Picking the winner of any PGA Tour event is an exercise in futility. Still, come Masters time, forecasting the champion seems almost an obligation. I’ve been making the effort since attending my first Masters in 1986, and I’ve picked the winner only once – Fred Couples in 1992.

With the 86^th Masters teeing off on Thursday, I’ll first tell you who won’t win this week.  Then I’ll explain why Scottie Scheffler will.

The usual contenders don’t seem ready.  Tiger Woods, assuming his “game time decision’’ is to play, hasn’t been in serious competition since being involved in a serious auto accident in 13 months ago. The fact that he even considered teeing it up so soon was surprising.  Winning? Well, even he’s not ITAL that END ITAL good.

Phil Mickelson won’t play, either because he’s suspended or contemplating his future in the game – take your pick.

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama has a sore neck that was painful enough to force his withdrawal from last week’s Valero Texas Open and Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau couldn’t even come close to making the cut in that last tournament leading into the year men’s first major championship of 2022.

Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, surprisingly, haven’t won yet 15 tournaments into the  2022 portion of the PGA Tour schedule.  Thomas has played in seven events, Johnson in five.  Patrick Cantlay, the FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2021, hasn’t won either and his form has been way off since a runner-up finish at Phoenix in February.

And now for Scheffler.  The 25-year old Texan is on a role.  He’s won three of his last five starts that began with a win over Cantlay in a playoff at Phoenix and included a head-to-head win over Johnson in the semifinals of his last start – a victory in the World Golf Championship’s Match Play Championship two weeks ago.

I was up close and personal for Scheffler’s other victory, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month.

Already the first player to win three times before the Masters since Thomas and Johnson did it in 2016, Scheffler wisely skipped the Valero Texas Open in his home state to get ready for this week’s shootout at Augusta National.

Despite his youth, Scheffler knows all about Augusta National.  He played in the last two Masters and finished top-20 in both. This is a young player coming on fast, and a tournament in the Chicago area played a big role in that.

In 2019, when the pandemic was keeping fans and media away from tournaments, the Western Golf Association created the Evans Scholars Invitational in an effort that kept the Korn Ferry Tour in Chicago.  Scheffler won it at The Glen Club in Glenview, beating Marcelo Rozo in a playoff. That was Scheffler’s first win as a touring pro and triggered his ascension to the PGA Tour.

Last year he was a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team — a surprise to many, myself included.  Still, he was unbeaten in his matches at Whistling Straits, going 2-0-1 in the Americans’ one-sided victory over the Europeans.

Now, after his continued success over the last three months, he’s been elevated to the No. 1 player in the world, according to the Official World Golf Rankings.  Can that first major championship be that far off?

BITS AND PIECE: Chicago had a champion in Sunday’s Drive, Chip & Putt national finals at Augusta National.  Michael Jorski, of Clarendon Hills, won in the Boys 12-13 division. It was his second appearance in the finals.  He made it in the 7-9 age group when his family lived in Kansas.

No Chicago-connected players qualified for this year’s Masters.  Needing to win last week, all five entered the Valero Texas Open.  Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman did the best, tying for 18^th.

Deerfield’s Vince India, a former Illinois Open champion and  now a regular on the Korn Ferry Tour, helped his father Dan get a tee time for his foursome on a recent guys’ trip to the TPC Stadium Course in Florida. It produced a shot for the record books.  Playing from the White tees, Dan holed his tee shot from the White tees at No. 12 – a 296-yard par-4 – for an albatross.

 

 

 

 

 

Unless Kevin Streelman, Luke Donald, Doug Ghim, Nick Hardy or Dylan Wu win this week’s Valero Texas Open there won’t a Chicago-connected player in next week’s Masters tournament.

The champion of the PGA Tour event on Sunday in Texas gets the final spot in the year’s first major championship at Georgia’s Augusta National, and all five of Chicago’s PGA Tour members – none of them Masters qualifiers yet — are in the field when play begins on Thursday in San Antonio.

Regardless of how they fare, however, there will be a significant Illinois presence in Masters-related competition.

Two collegiate stars, Northwestern junior Irene Kim and Illinois senior Crystal Wang, received invitations to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which tees off on Wednesday (TODAY), and five Chicago area youngsters are among the 80 qualifiers nation-wide for the Drive, Chip and Putt finals staged on Sunday.

Members of Augusta National established a 54-hole women’s tournament in 2019.  This year’s 72 invitees will play the first two rounds at the nearby Champions Retreat course on Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday will be a practice day at Augusta National and the top 30 who survived the 36-hole cut will decide the title Saturday on the Masters’ course.

Jennifer Kupcho, the world’s top-ranked amateur at the time and now an LPGA member, emerged the first champion after she played her final six holes at Augusta National in 5-under-par.  The tournament wasn’t held in 2020 because of pandemic concerns and 17-year old Tsubasa Kajitani of Japan won last year in a playoff with Wake Forest student Emilia Migliaccio.

Kim and Wang will be part of a strong international field in this year’s ANWA.  Migliaccio returns for her third appearance in the tournament and Rose Zhang, now the top-ranked women’s amateur, heads the field.  Kim was the Big Ten’s Golfer of the Year in 2021 and Wang had four top-15 finishes in five starts for the Illini in the fall season.  She was also third in last year’s Illinois Women’s Open.

The Masters competitors will start arriving on Saturday and many will be on hand for the final round of the ANWA and Sunday’s Drive, Chip and Putt finals.  Both will be televised on NBC.

All five Chicago qualifiers earned their spots in a regional final at Medinah Country Club last fall. Two of them – Naperville’s Lisa Copeland, in the Girls 12-13 age division, and Clarendon Hills’ Michael Jorski, in the Boys 12-13 division, will be making their second appearances at Augusta National.  Lisa qualified in 2017 and Michael in 2018, when he was living in Kansas.

Medinah hosted the qualifiers earlier this month but Copeland couldn’t make it.  She has spent the winter sharpening her game in Florida.

Jorski felt that being at Augusta National before will be a big help the second time around.

“It definitely will,’’ he said.  “I was just really nervous (the first time).  It’s harder to see the actual beauty and actual fun of being there.  Now that doesn’t matter.  You’ll have fun.  Of all the people who tried to qualify you’re one of just 10 (in your age group) who made it.’’

He was in the 7-9 age group in his first appearance. Since moving to Chicago he has played on the Cog Hill team that qualified for the national finals in the PGA Junior League in Arizona last year.

The other Chicago qualifiers for this year’s Drive, Chip and Putt are Ledius Felipe, of Poplar Grove, in the Boys 10-11; Eloise Fetzer, of LaGrange, in the Girls 7-9; and Martha Kuwahara, of Northbrook, in the Girls 14-15.

 

 

Jerry Rich, owner of Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, has done wonders for amateur golf by making his ultra-private course available for big tournaments like the Western Amateur, NCAA Championship and Palmer Cup. His biggest venture into the professional ranks came in 2009, when Rich Harvest hosted a very well-received Solheim Cup, a team event between the top women from the U.S. and Europe.

That’s why Wednesday’s announcement that Rich Harvest would be a host site in the first season of a controversial golf tour organized by Greg Norman and backed by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund came as a surprise.  The eight-eight-tournament team competition is called the LIV Golf Invitational Series and Norman, one of the greatest players in golf history, is chief executive officer of LIV Golf Investments.

Mention of the Saudi Arabia connection wasn’t included in the group’s schedule announcement, in which Rich Harvest was assigned Sept. 16-18 dates.  It was the fifth event of the series and last of four planned in the United States. Total prize money for the eight events is $255 million, with all the events played at 54 holes.

Perceived competition from the Saudi circuit has led to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to ban any players from his circuit if they join the newly-announced tour. The popular Phil Mickelson, an outspoken critic of PGA Tour policies, played an active role in getting the Saudi circuit started.

Criticized by many of the PGA’s top stars Mickelson has taken a leave of absence from tournament play, and Monahan — while refusing to say Mickelson has been suspended — said they’ll have to meet before Mickelson can play in another PGA tournament.

So, why did Rich Harvest get involved in the controversy?

Rich didn’t comment when the circuit was initially announced, but his staff put out a statement on behalf of Rich Harvest Farms. It citied “benefits’’ the tournament would have on the Kids Golf Foundation of Illinois, the caddies at Rich Harvest, Ukrainian refugees, educational institutions (most notably Rich’s alma mater Northern Illinois and Aurora University, both of whom play and practice at the Sugar Grove club), businesses in the greater Chicago area and “the Illinois golf community.’’

Rich, as well as Sugar Grove village president Jennifer Konen, made it clear they’re all in for tournament in the aftermath of Norman’s announcement..

“I’m thrilled to announce (his support of Norman’s release),’’ Rich said in his regular “Jerry’s Drive’’ message to friends of Rich Harvest on Thursday.  “I hope to see a big turnout from all you golf fans!  This will be huge for Illinois and the Chicago area.’’

“The Village is thrilled to welcome the LIV Golf Invitational Series to Sugar Grove,’’ echoed Konen.  “Rich Harvest Farms is a valued member of our community and it is exciting that it will be showcased in this new tournament.  Sugar Grove looks forward to hosting golf fans from around the world.’’

Players who will compete in the Saudi events haven’t been announced, but the schedule shows there will be some conflicts.   The first event, June 9-11 in London, is opposite the Canadian. Open and just a week before the U.S. Open in Massachusetts.  The second, at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon July 1-3, is opposite the John Deere Classic – Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop. The other Saudi events all come after the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Trump National, in New Jersey (July 29-31)    and The International in Boston (Sept. 2-4) are the other U.S. events on the Saudi circuit. The season wraps up with events in Bangkok, Thailand; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;  and the season-ending team championship Oct. 28-30 at a site to determined.

This is a long way from being over.  Norman is considering legal action against the PGA Tour if it bans players from playing on his tour, and the PGA is considering the creation of a rival Premier Golf League that would offer massive paydays and ownership stakes for tour members. It’d probably play in the fall, after the FedEx Cup events.

As far as Chicago golf is concerned, the event at Rich Harvest fills a growing void of big tournaments coming to the area.  The PGA Tour won’t be here for the second straight year and the U.S. Golf Association, Ladies PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions haven’t had an event at a Chicago area course since the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was played at Kemper Lakes in 2018.  None of those organizations have one scheduled in the future, either.

 

 

Doug Ghim is learning about the PGA Tour. The second-year PGA Tour player who grew up in Arlington Heights is improving, too.

Ghim played in the last group in the final round of The Players Championship both as a rookie in 2021 and in the weather-battered staging of this season, which wrapped up on Monday.

In 2021 Ghim played was paired with eventual champion Justin Thomas. He couldn’t keep pace, shooting a 78 to drop down to a tie for 29^th place.  On Monday Ghim made a costly double bogey on the par-5 second hole and – while he didn’t contend for the title after that — he finished in a tie for sixth.

With the tournament purse increased from $15 to $20 million, Ghim earned $675,000 on Monday when he finished five strokes behind champion Cameron Smith at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, FL. That was the biggest payday yet for the 25-year graduate of Buffalo Grove High School and the University of Texas, but it could have been quite a bit more.

Ghim, the last player to putt out in the tournament, missed a short birdie putt on the final green.  Had he made it he would have finished in a tie for fifth with Keegan Bradley instead of a three-way tie for sixth with Harold Varner III AND Russell Knox.  The difference was about $200,000 in his paycheck.

Still, Ghim’s game returned in the biggest money event of the season after he had endured three straight missed cuts. Watching Thomas pull away from him a year earlier paid dividends in his return to The Players.

“I learned how badly I wanted to win,’’ said Ghim.  “I got to watch someone win at the pro level, let alone being at The Player Championship.  It was a valuable experience.  It was a painful one.  I took pain away from it, and that’s a good thing because it tells me that I want to win.’’

Ghim didn’t play with Smith in Monday’s final round.  Smith was in the group in front but Ghim still drew from the round with Thomas.

“The thing that struck me was the way he played.  He made mistakes, played basically how I had played the first three days (last year), and basically how I played the first three days this week,’’ said Ghim.  “I just realized I don’t really have to do anything different.’’

TPC Sawgrass seems an unusual place for a young player to find his game, but Ghim sees logic in it.

“I love the place,’’ he said.  “I love playing against the best players.  It makes me more patient, so I was more patient this week. I had had a rough couple of weeks, but the game felt good.  It was a bit frustrating to not see any results, but I couldn’t find a better place to find them.’’

Ghim had company to help him through the numerous weather delays at TPC Sawgrass.

“I had some family and friends with me,’’ he said.  “My sister’s here.  My girlfriend’s here.  I have a team here, so we kept it light hearted, played some video games,  did whatever.’’

He’s skipping this week’s Valspar Championship, played about three hours away at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbour.  That tourney will conclude the PGA Tour’s four-event Florida Swing.

The Valspar will have a strong Illinois contingent headed by Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman, who tied for 22^nd in  The Players and won $201,000. Both Streelman and Northwestern alum Luke Donald are past champions on Innisbrook’s Copperhead course, Donald in 2011 and Streelman in 2012.  Mark Hensby, a veteran who won both the Illinois Open and Illinois State Amateur , is also competing as is Illinois alum Luke Guthrie, who earned a spot in the field in Monday’s qualifying round,  and PGA Tour rookie Dylan Wu (Northwestern). Wu moved in on Tuesday after being the first alternate.  Nick Hardy (Illinois), now the No. 1 alternate, might get into the field, too.

 

 

 

The 69^th PGA Merchandise Show is coming up this week in Orlando, FL., and that’s generally a big week for club professionals nation-wide who use the big event at the Orange County Convention Center to begin preparations for another season.

It won’t be quite the same this year for two of Chicago’s longest-standing club leaders. Both Bob Malpede and Brian Morrison retired once the calendar turned to 2022.  Malpede, who will attend the show to renew acquaintances, finished a 16-year run  in a dual role – general manager and head golf professional – at White Deer Run, in Vernon Hills.

Morrison, who spent 21 seasons at Olympia Fields and was the storied club’s director of golf, is now living in Florida.  The 2003 U.S. Open, 2015 U.S. Amateur and 2020 BMW Championship were all held at Olympia during Morrison’s tenure there. Douglas Farrell has moved up from head professional to become Olympia’s new director of golf.

Malpede isn’t ready to end residence in Illinois, where his golf roots are deep.  He got started in the business at Pistakee Bay, in McHenry, when his father owned the club. He formally entered the professional ranks in 1972 at Glen Flora, in Waukegan, and also did time as an assistant pro at Knollwood, in Lake Forest, and Bel-Air and Riviera, in California.

After landing his first head pro job at Columbine, in Colorado,  Malpede returned to Illinois where he got the golf operations started at two new clubs.  He was the first head pro at both Stonebridge, in Aurora, and Stonewall Orchard, in Grayslake, and remains a managing partner at Stonewall. He’ll remain on staff at White Deer Run as pro emeritus.

Another club has announced a change in head pros.  Stonebridge has named Steve Gillie to the job.  He had been a teaching pro at Boulder Ridge, in Lake in the Hills.

NEW WGA CHAIRMAN:  Joe Desch is the new chairman of the Western Golf Association.  The Cincinnati resident succeeds Kevin Buggy, of Park Ridge Country Club, in the leadership role.

Desch, along with four of his brothers, attended college on an WGA Evans’ Scholarships.  Desch attended Miami of Ohio after working as a caddie as a youth.

“It’s exciting, and very humbling, being an (Evans Scholars) alumni and having a chance to do this,’’ said Desch, who has lofty goals for the organization that has raised money for college scholarships for caddies since 1930. Over 1,000 students are now attending colleges on Evans Scholarships. He’s been on the WGA board of directors since 2021.

“Now the goal is to have 1,500 Evans Scholars by 2030,’’ said Desch. “We’re moving to a more nationwide organization and trying to be much more than a Midwest scholarship.  We also want more diversity – women and kids of color among our caddies as well as at our staff headquarters.’’

 

HERE AND THERE – Naperville Country Club, celebrating its 100-year anniversary, has broken ground on a $2.7 million clubhouse renovation….Luke Donald, the former Northwestern star and world No. 1, has struggled with back problems in recent years but he made the cut in his first 2022 start at the Sony Open of Hawaii on Sunday.  He tied for 27^th, his best finish of the PGA Tour’s 2021-22 wrap-around season.….Neither Chicago club manufacturer, Wilson or Tour Edge, will be represented at the PGA Merchandise Show but Zero Friction, of Oakbrook Terrace, will have a prominent role.  It has created the official tee and indoor hitting range for the show and will also introduce its new push-cart golf bag and TheraTech golf glove.

 

That horrible pandemic made 2021 a difficult year for everybody, but it was somewhat less so for those in the Chicago area golf industry. The courses were busy, the big events were back on schedule and an extraordinarily large number of facilities took on expansion projects.

The biggest was at Heritage Oaks, the Northbrook Park District’s facility formerly called Sportsman’s. It got a remake of its 27 holes and a new clubhouse, a $12.75 million project with the clubhouse costing $6 million. The facility was closed throughout 2020, but everything was up and running in August of 2021.

Another overhaul, at The Preserve at Oak Meadows in Addison, was brought to an end with the building of a new $12.6 million clubhouse that opened in early August. The work on its 18-hole course, owned by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and long beset by flooding issues, required a $16 million renovation that was completed three years earlier.

The Preserve had been in operation since 1923 (as Elmhurst Country Club), and Heritage Oaks dated back to 1931 (as Sky Harbor Golf Club ). The revival of these two longstanding facilities were a big deal, but not as impressive cost-wise as a project that Medinah Country Club announced in the waning days of December.

A membership vote approved a $23.5 million renovation of the club’s famous No. 3 course, a layout that opened in 1923 and has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup. Work won’t start on the renovation until the fall of 2022 and the new version won’t re-open until sometime in 2024 but, golf-wise, it’ll be the talk of the town for a few years at least.

The club wants to have the new version in top shape for the 2026 President’s Cup matches. That’ll be the next of Medinah’s high-profile events.  The work will be done by OCM, an Australian design firm headed by former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and partners Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead.

While Medinah No. 3 has long been one of the world’s most famous courses, its new version will look much different. It’ll have three new holes, with a five-hole short course and enlarged putting green also part of the renovation plans.

William Kuehn, the Medinah president, said the renovation wasn’t taken on just because the President’s Cup is coming.

“The plan encapsulates a continuing vision to provide compelling tournament play and a world-class golf experience for members, guests and the professional tournament player,’’ said Kuehn.

Michael Scimo, a former club president and the club’s chairman for the President’s Cup, said Medinah “has an option for another tour event.’’ That includes the possibility of a U.S. Open returning to the Chicago area. That event was last held at Medinah in 1990 and the event hasn’t been at a Chicago course since Olympia Fields hosted in 2003.

Medinah had more to celebrate in 2021 than the massive plans for its showcase course.  Tee-K Kelly, a Medinah member, won the Illinois Open and also earned conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour, which offers a direct pathway to the PGA Tour for its best players in the 2022 season.

BEFORE 2021 is gone there were some other big memories made within the Chicago golf world:

Northbrook’s Nick Hardy earned his PGA Tour card thanks to his solid play over the last two years on the Korn Ferry circuit, and he immediately proved he can compete on the premier circuit when he made the cut in three of his first four tournaments as a PGA member.

Highwood’s Patrick Flavin had a huge week in the PGA’s Bermuda Open, winning $99,125 for a tie for 17^th finish after making the starting field through Monday qualifying.

Batavia-based equipment manufacturer Tour Edge made a huge signing in adding Bernhard Langer to its roster of PGA Tour Champions staffers.  Langer went on to win the Charles Schwab Cup, and Tour Edge got a late-season boost when John Daly, with 13 Tour Edge clubs in his bag, teamed up with his son to the win the PNC Championship.

Winnetka’s Elizabeth Szokol, in her second season as Illinois’ lone LPGA Tour player, made a huge climb on the money list from her rookie campaign.  Thanks largely to a third-place finish (worth $198,617) in the Founders Cup, Szokol topped the $500,000 mark for the season.

The Western Golf Association announced it’s bringing the BMW Championship back to Chicago area.  It’ll be played at Olympia Fields in 2023. The WGA also landed a new sponsor for its Korn Ferry event. Formerly the Evans Scholars Invitational, it’ll be known as the NV5 Invitational Presented by First Midwest Bank when it is held in May at The Glen Club in Glenview.

While Mistwood’s Andy Mickelson won the Illinois PGA Championship, the section’s players of the year were Skokie’s Garrett Chaussard in the regular division and Blackberry Oaks’ Roy Biancalana in the senior division. Nick Tenuta, of Mount Prospect, and Mark Small, of Frankfort, were the Players of the Year in the Chicago District Golf Association season.

University of Illinois alum Tristyn Nowlin won the Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood after finishing second in both the IWO and Women’s Western Amateur at the Romeoville Course in 2018.

The Preserve at Oak Meadows and Heritage Oaks aren’t the only places to  get new clubhouses in 2021.  Fox Run,  in Elk Grove, just opened a new one, too, and more are in the planning stages at Glencoe Golf Club, Heritage Bluffs,  in Channahon, and Settler’s Hill, in Geneva. The Bridges at Poplar Creek, in Hoffman Estates, also just opened its new indoor-outdoor practice range so the building boom appears to be ongoing.

In summing up 2021 it should be noted world-wide climax came not too far away.  After two decades of frustration in the Ryder Cup matches the U.S. team posted a record 19-9 victory when the biennial competition was held at Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits in October.

 

 

While most area golf courses are in the process of closing for the season, a couple are just kicking into high gear thanks to the completion of some major construction work.

The Bridges of Poplar Creek, an 18-holer in Hoffman Estates, has opened its new Toptracer Range. It features 10 covered, heated hitting bays. While a Grand Opening won’t be held until March director of golf Brian Bechtold has set a six-day-a-week operating schedule.

It’ll be open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-8 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.  Fee is $25 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, $40 per hour Wednesdays and Fridays and $50 per hour on Saturdays and Sundays.  A maximum of six golfers per bay is permitted. Reservations can be made seven days in advance and food and beverage service is available.

The 140-foot long facility, built at a cost of $750,000, is a Hoffman Estates Park District property.  It has two sets of heaters and was built adjacent to the first tee and driving range.

Bechtold said the original target date for opening the facility was in June but it had to be continually pushed back for a variety pandemic-related issues.

Fox Run, an 18-hole facility in Elk Grove, opens its new sports bar on Friday, Dec. 17.  It has a full service restaurant, 22 televisions and three simulators with fees of $45 on weekends and $40 on weekdays.

JOHN DEERE CLASSIC – Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event was moved up a week on the circuit’s 2022 calendar to June 27 through July 3, making it opposite the Fourth of  July Weekend, and that’s not all.

In recent years the JDC chartered a jet to take its players directly to the following week’s British Open. The earlier spot in the schedule makes that unnecessary, as players will have more time to get to the year’s final major championship, but more will have the opportunity to play in the British next year by doing well at TPC Deere Run in downstate Silvis.

The top JDC finisher among the top five finishers not previously qualified for the British Open were given a spot in the field in previous years.  In 2022 that opportunity will be awarded to three players from the top 10. No such exemptions were offered in 2021 due to pandemic concerns but Jordan Spieth (2013) and Bryson DeChambeau (2017) with recipients in the past.

JDC executive director Clair Peterson also announced the charity payoff from last year’s 50^th anniversary playing of the tournament.  It raised $12,568,038 for 470 local charities in the Quad Cities area.

CDGA – Chicago golf organizing groups rarely announce the following year’s event schedule until the spring, but the Chicago District Golf Association broke with tradition and unveiled an 86-event schedule complete with the sites  for 2022.  There are 55 on the championship slate and 31 on the social side.

Key dates and sites are July 19-21 for the 91^st Illinois State Amateur, to be played at Westmoreland in Wilmette, and June 27-30 for the 102^nd Chicago District Amateur, to be played at Glen Flora in Waukegan.

The CDGA is also coming out with a commemorative yardage book, this one a coffee table version produced by PuttView Books of Delaware, listing its Dream Eighteen holes. Olympia Fields, with its Nos. 2 and 6 chosen, is the only course with more than one hole honored in the voting by CDGA members.

HERE AND THERE: The Eskimo Open, the annual cold weather tournament for golf diehards, is coming up on Jan. 2 at Cog Hill, in Palos Park….Tony Anderson, a Chicago Golf Club member, has been nominated for a second three-year term on the U.S. Golf Association’s Executive Board.  The election is Feb. 19 at the USGA’s annual meeting in California….Tristyn Nowlin, a stalwart on the University of Illinois women’s teams and the reigning Illinois Women’s Open champion, missed getting her LPGA playing privileges by two strokes in last week’s finals of the circuit’s qualifying tournament in Dothan, Ala….Inverness Golf Club is getting a grounds makeover with the addition of resort-like facilities. Paddle and pickleball courts, indoor golf simulators, a sports par and casual dining room are under construction at the private club….Eagle Ridge Resort, in Galena, is in the process of moving its Stonedrift Spa – located in the clubhouse for nearly 20 years – to a stand-alone location.  The move will increase the spa’s size from 3,500 square feet to over 8,000 and Abi Porter, formerly of Elms Hotel in Missouri, will manage the new facility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The PGA Tour’s 2021 season concluded on Sunday, but the circuit – along with the Western Golf Association – made an announcement on Monday that will have a huge effect on the Chicago golf community for years to come.

After a two-year absence the PGA Tour will be back in the Chicago area in 2023 with Olympia Fields named as the site for another playing of the BMW Championship.

And that’s not all. The announcement also included a five-year extension of the BMW Championship as the second event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs through 2027. That waylays any fears that the tour’s season-ending playoff series might be headed to a major revampment.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs were launched in 2007 and Chicago was part of it after the WGA agreed to discontinue the Western Open, a tournament first played in 1899 and a Chicago fixture since 1962. BMW took over sponsorship of the event then.

While the WGA considers the BMW Championship an extension of the tradition-rich Western, there are major differences in format and venue choice.  The Western was a full-field event, the BMW is limited to the top 70 players on the FedEx Cup point standings.  While the Western was a Chicago fixture, the WGA has taken the tournament out of town frequently.  It was played at Cave’s Valley, in Maryland, this year and will be played at Wilmington Country Club, in Delaware. The sites after 2023 have not been announced.

Those changes have been very beneficial to the WGA, which uses proceeds to benefit its Evans Scholars Foundation.  The Foundation has provided college scholarships for caddies since 1930.  Over the past 15 years the BMW Championship has raised more than $40 million on behalf of the Evans Scholars and that has helped send more than 3,000 students to college.  This academic year a record 1,070 caddies are attending 21 schools on Evans Scholarships.

The North Course at Olympia Fields was the last Chicago site for the tournament in 2020. That staging produced one of the most memorable playings of the BMW Championship, though it went on without fans due to pandemic concerns.  It ended with a one-hole playoff that was decided when Jon Rahm beat Dustin Johnson by sinking a 66-foot putt.

Olympia had a rich tournament history long before Rahm’s putt dropped.  Professional champions crowned there in one big tournament or another were Jock Hutchison (1920), Walter Hagen (1927), Macdonald Smith (1933), Jack Nicklaus (1968), Bruce Crampton (1971) and Jim Furyk (2003).  Current star Bryson DeChambeau also won the 2015 U.S. Amateur there and Danielle Kang captured the 2017 Women’s PGA Championship at the south suburban layout.

The BMW has also been an organizational success.  It has been named the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year four times (2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014).

“BMW has been our valued partner and a steadfast supporter of both our championships and the Evans Scholars Foundation,’’ said John Kazkowki, the WGA president and chief executive officer.  “As title sponsor BMW has fully embraced our mission, helping us transform the Evans Scholars Foundation into a truly national program.  We’re excited and grateful for the opportunity to continue working together to change the lives of you caddies nationwide.’’

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan also credited BMW for its role in the FedEx Cup Playoff series.

“BMW’s commitment to presenting a best-in-class event each year continues to elevate the Playoffs,’’ said Monahan.