Coach Mike Small has insisted that the last four seasons have been the best in the history of the Illini program, and there’s no arguing that point after what has happened in the last few weeks.

The Illini trailed Iowa going into the last round of the Big Ten tournament but came back to win with a strong showing in the final round. The same thing happened in the NCAA regional at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin and, still again, in Monday’s final round of the NCAA finals at Eugene Country Club in Oregon.

With only the top eight teams advancing to the match play conclusion to the tournament the Illini rallied again. Illinois was tied for ninth after 54 holes but three of the five Illini players– Thomas Detry (67), Dylan Meyer (69) and Nick Hardy (69) — bettered par in the final round as the Illini rallied for a second-place finish. Charlie Danielson, was the top Illinois player in the individual standings, finishing in a tie for eighth after a 1-over 71 on Monday.

Only Texas – with Arlington Heights product Doug Ghim among its players – could top the Illini in the 72-hole portion of the championship and the Longhorns – unlike the Illini – survived the first day of matches.

Illinois beat South Carolina 4-1 in the quarterfinals but lost 3-2 to host Oregon in the semifinals on Tuesday. Oregon, led by NCAA individual champion Aaron Wise, will face Texas for the title on Wednesday.

Next year the NCAA finals will be played at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove.

Pine Meadow, Stonewall host Web.com qualifiers

The first of Chicago’s two pro tour stops of 2016 begins on Monday with two qualifying rounds for Web.com Tour’s Rust-Oleum Championship. Eliminations at both Pine Meadow, in Mundelein, and Stonewall Orchard, in Grayslake, will off six berths in the $600,000 tournament proper at Ivanhoe Club.

Monday’s program also features a celebrity pro-am that tees off at noon at Ivanhoe. On Tuesday there’ll be a practice day plus the first local qualifying round for next year’s Drive, Chip & Putt competition and a final pro-am will be held on Wednesday before the 72-hole, four-day tournament proper begins on Thursday, June 9.

Entries into the 156-man starting field for the $600,000 competition close at 5 p.m. on Friday. The Web.com Tour is competing this week at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. Two Chicago area players – Vince India and Joe Affrunti – are in the field there.

U.S. Open berths on the line

A handful of local players will be among the nearly 600 participating in Monday’s 10 sectional qualifiers for the U.S. Open. Those 36-hole tests will determine who plays in the Open proper June 16-19 at Oakmont, in Pennsylvania. Survivors of the HOW MANY local eliminations have their choice of sectional sites.

While the U.S. Golf Association again bypassed Chicago as a sectional site, the area did host two locals at both Village Links of Glen Ellyn and Exmoor, in Highland Park. Two of the top local players, though, chose to compete elsewhere.

Tee-K Kelly, the two-time Illinois Amateur champion from Wheaton, got through the local with a tie for third at Rattlesnake Ridge, in Ohio, prior to competing as an individual in the NCAA Championships. Libertyville’s Michael Schachner, an invitee to the Rust-Oleum Championship to be played as his home club, was medalist in the local at Bishops Bay in Wisconsin. Northbrook’s Tim Puetz also advanced to sectional play at Bishops Bay.

Here and there

The Arlington Heights Park District is opening registration Wednesday (TODAY) for players wanting to play in the July 1 re-opening of the Arlington Lakes course. It’s been closed for over a year to undergo a renovation.

Japan club manufacturer XXIO will host a demo day from 1-5 p.m. on Friday at Cog Hill, in Lemont.

John Platt gave Mistwood’s professional staff another title last week when he defeated Craig Carney of Bull Valley in the final of the Illinois PGA Senior Match Play Championship at Shoreacres in Lake Bluff.

The downstate team of Tom Kearfott, of El Paso, and Tim Sheppard, of East Peoria, won the new Chicago District Golf Association Senior Amateur Four-Ball tourney last week at Crystal Tree in Orland Park.

As far as major championships go, this is a rare lean year in the Chicago area. Last year there was both the U.S. Amateur and the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship. The Amateur has come and gone and the BMW is taking a year away; it’ll be played at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis in September before returning to Conway Farms, in Lake Forest, in 2017.

That leaves the 77th Senior PGA Championship, which begins its 72-hole run on Thursday at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich. Roughly a two-hour drive away, it’s by far the closest major tournament on any of the pro tours to be played in the general vicinity of Chicago.

The Senior PGA was played at Harbor Shores in 2012 and 2014 and will return in 2018. Last year it was played on French Lick’s Pete Dye Course in Indiana.

This week’s tourney has by far the best storyline than any of those. Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie will be the focal point. He’s trying for a three-peat, something that hasn’t happened in the Senior PGA since Hale Irwin dominated from 1996-98.

“Three in a row would be something very special,’’ said Montgomerie during a recent visit to Harbor Shores, where he won his first major title of any sort in 2014. “That doesn’t happen very often in any sport.’’

Montgomerie was an established international star before joining the Champions Tour. He never lost a singles match in eight Ryder Cup appearances, but his career was also notable for lots of near-misses in the big events. He was second in five majors between 1994 and 2006.

He’s blossomed on the 50-and-over circuit, however. His first three wins were majors – the two Senior PGAs plus the 2014 U.S. Senior Open. The first of this year’s five Champions Tour majors was last week’s Regions Tradition. Montgomerie finished in a tie for 17th place as Bernhard Langer won the title.

Illinois Amateur champ in NCAA finals

Medinah’s Tee-k Kelly, an Ohio State senior who won two of the last three Illinois State Amateur titles, was medalist in the NCAA regional at Blackwolf Run, in Kohler, Wis., last week and advanced to the NCAA finals. They run Friday though Wednesday, June 1, at Eugene Country Club in Oregon.

Illinois also qualified as a team at Blackwolf. The Illini won their fourth straight regional title and will be making their ninth straight appearance in the finals, a streak topped only by the 10 in a row by Texas and Southern California.

Illinois coach Mike Small, still competitive as a player at the pro level, was also awarded a sponsor’s exemption to the Lincoln Land Charity Classic, a new Web.com Tour event to be played next month at Panther Creek in Springfield.

Here and there

Erica Shepherd, of Greenwood, Ind., and Ashleigh Simon, of South Africa, advanced to the U.S. Women’s Open finals at Monday’s sectional qualifying round at River Forest Country Club. Shepherd was medialist with a 3-under-par 142 over 36 holes, two strokes better than Simon. Sabrina Bohanno, of Norridge, and Dana Gattone, of Addison, were the top Chicago area players. They finished eight strokes back in a tie for 11th place.

Medinah Country Club hosts its Patriots Day event for the seventh time on Tuesday. Last year’s event raised about $300,000. This year’s has a full field on the recently renovated No. 1 course. The event, sold out since February, will feature 35 foursomes. Veterans will also be honored at Willow Crest. That course has invited veterans to play free after noon on Memorial Day with tee times required.

Kyle Nathan, of Exmoor in Highland Park, added the Chicago District Golf Association’s Mid-Amateur title to the Illinois Mid-Am he won four years. Nathan CDGA win in the second annual event came last week at Lake Shore, in Glencoe.

Ivanhoe Club is going to be a busy place. The club plays host to the Rust-Oleum Championship, Chicago’s new Web.com Com Tour stop, from June 6-12 and the next day it will host the College of Lake County Classic, a fundraiser for the school’s scholarship fund.

Libertyville Sports Complex will kick off its Lessons for Kids program on June 14. The five-day camps for boys and girls in the 4-6, 7-10 and 11-plus age groups will be directed by PGA professional Chris McConnell.

The Illinois PGA’s Senior Match Play Championship concludes on Wednesday at Shoreacres, in Lake Bluff.

The PGA Tour is bringing its secondary circuit back to the Chicago area for the first time since 2008, but things have changed a lot since then.

The Glen Club, in Glenview, hosted the LaSalle Bank (or Bank of America) Open on what was then called the Nationwide Tour through 2008 before sponsorship problems set in. The return comes under the banner of the Web.com Tour on June 6-12 when the $600,000 Rust-Oleum Championship comes to Ivanhoe Club.

Scott Cassin, tournament director at The Glen, is also in that role at Ivanhoe and this week he explained just how different the tournaments of the past were compared to the upcoming event. It goes far beyond the tour’s name change. The Nationwide was more of a developmental circuit.

“That’s no longer the case,’’ said Cassin. “Now (the Web.com Tour) is the pathway to the PGA Tour. It’s gained a lot of stature in the last couple years with international players coming in.’’

Previously, players used the Nationwide Tour to prepare for the PGA fall qualifying school. Now the Q-School feeds just to the Web.com Tour. So does the PGA’s Latinoamerica, Canadian and China circuits, which weren’t under the PGA banner a decade ago. The Web.com Tour’s best go directly to the PGA Tour in 2017.

“This (Web.com) tour is still about fun, and there’s a lot of young, hungry golfers,’’ said Cassin. And some older ones, too.

The initial entry list for Ivanhoe includes such names as Jonathan Byrd, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour; Len Mattiace, a PGA Tour champion twice and once a runner-up in the Masters; and Greg Chalmers, a veteran of the international circuits with wins in both the Australian Open and Australian PGA championships.

Based on the early entrants Ivanhoe will get nine of the current top 10 money-winners on the Web.com circuit, the only one not signed up yet being No. 1 Wesley Bryan. There’ll be a number of local players as well, headed by Lake Forest’s Brad Hopfinger — the last of only seven players to earn wins in both the Illinois Amateur and Illinois Open. Winner of the Amateur in 2011 and the Open in 2014, he moved up to the Web.com from the Latinoamerica circuit this year.

The structure of the Rust-Oleum Championship, which had been held the last two years in Cleveland, will be more comprehensive, too. At Ivanhoe – the tourney site for the next three years — there’ll be a celebrity pro-am and two qualifying rounds on Monday and the first local qualifier for the 2017 Drive, Chip & Putt contest on Tuesday before the 72-hole championship tees off. Tickets, though, remain affordable. They’re $20 for the week with those 17 and under admitted free.

Here and there

The Chicago District Golf Assn. concludes its three-day Mid-Amateur Championship on Wednesday at Lake Shore Country Club, in Glencoe, before conducting a sectional qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Open on Monday at Oak Park Country Club. Only two players from the 90 teeing off at Oak Park will advance to the Women’s Open proper at CordeValle in California in July.

Wauconda’s Josh Esler shared medalist honors at Monday’s U.S. Open local qualifying round at Exmoor in Highland Park with Chicago’s Brian Atkinson. Those two, plus Chicago’s James Lelliott, Maryville’s Keenaj Sampson and Rockford’s Kyle Slattery, qualified for next month’s sectional eliminations.

The NCAA men’s six regionals conclude Wednesday (TODAY), but Doug Ghim – a Texas sophomore from Arlington Heights – was an immediate sensation with a 64 in Monday’s first round of a regional in Franklin, Tenn. He had six birdies and an eagle in his first bogey-free round as a collegiate player. Illinois and Northwestern complete their bids to reach the NCAA finals on Wednesday with the Illini competing in Kohler, Wis., and the Wildcats in Stillwater, Okla.

Bears’ kicker Robbie Gould will co-host the Good as Gould event on June 4 at Eagle Ridge, in Galena. Gould and host professional Reagan Davis will conduct a free, interactive golf demonstration for families and individuals and the resort is also offering a VIP Golf Package for participants.

Jay Freitag of Glen View Club and Simon Allan of Prestwick, in Frankfort, led the way in Monday’s Illinois PGA stroke play event at Westmoreland, in Wilmette. Both shot 69s. Next up is the IPGA Senior Match Play Championship, which runs Monday through Wednesday at Shoreacres, in Lake Bluff.

The collegiate golf season reaches its climax in the next three weeks, and it could go down as one for ages as far as Illinois schools are concerned.

Both the men’s and women’s teams at Northwestern qualified for the NCAA tournament and the Illinois men’s squad looms as one of the favorites for the national title again. Coach Mike Small’s Illini are ranked No. 2 in the national polls and Emily Fletcher’s NU women are No. 8 in the women’s poll.

Fletcher’s team is already qualified for the NCAA finals after last week’s rousing 18-stroke victory at a regional elimination at Shoal Creek in Alabama. Small’s Illini are the top seed in the men’s regional that starts on Monday at Blackwolf Run’s Meadows Valley Course in Kohler, Wis.

In addition to the 13 teams competing, the 10 individual invitees there include Tee-K Kelly, the Ohio State senior and Medinah member who won two of the last three Illinois State Amateur titles, and Miami of Ohio sophomore Patrick Flavin, who is from Highland Park.

Northwestern’s men’s team is the No. 9 seed in a regional at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla. All the regionals are contested over 54 holes and the top five teams and low individual at each regional qualifies for the national finals at Eugene Country Club in Oregon. The women compete at Eugene from May 20-25 and the men from May 27-June 1.

Illinois is a No. 1 regional seed for the second straight year and an NCAA qualifier for the ninth straight year on the men’s side. The Illini, ranked behind only Texas nationally, will be seeking their fourth straight regional title at Blackwolf Run.

The NU women earned at least a share of the Big Ten title in three of the last four years but the regional title was the first ever for the Wildcats, be it the men’s or women’s teams. Freshman Janet Mao shared individual honors at Shoal Creek, and that was an encouraging sign that Fletcher’s team is peaking at the perfect time. The regional marked only the third tournament where Mao’s score counted towards the team total.

Knoll tops first U.S. Open elimination

The U.S. Golf Assn. reported that 9,877 players entered the U.S. Open and the elimination process has begun for next month’s finals at Oakmont, in Pennsylvania, Ray Knoll, the 2014 Illinois Amateur champion from Naperville, carded a 4-under-par 68 to win the first Illinois local qualifier on Monday at Village Links of Glen Ellyn.

Knoll, who plays collegiately at iowa, was one stroke better than Tim Streng who teaches at Northwestern’s Wildcat Academy. NU sophomore Dylan Wu was a stroke further back but all three – along with Patrick Duffy and Kyle Kochevar – advanced to sectional play.

Another regional was held at illini Country Club in Springfield, with Bloomington’s Kyle English and former Illinois State basketball player Brandon Holtz sharing low score honors with 2-under-par 69s. Mini-tour player Kurt Slattery of Taylor Ridge, also made it to sectional play. Once again Chicago won’t have a sectional elimination. The closest will be in Ohio, but qualifiers from the locals can opt for sectional berths in any area.

Here and there

Despite a lengthy weather-related suspension of play on Tuesday the 65th llinois PGA Match Play Championship is scheduled to be completed as scheduled on Thursday at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer.

The Chicago District Golf Association’s second Mid-Amateur Championship has a Monday-Wednesday run at Lake Shore, in Glencoe.

The women’s teams from Illinois Wesleyan and Aurora are in the NCAA Division III finals this week. The tourney, which started on Tuesday, concludes on Friday at Bay Oaks in Houston.

The Illinois PGA will hold its next stroke play events on Monday at Westmoreland, in Wilmette.

This is getting to be old hat. The University of Illinois men and Northwestern women are heading back to next month’s NCAA tournaments as Big Ten champions.

Coach Mike Small’s Illini and Emily Fletcher’s Wildcats defended their titles last weekend on Indiana courses. Illinois ruled for the seventh time in eight seasons and NU, which tied Ohio State for its title, were champions for the third time in four years.

The Illini men won dramatically. They trailed Iowa by eight strokes entering the final round, then stormed back to post a Big Ten record 838 score – four better than the previous mark set by Ohio State in 2004. Thomas Detry, who shot a final-round 64 to tie the Big Ten record, and Charlie Danielson finished one-two in the individual standings. Danielson won the Les Bolstad Award for lowest stroke average (70.7) during the season.

“This was huge for our seniors (Detry and Danielson),’’ said Small. “These have been the best four years for Illinois golf.’’

Northwestern’s Hannah Kim won the Mary Fossum Award for posting the low stroke average for Big Ten women during the season.

The NCAA regionals run May 5-7. NU is the No. 2 seed at Shoal Creek in Alabama. The Illini haven’t received their regional assignment yet.

CDGA season tees off

The Chicago District Golf Assn. tournament season tees off Wednesday (TODAY, APRIL 27) with the first of two qualifiers for the second CDGA Mid-Amateur – one of 11 championships the organization will conduct this season. The second qualifier is Monday at Village Greens of Woodridge and the final is May 16-18 at Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe.

Monday is also the entry deadline for the first event of the CDGA’s new Net Series. The Series consists of four team and two individual handicap competitions. First of the better ball events is May 23 at Crystal Lake Country Club.
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Montgomerie prepares for three-peat

Colin Montgomerie made an early appearance at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich., this week to begin his quest for a third straight win in the Senior PGA Championship. That tourney — the only major championship on any of the three major tours to be played near the Chicago area this year — is May 26-29 on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

Harbor Shores hosted the tourney in both 2012 and 2014, when the Scottish-born Montgomerie won his first major title on any tour. He also won last year at French Lick in Indiana. The last player to three-peat in the Senior PGA was Hale Irwin, who won from 1996-98.

This year’s Senior PGA will have at least one notable new player in the field. John Daly will be among Montgomerie’s rivals.

Glen Club welcomes AJGA

The Glen Club, in Glenview, will host the American Junior Golf Association Preview from Friday through Sunday. It’ll feature 78 boys and girls in the 12-19 age group who want to improve their eligibility status for the AJGA’s summer tournaments.

Friday will be a practice day and the 36-hole tournament proper will consist of 18-hole rounds Saturday and Sunday. Tee times will run from 7-9 a.m. off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees.

Instruction Day spotlights Cog Hill

The PGA of America will culminate its 100-day Centennial celebration with a series of instruction sessions to be televised on The Golf Channel next Wednesday (MAY 4). One will be broadcast from Cog Hill, in Lemont, from 3-4 p.m. with Stan Utley, Todd Sones and Kevin Weeks the instructors.

Other clubs included in the day-long series of one-hour clinics are Baltusrol, in New Jersey; Ibis, in Florida; Keeton Park and Fossil Trace, in Colorado; and TPC Harding Park, in California.

Illinois lands eight Evans Scholars

The Western Golf Association has awarded Evans Scholarships to 27 caddies who reside in Illinois and eight of them have chosen to attend the University of Illinois starting in the fall. Among them are Daniel Arias, Highland Park; Madeline Atwood, Mount Prospect; Kevin Baczek, Roselle; Clara Baumgarten, Wheaton; Daniel Benson, Countryside; Angela Bogusz, DesPlaines, Nicholas Castelli, Highland Park; and Antonino Conte, Addison.

Others selected from the Herald area include Andrew Christopher, of Glenview, who will attend the University of Colorado; Dante Bruno of Elmwood Park (Purdue); Katlin Coy of Glenview (Marquette); Claire DeRosa of Park Ridge (Wisconsin) and Alison Dobbins of Crystal Lake (Indiana).

How much better can things get at Mistwood?

This was a big week at the Romeoville course, if for no other reason than owner Jim McWethy is hosting a week of special events to celebrate the grand opening of his spectacular new clubhouse.

Opening of the 27,000 square foot clubhouse, which includes McWethy Tavern and the Grand Hall dining facility, completed nine years of planning and construction at Mistwood. The course was renovated first, a two-year project, and then a state-of-the-art Performance Center was constructed.

As director of golf Andy Mickelson was on hand for the start of the grand opening festivities on Monday but he had to duck out early. Mickelson and assistant professional Chris Ioriatti had an early afternoon tee time at St. Charles Country Club in the Illinois PGA’s Spring Pro-Assistants Championship.

They won last fall’s version of the competition and they were up to the task again, shooting a 9-under-par 63 to top the 64-team field. More playing success by Mistwood’s staff of professionals is likely, as another teach pro – Brian Brodell – is the reigning IPGA Player of the Year and John Platt was among the section’s top senior players last year.

Though the golf season is still young, big things are already happening at some of the public facilities – and not just at Mistwood. Two Wheaton facilities – Cantigny and Arrowhead – have stepped up their offerings for this season as well.

At Cantigny, the popular Vision 54 program introduced last year has been expanded. Instructor Gay Crain conducted a training course last year. Now the program, which begins on Thursday, includes an overview course followed by three optional follow-up courses that go more in-depth on specific skills.

Vision 54 is based on teachings at Annika Sorenstam’s academy in Florida and the best-selling book “Play Your Best Golf Now’’ by Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson. The courses represent “a process, a philosophy, a new outlook and a holistic approach to golf.’’

Cost for the four one-hour sessions is $160 and will be limited to five golfers, ages 14 and up. The program will be repeated in May, June and August.

Arrowhead, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, has added a new, high-tech addition to its clubhouse. Pelican Golf Fitting Center held its grand opening last week.

In moving into the Wheaton Park District facility Pelican becomes the first subsidiary of GolfDirectNow — a firm headquartered in a warehouse two miles away in Warrenville. GolfDirectNow has sold golf equipment via the Internet the last four years.

Kent Sirois, who had been director of golf at both Naperville Country Club and White Eagle in Naperville prior to joining the golf staff at Dick’s Sporting Goods for a 15-year run, and local swing instructor Mike Mandakas are in charge of the Pelican facility.
Pelican offers club-fitting, club repair and instruction with the help of such new state-of-the-art equipment as BodiTrak, TrackMan and SAM Puttlab.

“It’s very technical and will help many, many golfers – regardless of their ability,’’ said Sirois.

At least a dozen vendors have provided equipment to supplement the club-fitting procedure.

“We’re not biased to any vendor,’’ said Sirois. “It’s all in what fits any individual. We can fit almost anybody.’’

Have some seconds

Last weekend was one for near-misses as far as Chicago area tour players were concerned. Northwestern alum Luke Donald finished tied for second (behind champion Branden Grace) at the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Classic and Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti was in a six-way tie for second in the PGA Tour’s Latinoamerica circuit in Argentina.

Donald, a former world No. 1, cracked the top 10 on the PGA circuit for the first time since Travelers Championship eight months ago. It was his fourth runner-up finish in the Heritage and he also has two third-places finishes there.

“This was a great step in the right direction,’’ said Donald, who earlier said he’d considered quitting the tour during a frustrating 2015 season. “I’m really positive about my game going forward.’’

Here and There

Illinois senior Charlie Danielson has been named to the U.S. team for the Palmer Cup matches against Europe’s top college players. Danielson is the fourth Illini player selected to the Palmer Club, played last year at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. Others were Thomas Detry, Thomas Pieters and Scott Langley. This year’s matches are June 24-26 at Formby Golf Club in England.

Cog Hill will hold a Tee It Forward Scramble for two-player teams from noon-2 p.m. on Saturday on its No. 1 course. Cog has also announced that players can certify to use GolfBoards. The new form of on-course transportation will be available at the Lemont facility this season.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. opens its tournament season next Wednesday, April 27, with a qualifier for the CDGA Mid-Amateur Championship at Wilmette Golf Club.

The Pine Hollow Open will celebrate its 40th anniversary on April 30 at Downers Grove Golf Club.

Arlington Lakes plans a July 1 opening for its 18-hole course that has been undergoing a renovation.

The UL International Crown, the biggest event on the Chicago golf calendar this season, lucked out when it reached its first qualifying deadline last week in the midst of Masters hoopla world-wide.

In announcing the eight countries to qualify for the July 19-24 global team event at the Merit Club it was significant that Australia was among them. Australia stood eighth among the team contending for places in the tournament and that meant that Karrie Webb would be returning to the Merit Club where she won the U.S. Women’s Open in 2000 – the only big tournament played at the Libertyville private facility.

Webb was also the champion of the Kellogg Keebler Classic at Stonebridge Country Club in Aurora in 2004 – the last LPGA tournament played in the Chicago area. She won both those events by whopping five-stroke margins and has since been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Webb has 57 world-wide tournament wins with 41 of them coming on the LPGA Tour – more than any other active player.

The Crown needs players of that stature in the Crown since its format doesn’t guarantee all the top players will participate. Lydia Ko, the current world’s No. 1 player, for instance, won’t be playing at the Merit Club because her native New Zealand didn’t qualify. Other notables who will miss the Crown for the same reason include seventh-ranked Brooke Henderson (Canada) and veteran star Suzann Pettersen (Norway).

Webb, 41, hasn’t been back to the Merit Club since the day she held off Meg Mallon and Cristy Kerr to win the first of her seven major titles.

“I’m real excited about coming back,’’ she said during a brief Chicago visit last week. “I want to see if my memories are as vivid as I think they are. Most of the other LPGA players were kids at the time I won.’’

She repeated as champion the following year at Pine Needles in North Carolina but isn’t as dominating a player now, owning a No. 36 world ranking and standing 21st on the LPGA season money list

The Crown made its debut in 2014 at Cave’s Valley in Maryland. The second playing will look much different that the first in that the top two teams two years ago – Spain and Sweden – didn’t qualify to play at the Merit Club.

“I feel like I’m the pseudo-defending champion since Spain isn’t coming back,’’ said Webb. “Fortunately (Australia) could sneak in but we’ll be underdogs that week.’’

Each of the eight team qualifiers will have four players, and they’ll be determined off the world rankings on June 13 following the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The current top four U.S. players are Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis, Kerr and Brittany Lincicome. The first three played for the U.S. at Cave’s Valley.

Lincicome, currently ranked 18th, will have to hold off Jessica Korda (ranked 22nd), Gerina Piller (23rd) and Alison Lee (24th) to secure her spot on the team. Paula Creamer, now ranked 41st, was the fourth player for the U.S. at Cave’s Valley.

The last time the LPGA visited Chicago was in 2009 for the Solheim Cup matches at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. The Crown kicks off a three-year run of big women’s events in the Chicago area. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will be played at Olympia Fields in 2017 and Kemper Lakes in 2018 and the first U.S. Senior Women’s Open will also come to Chicago Golf Club in 2018.

Here and there

The Golfers on Golf radio show, with its “favorite foursome’’ of Rory Spears, Ed Stevenson, Mike Munro and Bill Berger, kicks off its 22-week season at 9 a.m. Sunday on WSBC (1240-AM) and WCFJ (1470-AM).

Libertyville’s Michael Schachner is the first sponsor’s exemption for the new Rust-Oleum Championship, coming to Ivanhoe Club on June 6-12. A veteran of the mini-tours and perennial contender in the Illinois Open, Schachner developed his game at Ivanhoe.

Arrowhead, in Wheaton, will hold the grand opening of its Pelican Performance Center on Thursday and the first demo day of the season will be conducted there from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday.

The Illinois PGA opened its tournament season on Monday with a three-man scramble at Chicago’s Harborside International with the team of David Hanson of LaGrange Country Club, Alex Mendez of Butterfield and Marty DeAngelo of Medinah winning with a 13-under-par 59.

Mistwood, in Romeoville, will hold the grand opening of its new clubhouse on Monday, kicking off a week-long celebration of special events there.

This week marks the 80th playing of the Masters tournament and the 30th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus’ last championship. His win in 1986 was also the first Masters that I covered from Augusta National, and I doubt there’ll ever be another one like it.

Nicklaus, who has accurately called the Masters “the championship of nothing,’’ was 46 when he won his record sixth title and became the tourney’s oldest-ever champion. The Masters isn’t like the other three major championships – the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. It “just’’ decides the winner of that year’s event at Georgia’s Augusta National.

Still, the Masters is a special tournament and the electricity during Nicklaus’ final round charge 30 years ago has rarely been matched in any sport. In my nearly 50-year career it tops everything else, which includes the 1994 World Cup finals, Northwestern’s run to the 1996 Rose Bowl and the Blackhawks’ recent Stanley Cup successes.

While every Masters seems to create drama, it’s tough to image this one being a rival for Nicklaus’ last win. The story lines just aren’t there.

There’s no Tiger Woods comeback possibility. As expected, he withdrew last week citing health issues.

Jordan Spieth could become the first repeat champion since Woods won in 2001 and 2002. Rory McIlroy could complete a career Grand Slam, having already won the U.S. and British Opens and PGA Championship, and other young stars could make a career breakthrough.

Jason Day regained the world’s No. 1 ranking with his back-to-back victories at the Bay Hill Invitational and World Golf Championship-Dell Match Play event in his last two starts. With Day taking last week off Dustin Johnson (third) and Ricky Fowler (tie for 10th) had good finishes in the Shell Houston Open on Sunday so their games could be peaking at the perfect time. Neither has won one of golf’s major titles yet, but this could be their week.

The Masters holds its traditional Par-3 contest on Wednesday as a prelude to the start of its 72-hole run on Thursday. Already, though, some champions have been crowned at Augusta National and one was a Chicago area golfer.

The Drive, Chip & Putt national finals, well received as a new Sunday warmup attraction last year, included Christian Kim of Vernon Hills as one of its featured players this year. He won the boys 10-11 competition.

A Luke Donald update

Luke Donald, the former Northwestern star and world No. 1 golfer, didn’t qualify for the Masters for the first time since 2004 but he’ll impact the week in Chicago.

Donald has been a long supporter of the First Tee of Chicago, which holds its Masters Viewing Party and Golf Fashion Show at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Old Crow Smokehouse, 149 W. Kinzie in Chicago’s River North. Donald’s traditional wine-tasting event is part of the festivities.

He’s also involved in a new project along with his long-time swing instructor Pat Goss. They’re among the leaders of a group that is reviving the Peter Jans course in Evanston. The new version will be called Canal Shores. It’ll have a 12-hole course, youth development area and six-hole short course with a massive putting course.

Goss was recently elected president of the First Tee of Chicago, succeeding Bruce Patterson. Patterson, the director of golf at Butler National in Oak Brook, served as president for seven years.

Eight countries set for International Crown

The LPGA named the eight countries that qualified for the July 21-24 UL International Crown at Merit Club in Libertyville this week and they didn’t include Spain, which won the inaugural staging of the event two years ago.

Spain stood 11th in the point standings at Sunday’s deadline and only the top eight advance to the Merit Club. Those countries are the Republic of Korea, U.S., Japan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, England, China and Australia. The four players who will compete for each those teams at the Merit Club will be determined after the June’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Next week’s Masters tournament may be the first highlight event of the year for most golfers, but not for Kevin Streelman.

The only Chicago area player to qualify for the Masters has had an eventful year already. Most of it has been good – but not all. Streelman returns to the PGA Tour for this week’s Shell Houston Open still celebrating the birth of his son, Rhett Davis, on March 22.

Until Rhett’s arrival it was doubtful that Streelman would even play in the Masters. His wife Courtney’s due date was on the Saturday of Masters week and the couple dealt with a difficult delivery when their first child, daughter Sophia, was born three years ago. Sophia arrived six weeks early via C-section, and Streelman had vowed he wouldn’t play in the Masters until Courtney gave birth again.

“My family is more important than any silly thing we do on grass,’’ Streelman had declared as Rhett’s delivery time closed in. “I’ll always be there for my wife.’’

With all things well on the home front Streelman confirmed on Monday that he’d play at Houston – his first tournament since back-to-back missed cuts at the Valspar Championship and Bay Hill Invitational in Florida earlier this month. His last full tournament was a tie for 17th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Feb. 21.

“Golf wasn’t high on my priority list after that,’’ admitted Streelman. “It’s been a big month, but I’m on top of the world now.’’

Streelman left for Houston on Tuesday hoping to regain the form he had a month ago on the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing. He did little more than putt on a practice green in his basement since then.

The strong finish at Pebble Beach concluded a great month on the West Coast, as Streelman tied for 11th in the Career Builder Challenge in LaQuinta, Calif., and finished third in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Those strong finishes account for the bulk of his $814,710 in season winnings.

Other major developments in Streelman’s life came both before and after the California tournaments. In February he was named co-chairman of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council. That’s a three-year commitment as leader of a 16-player group that plays a major role in determining PGA policy.

Immediately after the Pebble Beach tournament Streelman had to pull off the circuit for three weeks to deal with a health concern of his own. Doctors advised the removal of a nickel-size mole from his stomach and that required two surgeries and more healing time.

Streelman said the surgery “came out fine,’’ but he withdrew from the Northern Trust Open at Los Angeles-based Riviera after the surgical procedure required 10 stitches. Then came the sub-par showings in Florida while Courtney’s delivery status was in limbo.

Now Streelman can focus on the Masters – the first of the year’s four major championships. He’s in the field thanks to his tie for 12th in last year’s Masters, and also won the tourney’s popular Par-3 contest in 2015.

Though Streelman, 37, has two PGA Tour wins – Tampa Bay in 2013 and Hartford in 2014, plus the Kodak Challenge special event of 2009 – he hasn’t seriously contended for a major title. His caddie, A.J. Montecinos, has some experience with that, however. He carried for champion Y.E. Yang in the 2009 PGA Championship.

Streelman and Montecinos were born in the same hospital in Winfield (though in different years), and Streelman grew up in Wheaton before playing collegiately at Duke. He turned pro in 2001 and has retained his Chicago connections while establishing residence in Arizona.

He’s returned for special events at Cantigny, the public course where he first developed his game, and has long played with clubs made by Chicago manufacturer Wilson Sporting Goods. Streelman also works with Chicago swing instructor Jake Thurm.

The tie for 12th at last year’s Masters matched Streelman’s best showing in a major championship (he also tied for 12th in the 2013 PGA Championship) and his world ranking has dropped a bit from last year, to No. 116.

That’s not as high as Luke Donald, the former Northwestern star and world No. 1 in 2012. Donald will miss the Masters for the first time since 2004. He needed to be in the top 50 to get in the field off the world rankings, and he’s now No. 92. Donald has only one top-25 finish in nine events this season but came close to another on Sunday when he tied for 26th at the Puerto Rican Open.

Streelman won’t be the only Chicago area golfer at Augusta National, though. The Illinois Junior Golf Assn. will be well represented in Sunday’s Drive, Chip & Putt national finals. Schaumburg’s Emily Duan and Vernon Hills’ Christian Kim made it in the 10-11 divisions and Crystal Lake’s Eric Klutke and South Barrington’s Stephanie Su in the 12-13 age group.

Weather notwithstanding, you know the local golf season can’t be far away when the Chicago Golf Show is on the horizon.

The show started on a small scale 33 years ago, an experimental venture by the Illinois PGA at Harper College in Palatine. It has grown into the largest consumer golf show in the country. About 300 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors are expected to attend the Friday-Sunday event at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont

While the smaller Tinley Park Golf Expo celebrated its fifth anniversary two weeks ago, the Chicago Golf Show remains the big one for local players anxious to start the season. This year’s show will feature its first-ever exhibition by popular local trick shot specialist Peter Longo, dubbed the “King of Clubs.’’

Three members of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Bears – Emery Moorehead, Mike Richardson and Jim Morrissey – will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their championship season by taking lessons from IPGA professionals Kevin Weeks, Brad Syslo and Kurt Kollmeyer. Moorehead will get his public lesson on Friday, Richardson on Saturday and Morrissey on Sunday.

Exhibitors include local courses and organizations, equipment and fashion manufacturers and travel destinations. Show hours are noon-7 p.m. on Friday (FEB 26), 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday (FEB 27) and (9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday (FEB 28).

Adult tickets are $5 on Friday and $10 on Saturday and Sunday. Youngsters under 12 will be admitted free and those 12-15 will get in for $4. Show attendees will also get coupons for free rounds from GolfVisions, which operates 16 area courses.

Though the courses have been basically closed since last fall, the Chicago golf community has not been idle during the winter, and tournament play isn’t far off. Carrie Williams, starting her first full season as executive director of the Illinois PGA, used Chicago Golf Show Week to make her first major announcement – the return of the Illinois Open to Royal Fox in St. Charles.

Royal Fox will host the tourney for the eighth time; only The Glen Club, in Glenview, has hosted the premier event for Illinois golfers more times. The Illinois Open has been played at The Glen nine times. Royal Fox will co-host with St. Charles neighbor Royal Hawk from July 25-27.

The Illinois Open will have seven state-wide qualifying rounds in June to determine 258 finalists. It’ll mark the second year for an expanded field and two-course format for the 54-hole finals. All qualifiers will play both courses in the first two rounds, and those who survive the cut will battle over Royal Fox in the final round.

The Illinois PGA will begin its tournament season on April 11. Its full schedule will be announced this week and registration will open on the section’s website on March 1. and The Chicago District Golf Assn. campaign will tee off on April 27.

While the only Western Golf Assn. tournament for this season in the Chicago area will be the Western Amateur, to be played at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest from Aug. 1-6, there are two new professional tour events on the calendar — the Web.com’s Rust-Oleum Championship at Ivanhoe from June 9-12 and the Ladies PGA UL International Crown, at Libertyville’s Merit Club from July 19-24.

The CDGA has created a major new addition to its schedule – an Individual Net Series for players with established handicaps. It’ll include four Better Ball of Pairs events and two Individual Net competitions, all to be played between May 23 and Sept. 13.

New IPGA head professionals have been named at several clubs. They include Daniel Behr, at Ravinia Green in Riverwoods; Dan Kochevar, at Carriage Greens in Darien; Nathan Perry at Aurora Country Club; Luan Ramadani, at Joliet Country Club; Chad Robbins at Arrowhead, in Wheaton; Andrew Stevens, at Calumet Country Club, in Homewood; and Shane Stuart, at Silver Ridge, in Oregon, IL.

Cog Hill, the premier public facility, has announced the creation of a new tournament that is planned as an annual attraction. The Cog Hill Amateur will be played May 21-22 on the Nos. 2 and 4 courses at the 72-hole Lemont facility. Entries will be limited to the first 100 applicants and the top 72 after 36 holes will qualify for the championship flight.

Both Cog Hill and Cantigny, in Wheaton, have announced starting dates for major teaching programs. Cantigny will kick off a new six-week course on fitness training for golfers on March 3 and the Golf Academy schools at Cog will begin on March 19.