Everything’s coming together for next week’s Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club in Glenview.

Fred Couples and Tom Lehman have formally entered the first Champions Tour stop in Chicago since 2002, assuring the event one of the strongest fields on the 50-and-over circuit. The 81 starters include all of the top 10 on the circuit’s season money list and 28 of the top 30.

“There’s been a big change on the Champions Tour since 2002,’’ said tournament director Mike Galeski. “Ten-fifteen years ago there were a bunch of old, fat guys but these players today play quite well and they’ll be playing on a course that’s easy to walk around. People can get real close to these guys.’’

The only notable absentee from the commitment list is Tom Watson who won three Western Opens at Chicago courses during his career on the PGA Tour.

Galeski also announced two more of the 10 celebrity participants, who will be in the two-day pro-am on June 21-22. Bulls’ legends Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc will be among the celebs paired with one of the Champions Tour players in the tournament within the tournament. Only the 81 pros will play on Sunday, June 23, the final day of the $1.8 million event.

Encompass Championship preliminaries begin on Friday (JUNE 14), with a pre-qualifying round for Illinois PGA players at Deerfield Golf Club. The survivors of that elimination will advance to the final qualifying on Monday, also at Deerfield. In that one they’ll battle Champions Tour members who didn’t qualifying for the starting field on past performance. Among that batch are veteran touring pros Fulton Allem, Tom Byrum, T.C. Chen, Trevor Dodds, Blaine McCallister and David Peoples.

Many of the players won’t be in a hurry to leave Chicago after the Encompass ends. They’ll stay for a June 24 qualifying round for the U.S. Senior Open at Ruth Lake in Hinsdale. The U.S. Golf Assn., which conducts the Senior Open, has reported that a Chicago player – 58-year old Burr Ridge amateur Brian Gold – was the first entry nation-wide for that national championship.

Meierdierks, Affrunti enjoy breakthroughs

Wilmette’s Eric Meierdierks and Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti – both former Illinois Open champions — used last week’s St. Jude Classic in Memphis to jump-start their PGA Tour seasons.

Meierdierks, making his third cut in 12 starts, had a third-round hole-in-one en route to finishing in a tie for 35th place. Despite a final-round 75, that was a career best finish for the PGA Tour rookie and his $28,714 paycheck boosted his season earnings to $51,159.

Affrunti made his first PGA Tour start after a lengthy rehab from major shoulder surgery. He suffered a torn labrum on his left shoulder in June, 20ll, and was on medical leave for eight months. Affrunti had played on the Web.com Tour in the late stages of his rehab and made four cuts in eight starts on the satellite circuit before tying for 47th at Memphis and earning $15,333.

Though they’ve earned PGA Tour playing privileges, Meierdierks and Affrunti have had trouble getting into events. Neither qualified for this week’s U.S. Open but could make the field for next week’s Travelers Championship in Hartford, Ct.

Did you know?

Rich Harvest Farms owner Jerry Rich will host still another big event. The Palmer Cup, pitting the best college golfers from the U.S. and Great Britain-Ireland, will be played at the Sugar Grove course in 2015.

Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw, among the Encompass entrants, will conduct a short-game clinic at Bolingbrook Golf Club at 3 p.m. next Tuesday (JUNE 18).

The Golf for the Child Classic, a fund-raiser for Court Appointed Special Advocates of Will County that serves abused and neglected children, will be held at Ruffled Feathers in Lemont on June 28.

The next Illinois Golf Hall of Fame induction – honoring Jay Haas, Mike Small and Bob Harris – has been set for Oct. 25 at The Glen Club in Glenvew.

The Golf Scene, hosted by Steve Kashul on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, begins its 20th season this week. It’s the longest-airing local golf show in the United States.

Sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open, aptly dubbed “golf’s longest day,’’ was especially long for the Chicago players hoping to land a berth in the Open proper at Pennsylvania’s Merion course in two weeks.

None made it through Monday’s 11 nation-wide 36-hole sectionals, and newly named Medinah assistant pro Travis Johns is the only one with even a faint chance of cracking the 156-man starting field at Merion.

Johns lost the second — and last — spot available in a sectional at Old Warson in St. Louis in a playoff. His opponent, Mackenzie Hughes – a 22-year old two-time Canadian Amateur champion – made par on the first extra hole to drop John into the first alternate spot. First alternates frequently make it into the field thanks to late withdrawals, so Johns still has a chance.

Hughes and Johns were both at par 142 for 36-holes at Old Warson, three strokes behind medalist Jay Don Blake. Blake, 54, finished second in the Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Ia., on Sunday.

Most of the Chicago players who survived the local qualifying rounds competed at Old Warson. Lake Forest mini-tour player Brad Hopfinger, who had the low score in Chicago’s two local qualifiers, was second alternate after posting 143. Reigning Illinois Open champion Max Scodro and Cantigny teaching pro Rich Dukelow were at 155.

Mixed results for the Illini

Illinois men’s coach Mike Small qualified for sectional play but understandably withdrew from the Old Warson elimination, citing fatigue after playing 22 holes. His Illini completed a spectacular season with a runner-up finish in the NCAA finals, which climaxed on Sunday in Atlanta.

The Illini, 4-1 losers to Alabama in the title match, had the best NCAA showing by a northern school since Minnesota won the title in 2002.

Two of Small’s former players now playing on the PGA Tour, Scott Langley and Luke Guthrie, will play at Merion. Langley survived sectional play in Memphis and Guthrie did the same at Columbus, Ohio. Guthrie needed a playoff to do it.

JDC lands 19 recent winners

Early commitments to next month’s John Deere Classic, the annual PGA Tour stop in the Quad Cities, included 19 winners of recent PGA Tour events along with at least 12 British Open qualifiers.

Tournament director Clair Peterson confirmed the entries of defending champion Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker, the winner from 2009-2011. Other recent champions in the field include Boo Weekley (Crowne Plaza Invitational), Kevin Streelman (Tampa Bay), D.A. Points (Houston), Derek Ernst (Wells Fargo) and Sang-Moon Bae (Byron Nelson Classic).

Among the other entrants are Nick Watney, Bo Van Pelt, Charles Howell III, Ben Crane, Mark Wilson. Louis Oosthuizen, Carl Petterson, John Hug and John Senden.

Did you know?

The top players from the Illinois PGA and Chicago District Golf Assn. will battle in the 52nd Radix Cup matches today (WEDNESDAY) at Oak Park Country Club. The six matches begin at 12:30 p.m.

The IPGA Golf Fest will run from noon-6 p.m. on Sunday at White Pines, in Bensenville. Cog Hill, in Lemont, will get a visit from the Ping fitting van from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday and host its Couples Scramble tourney on Sunday over the No. 3 course.

Kris Yoo, a University of Wisconsin junior from Schaumburg, was awarded one of two exemptions to the Island Resort Classic, a June 28-30 stop on the LPGA’s Symetra Tour at Michigan’s Sweetgrass course.

Bob O’Link’s Gary Groh outlasted Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb in a 21-hole final at the IPGA Senior Match Play Championship at Shoreacres in Lake Bluff.

Volunteers and pro-am participants are still needed for the Champions Tour’s new Encompass Championship, coming to North Shore in Glenview June 17-23. Call 847-904-2397 for details. The tourney also announced two more celebrity participants – new Bears’ coach Marc Trestman and Blackhawks’ announcer Pat Foley.

St. Louis was the site of the Senior PGA Championship, which concluded on Sunday, and it’ll also be the place of choice for the Chicago golfers who survived local qualifying for the 113th U.S. Open, to be played later this month at Merion in Ardmore, Pa.

Old Warson Country Club, in St., Louis, will have a 42-player field for a 36-hole elimination on Monday. It’ll be one of 11 such tournaments held across the U.S. on what’s known as “golf’s longest day’’ to determine the 156 starters at Merion. There were a record 9,865 entries for this U.S. Open and only 52 were exempt from the qualifying rounds.

Chicago has hosted a sectional every year for at least four decades, but not this time. That meant the 10 survivors of Chicago’s two local qualifying tournaments had to travel and Old Warson got the bulk of them. Newly-named Medinah teaching professional Travis Johns will be the first player to tee off there.

Also completing at Old Warson, a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design that opened in 1955 , will be Lake Forest’s Brad Hopfinger, the 2011 Illinois Amateur champion who was low man in the Chicago locals with a 66 at Northmoor in Highland Park on May 6; Illinois Open titlist Max Scodro; Cantigny teaching pro Rich Dukelow; 2008 Illinois Am winner Zach Barlow; and amateur Kenneth Li of Westmont.

They’ll have tough competition at Old Warson. Champions Tour members Mark O’Meara, Jay Haas and Jay Don Blake have also entered there. The number of qualifiers at each sectional hasn’t been announced, but those with the strongest fields will get the most.

Old Warson has hosted three previous U.S. Open sectionals, the last in 2004, but the biggest event held there was the 1971 Ryder Cup matches.

Double duty for Small

Last week University of Illinois men’s coach Mike Small was selected for the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, but the excitement of that career achievement didn’t end there. His Illini won an NCAA regional at Fayetteville, Ark., and began play in the NCAA Championship at Capital City Club near Atlanta on Tuesday.

It’s Illinois’ sixth straight appearance in the NCAA finals, but the first time the Illini got there by winning a regional. The NCAA final extends to Sunday (JUNE 2) and if the Illini are still in the competition by then Small could have a travel dilemma.

He also survived local qualifying for the U.S. Open, having advanced through an 18-hole elimination in Noblesville, Ind. Small is entered in the Old Warson sectional. Getting an overnight flight from Atlanta to St. Louis might be possible but arriving fresh enough for a tense 36-hole day might not be.

Did you know?

The PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic has given a sponsor’s exemption to a college player – Iowa junior Steven Ihm. He’s also among the U.S. Open hopefuls competing at Old Warson.

Cantigny, in Wheaton, has added Monica Coleman to its teaching staff. She’ll be the staff’s performance coach.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. will conduct two qualifiers today (MAY 29). U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links berths will be on the line at Wilmette Golf Club and spots in the CDGA Amateur will be available at River Forest, in Elmhurst.

The Illinois PGA’s Senior Match Play Championship concludes Thursday (MAY 30) at Shoreacres, in Lake Bluff.

Shiloh Park, a nine-holer in Zion, will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Thursday (MAY 30) by charging $1 for a round of golf and another 10 cents assessment to offset the cost of installing a fence to enclose the course.

No Chicago-born and raised golfer has accomplished more than Gary Hallberg, and now he’s coming back.

Hallberg was a state high school champion at Barrington, an Illinois Open winner twice, an NCAA champion at Wake Forest and the first player to earn PGA Tour playing privileges without going to qualifying school.

As a professional he was the PGA’s rookie-of-the-year in 1980. He won on the PGA Tour three times, the Nationwide (now Buy.com) circuit and the Champions Tour. He also won in Japan. Last year he was runner-up to Fred Couples in the Senior British Open.

About to turn 55 on May 31, Hallberg is a regular on the Champions Tour. He’ll be competing in the Senior PGA Championship, at Bellerive in St. Louis, starting on Thursday, and has entered the Encompass Championship, which begins at North Shore in Glenview on June 21. That event marks the 50-and-over circuit’s return to Chicago for the first time in 12 years.

Hallberg is happy to compete in Chicago again, though he’s lived in Colorado for several years. Born in Berwyn, Hallberg’s family lived in Park Ridge before moving to North Barrington in 1969. His parents still live there, and Hallberg’s heart has never left the area. He was back last week, in part for a practice round at North Shore before heading to St. Louis.

“My folks are here and my daughter goes to school here,’’ said Hallberg. “It’s my home away from home. I love to reminisce about the good days here.’’

His father George, a Swedish immigrant, introduced Hallberg to golf when he was 8 years old. His first round was at Rob Roy, in Prospect Heights. He developed his game playing the former Thunderbird (now Makray) course in Barrington and still holds the course record (a 64) at Stonehenge, the Barrington private facility. He also caddied at Biltmore, another Barrington private club.

“All I wanted to do back then was play golf,’’ said Hallberg. “If there was a patch of green grass I wanted to hit a ball off it. I developed an addiction to the game. I’d polish my clubs with a tooth brush.’’

The passion for golf has never left, though Hallberg is married with two grown children now. His son Eric, 19, is showing interest in playing golf.

“He wants to give it a shot, but it’s whatever he wants,’’ said Hallberg. “I stand back a little. It’s his journey. That’s what my dad did.’’

This Champions Tour season hasn’t been a rousing success yet. Hallberg’s best finish in a tie for 17th. But he’s well rested going into this week’s first major championship for the circuit at Bellerive. He’s also looking forward to North Shore, where he played several times as the guest of the club’s late long-time professional Bill Ogden.

“I feel prepared after a few works off to work,’’ said Hallberg, “and it’s fantastic we’re going to North Shore. I think we’ll get a great turnout.’’

More honors for Small

Life couldn’t get much better for Illinois men’s coach Mike Small these days. As a player he shot 69 and earned the last of four U.S. Open sectional qualifying berths offered in a local qualifier at Sangamore Club in Noblesville, Ind. As a coach, his Illini won an NCAA regional at Fayetteville, Ark., to advance to the finals starting next Tuesday (MAY 28)_in Atlanta.

To cap off the month Small was selected to the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame. The selection committee voted in Small, Champions Tour veteran Jay Haas and Bob Harris, former head professional at Sunset Ridge in Northbrook. Induction ceremonies will be held in October at The Glen Club in Glenview.

Another big event at Medinah

Medinah will never have an event as big as last fall’s Ryder Cup, but the club will host perhaps the year’s biggest charity event next Tuesday (MAY 28). It’ll include play on the famed No. 3 course, the Ryder Cup site.

The fourth annual Medinah Patriot Day will be played on both the Nos. 2 and 3 courses. No. 1 is undergoing a renovation supervised by architect Tom Doak. The event provides financial assistance to support Illinois military families.

Chicago’s two local qualifying tournaments for the U.S. Open are over. Now comes the hard part for the 10 golfers who survived.

They were the lucky ones among the 180 who entered the 18-hole eliminations at Northmoor, in Highland Park, and Seven Bridges, in Woodridge, the last two weeks. Next up is the U.S. Golf Association’s self-proclaimed “longest day in golf’’ – on June 3, when the 11 sectionals, all 36-hole sessions, are contested around the country to complete the 156-man field for the 113th Open proper at Merion, in Ardmore, Pa., from June 13-16.

Chicago’s 10 can pick their own sectional. Chicago won’t host one for the first time in at least five decades. Based on geography the closest is at Old Warson in St. Louis, but some players may opt for Columbus, Ohio. More qualifying spots will likely be available there with most of the PGA Tour players who haven’t already qualified the week before at the nearby Memorial tournament.

Most of the record 9,865 entries for this year’s Open were eliminated in the 111 local eliminations. Chicago’s 10 survivors are headed by 2011 Illinois Amateur champion Brad Hopfinger of Lake Forest, who has been playing on the Gateway Tour since leaving the University of Iowa. He posted the low round at the Chicago locals – a 66 at Northmoor.

Co-medalists at Seven Bridges were Chicago’s Michael Smith and Libertyville’s Michael Schachner, a perennial Illinois Open contender and mini-tour player who once shot a 60 while playing collegiately at Duke. Both posted 69s at the local.

Two of the top teaching club pros, Rich Dukelow and Travis Johns, also qualified for the sectionals. Dukelow was the Illinois PGA player-of-the-year in 2011. Johns, who won that honor in 2010, joined the staff at Medinah last week.

St. Charles assistant Curtis Malm, who swept Illinois PGA player-of-the-year and assistant player-of-the-year honors in 2012, didn’t survive the locals. He shot 74 at Seven Bridges, one shot out of a playoff for the final two sectional berths available.

Jeray advances

The lone Chicago area member on the LPGA Tour has qualified for the U.S.Women’s Open. Berwyn’s Nicole Jeray made it by posting a 143 total for 36 holes at Elkridge Club in Baltimore in last week’s first qualifying session. She was five strokes behind medalist Christina Kim and is assured a spot in the Women’s Open proper at New York’s Sebonack course June 27-30.

Life is looking up for Jeray, who missed the cut in her first three LPGA starts. In addition to surviving the Open qualifier she made the cut in her last two LPGA events and now has season winnings of $6,211.

Tuesday’s Chicago sectional at Cantigny didn’t produce a Chicago qualifier, though Chelsea Harris, a former University of Iowa golfer from Normal, was the first alternate. She lost in a playoff with Ana Menendez of Raleigh, N.C., for the second and last Open berth. Carolina Powers, of East Lansing, Mich., was medalist with a 71-72—143 for the 36 holes.

NCAA-bound

Northwestern is in the NCAA women’s finals for the second time thanks to a final-round charge in last week’s East Regional. With Winnetka freshman Elizabeth Szokol shooting a 4-under-par 68 coach Emily Fletcher’s team climbed from 10th to sixth in the final 18 of the 54-hole test.

NU’s only other berth in the finals came in 2000. This time the freshman-dominated squad will compete May 21-24 at the University of Georgia’s course

Both Big Ten champion Illinois and Northwestern are in the men’s NCAA tourney, which starts with regional play on Thursday. The Illini are the sixth seed of 14 teams in a regional in Fayetteville, Ark., while the Wildcats are the sixth seed among 13 teams at Baton Rouge, La.

Did you know?

The 62nd Illinois PGA Match Play Championship, first of the section’s four major tourneys, is in progress at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove. The semifinals and finals are on Thursday.

Tampa’s loss is Chicago’s gain.

The Champions Tour is preparing for its return to Chicago after an 11-year absence, and the new version will be much different than the 12 tournaments played here from 1991-2002. The Encompass Championship will be top-heavy in pro-ams when it takes over North Shore Country Club in Glenview from June 17-23, and about 10 of the amateurs will be celebrity types.

“The celebrity pro-am format will play well with the community here,’’ predicted Tom Ealy, president of Encompass – a Northbrook-based insurance firm that is a division of All-State. Very few pro tournaments on any of the tours have gone that route, the notable exception being the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour.

Ealy felt a Chicago version would be ideal after a Champions Tour event in Tampa lost the Outback restaurant chain as its sponsor. As part of an agreement with the PGA, Encompass agreed to sponsor the Tampa event in 2012 and move it to North Shore for the next three years.

“We only had 45 days from the day we signed our contract, but (the Tampa event) exceeded our expectations,’’ said Ealy. “It was a very well-run tournament for 25 years, and we loved what we saw.’’

So now Ealy, planning for its Chicago debut, is rounding up volunteers and pro-am participants. He’s also started his celebrity recruitment. This week he announced the first three – retired and present football stars Joe Theismann and Robbie Gould and TV and film actor Dennis Haysbert.

“We have asks out to some very high-profile people,’’ said Ealy. “Maybe some tournaments don’t have a celebrity format because – if they don’t get the right celebrities – it might not be positive for your tournament. But we think having a Chicago-themed event adds to people’s interest.’’

Standard pro-ams will be held on Wednesday and Thursday and the first two rounds of the 54-hole $1.8 million tournament will have 81 amateurs (some celebrities) playing with the 81 professionals. The tourney will conclude with only the pros playing on Sunday.

Ealy, who took over as Encompass president 18 months ago, went after the golf event “because it was very apparent that we needed to build our brand.’’ The tournament will do that and also help two charities – Bears Care and the Illinois Veterans Fund of McCormick Foundation.

Ealy expects the professional field to be outstanding.

“We’re really excited. The current commitment list has 27 of the top 30 from last year plus six Hall of Famers,’’ said Ealy. The Hall of Famers are Bernhard Langer, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Nick Price, Ben Crenshaw and Sandy Lyle. Fred Couples and Tom Watson haven’t entered yet but Ealy is hopeful.

The Encompass Championship falls between last year’s spectacular Ryder Cup at Medinah and the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, which comes to Conway Farms in Lake Forest in September.

“We know about the Ryder Cup and BMW,’’ said Ealy, “but we’ll be the only tournament that stays here every year.’’

A strong statement

There’s no question about which state has the best golfers in the Big Ten these days. Illinois’ men won the conference tournament for the fifth straight year on Sunday and Northwestern’s women won their first-ever league title, tying with Purdue for the top spot at French Lick, Ind.

Not only that, but NU’s Hana Lee shot the low round (68) of the women’s competition, Illinois’ Thomas Pieters was medalist among the men and NU’s Jack Perry won the Les Bolstad Award for the lowest scoring average in the Big Ten this season. He’s the first Wildcat to win that award since Luke Donald took it from 1999-2001.

A wide Open field

Local qualifying rounds for June’s U.S. Open at Merion in Philadelphia begin here on Monday when Perry and 89 others compete for sectional berths at Northmoor in Highland Park.

Another 90-player local will be held on May 13 at Seven Bridges in Woodridge. Curtis Malm, the Illinois PGA’s player-of-the-year in 2012, heads the field there. The U.S. Golf Assn. announced a record 9,860 entries for the Open – 774 more than the previous high in 2009.

For the first time in many years Chicago won’t have a sectional qualifier, which sends its top players to the starting field at Merion. The closest one will be at Old Warson in St. Louis on June 3.

Finally there’s some good news involving Joe Affrunti, the Crystal Lake golfer who suffered a serious shoulder injury months after earning his PGA Tour card.

Affrunti earned the right to play on golf’s premier circuit by finishing in the top 25 on the Web.com Tour money list in 2010. In June of 2011, however, he suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder that required major surgery and lengthy rehabilitation time.

At least now he’s playing again. On a medical exemption with the PGA Tour, Affrunti is competing on the Web.com circuit again. He made the cut in two of his four starts, earning $4,500. This week’s South Georgia Classic will be the fifth and last Web.com start he’s allowed as part of medical exemption procedures. Then where he plays will be determined on a week to week basis.

“It’s confusing,’’ he said. “I get five medical starts to see how I’m feeling, then I can enter a (PGA Tour) event. I’m allowed 14 starts on the PGA Tour, but I still have to (be eligible to) get in (the tournaments). I won’t get in all 14 until next year.’’

As a low qualifier off the Web.com circuit, his eligibility for PGA Tour events is extremely limited. He was, for instance, only the 14th alternate for last week’s Heritage Classic.

“My first tournament back will probably be in Memphis (St. Jude Classic in June),’’ said Affrunti, “but I can play on the Web.com as long as my (PGA Tour qualifying) number doesn’t come up.’’

Affrunti played at Illinois and won the 2004 Illinois Open at The Glen Club before earning his playing privileges on the pro circuits. Injuries, though, have slowed a promising career. He had major wrist surgery before the shoulder flareup.

“I don’t think I”ll ever be 100 percent,’’ he said. “My wrist surgery was five years ago, and it still acts up. With the shoulder I went a long time without playing. The rehab took a lot longer than I thought it would, and I’ve had trouble being consistent. But you never know when you’ll have good weeks, when your games will come around. The more you play, the more comfortable you feel.’’

An Illini-NU duel?

The Big Ten men’s championship, which tees off Friday at French Lick Resort in Indiana, figures to be an all-Illinois affair with Northwestern trying to end Illinois’ run of four straight titles.

“We’ll go in seeded one-two,’’ said NU coach Pat Goss, whose Wildcats had a run of three straight Big Ten Match Play titles snapped by the Illini in February. “They have kids on their team who have experienced nothing but winning the Big Ten. That’ll give them a lot of confidence. If both of us get going we should have a fun battle.’’

NU tuned up by winning its Spring Invitational at The Glen Club. Illinois finished third in last week’s Boilermaker Invitational at Purdue.

The men’s tourney will be contested on French Lick’s Pete Dye Course when the conference women’s title will be decided at the nearby Donald Ross Course. Michigan State goes for a three-peat on the women’s side.

Did you know?

(BULLET) The full 18 holes of Elk Grove’s Fox Run course, renovated by Aurora architect Greg Martin, are expected to be available this weekend. Last Sunday’s grand re-opening outing was cancelled due to the heavy storms that forced the closing of many area courses.

(BULLET) Cog Hill, in Lemont, will hold a Demo Day from 9 a.m. -3 p.m. on Saturday.

(BULLET) The Illinois PGA holds its first stroke play event of the season on Monday at Bloomington Country Club. The IPGA Assistants Match Play Championship will also begin on that day at courses throughout the state.

(BULLET)) Flossmoor’s Ashley Armstrong won her second tournament of the collegiate season for Notre Dame, taking the Lady Jaguar Invitational at Augusta, Ga.

(BULLET) The Illinois Patriot Education Fund and the McCormick Foundation have joined forced in the staging of the May 28 Medinah Patriot Day outing. It’ll be played over the Nos. 2 and 3 courses at Medinah.

(BULLET) Mundelein-based GolfVisions has taken over management of Fyre Lake, a Jack Nicklaus-design near the Quad Cities.

Berwyn golfer Nicole Jeray spent most of the winter in Augusta, Ga., and she had a pass to get into last week’s spectacular Masters tournament there. The Chicago area’s lone member of the Ladies PGA Tour, however, had more important things to do.

“I could have gotten in off my LPGA pass, ‘’ said Jeray. “I’ve been to the Masters numerous times, but now I prefer to watch on TV. Plus, I’ve got work to do for my own tournaments.’’

Hopefully that work will pay off starting this week, when Jeray’s tournament schedule dramatically picks up. It’s hard to improve your golf game in Chicago winters, so Jeray has been staying with her boyfriend and practicing at Jones Creek – a challenging Rees Jones design near the site of the Masters. When the weather improves her she’ll do her practicing back at Cog Hill, where Jones recently renovated the Dubsdread course, and work with her long-time swing instructor, Dr. Jim Suttie.

At 42 Jeray is among the oldest players on the women’s circuit. She qualified for the first time after her 1992 graduation from Northern Illinois University, where she won eight collegiate tournaments – an accomplishment that led to her being the youngest inductee into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

As a professional, however, things haven’t come so easily. Not only was the competition much stiffer, but Jeray has had to deal with narcolepsy – a sleep disorder. Still, she remains the only LPGA card member from Chicago since Medinah’s Deedee Lasker, who competed briefly in the 1970s.

Jeray’s dedication and determination is extraordinary. She has been on and off the premier women’s circuit several times and has been to its fall qualifying school 19 times.

“Kind of crazy, isn’t it,’’ she said. “My game is better than it’s ever been. A lot of the girls now are 18 years old, but I’m a mature player. I feel I can compete.’’

Lending credence to that belief is her standing in one of the LPGA’s more important statistical categories. She is second among all LPGA players in driving accuracy, having hit 86 percent of the fairways in her first three tournaments.

“I’m very straight. I just need to putt,’’ she said. “When I putt I make money. I’ve tried all kinds of putters. Now I’m holding one that I feel I can make anything with, so we’ll see.’’

On years when she didn’t have LPGA privileges Jeray competed on the much less lucrative Symetra (formerly Futures) Tour. Her latest venture to Q-school was in December, when she tied for 17th among 122 finalists. It took her 90 holes of regulation play and five playoff holes to earn playing privileges in 2013.

Her current card, though, hasn’t gotten her into every tournament and she’s been in limbo the last four months. Just an alternate in the field for the season-opening tournament in Australia, she didn’t know she could play until a week before the event. She hurriedly made the long trip there, but missed the cut.

“I wasn’t prepared mentally or physically,’’ she said. “People were dropping out like flies, so I got in. Then at Phoenix I signed up for Monday qualifying and got in.’’

With an uncertain schedule Jeray has played in three of the year’s six events, missed the cut in all of them and hasn’t earned a dime yet. That could change starting this week, when her schedule solidifies. She’s playing the next three weeks – the Lotte Championship, which tees off Wednesday in Hawaii; the North Texas Shootout, April 25-28 in Dallas; and the Kingsmill Championship, May 2-5 in Virginia.

“It’s been frustrating. When I left Q-School I knew I’d get into a lot of events,’’ she said. “But from now on I should get into all of the full-field events the rest of the year.’’

Last year Luke Donald was the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer entering all four of the sport’s major championships. He was No. 1 for 55 weeks, and it was at the 2012 Masters that his duel for the top spot with Rory McIlroy started.

This year’s Masters begins Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club and Donald has dropped to No. 4 in the world (behind Tiger Woods, McIlroy and Justin Rose) and he hasn’t been having a Luke Donald type of year so far. The Northwestern graduate and long-time Chicago area resident had a tie for fourth as his best showing in four starts on the PGA Tour and he missed the cut the week at the European PGA Tour’s Maybank Malaysian Open.

That missed cut in his last tournament appearance was significant, as it was his first MC on the European circuit after surviving in his first 118 events.

Tweeting that he was “hugely disappointed,’’ Donald philosophized that “all good things come to an end eventually’’ and returned to his winter residence in Jupiter, FL., to prepare for the Masters.

His long-time Northwestern coach, Pat Goss, spent last weekend with Donald. Goss says the missed cut is no cause for concern and that Donald has “a special short game shot that he has worked on for Augusta….You won’t be able to miss it when he uses it!’’

But their Masters preparation hasn’t been easy. Donald and Goss were to meet at Augusta National last Thursday but bad weather there led to them hooking up in Florida instead. They went to Augusta for Friday and Saturday practice sessions and the Friday practice round lasted an unusually long 4 ½ hours with Donald playing by himself and hitting plenty of extra shots en route to the green.

“That’s an example of how important he thinks it is to figure out where you can miss it around the greens and how important short game and putting are at Augusta,’’ said Goss. On Saturday Donald practiced in the morning and played 18 holes with fellow competitor Matteo Manassero in the afternoon, then returned to Jupiter before returning to Augusta on Monday.

Donald conducted his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday and is excited to have his 3-year old daughter Elle be his caddy in Wednesday’s par-3 contest. After that it’s all business, as Donald tries again to claim his coveted first major title.

He’s come closest at the Masters – a tie for third in his first one in 2005. His third top-10 there in eight appearances came in a tie for fourth in 2011 but he tied for 32nd last April.

Donald’s tournament results this season aren’t encouraging, but there’s a reason. He initiated swing changes in the offseason in hopes of adding a reliable draw to his list of shot options, and swing tweaks frequently cause temporary setbacks in performance.

In is last extensive interview prior to this week Donald said he’s making progress with his swing change. His best U.S. tournament was his last one, a tie for fourth at the Tampa Bay Championship where he was the defending champion. Kevin Streelman won there, but Donald was pleased after a bogey-free weekend.

“I’ve made a lot of progress. My game is trending,’’ Donald said three weeks ago. “Hopefully I’m peaking at just the right time.’’

He skipped the PGA Tour’s Bay Hill Invitational the following week to go to Malaysia, a move that was due at least in part to the availability of appearance money. Donald, with over $28 million earned in American PGA tournaments alone, didn’t need it but there were other factors.

“I’ve struggled at Bay Hill. I don’t feel like the course suits my game very well,’’ said Donald, who rested during the Shell Houston Open and Valero Texas Open the past two weeks.

“I’ve never played that well at Houston, and I don’t know anything about Valero,’’ said Donald. “Certainly I didn’t want to take three weeks off before Augusta.’’

Donald, like McIlroy, is a member of both the PGA and European tours and playing in Malaysia helped him fulfill commitments in Europe. The absence of the pressure of being No. 1 helps, too.

“There are less people looking at me, less media attention with more on Rory and Tiger,’’ said Donald. “I can go about my business a little bit more.’’

Goss considers Donald’s game “very solid right now’’ and that the swing change won’t be a factor at the Masters.

“The key for him,’’ said Goss, “will be seeing some putts go in. We’ve worked a lot on his putting, and it is technically good. He just needs that confidence that comes from holing some putts.’’