Good things may still be ahead for Joe Affrunti, who gets back on the PGA Tour at the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities in two weeks, but the Crystal Lake golfer will have a hard time forgetting what happened to him in his last tournament.

Affrunti, who missed half of his rookie season on the PGA Tour because of shoulder surgery in June of 2011, looked like he was finally getting a good break while leading the United Leasing Championship on the PGA’s Web.com Tour on Sunday.

Bouncing between the PGA and Web.com circuits the last two months after returning to action, Affrunti was tied for the lead with Billy Hurley III through 16 holes at Victoria National – a spectacular layout in Newburgh, Ind. — on Sunday.

Hurley then put his second shot at No. 17 in a hazard and took a double bogey. Affrunti, on the green in two, needed a two-putt par to take a two-stroke lead to the final hole.

So what happened? Affrunti four-putted and wound up in a four-way tie for the lead through the regulation 72 holes. With darkness setting in, the four co-leaders (all at 11-under-par 277) had to return for a sudden death playoff on Monday, and Affrunti was eliminated when he made bogey on the first extra hole. After putting his drive in the rough he missed an eight-foot par putt.

Ben Martin took the title with a two-putt par, leaving the four-putt of the day before another career derailer for Affrunti. He missed from five feet and then from three on that nightmarish 71st hole of regulation. Both putts hit the hole but didn’t fall.

“The ball’s in twice, and still lips out. It is what it is,’’ said Affrunti, the 2004 Illinois Open champion. He still earned $44,800 for his tie for second (Martin pocketed $108,000), and much more money will be available at the $4.6 million JDC, which begins is 72-hole at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, IL., on July 11.

Affrunti will be one of five former University of Illinois golfers in the field, joining Steve Stricker, Luke Guthrie, D.A. Points and Scott Langley. They’ll all be trying to dethrone defending champion Zach Johnson in the final PGA Tour event before the British Open.

Small’s in PGA again

Illinois coach Mike Small finished in a tie for fourth at the PGA Professionals National Championship in Oregon last week, and that earned him his ninth berth in next month’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.

Small, who also qualified for three U.S. Opens, made the cut at the PGA in 2005, 2007 and 2011. He was voted into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame last month.

Did you know?

Bryce Emory, a recent Northern Illinois University graduate from Aurora, defeated Blake Johnson of Winnetka 2 and 1 in the final of the 94th Chicago District Golf Assn. Amateur at Edgewood Valley in LaGrange.

Dennis and Tim Troy will be the honorees when the Illinois PGA conducts its Senior Masters tourney on July 29 at Onwentsia in Lake Forest.

The 22nd Illinois State Amateur Public Links Championship will be held Monday and Tuesday (JULY 8-9) at Bowes Creek in Elgin. Qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Amateur is next Wednesday (JULY 10) at Biltmore in North Barrington.

The Chicago Lighthouse will honor former Bears’ coach Mike Ditka at its July 15 fundraiser outing at North Shore in Glenview. Proceeds benefit programs for the blind or visually impaired.

This week’s golf, both nationally and locally, is all about the women.

The U.S. Women’s Open tees off on Thursday at Sebonack, a seven-year old New York course co-designed by Tom Doak and Jack Nicklaus. Meanwhile, the Illinois Women’s Amateur begins the match play portion of its competition on Wednesday (TODAY) and concludes on Friday at Cantigny in Wheaton.

Two Illinois players will be in the field at Sebonack. Nicole Jeray, the veteran LPGA Tour player from Berwyn, survived a May 5 qualifying session at Elkridge Club in Baltimore and Chelsea Harris, a former University of Iowa player from Normal, advanced at a May 14 sectional at Cantigny in Wheaton.

Harris, who earned her berth in a playoff, works with swing guru John Platt, last year’s Illinois PGA Teacher of the Year. Platt, now working out of Mistwood in Romeoville, will be Harris’ caddie at Sebonack.

Jeray, 42, regained her LPGA playing privileges this year and ranks 111th on the circuit’s money list with $20,670 won in 11 events. She came up one stroke shy of missing the cut in her last start – the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship that concluded on Sunday.

Inbee Park won that tourney and will be a heavy favorite at Sebonack when she goes after her fifth win of the season. Two of her previous ones came in LPGA majors – the Kraft Nabisco and Wegmans LPGA Championship. The last LPGA player to win three majors in a row was Babe Zaharias 63 years ago.

Park will try to keep her streak going in the tourney’s first visit to Long Island in its 68-year history. While Jeray and Harris are longshots, both are in select company. This year’s Women’s Open drew a record 1,420 entrants from 46 states. The previous record entry was last year, when 1,364 tried to get into the final at Wisconsin’s Blackwolf Run.

Fourteen of the 156 starters at Sebonack are teenagers, the youngest being Nelly Korda of Bradenton, FL. She is the younger sister of Jessica Korda, one of the 81 players exempt from qualifying rounds, and they are the daughters of Petr Korda, a former touring tennis pro who won the 1998 Australian Open doubles title.

Anniversary event for IWGA

The Illinois Women’s Golf Assn. will celebrate the 80th anniversary of its state amateur championship at Cantigny.

Qualifying rounds, played on Tuesday, placed the entrants in flights for the match play portion. Northwestern student Elizabeth Szokol, from Winnetka, won last year’s title at Ravisloe in Homewood, defeating Michelle Mayer of Illinois in the final.

Cantigny will host the Women’s Amateur for the first time. The men’s Illinois State Amateur was played there in 1996, 2002 and 2008.

Did you know?

The 94th Chicago District Golf Assn. Amateur runs through Thursday at Edgewood Valley, in LaGrange.

Thomas Pieters, who helped Illinois to a runner-up finish in the NCAA tournament in his junior season, has turned professional. He made his pro debut in the Scottish Hydro Challenge on the European tour.

Next month’s John Deere Classic will include young stars Justin Thomas, who helped Alabama to the NCAA title, and Patrick Rodgers of Stanford in its starting field. They received sponsor’s exemptions as did Jordan Spieth, who was invited to last year’s JDC and has four top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this season.

The Golf for the Child outing, benefitting Court Appointed Special Advocates of Will County, will be played at Ruffled Feathers on Friday. Proceeds from the event will serve abused and neglected children.

Hinsdale’s Brendan O’Reilly lost a playoff with Daniel Wetterich of Cincinnati for the Boys Division title at this week’s Midwest Junior Players Championship at Mistwood. Bolingbrook’s Jessica Yuen was third in the Girls division of the American Junior Golf Assn. event.

Some of Nick Price’s best days in a Hall of Fame career on the PGA Tour came in Chicago, when he won back-to-back Western Opens at Cog Hill in 1993 and 1994.

Price’s participation in this week’s new Encompass Championship is big news on the Champions Tour simply because he’s playing again. He hasn’t competed on the 50-and-over circuit since last August when he suffered a torn ligament in his left elbow.

His return comes at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, in the second of three new tournaments on the Champions Tour schedule. One of eight former Western champions in the field, Price will hit his first shot in Thursday’s pro-am. There’ll also be a day-long pro-am on Wednesday (TODAY), and among the players in it will be Bob Gilder – winner of the circuit’s last Chicago event, at Harborside in 2002.

The Encompass’ 54-hole main event begins on Friday with a new look from the circuit’s previous Chicago visits. In the first two rounds the 81 pros will be paired with an amateur in a two-man, two-day team event. The amateurs include a few celebrity types – Bears’ kicker Robbie Gould; retired football stars Joe Theismann and Brian Urlacher; ex-Bulls Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc; new Bears’ coach Marc Trestman; Jack O’Callahan, who played for the Blackhawks after helping the U.S. won an Olympic hockey gold medal in 1980; wounded warrior Chad Watson and Hawks’ broadcaster Pat Foley.

Only the pros will be on the course on Sunday when the $1.8 million purse will be distributed, with the champion receiving $270,000.

Nine winners from the Champions Tour’s first 10 tournaments of 2013 are in the field, including David Frost and Bernhard Langer – the only two-time champions. They also rank 1-2 in the circuit’s season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings.

Champions from Chicago’s golfing past will be headed by Hale Irwin, who won five times on area courses – the 1975 Western Open at Butler National, the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah, the 1995 Ameritech Senior Open at Stonebridge and the 1998 and 1999 ASO at Kemper Lakes.

Irwin, Langer and Price are among seven Hall of Famers in the field, the others being Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw and Sandy Lyle. In addition to Irwin and Price the Western Open winners competing at North Shore include Tom Kite (1986), Crenshaw (1992), Scott Simpson (1980), D.A. Weibring (1987), Wayne Levi (1990) and Russ Cochran (1991).

Another former Chicago winner, John Riegger, will make his Champions Tour debut at North Shore after just reaching his 50th birthday. He won the 2007 LaSalle Bank Open on the Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour.

He’s a player again

Lance Ten Broeck learned his golf on Chicago’s South Side and won on the PGA Tour before switching from player to caddie. As Jasper Parnevik’s long-time bag-toter Ten Broeck rarely competed as a player, but he’ll be in the field this week. He shot 68 in Monday’s open qualifying round at Deerfield to earn a spot among five survivors. Tim Matthews was low man with a 66.

Ten Broeck isn’t the only player giving the Encompass some local flavor. Jeff Sluman, Gary Hallberg and Chip Beck – all Champions Tour regulars – are also entered.

Did you know?

The Illinois Women’s Amateur makes a rare Chicago appearance next week. The 80th version of the event will begin a four-day run on Tuesday (JUNE 25) at Cantigny in Wheaton.

Samantha Troyvanovich has made a verbal commitment to defend her Illinois Women’s Open title at Mistwood next month. She’s competing in the Women’s Western Amateur this week in Dayton, Ohio.

Steven Ihm, the first University of Iowa golfer to be awarded a sponsor’s exemption to the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, just captured the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur title in Pennsylvania.

Pat Rollins, the Lombard police officer who got a confused Rory McIlroy to last September’s Ryder Cup singles matches at Medinah in the nick of time, has been named police chief in Sugar Grove.

Wilson Sporting Goods will host Mike Small Day festivities June 28 at Stone Creek in Urbana.

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.