Nicole Jeray has long been the only Chicago area woman playing on the pro golf tours, and it hasn’t been easy for her.

Jeray, from Berywn, turned pro after a great collegiate career at Northern Illinois in 1993 and has been in the qualifying tournament for the Ladies PGA Tour on an almost annual basis. Sometimes she’s made it, sometimes not, but this week could be her biggest week of the season.

At 45 she’s already cashed checks on all three women’s tours this year and her biggest could be coming at the fourth annual Legends Championship on the Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Ind., — that circuit’s lone major championship until the U.S. Women’s Senior Open finally makes its debut at Chicago Golf Club in 2018.

Jeray has made one cut on the LPGA circuit in seven starts, cashing in for a tie for 70th place at the Marathon Classic in her last start, and she’s made two cuts in six tournaments on the Symetra Tour after making 18 in 21 starts in 2015. The Symetra — the LPGA’s version of the men’s Web.com Tour — is filled with up and coming young players, most just out of the college ranks.

In her lone Legends start of the year Jeray had a tie for 11th at the Walgreen’s Charity Classic in Phoenix in March. Cashing on all three tours is an accomplishment in itself. Rosie Jones is the only other player to do it.

The Legends circuit was kind to Jeray from the moment she turned eligible at her 45th birthday last November. She entered the Monday qualifier for a tournament in Delray Beach, FL., and got into the starting field by making a birdie on the first playoff hole, eliminating three other rivals for that spot.

In the 36-hole tournament she shot 73-66, posting five birdies in the first eight holes of her second round, to finish runner-up to Liselotte Neumann. Neumann’s 68-68 performance was 8 under par and good for a three-shot win over Jeray, who was happy to pocket $18,000 as the runner-up.

This week the stakes are much bigger. The Legends Championship offers a $325,000 purse with $37,700 going to the champion. Juli Inkster will defend her title and the field also includes such prominent players as JoAnne Carner, Jane Blalock, Patty Sheehan, Donna Caponi, Michelle McGann, Nancy Scranton, Pat Bradley and Val Skinner. In addition to Inkster past champions in the field include Lori Kane (2013) and Laurie Rinker (2014).

The schedule calls for practice rounds and a qualifying tournament on Thursday, a pro-am and the Legends Hall of Fame inductions on Friday and tournament rounds Saturday and Sunday starting at 8 a.m. Sandra Haynie and Elaine Crosby will be the inductees into the Hall, based at the West Baden Springs Hotel near the Pete Dye Course.

Banner week for the Illini

University of Illinois golfers had their moments all over the globe the last few days. Thomas Pieters was the most notable. Playing for Belgium, he finished fourth in the Olympics in Brazil on Sunday, the same day recently-turned-pro Charlie Danielson tied for 22nd in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, an event that had five Illini products in the starting field.

Illini success continued on Monday. Coach Mike Small, who made the cut in the U.S. Senior Open at Scioto, in Columbus, Ohio, finished with a 70 in the rain-delayed event to finish in a tie for 43rd place and junior-to-be Nick Hardy moved into an excellent position on the first day of the U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills in Michigan, shooting a 68 to stand tied for 14th after the first day of stroke play qualifying.

Here and there

Vince Antoniou used his home course advantage to win the 15th Chicago District Senior Amateur over Pekin’s Tim Sheppard at Wynstone, in North Barrington. They have more battles coming up, in the 24th Illinois State Mid-Amateur at Flossmoor Aug. 30-31 and the 30th Illinois State Senior Amateur at Bloomington Country Club Sept. 12-14.

Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb captured the Illinois PGA Senior Championship, posting a 4-under-par 140 total for 54 holes at Whisper Creek, in Huntley.

A few spots are still available in the KemperClub Championship, a two-man team event that will be played Sept. 26-28 at Hawthorn Woods, The Glen Club in Glenview and Royal Melbourne in Long Grove.

The Fore the Bees outing has been scheduled for Sept. 21 at Cantigny, in Wheaton. It’ll benefit the Bayer Bee Care program and the Children’s Discovery Museum.

The fourth Chicago District Super Senior Amateur is Thursday (AUG 18) at Biltmore, in North Barrington.

Golf will be contested at the Olympic Games for the first time since 1904 beginning on Thursday. That’s also the same day the John Deere Classic – the PGA Tour’s only annual event in Illinois – tees off at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, on the outskirts of the Quad Cities.

The Olympics didn’t get the respect anticipated from the game’s top players. Six of the top 10 in the world rankings decided against going to Brazil, many citing concerns over the Zika virus. They included Jordan Spieth, who would be defending this JDC title if he hadn’t decided to take the week off altogether.

Of the four American players competing in Rio three just arrived on Monday. Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed all played in the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in Hartford, Ct., which ended on Sunday. Only Rickie Fowler was in Rio for the Opening Ceremonies.

So where does that leave the JDC, which was moved from July to accommodate the Olympics?

“The Olympics has put a wedge in our schedule. It’s affected every tournament post-U.S. Open,’’ said Zach Johnson, a PGA Tour mainstay and JDC board member. “I don’t know if there’s a positive for anybody. There may not be many negatives either. It’s just different.’’

Johnson, leading off the pre-tourney media sessions on Tuesday, called the scheduling opposite the Olympics “unfortunate.’’ Normally the JDC is in July, the week before the British Open.

“You can look at it a number of ways,’’ said Johnson. “There are only two weeks left before the (FedEx Cup) Playoffs. There are only so many weeks left of Ryder Cup points. There are a lot of things at stake, so guys want to play and get some points here and there. But the Olympics touched the majors, too. It made you think about when to play and when to rest, which is more important this time of year.’’

Johnson is making his 15th straight JDC appearance and he’s been a major contender the last seven stagings that included a victory (in 2012), a playoff loss, two runner-up finishes and two ties for third.

Last week Johnson was paired the first two rounds with Jim Furyk at the Travelers Championship in Hartford, Ct. Furyk barely survived the 36-hole cut before shocking the golf world with a record 58 on Sunday. TPC Deere Run was the site of Paul Goydos’ 59 in 2010, on the same day that three-time champion Steve Stricker shot 60.

“(Low scores) are much more attainable here,’’ said Johnson. “You have three par-5s and a drivable par-4. TPC River Highlands (in Hartford) is harder top to bottom.’’

So, that could mean another low-scoring JDC. Johnson and Stricker head the field, which was supplemented by more college stars who have just entered the professional ranks than usual. They include Aaron Wise, of Oregon; Charlie Danielson, Illinois; Jordan Niebrugge, Oklahoma State; Jon Rahm, Arizona State; and Lee McCoy, Georgia. Also getting in via a sponsor’s exemption was Frankfort’s Brian Bullington, who will make his PGA Tour debut.

The 156 starters will be playing for an $4.8 million purse with Sunday’s champion receiving $864,000. The starters also include former major championship winners Angel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink and David Toms plus former JDC champions John Senden and Jonathan Byrd.

Here and there

Marty Schiene, the former Illinois Open champion and PGA Tour player, has taken on another coaching challenge. Former head coach at Chicago State and associate coach at Loyola, Schiene is now the assistant to veteran DePaul men’s coach Betty Kaufmann.

Luke Donald, who threw out the first pitch at the Cubs’ game on Tuesday, will have a celebrity partner at his annual Taste of the First Tee event. Rory McIlroy will join him for the Sept. 12 benefit for the First Tee of Greater Chicago at Medinah Country Club.

Bing Singhsumalee, a University of Illinois sophomore from Naperville, made it to the round of 32 at last week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur. Her Illini team has scheduled its second annual pro-am event Oct. 6-7 at Lincolnshire Fields, in Champaign.

Michael Natale and Steve Sawtell combined to win the inaugural Chicago District Golf Association Amateur Four-Ball Championship last week at Eagle Brook, in Geneva. The CDGA’s 15th annual Senior Amateur Championship will conclude its four-day run on Thursday at Wynstone, in North Barrington.

The Dave Pelz Scoring Schools will start at Cog Hill, in Lemont, on Aug. 24. Single day and three-day sessions are available.

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.

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.

Finally the biggest event of this Chicago golf season has arrived. The four players on Team U.S. for the second UL International Crown were the first on the course for Tuesday’s practice rounds at the Merit Club and they admitted their task in the eight-team event that tees off on Thursday will be a difficult one.

The U.S. is seeded second to the Republic of Korea, which has all four of its players listed in the top 12 of the Rolex World Rankings. Those rankings determined both the teams and players in the match play event, so Korea would seem a shoo-in to win the title on Sunday.

“It’s a hard format to really predict who’s favored,’’ insisted a still hopeful Cristie Kerr, the veteran member of the U.S. team. “Match play is very unpredictable, but there were a lot of USA fans following us in the practice rounds, and it’s great to be the home team.’’

The U.S. was the top-seeded team in the first Crown event, staged two years ago in Maryland, but didn’t even survive the first three days of best ball competition. Korea, seeded second in 2014, did – by beating the U.S. in a playoff for the fifth and final berth in the concluding singles portion of the competition.

Neither the U.S. nor Korea did well in the first Crown, despite their lofty seedings. Spain and Sweden, countries that didn’t qualify for the second Crown, finished one-two with Korea third.

Both the U.S. and Korea have altered lineups for the second Crown. The U.S. returns Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis and Kerr with Gerina Piller replacing Paula Creamer. Thompson, the top-ranked player in this week’s competition, is No. 4 in the world and only Lewis (8) is also in the top 10.

Korea’s lowest-ranked player, So Yeon Ryu at No. 12, is the only returnee from its team that played in Maryland. Her new teammates are Sei Young Kim (5), Amy Yang (7) and In Gee Chun (9). Inbee Park, ranked No. 3, dropped out with a hand injury.

“What they’re doing is pretty amazing,’’ said Lewis of the Korean contingent. “To have so many players in the top 15 in the world, it’s amazing how well they play. Inbee is out, but the next option is really pretty good.’’

“It’s not a rivalry that we have with them,’’ said Kerr. “We’re just trying to keep up. They have the numbers versus us.’’

At least the U.S. and Korea will understand the unique competitive format better this time. The first three days calls for best ball matches against the teams in their group. The U.S. opens against England on Thursday and also squares off with Thailand on Friday and Japan on Saturday.

Korea faces China first, then has Chinese Taipei on Friday and Australia on Saturday. Teams get two points for a match win and one for a tie, and the top five in the point standings after Saturday go into singles play on Sunday to determine the champion.

“The format was just a little difficult to understand,’’ said Thompson of the first Crown. “I felt like nobody really should have been eliminated.’’

“In this format so many teams are dangerous,’’ said Lewis. “I don’t think you can always go off the rankings in a best ball format. It’s who can make the most birdies in a day.’’

There will be plenty of those, as the Merit Club setup is much different than it was for its only other big event – the 2000 U.S. Women’s Open.

“It’s not even close to what they played for the Open,’’ said Lewis. “There’s reachable par-5s and drivable par-4s and a lot of tee options, so it’s going to make for great golf. You’re going to see a lot of birdies. You’re going to probably see a bunch of eagles on some par-5s. We’re not going to be struggling to make pars, and it’s going to look great on TV.’’

Here and there

The Illinois Women’s Open concludes on Wednesday at Mistwood, in Romeoville, and the Illinois State Amateur wraps up on Thursday at St. Charles Country Club.

Panther Creek, the Springfield course that hosted last year’s Illinois State Amateur, was easy pickings for the Web.com Tour players at their new Lincoln Land Charity Championship. Deerfield’s Vince India posted four rounds in the 60s and could do no better than a tie for 33rd, 10 shots behind champion Martin Flores who posted a 22-under-par 262 total.

Kate Lillie, of St. Charles, was a 3 and 1 winner over Penelope Tir, of Winnetka, in an all-Chicago area final at the Women’s Western Golf Association Junior championship at Blackhawk in Madison, Wis.

Dick Wagley, retired head professional at Indian Hill in Winnetka, was the only player under par at the Illinois PGA Senior Masters on Monday. He shot a 1-under-70.

Rarely have a series of big Chicago area tournaments been condensed into such a short time frame. Beginning on Monday there will be four such events crammed into a 10-day period.

First up is the 22nd Illinois Women’s Open, at Mistwood in Romeoville. The tourney’s pro-am is on Sunday and will conclude with a gala dinner in Mistwood’s new clubhouse, marking the first time the Great Hall will be in operation at the course’s showcase tournament. The three competitive rounds tee off on Monday with the field cut to the low 30 and ties after 36 holes.

Mistwood director of golf Andy Mickelson extended the entry deadline after about 50 players – 10 of them professionals – met the original signup requirement.

The tourney won’t have a defending champion, as Rockford teen-age sensation Madasyn Pettersen is focusing on the national junior tournaments instead.

“A few conflicting things drew down the size of the field,’’ said Mickelson. Perennial contender Jenna Pearson of Wheaton heads the competitors. The Symetra Tour player won the IWO as an amateur in 2006, lost the title the following year in a 10-hole playoff and then won it again as a professional in 2011.

Meanwhile, the 86th Illinois State Amateur starts its three-day run on Tuesday at St. Charles Country Club and the biggest tournament of this season – the LPGA’s UL International Crown – begins four days of competition next Thursday, July 21.

Then the 67th Illinois Open, at two St. Charles courses – Royal Fox and Royal Hawk — begins day after the Crown ends. Last of the 258 players advancing to the Illinois Open will be determined at the Last Chance Qualifier next Wednesday at The Grove, in Long Grove. It’s open to players who missed the entry deadline for the seven state-wide qualifying events, and those who didn’t advance through one of those qualifiers can also bid again for one of the last three spots in the starting field at St. Charles.

Ruffled Feathers unveils renovation

Dallas-based Arcis Golf has unveiled its $2 million renovation of Ruffled Feathers, the Lemont course boasting the only Pete Dye-designed layout in the Chicago area. Both the course and clubhouse underwent extensive upgrades. Arcis has announced it will spend $50 million in major capital improvements at its 66 public and private facilities nation-wide.

As for the Ruffled Feathers work, general manager Victor Rodarte described it as “a true revival of the entire property.’’

Arcis also operates five other Chicago area courses – Fresh Meadow, in Hillside; Mill Creek and Eagle Brook, in Geneva; Tamarack, in Naperville; and Whitetail Ridge, in Yorkville.

Lewis looks forward to Crown

Sandwiched between last week’s U.S. Women’s Open and the Olympics, the UL International Crown has plenty of competition for the women’s golf spotlight but America star Stacy Lewis is already looking forward to the second playing of the global team event.

“It was interesting to be part of the first one,’’ Lewis said during the U.S. Women’s Open in California. “Nobody knew how the format would play out as far as the team aspect. It was like the Solheim Cup on a smaller scale.’’

That’s a good thing, she said.

“There were only four of us (on the U.S. team), so we could have our families around a little more,’’ said Lewis. “It was more of a relaxing week. We could hang out as a group, and it was fun playing the other countries.’’

Here and there

Sabrina Bonanno, of Norridge, and Bing Singhsumalee, of Naperville, earned berths in the Aug. 1-7 U.S. Women’s Amateur in Springfield, Mass.. Both collegiate stars shot 1-under-par 70s and tied for fifth in the sectional qualifier at Sportsman’s, in Northbrook. Bonanno attends Arkansas-Little Rock and Singhsumalee goes to Illinois.

The Chicago golf community lost two giants from the club professional ranks last week with the passing Leon McNair and Hubby Habjan. McNair, 75, led in the development of Fox Bend, in Oswego, and Habjan, 84, was a long-time head man at Onwentsia, in Lake Forest. Both are members of the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame.

Illinois coach Mike Small, already in this week’s new Lincoln Land Championship on the Web.com Tour, will also be in the field for the U.S. Senior Open next month. He was medalist at a qualifying tournament last week in Indianapolis.

KemperSports has taken over the management of Boughton Ridge, the nine-hole executive length course that has served Bolingbrook residents for over 35 years. KemperSports will also manage its Ashbury’s restaurant.

The Illinois PGA’s senior members have a busy competitive stretch. The Thompson Cup matches against the Chicago District Golf Association’s top amateurs is Wednesday on Olympia Fields’ South course and the IPGA Senior Masters follows on Monday at Onwentsia.

The Schaumburg Park District’s ninth annual Links Technology Cup has been scheduled for Aug. 10 at Schaumburg Golf Club. It includes a Taste on the Tee showcase of food and beverages on most every hole. Proceeds benefit the district’s recreation scholarship program.

The UL International Crown, the biggest golf event to be played in the Chicago area this season, took a hit this week with the announcement that Korean star Inbee Park will be unable to compete.

Park, with a No. 3 standing in the Rolex World Ranking, was the highest-ranked player among the 32 women who will compete in the global team event at the Merit Club from July 21-24. She pulled out after meeting with doctors following the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – the last qualifying event for the Crown. She cited a left thumb injury for her withdrawal.

“I met with my doctors and they strongly recommended rest for my left thumb injury to heal,’’ said Park. “The International Crown is a month away, and I’m uncertain my injury would heal within that time frame.’’

The Republic of Korea, the top-seeded team in the competition, will still be the favorite even without Park. She’ll be replaced by So Yeon Ryu, who played for Korea in the inaugural Crown two years ago in Maryland.

So Yeon Ryu has the longest active cut streak on the LPGA Tour but hasn’t won since the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in 2014. When she dropped out of the top 10 in the world rankings she began working with Cameron McCormick, who is also the swing instructor for Jordan Spieth.

Ryu is still ranked No. 11 and would not have made the Korean team had first alternate Ha Na Jang – ranked No. 10 – also been unable to compete. She is battling anemia. Still, all four Korea players in the Crown are ranked in the top 11 in the world.

Two of the other eight team qualifiers for the Crown also announced roster adjustments. Japan replaced Shiho Oyama (back injury) with Ai Suzuki and China called in Simin Feng after Shi Yuting pulled out with a schedule conflict.

With Park out the top ranked player coming to the Crown is No. 4-ranked Lexi Thompson of the U.S. Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson, one-two in the rankings, can’t play in the Crown because their countries didn’t qualify.

Park’s injury also leaves her status for August’s Olympics in Brazil in doubt. Fifteen of the 32 players in the Crown would be playing in the Olympics if the Games started today. Qualifiers are based largely on the world rankings.

The Olympics are suffering much worse than the Crown from player withdrawals. None of the women currently qualified for the Games have pulled out yet. On the men’s side, though, eight have already decided not to play – Jason Day, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Branden Grace, Vijay Singh, Graham McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Marc Leishman. Most cited concerns about the Zika virus.

Here and there

The 97th Chicago District Amateur concludes its four-day run on Thursday with a scheduled 36-hole title match at Calumet Country Club in Homewood.

The Illinois PGA will soon lose another key staffer. Bill Ibrahim, a 16-year veteran as the IPGA’s director of operations and public relations, has announced his resignation to join former IPGA section colleagues Michael Miller and Mike Schoaf at the PGA’s Southwest Section, based in Arizona.

Madasyn Pettersen, surprise winner of the Illinois Women’s Open as a 15-year old last season, won’t defend her title at Mistwood, in Romeoville, next month. She’s focusing her tournament schedule on national junior events and previously skipped the Illinois Women’s Amateur, which was played in her hometown of Rockford.

Mistwood continued its strong showing in local tournament play when pros Andy Mickelson and Brian Brodell combined to claim a five-stroke victory in the IPGA Centennial Celebration team event at Ruth Lake in Hinsdale.

Clara Rattana, of Western Springs, won the third flight at the 116th playing of the Women’s Western Amateur in Dayton, Ohio. Jillian Hollis, a University of Georgia sophomore, ruled the championship flight. The event returns to the Chicago next June at River Forest, in Elmhurst.

Sean Maruyama, of Los Angeles, won the 99th Western Golf Association Junior title at Red Run, in Michigan. Brendan O’Reilly, of Hinsdale, finished ninth.

The Chicago District Golf Association has conducted tournaments since 1914 and none have quite the history as its oldest one – the CDGA Amateur. The 97th playing of that tournament starts on Monday (JUNE 27) at Calumet Country Club, in Homewood.

Calumet hasn’t hosted the tournament since 1947, and the last staging there created one of the most memorable results because its champion, Frank Stranahan, continued on to tie for second in that year’s Masters.

The CDGA Amateur has an interesting history. Its first winner was the legendary life-long amateur Chick Evans. In 1935 the organization decided to issue invitations nationally and call the event the Great Lakes Amateur. That’s how Stranahan, a member of a wealthy Ohio family who competed in most of the professional tournaments as well, got into the field.

Stranahan had won the CDGA Amateur the year before at Knollwood, in Lake Forest, and pulled off the rare repeat at Calumet. That year he also won the Canadian Amateur and shared runner-up honors at the Masters with Byron Nelson, both of them edged out for the title by Jimmy Demaret.

Since Stranahan, who was also a top-ranked powerlifter and a competitor in 102 marathons, the CDGA Amateur has had but seven repeat champions in the last 68 years. The last to win back-to-back was present day tour player Joe Affrunti of Crystal Lake in 2000 and 2001.

By 1954 Stranahan opted to turn professional and a year later the CDGA reverted back to the original tournament name and limited entries to members of CDGA clubs. The field is now determined largely through area-wide qualifying rounds, four of which were held for this year’s tournament.

Low man in those four qualifiers was Mistwood’s Paul Sclimm, who shot 4-under-par 66 at Innsbruck, in Merrillville, Ind.

The finals offer a stern physical test. There’ll be 36 holes of stroke play on Monday to determine 16 qualifiers for the match play conclusion to the tournament. Two rounds of match play will be held on Tuesday (JUNE 28) with the semifinals next Wednesday (JUNE 29) and the 36-hole championship match on June 30.

Most likely contenders for the title are three promising young players – Jordan Fahel, of Mt. Hawley, in Peoria; Brendan O’Reilly, of Butterfield, in Oak Brook; and Michigan State golfer Charlie Netzel, of LaGrange. Fahel won the title in 2014. O’Reilly was the Illinois State Junior champion in 2013 and 2014 and Netzel reached the match play portion of the 2013 and 2015 CDGA Amateurs.

Veteran contenders are headed by Exmoor’s Kyle Nathan, who won the CDGA Mid-Amateur at match play this year; two-time Illinois State Amateur champion Todd Mitchell, of Bloomington; and Glen View’s Blake Johnson, the tourney runner-up in 2013 and 2014.

Chappell wins Women’s State Am

Lauren Chappell, of Charleston, defeated Northwestern-bound Louise McCulloch of Wilmette 3 and 2 in a battle of 17-years olds in the title match of last week’s 83rd Illinois Women’s State Amateur at Forest Hills, in Rockford.

McCullouch eliminated Sabrina Bonanno, of Norridge, 1-up in the semifinals while Chappell defeated Schaumburg’s Kris Yoo 2 and 1. Bonanno was the tourney medalist, shooting a 74.

Arlington Lakes to re-open

Closed for 13 months, Arlington Lakes — the Arlington Heights Park District’s 18-hole course – has scheduled a July 1 grand opening.

The original course, designed by David Gill, opened in 1979. The renovated version called for a re-routing, in which the two nines were reversed to allow for the playing of three- and six-hole loops at certain times. The number of bunkers was also reduced from 106 to 37 and nine greens were rebuilt under the direction of architect Mike Benkusky.

Arlington Lakes will be a par-68 course built on 90 acres. The renovation was a $2.4 million project that included re-modeling of the clubhouse.

Enter Golf360TV

Dave Lockhart, creator of The Golf Scene and GolfChicagoTV in previous years, will unveil a new TV show on July 3. Called Golf360TV, it’ll be carried on Comcast SportsNet Chicago

Jill Carlson will host the show, which will run four times in July, and Chris DeLira will share producer duties with Lockhart.

Brian Campbell, the top player on Illinois’ golf team in 2015, was on hand to help former teammates Nick Hardy and Charlie Danielson celebrate after both qualified for the U.S. Open at last week’s sectional qualifier in Ohio.

Campbell didn’t make it into this year’s Open, which tees off on Thursday at Oakmont in suburban Pittsburgh, but he knows what America’s biggest championship is all about. Last year Campbell finished as low amateur (in a tie for 27th place) when the Open was played at Chambers Bay in Oregon.

Hardy, a Northbrook resident who just completed his sophomore season at Illinois, also qualified for the finals at Chambers Bay and survived the 36-hole cut before finishing in a tie for 52nd. This week he’ll try to duplicate that feat – and finish even higher — after being the medalist in his sectional qualifier.

Campbell and Hardy both played in last week’s Rust-Oleum Championship at Ivanhoe. Rookie pro Campbell tied for ninth place while Hardy, the only amateur in the field for the Web.com Tour stop, didn’t survive the 36-hole cut. Hardy’s shortcoming aat Ivanhoe might be understandable, what with the tourney falling between the emotion-packed sectional qualifying and the U.S. Open proper.

“It was definitely a quick turn-around,’’ said Hardy. “It was hard to not look ahead to the U.S. Open, but I told myself I had to focus. I prepared fine for that tournament, but I just didn’t bring it.’’

He hopes for a better performance at Oakmont, which Hardy described as “the hardest course anyone’s ever played’’ before making the trip to Pennslyvania.

“I’ll just try to not be intimidated,’’ said Hardy. “Everyone’s got to deal with the same things.’’

Hardy and Danielson are amateurs going against the world’s best professionals, that group including defending champion Jordan Spieth and veteran Chicago area touring pros Kevin Streelman and Luke Donald. Streelman and Donald also survived sectional qualifiers.

Campbell, improving steadily as a touring pro, thinks Hardy will hold his own again though – at 20 – he’ll be one of the youngest in the field.

“To qualify two years in a row shows how special he is,’’ said Campbell. “It’s all about getting down and dirty, and that’s how we do it at Illinois. My advice to Nick Hardy would just `be who you are.’ He was a great player coming to Illinois and he’ll only get better. I’d just tell him to relax a little. He can get a little hyper and get a little crazy.’’

Hardy will retain his caddie of last year’s Open, former Glenbrook North teammate Eric Markus, for bag-toting needs at Oakmont.

Senior moments

Exmoor, in Highland Park, has been named the site for the Constellation Senior Players Championship in 2018. It’ll be the first time a Champions Tour major has been played in the Chicago area since 1997, when Olympia Fields hosted the U.S. Senior Open with Australian Graham Marsh emerging as the champion.

The Western Golf Association will add managerial duties for that event to its usual role with the BMW Championship, Western Amateur and Western Junior events. The Western Amateur was to be played at Exmoor in 2018, but it’ll now be moved to another, so far undisclosed, date.

Another senior major might be looking for a new course as well. Kitchen-
Aid, the Michigan-based sponsor of the Senior PGA Championship, has been under pressure from political activists to move the tournament from Trump National in Washington D.C. That’s the scheduled tourney site for 2017.

In the last five years the Senior PGA has been Midwest based, with three stagings at Harbor Shores in Michigan and others at Bellerive in St. Louis and French Lick in Indiana. The tourney is to return to Harbor Shores in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024.

Here and there

Last year the Illinois Women’s State Amateur was rained out for the first time in its 82-year history. The IWGA hope for better luck this week at Forest Hills in Rockford. The 18-hole stroke play portion was Tuesday and the low 32 advanced to the championship flight for matches that run through Friday.

The UL International Crown, the LPGA global team competition to be played at Merit Club from July 20-24, is in need of volunteers. “We had hoped to get to 800; now we’re hoping to get to 650,’’ said tournament director Drew Blass. Blass also has opening for two teams in the 32-team tourney pro-am.

The Western Golf Association Junior Championship will begin a four-day run on Monday at Red Run in Royal Oak, Mich. First held in 1914, it’s the oldest national junior tournament.

This week’s qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open couldn’t have worked out much better for Chicago’s new Web.com Tour event, which begins its 72-hole run on Thursday at Ivanhoe Club.

Tournament director Scott Cassin made Nick Hardy, the University of Illinois sophomore from Northbrook, the last of his four sponsor exemptions into the Rust-Oleum Championship. Hardy then responded with another strong showing in U.S. Open sectional qualifying.

Hardy, as an Illini freshman, not only survived Open qualifying last year, but he also survived the 36-hole cut at Chambers Bay, in Washington. On Monday he was medalist in a sectional Springfield, Ohio, shooting 6-under-par 134 for his 36 holes. He’ll use the Rust-Oleum Championship as a strong tuneup for next week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, in Pennsylvania.

“He’ll be the only amateur in our field, and he’s good enough to win this thing,’’ said Cassin. “It wouldn’t be the first time a college player has won on (the Web.com) tour.’’

Hardy’s addition means that all four sponsor’s exemptions into the Rust-Oleum tournament will be Chicago area players. Previously announced exemptions went to present Web.com Tour player Brad Hopfinger of Lake Forest; Deerfield’s Vince India, who played on the PGA Tour’s top developmental circuit last year; and Ivanhoe member Michael Schachner of Libertyville.

“We had targeted the fourth exemption to a player who wound up getting into the PGA Tour event in Memphis,’’ said Cassin, “so that freed up another spot, which we gave to Nick.’’

The 156-man field for the $600,000 shootout will also include Brian Campbell, a Web.com Tour player who was an Illinois stalwart last year; and Brian Bullington, a University of Iowa product from Frankfort. Bullington was the only Illinois player among the 12 advancing through Monday’s two Rust-Oleum qualifying tournaments at Stonewall Orchard, in Grayslake, and Pine Meadow, in Mundelein. The Illinois PGA received 176 entries to the tourney qualifier, necessitating the need to use two sites.

The Web.com Tour regulars competing at Ivanhoe won’t include leading money winner Wesley Bryan, who accepted a sponsor’s exemption to the PGA stop in Memphis, but Dominic Bozzelli – run-away champion at last week’s Web.com event in the Dominican Republic – will try to keep his hot streak going at Ivanhoe.

On to Oakmont

The Chicago area is enjoying one of its best years ever in U.S. Open sectional qualifying. Hardy did the best at all the qualifying sites and his Illini teammate, Charlie Danielson, also got through the Springfield, Ohio, sectional. He did it by beating PGA Tour player Tony Finau in a playoff for the last of four available berths at Oakmont offered there.

Kevin Streelman and Luke Donald, Chicago’s most prominent PGA Tour players, both got through the sectional at Powell, Ohio, after playing for four days in the nearby Memorial tournament. Streelman tied for fifth in that sectional and Donald tied for ninth before coming back on Tuesday morning to survive a six-man playoff for the last five Open berths on the line in that elimination.

Glen Ellyn’s Andy Pope, who has been a regular on the Web.com Tour but won’t be playing at Ivanhoe, tied for third in a sectional at Summit, N.J. Like Hardy Pope also survived sectional qualifying in 2015 and went on to make the cut in the Open proper.

Here and there

The Radix Cup matches, pitting 12-player teams from the Illinois PGA and the Chicago District Golf Association, will be held for the 55th time on Wednesday. The pros have a 34-18-2 edge in the series but the amateurs have won nine of the last 15 meetings.

Six top collegiate players, headed by Danielson and recently-crowned NCAA champion Aaron Wise of team titlist Oregon, have been given sponsor’s exemptions into the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic. Others are Jon Rahm, of Arizona State; Beau Hossler Texas; Lee McCoy, Georgia; and Jordan Niebrugge, Oklahoma State. The JDC will move off its usual July dates and be played Aug, 8-14 opposite the Olympic Games golf event in Brazil.

Jeff Sluman, the Champions Tour veteran from Hinsdale, has joined the staff of California-based Blast Motion — an industry innovator focusing on elevating player performance with its swing and stroke analysis technologies.

The eight countries qualified for next month’s UL International Crown team event at the Merit Club will announce their four-player rosters on Monday following the conclusion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Washington.

The first of seven statewide qualifiers for the Illinois Open will be held Wednesday at Maple Meadows in Addison.