In 2022 – the first season for the LIV Golf League – the dominant player, by far, was Dustin Johnson. Every year since the race for that top honor has gotten tighter and the winner has changed.

In 2023 it was Talor Gooch. Last year it was Spain’s Jon Rahm. And now – going into Friday’s start of LIV/Chicago at the Bolingbrook Golf Club – it figures to be Chile’s Joaquin Niemann. He’s won five tournaments this year including the last one, in the United Kingdom two weeks ago.

“I don’t know if that’s momentum or not,’’ said Niemann after returning to Bolingbrook.  “I feel like I’ve just got to keep doing what I’ve been doing.’’

Last year he couldn’t chase down Rahm.  He won their head-to-head battle at Bolingbrook in what was then the LIV Individual Championship for the season.  This year the tourney designated for that honor is next week in Indianapolis. Point standings when it’s over will decide the winner, and Niemann has 206.80 points to Rahm’s 169.16.

That sounds onesided, but Rahm still believes he has a chance and Niemann agrees.

“I know it’s going to be tough,’’ said Niemann.  “Jon’s playing amazing golf.  I know how good a player he is. I was in a similar position last year, and I don’t want to finish it the same way. I’ve just got to go out and play golf.’’

The stop at Bolingbrook, a course designed by Arthur Hills, proved tougher than expected for LIV’s started studded 54-man field last year.

“I played great.  I remember the course was a lot of fun to play.  It was really firm and windy.  Conditions were unbelievable,’’ said Niemann. “I was happy with my performance.  I gave it everything I had.  That was the best I could do, and it wasn’t enough.’’

Though his wins have been piling up this season Niemann recently changed his coach and his caddie.  When asked about it this week he said it was a “tough question’’, wouldn’t discuss it further and quickly ended the press conference.

Though he’s second in the point stands Rahm hasn’t won this year.

“The only thing left to do this year is get a win,’’ he said.  “For there to be a realistic chance for me to win it all again starts with a win here, obviously combined with Joaquin maybe not having a great week.  I need that going into next week (in Indianapolis) with a realistic chance and hopefully have a showdown again in the last event.’’

Niemann and Rahm will play together in Friday’s first round with Bubba Watson completing the threesome off Hole 1.  The shotgun start is at 11:05 p.m. Friday, 12:05 on Saturday and it moves up to 10:05 a.m. for Sunday’s final round.

LIV NOTES: Last pre-tourney event was a pro-am at Bolingbrook on Thursday….The tour announced that the season-ending Team Championship Aug. 22-24 at The Cardinal at St. John’s Resort in Plymouth, MI., will have a new format.  The event will start with a Wednesday play-in match between the Nos. 12 and 13 teams from the season-long standings. The remain 12 teams will go through two days of match play starting on Aug. 22  with the survivors deciding the title on Sunday at stroke play.

 

 

The best golf you’ll see in the Chicago area this year begins on Friday when the LIV/Chicago tournament tees off at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

LIV, in its fourth straight year with a Chicago stop, has three events remaining on its 14-tournament season.  Last year only 22 of 54 bettered par at Bolingbrook in what then the LIV Individual Championship. Spain’s Jon Rahm won it in a duel with Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, who is the Saudi-backed circuit’s top player this season with five victories.

Tournaments rounds are Friday through Sunday with a $25 million in prize money on the line. The individual winner gets $4 million.

LIV is a very global tour, with its 14 tournaments spread over nine countries and four continents.  The last three of this season are in the U.S. with the two following Bolingbrook being in the Indianapolis and Detroit areas.

Niemann may be this year’s star so far, but his two closest competitors this week are Chicago area favorites.  Rahm, No. 2 on the LIV point list, won the PGA Tour’s 2020 BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in addition to his victory at Bolingbrook and he had top-five finishes in the BMW Championship of 2017 at Conway Farms and 2019 at Medinah.

Bryson DeChambeau is No. 3 on the point list. He won the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields in 2015, notched his first PGA Tour  win at that circuit’s only annual Illinois stop – the John Deere Classic – in 2017 and was the champion in LIV/Chicago when it was played at Rich Harvest Farms in 2023.

DeChambeau won nine times on the PGA Tour before moving to LIV.  He won the U.S. Open in 2020 and 2024 and was the runner-up twice in the PGA Championship.

LIV’s 13 four-man teams include 14 players who have won major championships, and that group has a combined 28 wins in those four most significant events. The Bolingbrook field also includes high profiles stars Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia.

WESTERN ROMP:  The 123^rd Western Amateur had two Oklahoma collegians who are from Texas in the tournament final last week, and it turned out a blowout.  Oklahoma’s Jase Summy defeated Oklahoma State’s Ethan Fang 6 and 5 at Skokie Country Club in Glencoe. Summy was the first Sooner to win the Western since Charlie Coe in 1950.

The semifinals and finals are held on the same day in the Western, and Summy had to struggle through 19 holes  before beating Florida’s Zack Swanwick in his semifinal while Fang had an easy one in that round,  beating Notre Dame’s Jacob Modelski 5 and 3.

One of the most physically demanding tournaments in golf, the Western has four rounds of stroke play qualifying to determine 16 finalists for the three-day match play elimination. Summy went into the tournament ranked No. 9 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

“It was the biggest win over my life – by far,’’ said Summy.  “I knew my game was there, but I hadn’t quite broken through.  This time I did.’’

HERE AND THERE: Cousins Jackson Hulsay, of St. Charles, and Joseph Luchtenburg, of West Chicago, teamed up to win the Chicago District Golf Association’s Amateur Four Ball Championship at Eagle Brook, in Geneva.

Roy Biancalana, of The Hawk in St. Charles, posted a 67 for a one-stroke victory over Kyle Bauer, of Glenview, in the Illinois PGA Senior Masters at Onwentsia in Lake Forest.

Stacy Lewis, an LPGA mainstay who won the Women’s Western Golf Association Amateur title in 2006, will receive the WWGA’s Woman of Distinction Award at the group’s annual meeting on Sept. 25 at Sunset Ridge, in Northfield.

The First Tee of Greater Chicago has scheduled its 25^th anniversary celebration for Nov. 13 at Venue West, in Chicago.

 

Lake Forest’s Pierce Grieve has a big stretch of golf ahead, and his game is ready for it.

Last week the 6-6 Grieve, who finished his collegiate career at West Virginia after starting it  at Louisville, was low man in the final qualifier for the 125^th U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club in San Francisco. He’s  the only Chicago area player to make it to the finals, and that Aug. 11-17 event will mark the end of his solid amateur career that includes titles in both the Illinois State Amateur and Chicago District Amateur.

Not only that, but Grieve will bid farewell to the amateur ranks when he plays in the Illinois Open for the first time next week at Kemper Lakes, in Kildeer.

“The Illinois Open is the last win in Illinois that I’m missing,’’ said Grieve. “I’ve played Kemper Lakes a good amount and feel it fits my game really well.  Everything came together (at Aldeen). My game is in a pretty good place.’’

Getting to the U.S. Amateur was his main focus going into this key part of the competitive season for Chicago area players.  He shot a 7-under-par 65 to top the field in the final U.S. Am qualifier at Aldeen, in Rockford. Last week he entered the qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour’s NV5 Invitational at the Glen Club, in Glenview, and missed a chance to make the final field by one stroke.

The seventh and last qualifier for the 76^th Illinois Open is Wednesday at Countryside, in Mundelein.  The 54-hole tournament proper tees on Monday.

STREELMAN IS BACK:   Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman, Illinois’ most successful PGA Tour player, returned to action at last week’s NV5 Invitational.  He had been sidelined since March after surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

Coming off a mediocre season the 46-year old Streelman made three of four cuts to start the 2025 campaign before his knee injury.  He made 300 cuts in PGA Tour events since joining the circuit in 2008.  In his return to action he shot 67-70, 5 -under-par at the Glen, and missed the cut.

Californian Johnny Keefer was the NV5 champion, shooting 28-under to win by two.  He’s No. 1 on the Korn Ferry’s point list with seven tournaments remaining and has already clinched a spot on the PGA Tour for 2026.

LIV UPDATE:  Next stop for the Saudi-backed tour is the LIV/Chicago stop coming to Bolingbrook Golf Club Aug. 8-10. LIV completed its non-U.S. schedule with a tournament in the United Kingdom last week with Chile’s Joaquin Niemann winning by nine shots over runner-up Bubba Watson.

Niemann was second in LIV’s individual standings behind Jon Rahm last season after Rahm won at Bolingbrook with Niemann the runner-up. Rahm’s Legion XIII unit leads the circuit’s team competition.

WOMEN’S U.S. AMATEUR:  Barrington’s Bridget Butler won the Illlinois State Women’s Amateur earlier this season and will chase a bigger prize at next week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes, in Oregon.

Butler was a redshirt at Nebraska as a college freshman after being sidelined 11 months with a torn ACL.  She bounced back with her victory in the State Am.

HERE AND THERE:  One of the biggest Chicago junior tournaments, the 45^th Chick Evans Junior Amateur, crowned its champions at Itasca Country Club.  Northbrook’s Alexis Meyers, headed for the University of Illinois, won the girls’ division by beating Long Grove’s Campbell Ray, who is headed for her junior year at Stevenson High School, in the title match.  Tyler Samaan, of Elgin, won the boys division. He defeated Rayden Tee, of Hoffman Estates, in the final. Meyers will play in this week’s Junior PGA Championship on Purdue’s course in West Lafayette, Ind.

Northbrook’s Nick Hardy and Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim are both in the field at this week’s Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, the last event of the PGA Tour’s regular season.  Hardy used a final round 67 to climb into a tie for 28^th at last week’s 3M Open in Minnesota while Ghim missed the cut.

The Chicago District Golf Association’s Four-Ball Championship concludes Wednesday  with semifinal and championship matches at Eagle Brook, in Geneva.

Back in 2019 Scottie Scheffler won the first NV5 Invitational Championship – a Korn Ferry Tour event played at the Glen Club in Glenview. Now he’s the world’s No.1-ranked golfer with five major titles, the most recent coming in last weeks’ British Open.

This year’s NV5 Invitational, conducted by the Western Golf Association, returns to The Glen this week.  Teeoff for Thursday and Friday rounds are off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees starting at 6:30 a.m.  On the weekend they run from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Scheffler is one of many players who have used the Korn Ferry as a path to the PGA Tour. Not all, of course, have been as successful on the preview circuit as Scheffler has been but the quality of play is impressive.

Last year’s champion at The Glen was Thomas Rosenmueller, who was 25 under par in winning the $180,000 first prize, and he’s on the PGA Tour now.  Last week’s winner on the Korn Ferry was Chandler Blanchet.  He was 27-under in his three-stroke victory in the Price Cutter Championship in Missouri. Adrien Dumont de Chassard, who starred at the University of Illinois, tied for fifth last week and he’s also spent some time on the PGA Tour.

WISCONSIN WINNER:  Amateur Kate Brody of Madison, WI., captured the 30^th anniversary staging of the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open Tuesday at Mistwood, in Romeoville.

Brody won by seven strokes after posting an 8-under-par 136 for the 36 holes.  Tying for second were professionals Taglao Jeeravivitaporn, of Chicago; and Haeri Lee, of Buffalo Grove; and Elyssa Abdulah, an amateur from Hinsdale.

Defending champion Lauren Beaudreau, of Marco Island, FL., tied for 19^th; two-time Illinois Women’s State Amateur champion Sarah Arnold, of Geneva, tied for 28^th’ and two-time IWO titlist Nicole Jeray, a teaching professional at Mistwood, tied for 32^nd.

LIV COUNTDOWN: Only one of the four events left on the Saudi-backed tour season will be played on foreign soil – next week’s tournament in Great Britain.  The last three are in the U.S., starting with LIV/Chicago Aug. 8-10 at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

LIV players had a presence at the British Open, headed by Bryson DeChambeau.  After opening with a 78 he finished with 65-68-64 to finish in a tie for 10^th.  His last three rounds were the second lowest in the event’s 153 years, and Keegan Bradley, captain on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, gave strong indications that he will pick DeChambeau for his team at the matches in September at New York’s Bethpage Black.

 

Ten LIV players made the cut in the British Open and nine didn’t, including season points leader Joaquin Niemann, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka and Cam Smith.

PGA COUNTDOWN: The PGA Tour has only two tournaments remaining before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.  This week it’s the 3M Open in Minnesota.  Both Chicago area tour players – Doug Ghim and Nick Hardy – are in the field. Last week Ghim tied for 20^th in the Barracuda Championship in California while Hardy missed the cut.

JDC AFTERMATH: The John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop, has announced that it has reached a milestone in charitable giving.  The tourney was first played in 1971, and this year’s event earlier this month has topped the $200 million figure. The official total for this year will be revealed in October.

 

 

The Illinois State Amateur has been played for 94 years, but it’s doubtful it ever had a tournament wrapup quite like Thursday’s at Stonebridge Country Club in Aurora.

Macomb’s Connor Hamm shot a 9-under-par 63 in the morning to start the 36-hole final day of the event, and that gave him a seven-stroke lead on the field. Ham’s luck turned sour in the afternoon 18, however, starting with his approach to the first green.

“It took a terrible bounce, hit a cart path and went 50 yards over the green,’’ said Hamm.  That cost him a bogey, and things got worse two holes later when his tee shot on a par-3 mysteriously disappeared.

“We thought it hit the bunker, but it was no where to be found,’’ lamented Hamm, who was joined in his search by playing partner Jordan Less, of Elmhurst, and several tournament officials and fans.  Hamm had to walk back to the tee and drive again. He put it on the green but three-putted for a double bogey.  In three holes his lead was cut by five strokes.

Less was the only player to take advantage of Hamm’s misfortune.   A former Northern Illinois University player who took a fling as a professional on the Korn Ferry Tour, Less took the title with a birdie-birdie finish.  He rolled in a 10-footer at No. 17 and a 17-footer to win at No. 18.

With 68 to finish Less posted a 16-under-par 272 score for the 72 holes and Hamm, who fizzled to a 75 in the final round, was one shot back in second.  Less, who won the Chicago District’s Mid-Amateur title earlier in the summer, will now play in both the Illinois Open and U.S. Open in the next two weeks. He competed in both before giving professional golf a shot.

“I was a pro for 2 ½ years,’’ said Less.  “At the end I was in the same spot as I was when I started, and I didn’t want to stay in that same spot.’’

So he regained his amateur status and has “no regrets’’ about his fling at the pro level.  He’s working in a tool manufacturing business now and will remain an amateur golfer.

“It’s not a case of having any expectations,’’ he said.  “It’s just more a state of my mind. I’ve got more trust in my game now, and that’s a good thing.’’

Less pulled a cart during the tournament, and the highlight for the week was his albatross in Monday’s first round. He holed a 6-iron from 200 yards at the 540-yard ninth hole. Thursday’s rounds included two aces at the 177-yard eighth hole, but Less didn’t get one of those. Michael Jorski of Clarendon Hills and Kyle Davies of Chatham made the aces.

Two 15-year olds — Jorski and Ben Patel of North Aurora — were among the top 20 finishers who qualified to play in the 2026 State Am without going through qualifying tournaments. Jorski added to his impressive resume.  He was a winner in the Drive, Chip & Putt competition at Augusta National in 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest tournaments of the Chicago golf season are coming fast and furious now, starting with the 94^th Illinois State Amateur, which concludes its three-day run at Stonebridge, in Aurora, on Thursday.

Next week comes the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open Monday and Tuesday at Mistwood, in Romeoville, followed by the Korn Ferry Tour’s NV5 Invitational July 24-27 at The Glen Club, in Glenview and the Western Amateur July 28 through Aug. 2 at Skokie Country Club, in Glencoe.

There won’t be a repeat champion in Thursday’s 36-hole wrapup to the Illinois State Amateur.  Last year’s winner, Pierce Grieve of Lake Forest, chose not to defend following his victory in the Chicago District Amateur two weeks ago.

“I’ve got a busy schedule, and I just figured it’d be a lot of golf with the U.S. Amateur coming up,’’ said Grieve, who  became just the 12^th player to post wins in the Illinois State Amateur (2024) and Chicago District Amateur – the two biggest events for amateurs in the state.

Grieve is looking for bigger challenges now,  with his focus on getting to the U.S. Amateur. He has to get past a qualifier on July 23 at Aldeen, in Rockford, to get to the finals Aug. 11-17 at Olympic Club in San Francisco. That could make for an ideal end to his successful amateur career.

“Professional golf is on the horizon,’’ he said.  “I’m not sure when that’ll be, but it’s definitely in the near future.’’

Depending on what happens in the U.S. Amateur qualifier in Rockford, Grieve’s professional debut could come locally – at either the NV5 Invitational or the Illinois Open.

NEXT WEEK: The 30^th anniversary playing of the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open has drawn 90 players with 14 of them professionals. They’ll play 36 holes with no cut, and the field will be re-paired for the second 18-hole round.

A professional — Lauren Beaudreau, a Notre Dame alum who grew up in Lemont – won last year and will defend her title.  Now playing out of Marco Island, FL., she posted a 3-under-par 141 to win by one shot last year over  Mistwood teaching pro and two-time champion Nicole Jeray and amateurs Caroline Lopez-Chacarra of Spain and Caroline Smith of Inverness.

The NV5 Invitational is part of the Korn Ferry Tour, which provides a path to the PGA Tour for its players.  Five past winners – Scottie Scheffler (2019), Cameron Young (2021), Harry Higgs (2022), Trace Crowe (2023) and Thomas Rosenmueller (2024) – are now playing on the PGA circuit.

The Big Ten Network is offering complimentary grounds admission to registrants. Contact the Western Golf Assn. for details.

FED EX COUNTDOWN:  This week’s Barracuda Championship in California is the third from the last event on the PGA Tour’s regular season and both Chicago area players, Northbrook’s Nick Hardy and Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim, in the field and coming off strong showings.

Hardy had his best finish of the season – a tie for eighth –in last week’s ISCO Championship in Kentucky.  Ghim, who didn’t play in Kentucky, led the John Deere Classic through 36 holes before finishing in a tie for 31^st two weeks ago.

Both players are in jeopardy of missing the FedEx Cup Playoffs.  Only the top 100 in the season-long standings get into the first playoff event and Ghim is No. 116 and Hardy No. 173.  Northwestern alum David Lipsky, who tied for third at the JDC, is the best bet for Illinois representation in the postseason, standing at No. 115.

The only regular season events after the Barracuda are the 3M Championship in Minnesota and the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.

TIGHT RACES IN LIV: The Saudi-backed circuit has just one tournament left before its schedule shifts back to the United States at LIV/Chicago on Aug. 8-10 at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

Eighteen LIV players are in the field this week at the British Open, then the circuit resumes play in the United Kingdom July 25-27.  Talor Gooch won the individual title and Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII took the team honors in last week’s stop in Spain.  Gooch, the circuit’s Individual champion in 2023, won for the first time since that season.

Rahm won last year’s Individual title at Bolingbrook in a duel with Joaquin Niemann. This time the Bolingbrook stop will be the last regular season event before the Individual  championship in Indianapolis and the season-ending Team championship in Michigan.

Niemann holds a lead over Rahm in the Individual standings going into the United Kingdom event. Rahm’s Legion XIII is the team leader.

 

 

Sunday’s conclusion to the John Deere Classic triggered the end of the PGA Tour’s season in Illinois.  The JDC is the circuit’s only annual stop in the state, and recently-crowned champion Brian Campbell headed a group of this year’s leading competitors on to a charter flight to Ireland a few hours after the last putt dropped at TPC Deere Run. They’ll play in  this week’s Irish Open.

So, what’s next?

The PGA will be back in Illinois twice in 2026, for the 55^th playing of the JDC and the late-in-the-year Presidents Cup team event at Medinah.  There are still two national professional  tours staging events in the Chicago area this year, though.

A Western Golf Association event, the NV5 Invitational, is July 24-27 at The Glen Club in Glenview. It’s part of the Korn Ferry Tour  which provides its players with a path to the PGA Tour. Scottie Scheffler, now world No. 1, was the first winner of its Chicago area stop and four past champions including  last year’s winner, Thomas Rosenmueller, are playing on the PGA Tour now.

An interesting sidelight to this event is the free daily grounds admission provided by Big Ten Network. You have to register to get your tickets.  Check the WGA website (www.wgaesf.org) for details.

Bigger name players will be coming to the fourth playing of LIV/Chicago Aug. 8-10 at Bolingbrook Golf Club. The Saudi-backed circuit features such stars as Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau.

LIV is playing at Valderrama, in Spain, this week and in the United Kingdom July 25-27 before coming to Chicago.  The Bolingbrook event will be the first of three back-to-back tournaments to climax the LIV season.

Bolingbook hosted for the first time last year in the LIV Individual Championship.  Rahm edged Chile’s Joaquin Niemann for the title.

CHARITABLE SIDE:  One of Chicago’s longest standing golf fundraisers, the Chicago Baseball Children’s Charities outing, returns to Twin Orchard, in Long Grove, on July 17. First held in 1970, the event has raised over $18 million for cancer patient care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital and Camp One Step – a program that provides educational, social and physical developmental services to children with cancer.

The CBCC was founded by Marv Samuel and former White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce was one of the first celebrity participants.  After Pierce’s roommate of 11 seasons with the Sox, Nelly Fox, died of cancer Pierce joined the organization’s board. Other retired baseball players and Chicago sports and media members have joined in over the years.

HERE AND THERE: Brian Campbell’s winning score of 218 at the John Deere Classic was the highest winning number since Bryson DeChambeau won with the same number in 2018.

Brandon Wessel, of Sunset Ridge in Northfield, won last week’s Illinois PGA Senior Championship at The Grove, in Long Grove. He posted a 7-under-par 137 for 36 holes.

Next week’s schedule has the 94^th Illinois State Amateur beginning its three-day run at Stonebridge, in Aurora, on Tuesday  and the WGA’s Women’s Western Amateur tees off on Monday at Red Run, in Michigan.

The fourth event of the Illinois PGA’s new Open Series is Monday at Elgin Country Club.

 

 

SILVIS, IL. – Brian Campbell was just finishing up at the University of Illinois when he saw TPC Deere Run for the first time.  That was in 2015 when he got in the John Deere Classic  field as a sponsor’s exemption and missd the cut.  He’s come a long way since then.

Campbell returned as a pro two years later and tied for 12^th, then didn’t return again until this week when he won the 54^th John Deere Classic in a one-hole playoff.

“Yes, it all started here as an amateur, my  first invite, ’’ said Campbell. “I’ve loved it ever since. I have no words.  To be let alone in a playoff and to finish it off, it’s just amazing.’’

Campbell and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo were both 18-under-par in the regulation 72 holes.  Campbell put his drive in the playoff in the center of the fairway, his second 16 feet from the cup and – after Grillo sent his drive in the right rough,  his second over the green and hit a weak chip – Campbell two-putted for par and his second victory of the season.

“I expected a little bit of a fight, not that much,’’ said Grillo. “I got myself there.  I gave myself a chance. That’s all I can do.’’

It wasn’t so easy for Campbell in the 72 holes before the playoff. Lots of players wanted to climb the leaderboard.  Northwestern alum David Lipsky, playing in the last group, matched Campbell’s eagle at No. 17 and could have won with a birdie at 18.  Instead he hit a weak drive into the left rough, chipped back to the fairway and had a putt to get into the playoff.

“I’m disappointed the putt didn’t drop on the last, and the tee shot on the last, but I’m pretty happy with the week,’’ said Lipsky.  “In my situation, I’m gaining FedEx Cup points, money, all that stuff.’’

Lipsky was in position to extend a JDC tradition for having the most first-time winners (24) of any PGA Tour event.  Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim hoped to be the 25^th after leading the first two rounds.  He wound up tied for 31^st. Lipsky remained winless on the circuit.

“With all the pressure everyone is aware of what can and can’t happen,’’ said Lipsky.  “I’m just happy how I had a really good mindset, kept plugging away and grinded it out.’’

Campbell is the second Illini golfer to win the JDC.  Steve Stricker won three times, from 2009 to 2011. Illini supporters were vocal on Campbell’s behalf all week.

“I’m so proud to be in the same conversation with  Steve Stricker,’’ he said. “I never had his much support in a golf tournament.’’

Campbell came from California to play for coach Mike Small at Illinois.  He earned his PGA Tour card shortly after his college days were over, then lost it and needed seven years to get it back.

His first win on the PGA Tour came earlier this year in Mexico, in a playoff with South African Aldrich Potgieter.  In that one Campbell benefitted greatly from one of his errant shots bouncing off a tree and into a position where he could win.

“Mexico was definitely a shock,’’ said Campbell, “and reliving it this week is something special.’’

BITS AND PIECES: Ed Fiori, winner of one of the JDC’s most notable stagings, passed away on Sunday.  He was 72, and the biggest of his four PGA Tour wins came when he beat Tiger Woods. Woods was a 20-year old phenom trying to earn his PGA Tour card when he made his only appearance in the tourney, then called the Quad Cities Classic and played at Oakwood Country Club in nearby Coal Valley in 1996.  Fiori topped the field with Woods finishing in a tie for fifth.

Jackson Koivun, a 20-year amateur in his freshman year at Auburn, was in the field as a sponsor’s exemption and tied for 11^th.  His father George attended nearby Moline High School, and Jackson is the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur golfer.

Rickie Fowler, who had only played in the JDC in 2010 when he was still an amateur, tied for 18^th after shooting 67-66 in the weekend rounds. He finished four strokes behind the leaders and tied with Davis Thompson, who set the tournament scoring record in his victory last year.

Potgieter, who won last week’s PGA Tour stop in Detroit, bypassed the final round – and a paycheck in the process.  He withdrew after the third round, no reason given.

Three former JDC champions – Michael Kim, Dylan Frittelli and J.T Poston didn’t survive the cut but 49-year old Zach Johnson, the winner in 2012, did – and for 17^th straight year.  He has played all 72 holes 20 times in his 23 starts. This time he tied for 44^th.

 

 

 

 

 

SILVIS, IL. – Doug Ghim’s chances of becoming the 25^th first-time PGA Tour winner at the John Deere Classic looked good after he held the solo lead after the first and second rounds.

“Any win on the PGA Tour is amazing,’’ said Ghim, a long-time resident of Arlington Heights.  “To do it here would be awesome.’’

Well, it would have been.  The John Deere Classic, which has more first-time winners since 1970 than any tournament on the circuit, could well have another in today’s final round at TPC Deere Run — but it most likely won’t be Ghim.  The rest of the field came at him in droves in Saturday’s third round and Ghim couldn’t keep up.

He was even par after playing four holes and had fallen into a tie for fourth. Then the  challengers kept coming in droves. That was the most amazing part of Saturday’s round.

Twelve players were co-leaders during the round and nine were tied for the lead midway through the back side.  When play was over defending champion Davis Thompson held a one-stroke lead on University of Illinois alum Brian Campbell, Northwestern alum David Lipsky, Max Homa and Emilio Grillo.

Thompson shot a 67 to hit the 54-hole stop at 15-under-par 198 and the four immediately trailing him had 68s on Saturday. Ghim shot 74 and tumbled into a tie for 21^st, six shots behind leader Thompson.

That shifted the best possibility for a 25^th first-time champion at the JDC to Lipsky, an All-American in his days at NU.  Lipsky, 36, won three professional events on foreign sale but has just one runner-up finish since joining the PGA Tour in 2022.

Thompson, meanwhile, set the JDC scoring record last year at 28-under 256.  He could become the tourney’s first repeat champion since Steve Stricker won three in a row from 2009-2011.

The defender wasn’t at his best starting out on Saturday, a round pushed up to an 8 a.m. start with play in threesomes due to weather concerns that never materialized.

“I was hitting it solid, just didn’t really score great on the front,’’ he said. “My caddie gave me a pep talk on 10 tee and I was able to finish strong.  It’s nice to have some momentum going into tomorrow.’’

Last year he won by four strokes after playing the weekend rounds in 62-64.

“Last year gave me confidence,’’ Thompson said, “but I can’t really focus on last year. That’s in the past.  I’ve got to focus on the present. I’m really excited to go and compete.’’

Campbell, who got his first win in Mexico this year, had the most spectacular finish on Saturday, sinking a 36-foot putt to climb into a share of the lead.  He birdied the first two holes, but gained more momentum when the long putt dropped at the finish.

“You love to see a putt go in on 18,’’ he said. “My caddie said I’m due for a long one, and sure enough, it went in. That was awesome. Hopefully I’m going to have one of those tomorrow for something bigger.’’

The main contenders were in the last two groups Saturday, and that created some fireworks on the 18^th green.  Grillo got to 14-under par first, then Lipsky, then Homa and then Campbell.  That set the stage for Thompson to get sole possession of the top spot for Sunday, when play will be in twosomes.

Homa has played in the JDC only twice – in 2015 and 2017 – but he did win an important tournament in Illinois. In 2016 he came from seven shots back in the final round to win the Rust-Oleum Championship, a Web.com Tour event at Ivanhoe. That helped him regain his PGA Tour card for the 2016-17 season and he went on to win six times on the PGA circuit.