Kevin Streelman may be the best feel-good story in golf these days, and maybe in all of sports.

Last month Streelman, who grew up in Winfield and built his golf game playing and working at both Cantigny and Arrowhead public courses in Wheaton, won the PGA Tour’s Tampa Bay Championship.

That got him into next week’s Masters, and it also improved the décor in the basement of his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. Streelman made it to the Masters for the first time in 2011 after finishing in the top 30 on the PGA Tour’s FedEx standings in 2010. He missed the cut that time, but vowed he’d be back.

“When I left all I could think about was getting back,’’ he said. “In my basement I’ve got my first Masters invitation from 2011 framed, and I put up an empty frame next to it. I used it as motivation.’’

The motivation paid off when Streelman won his first tournament on the PGA Tour at Innisbrook’s Copperhead layout, a Florida course designed by long-time Chicago course architect Larry Packard. Packard, now 100 years old, was on hand for Streelman’s win and his son Roger was the designer at Cantigny, the 27-layout where Streelman worked to earn a college scholarship to Duke. This is where his story of extreme perseverance began.

After captaining the Duke team Streelman put 400,000 miles on three cars criss-crossing the country in search of professional tournaments. Frequently sleeping in those cars, he wasn’t earning much money and at one point his would-be financial sponsors deserted him, leaving Streelman stranded in California without the money to get home on.

Frustrated, he applied for an assistant coaching job at Duke in 2003 and was one of two finalists. He didn’t get the job, which turned out a blessing – even if it took awhile.

Streelman married and settled in Arizona where he cleaned clubs on weekday mornings and resumed work as a caddie – a job he had performed at Wheaton’s Chicago Golf Club to earn money on summer breaks from Duke – on weekends.

This time Streelman did his bag-toting at Whisper Rock, a haven for PGA Tour players — Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples are among the members — in North Scottsdale. He used the money he earned over two years there, as well as Whisper Rock’s excellent practice facilities, to get his game sharp enough for the PGA Tour. Then, while he was playing in the Puerto Rico Open as a PGA rookie in 2008, Whisper Rock owner Greg Pryhus invited him to join the club.

Not only did Streelman go from caddie to club member, he immediately won the club championship.

That was a clear indication that hard work and dedication can pay off, and now Streelman’s career has taken still another upward turn thanks to the win at Tampa Bay. Even a week later the significance of it was hard to fathom.

“It hasn’t entirely sunk in,’’ said Streelman. “It means I belong out there. It has nothing to do with money or trophies. I just love the competition. Now my dream is to be in that position in a major.’’

It could be at this year’s Masters. Streelman felt he knew Augusta National well enough to pass on an early practice round. Instead he took a two-week rest break and won’t arrive at Augusta National until Sunday.

“In 2011 I spent a few weeks there in preparation for my first Masters, but this time I had played four weeks in a row and was really exhausted,’’ Streelman said. He feels rest and better planning will produce a better result in his second try.

“The first time I was overwhelmed,’’ he said. “There were a lot of distractions from family and friends and media requirements.’’

That first Masters was more like a party. Streelman and wife Courtney rented a big house, where they stayed with both sets of parents as well as some brothers and sisters.

“We even had some dogs,’’ said Streelman. “It was fun, but a very hectic week. This time they (family members) will be there again, but Courtney and I are going to get a house by ourselves.’’

It wouldn’t be surprising if Streelman, now 34 and the winner of $7 million in five seasons on tour, made another career jump by challenging at the Masters. Just earning his first PGA Tour win – a milestone that didn’t come until his 153rd start — will change his life, however. It qualified him for the PGA Championship, the World Golf Championship events and the big-money invitationals. He isn’t sure yet whether he’ll be in the U.S. and British Opens, but life as a champion will be better than life as a journeyman.

“I’m really excited, because this helps me with scheduling,’’ said Streelman, who didn’t consider his first win a big surprise. “I had a nice start to the season, and my stats were up from last year. It showed that I’d worked hard in the offseason.’’

It’ll be nothing like the just-completed Ryder Cup, but there is one big competitive event left in the Chicago golf season.

The Illinois PGA will stage the last of its four major tournaments, the IPGA Players Championship, at Eagle Ridge in Galena on Monday and Tuesday. The section’s player-of-the-year and assistant player-of-the-year awards will be on the line with Curtis Malm, assistant pro at St. Charles Country Club, in position to clinch them both.

If Malm finishes at least tied for third he’d be the second section member to sweep both awards. Dino Lucchesi did it in the 1997 and 1998 and Matt Slowinski in 2009.

If Malm doesn’t finish that high in the 36-hole competition on the resort’s North course there’ll be one stroke play event — the Schaumburg Classic on Oct. 22 — left to determine player-of-the-year winners. That rescheduled event was rained out in August.

Malm won the IPGA Match Play title in May, tied for sixth at the Illinois Open in July and was second to Steve Orrick of Country Club of Decatur at the IPGA Championship in August.

Cantigny’s Rich Dukelow won last year’s Players Championship en route to winning player-of-the-year honors. He’ll try to become the first back-to-back winner of the Players since Orrick did it in 2008-09.

WGA is branching out

The Western Golf Assn., which has long conducted the BMW Championship, Western Amateur and Western Junior tournaments to bolster its Evans Scholars Foundation, will add a Web.com Tour event to its managerial duties in 2013. It’ll be part of the PGA Tour developmental circuit’s new four-event Tour Finals.

“Obviously it’s not the BMW, but it is a big deal and about the scope of the old Western Open,’’ said WGA executive director John Kaczkowski. “We don’t expect the same size crowds, but the (Web.com) tour has worked well in small to middle-sized markets.’’

The WGA-run event will be the Hotel Fitness Championship, and it’ll be held at Sycamore Hills in Ft. Wayne, Ind., from Aug. 26-Sept. 1. It’ll have 156 players and a $1 million purse and kick off the Finals to determine 50 players advancing to the PGA Tour in 2014.

Since Kaczkowski stepped up from tournament director the WGA has looked for additional tournaments. It also reached a merger agreement with the Women’s Western Golf Assn.

“We’ve been considering adding more professional events for several years,’’ said Kaczkowski. “We pursued others that didn’t make sense financially, but this one does. We’ll look at all options going forward.’’

State Amateur, Open will be back-to-back in 2013

When the U.S. Golf Assn. decided to move its 2013 U.S. Amateur championship at Brookline, Mass., up a week, to Aug. 12-18, that led to some changes on the local front as well.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. made the biggest adjustment, moving its 83rd Illinois State Amateur from its usual dates the second week in August to July 16-18 to reduce the scheduling demands that having the state and national tourneys back-to-back would have created. Next year’s Illinois State Amateur will be at Aldeen, in Rockford.

The IPGA only slightly adjusted its Illinois Open dates. That tourney dropped back a week, to July 22-24 at The Glen Club, in Glenview. The new scheduling will create a big two-week focus on golf for the state’s best players.

Onwentsia’s Carson is top professional

The IPGA has announced its annual award winners for 2012 with Bruce Carson, the veteran head professional at Onwentsia in Lake Forest, taking the top honor. He was named the section’s 58th Illinois Golf Professional of the Year. He’ll receive the award Nov. 15 at Medinah.

Also to be honored are: Scott Baines, Des Plaines, Assistant Professional of the Year; Pat Goss, Evanston Teacher of the Year; Michael Carbray, Glen Ellyn, Junior Golf Leader; Jim Sobb, Barrington, Bill Strausbaugh Award; Nick Papadakes, Wadsworth, Horton Smith Award; Jeff Siegmund, Plainfield, Player Development Award; Wade Gurysh Libertyville, PGA Merchandiser of the Year (Private Facilities); Robert Falkiner, Prospect Heights; PGA Merchandiser of the Year (Public Facilities); and Pat Kenny, Bill Heald Career Achievement Award.

Get ready, get set…..

The golf season is reaching a climax, with The Tour Championship concluding the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs this week and the 39th Ryder Cup coming the following week to Medinah Country Club.

Medinah, though, will open its gates to the public on Saturday. There won’t be any PGA Tour players there, but spectators can check out the Ryder Cup merchandise offerings and watch the conclusion of the PGA Youth Skills Challenge, a summer-long competition for youngsters between the ages of 6 and 17.

The Challenge drew over 3,000 entrants, and 32 will participate in the two-hour finals, which start at 1:45 p.m. There’ll be no admission charge on Saturday or Sunday, with the course closing at 5 p.m. both days. It’ll open at 10 a.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday. Spectators can park at 333 E. Lake St., and shuttle buses will take them into the club.

“It’s a chance for people without tickets to get a glimpse of what’s going to be going on here,’’ said tournament director Michael Belot. “They can’t roam the course. They can shop and leave, and they’ll see what’s been done.’’

And that’s quite a lot. It took four months for workers to prepare the club for the big event. There are 75 corporate hospitality tents set up for when the big crowds arrive on Tuesday (SEPT 25) for the formal Ryder Cup festivities, which begin with a Captains-Celebrity Scramble at 1 p.m.

Tickets, of course, were sold out long ago, but Belot said a “small number’’ still remain through the event’s charity arm, www.magnificentmoments.org. Tickets are more readily available for next Wednesday’s Ryder Cup Gala ($100, at Rosemont’s Donald E. Stephens Convention Center) and next Thursday’s (SEPT. 27) Bagpipes & Blues pep rally ($250 at the Field Museum).

Big money’s on the line

Twenty of the 24 players competing on the U.S. and Europe Ryder Cup teams will also be in this week’s Tour Championship, which tees off Thursday at East Lake, in Atlanta. Most will be rested, as the PGA Tour took a rare week off last week after three strenuous playoff events concluded with the BMW Championship in Indianapolis.

The BMW whittled the qualifiers for the Tour Championship from 70 to the 30 who will vie for the biggest money available in competitive golf. In addition to an $8 million purse for the 72-hole competition, the FedEx playoff champion will get an additional $10 million.

The big bonus will go to any member of the current top five in the FedEx Cup point race – Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson or Brandt Snedeker – if they win the Tour Championship. Only Watney isn’t in the Ryder Cup. Other finalists could still win, but would need help from other competitors.

All 12 U.S. Ryder Cuppers were among the 30 qualifiers for the last event of the playoffs. While the PGA Tour took the week off, three members of the European team competed in the Italian Open on the European PGA Tour.

Germany’s Martin Kaymer, who barely made his Ryder Cup squad after having a sub-par season, showed signs of regaining form in Italy. He shot 67-67 on the weekend to finish in a tie for fifth with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, the only Ryder Cup rookie on the European side. It was Kaymer’s first top-five of the year.

Another European Ryder Cupper, Italy’s Francesco Molinari, only finished in a tie for 46th in the Italian Open but he shot a dazzling 65 on Sunday.

Here and there

Luke Guthrie, who completed his eligibility at the University of Illinois in June, clinched his PGA Tour card for 2013 with his first professional victory at the Web.com Tour’s Boise Open on Sunday…. Tartan Art on the Avenue, part of the Ryder Cup’s fundraising effort, includes an oversized golf ball painted by LPGA player Michelle Wie as part of its six-block stretch on Michigan Avenue….Blue Island’s Jerry Vidovic won his second Illinois Senior Open in a four-man playoff at McHenry Country Club. His playoff victims included past winners Mike Harrigan and Billy Rosinia and amateur Ron Waytula…..Charlie Waddell, representing the Glen View Club, won the 10th Chicago District Mid-Amateur at Bowes Creek, in Elgin. The CDGA’s 26th Illinois Senior Amateur concludes its three-day run today at Prestwick, in Frankfort, today.

In the past six years this would have been a big week in Chicago golf. During five of those years the PGA Tour made its annual stop at Cog Hill, in Lemont, for the BMW Championship, a FedEx Cup playoff event. Only in 2008 was there no event – and that was because Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course was undergoing a renovation.

This year is different. Chicago is no longer an annual stop for the PGA Tour. The BMW begins Thursday at Crooked Stick, in Carmel, Ind., and the Western Golf Assn. will apparently bring it to Chicago in only alternate years. In 2013 it’ll be played at Conway Farms, in Lake Forest. In 2014 it goes to Cherry Hills, in Denver. Then, who knows? Sponsorship issues could factor in.

Anyway, the WGA did the smart thing. Though Chicago has supported an annual PGA Tour event since 1962, when the event was called the Western Open, the market would have been hard-pressed to support both an annual tournament and the Ryder Cup matches, which come to Medinah at the end of September.

The BMW Championship should thrive at Crooked Stick, with the top 70 players on the FedEx point standings competing for an $8 million purse and 30 spots in next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. In a normal year that event would climax the PGA Tour season, but this time it’ll be more a warmup to the Ryder Cup than anything else.

And Chicago won’t be without a good spectator event even with the BMW Championship missing. The United States Golf Assn. brings its 32nd U.S. Mid-Amateur to Conway Farms and another Lake Forest private club, Knollwood, beginning on Saturday (SEPT 8). It’s the national championship for players 25 and over.

The second Mid-Am, in 1982, was played at Knollwood with Elgin’s Bill Hoffer taking the title. This time Knollwood, freshened by a 2009 renovation by architect Keith Foster, and Conway Farms will host stroke play qualifying rounds for the 264 finalists on Saturday and Sunday. Then Conway will be the site for the match play portion of the championship next Monday though the 36-hole championship match on Thursday, Sept. 13. Admission is free to all the sessions.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a better combination of courses,’’ said Bill McCarthy, director of both the Mid-Am and U.S. Amateur Public Links championships for the USGA. “With Knollwood as the companion course this site selection wasn’t automatic – but almost.’’

Mid-Am defender has Masters memories

Randy Lewis of Alma, MI., is the defending champion in the Mid-Am. His victory last year at Shadow Hawk, a Texas facility, was noteworthy in that Lewis became the tourney’s oldest champion. He was 54 when he won.

The Mid-Am champion gets a berth in the next year’s Masters tournament, and Lewis won’t forget what that was like – even though he didn’t come close to surviving the 36-hole cut.

“I shot 81-78 and didn’t play well,’’ he said. “Augusta (National) was so long and you got no roll. I had to lay up on all the par-5s.’’

Lewis spent seven winter weeks in Florida preparing for the Masters experience and played practice rounds with Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson. In the tourney he was part with Jose Maria Olazabal, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain at Medinah, and Robert Garrigus.

“I was really nervous on the first tee,’’ said Lewis, “but Garrigus hit his tee shot left and Olazabal’s went right. I killed mine right down the middle.’’

Lewis’ chances of defending his Mid-Am title don’t appear good. He’s been battling a pulled hamstring and “horrible’’ tendinitis, both of which have limited his tournament play this summer.

Here and there

Those wanting to attend this year’s BMW can get tickets at Crooked Stick’s main entrance. They’re priced at $20 for today’s Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am and $75 for the four tournament rounds….Cog Hill is setting up its Dubsdread course this week with the same tee and pin positions that were used in the last BMW Championship there a year ago….The PGA of America has announced that youngsters 17-and-under will receive free admission to the Ryder Cup practice rounds for the first time in event history. Each ticket-buying adult can bring two youngsters to the practice sessions on Sept. 25-27. The youth admission tickets will be available at the tourney’s admission sales/will call office….The Illinois Senior Open runs Monday and Tuesday (SEPT 10-11) at McHenry Country Club and the Chicago District Golf Assn. Mid-Amateur is Tuesday at Bowes Creek, in Elgin….KemperSports staffer Amy Pendergast has been named PGA Merchandiser of the Year for Resort Facilities. Pendergast is based at Oregon’s Bandon Dunes, one of the facilities operated by Northbrook-based KemperSports.

If Ryder Cup experience means anything the U.S. team will be in big trouble when the biennial matches come to Medinah Country Club for their 39th staging beginning Sept. 25. Europe’s 12-man squad is loaded with veterans, to say nothing of talent.

The European team, which has won four of the last five Ryder Cup battles and six of the last eight, completed its roster this week when Jose Maria Olazabal named Ian Poulter and Nicolas Colsaerts as his captain’s picks.

Olazabal picked those two after 10 automatic berths were determined following European PGA Tour’s Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in Scotland – the Ryder Cup site for 2014.

The long-hitting Colsaerts will be the first golfer from Belgium to play in the Ryder Cup, and he’s also the only rookie on the European squad. The U.S. is already assured of three first-timers (Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson) through the point standings that determined eight automatic berths on the team.

Europe and the U.S. have different methods of selection. Europe’s formula started with the top five players on the European PGA Tour point standings (Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, England’s Justin Rose, Scotland’s Paul Lawrie, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Italy’s Francesco Molinari).

The process continued after the Johnnie Walker with the top five — not counting the five already picked — off the world rankings. Those spots went to Luke Donald and Lee Westwood of England, Sergio Garcia of Spain, Peter Hanson of Sweden and Martin Kaymer of Germany.

Olazabal was given only two captain’s picks. U.S. captain Davis Love III has four, and he’ll name them on Sept. 4 in New York. Love will be hard-pressed to assemble a squad as strong as the Euros. All 12 European players are in the top 35 in the world rankings. McIlroy and Donald are 1-2.

Colsaerts’ selection over Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello created the only suspense in Olazabal’s determination of his captain’s picks. England’s Poulter, a great match play competitor – he has an 8-3 record in three previous Ryder Cups, was consider a shoo-in.

The battle for the other pick was a tough one, and Colsaerts, a 10-year professional though he’s only 29, earned it in the last two weeks. He tied for seventh at the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship, then hurried back to Europe to tie for 19th in the Johnnie Walker.

Cabrera-Bello tied for 10th there but Colsaerts’ extraordinary length off the tee makes him a good fit for Medinah. Europe will go into this Ryder Cup with just one rookie for only the third time since 1979.

FedEx frustrations

Illinois PGA Tour players didn’t do well in The Barclay’s event last week in New York. Only Luke Donald improved his position in the FexEx Cup playoff standings. He tied for 10th to climb from 16th in the point race to 14th.

The only other local to make the cut in New York was Kevin Streelman, but he shot 76-72 on the weekend to finish in a tie for 63rd. He dropped to 112th in the point race and only the top 100 qualified for the second playoff event, the Deutsche Bank Championship beginning Thursday at TPC Boston.

Mark Wilson and D.A. Points both missed the cut at The Barclays but rank high enough to tee it up in Boston. Wilson is No. 39 and Points No. 50. Both will have to play well this week to stay in the top 70 for the third playoff event, the BMW Championship Sept. 6-9 at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis. The BMW Championship had been held at Cog Hill and will be contested at Conway Farms in Lake Forest in 2013.

Here and there

Recording artist Jordin Sparks has been selected to sing the U.S. National Anthem during the Ryder Cup opening ceremonies at Medinah on Sept. 27….The 90th Illinois PGA Championship concludes today (WEDNESDAY) at Stonewall Orchard in Grayslake. Stonewall, has been the only public course in the tourney’s three-course rotation. Olympia Fields is listed for 2013 and Medinah for 2014….The PGA Junior Golf League, a nation-wide program for youngsters 13 and under, will climax its season with a six-team competition at Medinah on Sept. 14 and Cog Hill in Lemont on Sept. 15-16…..The Chicago District Golf Assn. will conduct two events on Monday – the CDGA Better Ball of Pairs at Kemper Lakes in Hawthorn Woods and a qualifying session for the U.S. Senior Amateur at McHenry Country Club…..Northbrook-based KemperSports has added Quail Lodge in Carmel, Calif., to its management portfolio.

What a difference a year makes.

Last year the biggest tournament at Medinah Country Club was the Illinois PGA Championship, which decides the best player among the state’s club professionals. Next month, of course, Medinah hosts the 39th Ryder Cup matches and the player who shocked the Chicago golf scene with his win last year isn’t focusing on his title defense.

Frank Hohenadel, a little-known assistant pro at Midlothian Country Club, ended Mike Small’s eight-year reign as the IPGA champion over Medinah’s No. 1 course last August. The lanky left-handed golfer defends next week at Stonewall Orchard in Grayslake but he’s more interested in the big event coming to Medinah beginning Sept. 25. That’s when the U.S. stars battle Europe in the biennial team competition that’s generally considered the biggest event in golf.

“I’m looking forward to watching those guys as much as I am the Illinois PGA,’’ said Hohenadel. “I plan to go on Sunday (SEPT 30) and be part of the party – and I hope the U.S. wins this time.’’

The IPGA Championship, which rotates between Olympia Fields, Medinah and Stonewall, begins its 54-hole run on Monday and concludes on Wednesday. Illinois coach Small had dominated the competition until Hohenadel caught fire on a weather-damaged layout.

“Conditions were different that what we’re used to last year,’’ said Hohenadel, who opened with a 65 and never looked back. “We played lift, clean and place in the fairways, but there was no problem with the greens.’’

The No. 1 layout — the site of Hohenadel’s victory — has been reduced to nine holes to accommodate Ryder Cup preparations and that entire 18 will be torn up after September’s matches to allow architect Tom Doak to renovate the course, which was opened in 1925. The Ryder Cup will be played on the No. 3 course.

Hohenadel, who grew up in Tinley Park and went to Andrew High School and St. Francis College in Joliet, is in his third season at Midlothian after spending five at Wedgewood, a public facility in Joliet. He had played in only four IPGA events last season but has been in nine this year. He shot 68 to finish second in an assistants event and his scoring average is a respectable 72.5.

“I’ve got more confidence in my game,’’ he said. “This year there’ll be a little more pressure. I was pretty much under the radar last year.’’

He’s played Stonewall, the lone public course in the IPGA Championship rotation, only once and that was in the spring.

“It’s very different than Medinah and Olympia,’’ said Hohenadel. “My game is more suited to those long, old-school courses than it is to the links style.’

Hasley, Wright pace Mid-Am qualifiers

There’ll be a big contingent of Chicago area players in the 32nd U.S. Mid-Amateur, which is coming to Lake Forest courses Conway Farms and Knollwood next month.

Illinois had three qualifying tournaments last week, and Winnetka’s Scott Hasley and Aurora’s John Wright posted the best scores – 69s at Chicago Highlands in Westchester. The other qualifiers there for the Sept. 8-13 national championship for players 25 and over were Matt Olson of Chicago, Chad Arsich of Mokena and Nick Schenk of St. Charles.

Lake Forest’s Andrew Price was medalist in the qualifier at Mauh-Nah-Tee-See Club, in Rockford, with a 70. Scott Rowe of Hinsdale and Richard Balla of St. Charles were among the other qualifiers there and Chicago’s Scott Rech made it at Piper Glen, in Springfield.

Here and there

European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal named three vice captains for the upcoming matches. He picked Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley. All are former players with at least nine Ryder Cup wins. They were also on the staff when Europe won the 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales…..Wildcat Golf Day With Luke Donald, a fundraiser for Northwestern’s golf programs, has been scheduled at Medinah on Sept. 10…..The 85th Mid West Amateur runs Friday and Saturday at the Chicago Park District’s Marovitz course….The Bridges at Poplar Creek, in Hoffman Estates, will host a qualifier for the Illinois State Senior Amateur on Tuesday (AUG 28).

This would figure to be a big week for Mike Small, the Illinois men’s coach. He’ll make his 11th appearance in a major championship when he tees off at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C., in the PGA Championship on Thursday.

This is the last of golf’s four majors this season and the final tournament at which points to determine the U.S. team in next month’s Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club are awarded.

Small isn’t a factor in the Ryder Cup standings and he’s not even the Illini golfer most in the spotlight these days, however. That mantra belongs to Luke Guthrie, who came on like gangbusters after turning pro immediately after the NCAA Championships in June.

Guthrie received sponsor’s exemptions into two PGA Tour events and got into another off his showing in those. In the three events he earned $284,672. Then he was invited to the Columbus stop on the Web.com Tour and lost that title in a playoff. That strong showing got him into last week’s tourney in Omaha and he shot 62-63 in the first two rounds before finishing in a tie for third.

So, in his first five pro tournaments the 22-year old from Quincy is 64 strokes under par for 20 tournament rounds and has earned $402,272.

Small isn’t surprised, though two of his other players – Scott Langley and Thomas Pieters – were NCAA champions. Guthrie’s biggest college accomplishments were two Big Ten titles, but he also won two Illinois prep championships and one Illinois Amateur.

“He’s been the closest rival to (1988 Illini player and PGA Tour star Steve) Stricker in the last 25 years,’’ Small said of Guthrie. “He’s very tough-minded and strong-willed, and he’s getting better all the time.’’

As for Small, he isn’t going into this PGA with any momentum. He endured his worst-ever Illinois Open (tie for 26th place) last month and didn’t make the cut at the Colorado Open in his last two tournaments.

“Those were only my second and third multi-day events (of the year),’’ said Small. “I haven’t had time to play that much with the NCAAs going into June, then recruiting and camps. I need reps, but I’ve always been a coach first and a player second.’’

Small most recently gave a clinic for high school coaches at Naperville Country Club the day after the Illinois Open. His only tournament as a player after this week’s PGA will be the Illinois PGA Championship, at Stonewall Orchard in Grayslake Aug. 27-29.

Southern flavor for State Am

The Illinois State Amateur concludes Thursday at The Links at Kokopelli in Marion. That’s the southern-most location ever for 82-year old championship. Marion is 25 miles from the Kentucky line. The 1998 tourney was held at Rend Lake in Whittington. Otherwise, the championship has never been contested in southern Illinois.

This year’s tourney is short on past champions. There was only one – Bloomington’s Todd Mitchell, who won in 2002 and 2003 – among the 138 who teed off in Tuesday’s first round. He’s trying to become the event’s fourth three-time winner, following Jim Frisina (who won five times between 1942 and 1958) and Bob Zender and D.A. Points, three-time champions who became regulars on the PGA Tour.

All eight State Am winners since Mitchell turned pro, but one of those – T.C. Ford (2004) – has since regained his amateur status. Now living out of state, he recently finished sixth in the Louisiana Amateur.

The Illinois Am field will be cut to the low 30 and ties after today’s (WEDNESDAY) round, and the survivors will decide the champion in a 36-hole session on Thursday.

Here and there

Champions Tour player Chip Beck will give a clinic at Deerpath, in Lake Forest, on Sunday (AUG 12) as part of the course’s family golf event…..August will be a busy month at Libertyville’s nine-holer. The course will host a Two Clubs and Putter Challenge on Saturday (AUG 11), a Senior Open on Aug. 18 and the Libertyville Open on Aug. 25…..Brian Milligan has been named the new chief financial officer for Northbrook-based KemperSports golf management company…..The 22nd annual Children at the Crossroads Foundation Invitational has been scheduled for Sept. 10 at Chicago’s Harborside International. Proceeds will provide scholarships to The Francis Xavier Warde School.