It was back to work this week for Kevin Streelman, Chicago’s lone homegrown PGA Tour player and one of the elite 70 players in the field at the BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest.

Last week’s break in the FedEx Cup Playoffs gave Streelman a chance to get away from the rigors of the pro golf tour. He had played in tournaments four of the previous five weeks and six of the last eight.

“I didn’t touch a club for a week,’’ said Streelman. “Just rested and got my body in shape.’’

And had some fun. He went to his first Bears’ game in seven years on Sunday, accompanied by seven friends from his high school days at Wheaton Warrenville South, and then had dinner at MJ’s Steakhouse.

Born in Winfield, the 34-year old Streelman spent the first 18 years of his life living in Wheaton where he played most of his junior golf at Cantigny. When he headed off to college at Duke his parents moved to Winfield and Streelman eventually settled in Scottsdale, Ariz., but he isn’t staying anywhere near his old home town during the BMW Championship. Instead he’s staying with retired Bears’ star Brian Urlacher who lives four minutes from the Conway Farms course.

“I’ve known him for a few years and played some golf with him in the offseason,’’ said Streelman.

It might seem that Streelman, being from the Chicago suburbs, would have at least some local knowledge of Conway Farms – a private facility about to host its first PGA Tour event – but that’s not the case.

“I played a college tournament there – Northwestern’s tournament,’’ said Streelman, “but I vaguely remember it. That was at least 10 years ago. I don’t know what to expect, but we should be able to make a lot of birdies there.’’

That’s to be expected. The players remaining in the FedEx Cup Playoffs make a lot of birdies no matter where their tournaments are played. Conway will be no exception with $8 million on the line beginning on Thursday and more in the offing for the top 30 in the standings after the BMW Championship concludes on Sunday.

Streelman stands 16th in the playoff standings and has a great chance to make the 30-man field for The Tour Championship next week in Atlanta. Another $8 million purse is available there, and the winner of the FedEx Cup gets a $10 million bonus. That lucky fellow could be Streelman if he gets hot.

“I’m confident in my numbers to believe I’ll get through to the last 30,’’ said Streelman, “so I have nothing to lose. Winning in front of my home crowd would be a dream, but I’m not putting pressure on myself.’’

The season already has been a rousing success for Streelman. He made the cut in 16 of 23 tournaments and earned $2.9 million. He also won his first PGA Tour event, the Tampa Bay Classic – a tournament that will be known as the Valspar Classic in 2014 thanks to a new sponsorship agreement.

Next year will be a big one for Streelman, regardless of what happens on the course. His wife Courtney is expecting their first child sometime in 2014.

For now, though, the BMW Championship is his main concern. His swing coach of two years, Darren May, arrived Sunday night and they’ve worked to sharpen his game for this week’s challenge. Streelman needs to climb in the FedEx standings if he’s to make a run at the $10 million bonus in Atlanta. He started the playoffs in 13th position but dropped slightly after finishing in a tie for 19th at The Barclays and a tie for 41st at the Deutsche Bank Championship – the first two playoff events.

The ranking system is complicated, but it’s possible that Streelman could climb all the way to No. 1 if he wins at Conway Farms. If he finishes fourth or better he could climb into the top five heading to Atlanta, and any player ranked that high would win the $10 million bonus by winning The Tour Championship.

The 70-man field for next week’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest is finally official. It will include four players with Illinois connections, including Conway member Luke Donald.

Donald’s play has dropped off since he was the world’s No. 1-ranked player in 2011, but he will go into the BMW Championship ranked No. 54 in the FedEx Cup point standings. Also owning ranking spots high enough to get into the select field are Steve Stricker (8), Kevin Streelman (16) and D.A. Points (21).

That’s where they stood after Henrik Stenson won the second of the four $8 million playoff events on Monday – the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. Stricker, like Points a University of Illinois alum, was the big newsmaker there.

When this PGA Tour season started Stricker declared himself semi-retired. Wanting more family time, he planned to play only 10 events and the FedEx Playoffs weren’t in the mix. In fact, Stricker skipped The Barkleys – first event of the Playoffs – and came to Boston only because he had a chance to make the U.S. team for the season-ending Presidents Cup matches Oct. 3-6 in Dublin, Ohio.

Stricker needed a good finish in Boston to earn one of the 10 automatic berths on the U.S. team, and he got it with a second-place finish. That created another change in plans.

He had planned to go bow-hunting for elk in Colorado with some of his buddies during the BMW Championship, but that trip was rescheduled because Stricker needed to stay sharp for the Presidents Cup.

“We pushed this trip back a couple days so I could play in Chicago,’’ he said after his strong finish in Boston. “I’ll play in Chicago, but I’m not sure about Atlanta (The Tour Championship – last of the Playoff events). We’re supposed to leave on Monday after Chicago but, if I’m up there and have a chance to win or top-10 going into Atlanta I’ll probably go to Atlanta.’’

The change of heart is understandable, given the money available in the Playoffs. Each of the four events has a limited field and an $8 million purse. The 70 qualifying to play at Conway Farms will be reduced to 30 for The Tour Championship. In addition to the tournament purses $35 million in bonus money will be disbursed after the Atlanta stop ends on Sept. 22. The FedEx Cup winner gets a $10 million bonus.

Heading to Conway Farms the leader in the point race is Stenson, who moved ahead of Tiger Woods with his win in Boston. Also standing between Stricker and the big prize are Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, Graham DeLaet, Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose. They’ll all be teeing it up in Lake Forest to continue the chase for the biggest financial reward golf has to offer.

Ticket-takers

The Western Golf Assn., which conducts the BMW Championship, has reported “brisk’’ ticket sales for the first PGA Tour event on the North Shore since the Western Open was played at Sunset Ridge in Northfield in 1972. Still, tickets in most categories are still available through either BMWChampionshipUSA.com or by calling 847-724-4600.

BMW Week starts Monday and runs through 15, with the tournament proper conducted over the last four days. One-day grounds tickets are $40 online or $55 at the gate. Practice round tickets are $10, and juniors age 16 and under will be admitted free when accompanied by an adult.

Date-specific daily tickets are also available in the United Fairway Club, which features indoor seating and upgraded food and beverage options behind the 15th hole. They’re priced at $75 per day for Sept. 12-13 and $85 for Sept. 14-15. Weekly badges for the United Fairway Club are $195.

Did you know?

Two local competitions will be played during BMW Championship Week. The Illinois Senior Open is Monday and Tuesday at McHenry Country Club and the Olympia Fields Fighting Illini Invitational will be staged at Olympia Fields from Sept. 13-15.

The latter will feature some of the best college teams in the nation, headed by coach Mike Small’s Illini – second in last spring’s NCAA Championship. Small himself is coming off his 10th win in the Illinois PGA Championship, which was played on Olympia’s South course last week.

Streelman, Points in good shape but Wilson out of BMW Championship

Now there’s just one FedEx Cup Playoff tourney left before the PGA Tour makes its first return to the Chicago area since 2011.

The Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston has a Friday-Monday run this week, and the low 70 in the standings after that 72-hole $8 million shootout come to Conway Farms in Lake Forest for the BMW Championship — tourney of similar duration and purse from Sept. 12-15.

Adam Scott won The Barclays on the outskirts of New York on Sunday and vaulted into second place behind Tiger Woods in the FedEx point race. Woods finished in a four-way tie for second in the first of the four playoff events.

Conway Farms is a new site for the BMW Championship, replacing Cog Hill in Lemont, and at least two players with Illinois connections won’t be there. Elmhurst’s Mark Wilson and University of Illinois alum Scott Langley qualified for 125-man field at The Barclays but didn’t play well enough to move on to the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Four other locals are still alive in the battle for the $10 million bonus that goes to the FedEx leader after the Tour Championship is played in Atlanta the week after the Conway Farms stop. Luke Donald, a Conway Farms member, and Luke Guthrie, another Illinois alum, can’t afford a letdown in Boston.

Donald tied for 41st at The Barclays and is No. 54 in the standings. A missed cut in Boston and he might not stay in the top 70. Guthrie missed the cut last week but is still at No. 81.

The Barclays was much more productive for Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman and Illinois alum D.A. Points, however. Streelman tied for 19th and moved up to No. 12 on the point list. Points, finishing with a 67 on Sunday, tied for sixth and moved up 10 spots in the standings to No. 15.

Changes coming at Olympia Fields

The 91st Illinois PGA Championship concludes Wednesday on Olympia Fields’ South course but bigger things are coming on the more famous North layout, site of four major championships — the 1928 and 2003 U.S. Opens and 1925 and 1961 PGA Championships.

Mark Mungeam, the North course architect the last 20 years, will supervise a renovation that calls for the reconstruction of all existing bunkers and the addition of five more. The ones that are being added were part of the 1938 design created by architect Willie Park Jr. but they were covered up over the years.

The bunkers will get Best (THIS IS BRAND NAME) sand, which is white and more playable than the more tradition varieties, according to Olympia head professional Brian Morrison. All the tee boxes will be given a rectangular shape that is rounded at the corners. Morrison said the renovation isn’t being done in preparation for the 2015 U.S. Amateur, which will be played on both the North and South courses as part of the club’s centennial celebration.

“We’re not required to do it (by the U.S. Golf Assn.),’’ said Morrison. “We are doing this mainly for the playability of our members.’’

Support for military veterans

The Illinois PGA Championship will again serve as the Chicago kickoff for Patriot Golf Day events. IPGA players were asked to make a voluntary donation to the charity that supports military veterans and the section will match the amount, to be determined after Wednesday’s final round.

Meanwhile, eight Chicago courses operated by Billy Casper Golf participated in last week’s World’s Largest Golf Outing, a fund-raiser for the Wounded Warrior Project. The Outing involved 826 golfers from 110 Casper-operated courses in 28 states. It raised $725,000.

Did you know?

The Western Golf Assn. will spend this week putting on the new Hotel Fitness Championship – first of four events in the Web.Com Tour Finals. The tourney begins Thursday at Sycamore Hills in Ft. Wayne, Ind.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. will conduct two of hits bigger tournaments back-to-back. The Illinois Mid-Amateur concludes its two-day run on Wednesday (AUG 28) at Flossmoor and the Illinois State Senior Amateur is on tap for Kankakee Elks on Thursday.

Clearly Curtis Malm is the player to watch in next week’s 91st Illinois PGA Championship on Olympia Fields Country Club’s South course.

Malm, first assistant professional at St. Charles Country Club and the IPGA’s player-of-the-year in 2012, fired a 9-under par course record 63 at Elgin Country Club on Monday in the section’s fifth stroke play event of the season.

In April he won the first of the section’s majors – the IPGA Match Play Championship at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove – for the second straight year. Malm also tied for third in the second major, last month’s Illinois Open at The Glen Club in Glenview, and is at the top of the player-of-the-year standings again.

“I haven’t played as well as I did last year as far as consistency goes,’’ said Malm, “but my game’s getting there.’’

He took on expanded duties at St. Charles this year, adding the role of membership sales director, and that has reduced Malm’s practice time. He is also lacking in knowledge of Olympia Fields’ South course. Malm hopes to get in his first round ever there on Thursday. Otherwise his first will be on Monday in the first day of the three-day championship.

Malm’s round at Elgin – his lowest ever in competition — featured seven birdies and an eagle. (He had a 62 in an informal round at Blackberry Oaks in Sugar Grove).

Other than Malm, the favorite at Olympia figures to be Illinois coach Mike Small, who won by 11 strokes the last time the event was played at the storied south suburban private club in 2010. Small has won the tourney a record nine times, but not since his runaway win at Olympia, where he is an honorary member. Steve Orrick, from Country Club of Decatur, is the defending champion. He won last year at Stonewall Orchard, in Gurnee.

FedEx Playoffs tee off

Kevin Streelman, at No. 13, is the top-ranked of six players with Illinois backgrounds in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, which begin on Thursday with The Barclays tourney at Liberty National in New York.

The top 125 on the season-long PGA Tour points list qualified for The Barclays, a 72-hole no-cut tournament with an $8 million purse. It’s the first of four such events, and the point winner after they’re over claims a $10 million bonus. Third stop in the series is the BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest.

Joining Streelman among the Illinois hopefuls in The Barclays field are D.A. Points (ranked No. 25), Luke Donald (55), Luke Guthrie (72), Mark Wilson (102) and Scott Langley (124). Only the top 100 on the points list after The Barclays play in the following week’s Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, and the top 70 after that one advance to Conway Farms.

Leader in the standings going into the playoffs is Tiger Woods, who won the FedEx Cup in its first year – 2007 – and became the only two-time champion with a victory in 2009. Last year’s winner, Brandt Snedeker, is No. 3 in the current standings behind Woods and Matt Kuchar. Phil Mickelson is No. 4, Bill Haas (FedEx Cup champion in 2011) is No. 5, U.S. Open winner Justin Rose is No. 7 and John Deere Classic champ Jordan Spieth No. 8.

NU has a super freshman coming in

Matt Fitzpatrick, who will begin his freshman year at Northwestern next month, continued a brilliant summer by winning the U.S. Amateur at Brookline, MA., on Sunday. That means his first year of college could be a wild one. By virtue of his U.S. Am win Fitzpatrick is eligible to play in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open in addition to his college events.

Before winning the U.S. Am the 18-year-old from Sheffield, England won the British Boys title in 2012, was low amateur in this year’s British Open and runner-up in the English Amateur. His latest win elevated Fitzpatrick to the No. 1 world ranking for amateurs. He was also a shoo-in when the European Walker Cup selections were announced on Sunday.

The U.S. also made its Walker Cup selections. They featured Jordan Niebrugge, an Oklahoma State sophomore from Mequon, Wis., who won the U.S. Amateur Public Links, Wisconsin Amateur and Western Amateur titles in a three-week hot streak that preceded his first-round loss in the U.S. Am.

Luke Donald and Mark Wilson, Chicago-based PGA Tour players and members of the Western Golf Assn. board of directors, put on an exhibition this week to promote next month’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest.

The nine-hole closed-to-the-public event, which included new Northwestern basketball coach Chris Collins and Bulls’ guard Kirk Heinrich, raised $45,000 for the WGA’s Evans Scholars Foundation. It also underscored the PGA players’ uncertainty about their status regarding the upcoming FedEx Cup playoffs.

Only this week’s Wyndham Championships in North Carolina preceded the four-tourney FedEx Playoffs – the biggest money opportunity in all of golf. Each of the four events – the BMW is the third – offers an $8 million purse and limited fields. Financial windfalls await the players who play the best at this time of the year.

Naturally, Donald and Wilson want to cash in, but need to improve their current position to do it. The top 125 on the season-long FedEx point stands get into The Barclay’s – the New York-based first playoff event that tees off on Aug. 22.

The top 100 after points are awarded in The Barclay’s qualify for the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, which begins on Aug. 30. The top 70 after the Deutsche Bank go to Conway Farms and the top 30 after that one play in the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Based on the current standings Wilson will be hard-pressed to survive the first playoff event and Donald will have a challenge qualifying for the BMW Championship that will be played on his home course.

Donald, the world’s No. 1 player barely a year ago, dropped to No. 54 in the FedEx standings after missing the cut at last week’s PGA Championship. Wilson didn’t play in the PGA and is No. 95. He entered the Wyndham in hopes of boosting his playoff position.

“My game’s a work in progress at the moment,’’ said Donald. “Golf’s like that with its ups and downs. It’s been trying at times, but I’m looking forward to the Fed Ex events. Each tournament offers five times as many points (as the previous ones). There’s always a chance to make big leaps and bounds, and one great week can turn around your year.’’

The playoff format can also create volatile swings in the point standings, so Donald and Wilson could fall or climb dramatically depending on how they play beginning in two weeks.

“In the last two years I came into the playoffs in great position,’’ said Donald, who was No. 3 in the FedEx standings when he held the top world ranking. “This time I’m a little further back, so it’s a different mindset. One good tournament can shoot me up the board. I’m excited about that chance.’’

Wilson, hampered by a sore ankle, is also having a somewhat down season. He tied for ninth in his last start at the Canadian Open, though, and that was cause for optimism.

“I’ve worked through some swing thoughts,’’ he said, “and I’m rounding into form.’’

Wilson had spent much of his practice time in Chicago at Cog Hill, the Lemont facility that hosted the BMW Championship for 20 years prior to the WGA’s decision to move it to Conway this year. He’s not nearly as familiar with Conway as Donald is, but welcomes the change and thinks the 70 players who make it will, too.

“I played in the NCAA Championship there (in 1997) and have come on a regular basis,’’ said Wilson. “We play a lot of new courses every year on tour, and there’ll be a little learning curve, but our games travel.’’

Look out for Hardy

Nick Hardy, a 17-year old senior at Glenbrook North High School, shot a stunning 65 on Monday to lead the first round of the 36-hole stroke play qualifying at the U.S. Amateur in suburban Boston.

Hardy, who plans to attend the University of Illinois and recently played a practice round with Michael Jordan, shot his six-birdie opening round at Charles River Country Club. His second round was Tuesday at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. – a former U.S. Open site that will be the venue for six days of match play beginning on Wednesday. The title match is on Sunday.

The U.S. Amateur started with 312 finalists from nation-wide qualifying tournaments. The low 64 after Tuesday’s second round of stroke play advancing qualify for the match play portion of the championship.

Did you know?

Emily Fletcher, who coached the Northwestern women’s team to its first Big Ten title and was the league’s coach-of-the-year, had her contracted extended through 2015.

Michael Smith of Twin Lakes, in Palatine, defeated Midlothian’s Frank Hohenadel in a three-hole playoff for the Illinois PGA Assistants title.

Top area amateur Blake Biddle of St. Charles has transferred from Nevada Las Vegas to Arkansas.

Playing in the PGA Championship isn’t anything new to Mike Small, the University of Illinois men’s coach who qualified for this week’s final major championship of 2013 for the ninth time.

Small, who got into the tourney by finishing in a tie for fourth at the Professional Players National Championship in June, has made the cut in three previous PGAs and was low club pro in 2007 and 2011. His chances to do it again don’t look as good when the event tees of on Thursday at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y., however.

“It’s weird. The last year and a half I haven’t played well,’’ said Small after finishing in a tie for 19th at the Illinois Open – an event he won four times. “The game’s hard for me now.’’

Small, who will also bid for his 10th win in the Illinois PGA Championship later this month at Olympia Fields, has had a big year away from playing. His Illini won the Big Ten title for the fifth straight year and finished second to Alabama in the NCAA Championship. He also was voted into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, the induction to take place on Oct. 25 at The Glen Club in Glenview. At 47 he’ll become the youngest member of the Hall.

He ascribes to the theory that his game has deteriorated as his coaching has improved and insists recent equipment changes have not been a factor in the dropoff in his play.

“I need to start playing the way I coach my guys,’’ he said. “I need to take my own advice, and that’s not easy sometimes. Equipment’s not a problem. It’s me. I have a problem sustaining my concentration.’’

That’s understandable, given what goes with his success on the coaching end.

“I’ve played more social golf and done more clinics than I did before,’’ he said. “And I’ve been using myself as a test-dummy. That’s helped me become a better coach, but it is what it is. I’m not playing bad. I can still compete in PGA stuff.’’

Another revival for the Chicago Open

The last big tournament of the Chicago golf season will be a new/old one. The Illinois Junior Golf Assn. is reviving the Chicago Open, a tournament that includes Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Luke Donald on its list of past champions.

Last held in 2001, the next Chicago Open will be held Oct. 7-9 at Cantigny in Wheaton. It’ll be contested over 54 holes and offer a $50,000 purse. There’ll be five qualifying tournaments – Sept. 3 at Brown Deer in Wisconsin, Sept. 16 at Flossmoor, Sept. 23 at Country Club of Old Vincennes in Indiana and Lake Michigan in Michigan and Sept. 26 at Makray Memorial in Barrington. Players who don’t qualify in the first four events can take a second crack at it at Makray.

“In reviving the Chicago Open our goal is to provide an opportunity for aspiring tour pros and top amateurs to compete at a high level,’’ said Marty Schiene, the IJGA president. “Playing in a competition with such a rich history can make the event that much more meaningful to the contestants.’’

Did you know?

Northwestern recruit Matt Fitzgerald finished second in the English Amateur, losing the final 4 and 3 to Callum Shinkwin. Fitzgerald, who arrives at NU as a freshman in the fall, made the cut in the British Open and has climbed to third in the World Amateur Rankings.

With Michigan-based Kitchenaid extending its sponsorship the Senior PGA Championship will remain based in the Midwest. It was held at Harbor Shores, in Benton Harbor, Mich., in 2012 and Bellerive in St. Louis this year. Harbor Shores hosts again in 2014 and will also get the Champions Tour major in 2016 and 2018. Indiana’s French Lick Resort will host in 2015.

The Illinois PGA will hold its Senior Championship next Monday and Tuesday (AUG 12-13) at Lincolnshire Country Club.

The 19th Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open, which tees off Wednesday at Mistwood in Romeoville, has taken a different approach from the men’s 64th Illinois Open, which had one of its most exciting stagings last week at The Glen Club in Glenview.

The men’s version, won by Antioch’s Joe Kinney in a three-hole playoff, is much bigger entry-wise with seven state-wide qualifying rounds conducted to determine the finalists. The Illinois PGA limits Illinois Open entries to state residents.

On the women’s side, the field is smaller but much more diverse. In its early years IWO founder Phil Kosin limited the field to state residents, then later expanded it to players from eight neighboring states. Mistwood owner Jim McWethy and his staff took over the IWO after Kosin’s death in 2009 and quietly accepted all players. The move paid off, as tourney entries topped 100 for the first time this year and included 43 professionals.

“That’s almost double the number of professionals we have had in the past,’’ said Dan Phillips, Mistwood’s director of golf. “Even the amateurs are basically scratch players. We’ve got the cream of the crop of amateurs, too. Word is out that this is a quality tournament.’’

Thanks to BMO’s sponsorship first prize last year went up to $5,000, and this year’s purse will be announced during the 54-hole competition that concludes on Friday. Last year’s winner, though, was Michigan amateur Samantha Troyanovich, who will defend her crown.

The new influx of pros include two-time winner Nicole Jeray and Chelsea Harris, both U.S. Women’s Open qualifiers; McKenzie Jackson, who was part of Big Break Mexico, the popular series on The Golf Channel; plus Mari Chun from Hawaii and Sarah Bradley from New Zealand.

“We have players from all across the country and beyond,’’ said Phillips. “Most every (professional) player has some kind of status on either the LPGA or Symetra tours. Opening up the entries has really made our field strong.’’

Suttie moves from Cog Hill to Mistwood

The IWO usually represents the biggest week of the season at Mistwood, but this time there was more going on that that. McWethy announced that Dr. Jim Suttie, one of the country’s best-known instructors, has joined the Mistwood teaching staff.

Suttie was the PGA of America’s national teacher-of-the-year in 2000 and Illinois PGA teacher-of-the-year three times. He ended a longstanding relationship with Cog Hill, in Lemont, to work at the new state-of-the-art Performance Center in Romeoville.

“That was the big overriding factor,’’ said Suttie. “Cog Hill has been really good for me, but I always wanted to have a place like this. I couldn’t pass it up.’’

Suttie, who had previous stints at Medinah and Green Garden, in Franfort, worked at Cog Hill from 1996-2002 and again from 2005 until moving to Mistwood. He’ll continue to work in Naples, FL., in the winter but is planning periodic teaching visits to both Mistwood and McQ’s – the McWethy-owned indoor facility in Bolingbrook.

Did you know?

Doug Ghim, of Arlington Heights, reached the semifinals of last week’s 66th U.S. Junior Championship in Truckee, Calif. He was eliminated by Scottie Scheffler, of Dallas, 6 and 4. Scheffler went on to capture the prestigious title.

Jason Mathus, a Chicago resident who attends high school at Lindbloom, will get a chance to compete at Pebble Beach with Champions Tour players thanks to his efforts with the First Tee of Greater Chicago. He was one of 80 junior players selected by a national panel of judges to participate in September’s Nature Valley First Tee Open.

There’ll be two big local championships on Monday. The Illinois PGA Assistants will determine their champion at River Forest and the Chicago District Super Senior Amateur event will be played at Royal Hawk in St. Charles.

The men’s Illinois Open concludes its 64th staging on Wednesday. Now it’s the women’s turn.

Mistwood, in Romeoville, will again host the 19th Illinois Women’s Open next week. There’ll be a pro-am on Tuesday and the first of three tournament rounds is Wednesday. That’ll put the spotlight on Berwyn’s Nicole Jeray, who will bid to become the second player to win the tournament three times.

Amateur Kerry Postillion took the titles in 1996, 1997 and 1999. She didn’t enter this year’s IWO, but her daughter Samantha – a member of the University of Illinois’ team – heads the amateur contingent.

Jeray, who triumphed in 1998 and 2003, hasn’t always competed in the premier state championship for women because of her commitments on the Ladies PGA Tour. The IWO is opposite the Women’s British Open this year. Not qualified for that event, Jeray opted to return to the IWO.

Three other players have won the IWO twice – amateurs Emily Gilley in 2000-01 and Aimee Neff in 2008-09. Jenna Pearson, who will be in next week’s field, won as an amateur in 2006, lost the title in a 10-hole playoff in 2007 and won another title as a professional in 2011.

Jeray and Pearson, who plays on the LPGA’s Symetra Tour, are among 40 pros among the 104 starters. So is the tourney’s first champion, former Southern Illinois University coach Diane Daugherty.

Among the other pros in the field are defending champion and Michigan resident Samantha Troyanovich and Chelsea Harris, a former University of Iowa golfer from Normal who qualified for this year’s U.S.Women’s Open. Harris’ swing instructor is John Platt, who is based at Mistwood’s new Performance Center and caddied for her at the Open.

Last year’s IWO was played on a course in the late stages of a renovation being directed by Michigan architect Ray Hearn. Now the renovation, which featured 20 sod-wall bunkers, is complete.

“We’re very proud of the reputation we’ve developed for the IWO,’’ said Dan Phillips, Mistwood’s director of golf. “This year’s event will be very exciting, as the women will experience several new challenges on the course. The new bunkers will be more in play and closer to the greens than they were in the past.’’

A big week for NU

In incoming freshman at Northwestern were big winners.

Matt Fitzpatrick of Sheffield, England, was low amateur at the British Open, shooting 10-over-par 294 at Muirfield in Scotland. Fitzgerald took home the Silver Medal, an award first presented in 1949. Previous winners were Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Hal Sutton and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Kacie Komoto, who will join the NU women’s team, captured the Hawaiian State Women’s Match Play title. Both Fitzpatrick and Komoto will compete in their respective U.S. Amateurs next month.

Did you know?

Barrington’s Heather Ciskowski won last week’s Women’s Western Golf Assn. Junior title in Dubuque, Iowa. She defeated Naperville’s Bing Singhsumalee, the Illinois Women’s Amateur champion, 2 and 1 in the semifinals and then defeated Kelsey Murphy of Plymouth, Mich., in a title match that went 20 holes.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. will conduct qualifiers for the U.S. Amateur at both Ivanhoe and LaGrange on Monday.

The Western Amateur will take a break from its Chicago rotation next week with a week-long staging at The Alotian Club in Arkansas beginning on Monday. It’ll return to Chicago in 2014, at Beverly Country Club.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. revamped its tournament schedule this year, and the biggest change comes this week when the men’s 83rd Illinois State Amateur tees off a month earlier than previous years.

It began a three-day 72-hole run at Aldeen, in Rockford, on Tuesday. After its conclusion on Thursday many of the same players will head for The Glen Club in Glenview, where the 64th Illinois Open tees off on Monday.

Both tourneys are steeped in history, and the back-to-back scheduling puts Glenview’s Quinn Prchal in the spotlight first. He was one of the youngest-ever winners in the State Amateur last year. Then 18, he took the title shortly after his graduation from Glenbrook South High School. He’ll try to defend after a successful freshman season at Princeton University, during which he was named the Ivy League’s Rookie of the Year.

Prchal broke a string of five straight State Am titles for Big Ten golfers. This time he’ll try to become the first repeat champion since Todd Mitchell of Bloomington ruled in 2002-03. Mitchell, who is also in the field at Aldeen, is one of only three players to win back-to-back since the tournament went to a stroke play format in 1963. The other two – Bob Zender and D.A. Points – went on to become regulars on the PGA Tour.

The State Am has 137 starters, 114 of whom earned their spots at 10 state-wide qualifying rounds. Among the 23 players exempt from those was Aurora’s Bryce Emory, who won the CDGA Amateur and will try to become the fifth player to sweep the CDGA’s two premier titles in the same year. Those who accomplished that feat were Dave Huske (1963), Mike Milligan (1974), Dave Ogrin (1980) and Joel Hirsch (1988).

Prchal also entered the Illinois Open, but he won’t be in the spotlight at The Glen unless he wins at Aldeen. The player to watch in the Open is Illinois coach Mike Small, who will try again for a fifth title to tie Gary Pinns for the most wins in tourney history.

Small won for the last time in 2007 and was runner-up the next two years. Pinns won his last crown in 1990.

A record-tying win would be in keeping with the great year Small has enjoyed. In June he guided his Illini to a fifth straight Big Ten title and a runner-up finish in the NCAA championship. Then he tied for fourth in the Professional Players National Championship in Oregon, a feat that earned him another berth in August’s PGA Championship and a spot on the U.S. team for September’s PGA Cup matches against Europe in England.

In October Small, 47, will become the youngest inductee into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame.

All of Small’s Illinois Open wins came at The Glen, which will host the tourney for a record eighth time next week. The tourney was played there from 2002-2007 and returned in 2012, when Chicago mini-tour player and Notre Dame graduate Max Scodro took the title in a five-hole playoff with 2010 winner Eric Meierdierks.

Meierdierks earned his PGA Tour card last fall and won’t return to this year’s Illinois Open where 156 players will tee off on Monday. The field, which includes a much more than usual 71 amateurs, will be cut to the low 50 and ties after Tuesday’s round. The survivors will play another 18 on Wednesday to decide the champion.

In the Illinois State Amateur the cut will come after Wednesday’s round, with the low 30 and ties or any player within 10 strokes of the lead going 36 holes on Thursday before the winner is crowned.

Did you know?

Bloomington’s Lauren English, runner-up in the recent Illinois Women’s Amateur, defeated Michigan’s Samantha Troyanovich, the reigning Illinois Women’s Open champion, in the round of 64 at last week’s Women’s Western Amateur in Dayton, Ohio. English was eliminated in the round of 32. Troyanovich will begin defense of her IWO title at Mistwood in Romeoville on July 31.

The Mount Prospect-based Bricton Group has taken over management of the Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa in Galena. Texas-based Touchstone Golf will manage Eagle Ridge’s four courses.

The Encompass Championship, which brought the Champions Tour back to Chicago for the first time since 2002 last month, has announced June 16-22 dates for 2014. The event will return to North Shore in Glenview.

Zach Johnson’s title defense and three-time winner Steve Stricker’s return to the PGA Tour may be the focal points of the John Deere Classic, which tees off Thursday in Silvis, IL., on the outskirts of the Quad Cities.

The 43-year old $4.6 million championship, though, may have its best field ever thanks to the first-ever participation of major champions Keegan Bradley and Trevor Immelman. It doesn’t hurt that Ryo Ishikawa, the young Japanese sensation, is also making his first appearance in the U.S. event immediately preceding the British Open.

Bradley won the 2011 PGA Championship and Immelman the 2008 Masters. They’re among 11 winners of major championships who will be boarding the jet from the Quad Cities Airport on Sunday night for the direct flight to Scotland and the third major championship of 2013 at Muirfield.

The JDC field was immediately upgraded when director Clair Peterson ordered the first chartered jet to the British in 2008.

“The charter has made it possible for us to attract more international players who may or may not be exempt for the British Open,’’ said Peterson. “It’s no secret that golf is an international game, and the jet enables us to compete for players we might not have been able to attract before we had it.’’

Never has the JDC foreign contingent been as strong as it is this year. That 39-player group includes 11 Australians and seven Koreans including Si Woo Kim – the youngest player to graduate through the PGA Tour’s qualifying school. He was 17 when he survived the rigorous 90-hole competition but couldn’t compete until he turned 18. The JDC will be his first tournament.

Of the six players from Sweden among the 156 starters are JDC rookies Jonas Blixt (winner of the Greenbriar Classic on Sunday), Peter Hanson, Robert Karlsson and Henrik Norlander. Nine players in the field are exempt for the British and more could get in through their play at TPC Deere Run.

The tourney has a Thursday-Sunday run. It’s the PGA Tour’s only summer visit to Illinois; the BMW Championship stops at Conway Farms in Lake Forest in September.

Another Senior Open for Sobb

Ivanhoe pro Jim Sobb has qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, which tees off Thursday at Omaha Country Club in Nebraska. He made it to the 50-and-over major championship by finishing second in a 58-player sectional elimination in Minnesota.

Sobb, who also qualified for the Senior Open in 2006 and 2009, had some heart-breaking match play losses this spring. He bowed in 21 holes to Gary Groh of Bob O’Link in the Illinois PGA Senior Match Play final after losing a semifinal to Biltmore’s Doug Bauman in the section’s regular Match Play event.

Joining Sobb at Omaha will be Blue Island’s Jerry Vidovic, who got into the Senior Open as first alternate at the Chicago sectional, held at Ruth Lake in Hinsdale. Vidovic got a spot in the field when Olin Browne withdrew.

Singhsumalee hopes to go national

Naperville’s Bing Singhsumalee, the 16-year old champion of this year’s Illinois Women’s Amateur, heads the field in Wednesday’s sectional qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Biltmore, in North Barrington.

State amateur champions of previous last two years – Nora Lucas (2011) and Elizabeth Szokol (2012)– are also in the 62-player field that competes for seven berths in the finals at Country Club of Charleston in South Carolina.

When Singhsumalee won her state title she was believed to be the youngest winner of the 80-year old tournament. The Illinois Women’s Golf Assn. made a further check of its records, however, and found that nine-time winner Lois Drafke was only 15 when she won for the first time in 1953.

Did you know?

Matt Fitzpatrick, a Northwestern recruit from Sheffield, England, qualified for next week’s British Open. Fitzpatrick, who will be an NU freshman in the fall, survived a 36-hole elimination to play at Muirfield.

The men’s three-day Illinois State Amateur tees off next Tuesday at Aldeen in Rockford. Princeton University sophomore Quinn Prchal, from Glenview, is defending champion.