resort guest.
The UL International Crown may wrap up on Sunday, but there’s no break on the area tournament calendar. The 67th Illinois Open begins its three-day run on Monday at two St. Charles clubs, Royal Fox and Royal Hawk.
Defending champion is Bolingbrook’s David Cooke, who posted the best 54-hole score (199) and best score in relation to par (16 under) in winning by five strokes at Royal Melbourne in Long Grove last year.
As always, the Illinois Open has an interesting field. Among the other amateurs among the 258 starters is Bears’ cornerback Kyle Fuller.
Illinois men’s coach Mike Small, who has won the title four times, will be joined in the field by one of his star players – Northbrook’s Nick Hardy, who won the Illinois State Amateur with a record 28-under-par performance at the nearby St. Charles Country Club last week.
Small will also have one of his future players in the field in Tommy Kuhl, a 16-year old from downstate Morton. Still in high school, Tommy has already committed to the Illini while his 18-year old brother Pete will be playing for Wisconsin in the fall.
The Baumans will also be a family act again. Doug, head professional at Biltmore in Barrington, will be joined by sons Greg and Riley.
Carlos Sainz Jr., of Elgin, is also part of the pro contingent. The low amateur in the 2006 Illinois Open at The Glen Club in Glenview, Sainz played on the PGA Tour last year and is splitting time between the Web.com and PGA Latinoamerica tours this season.
Gary Groh, the long-time head professional at Bob O’Link, in Highland, Park, will be the oldest player in the field. The 71-year old Groh won the Illinois Open when it was contested at Royal Fox 22 years ago.
Royal Fox returns as the tournament site after a 15-year hiatus and this year’s staging marks the 25th anniversary of the first Illinois Open played at the course. Since last hosting the tournament has changed its format to allow more players from the state-wide qualifying rounds to participate in the finals. That necessitated the need for an alternate course, and Royal Hawk will fill that bill.
The field will play 18-hole rounds at both courses Monday and Tuesday and the final round – for the low 50 and ties and anyone within 10 strokes of the lead – will be at Royal Fox on Wednesday.
