This is an unusual year for big-time tournament golf in Chicago. Only September’s Ryder Cup at Medinah is on the calendar, but five other big-time events are within a short drive.

The first of those is the 73rd Senior PGA Championship, one of the majors on the Champions Tour. It begins a 72-hole run on Thursday at the spiffy new Harbor Shores resort course in Benton Harbor, Mich.

The field will have a touch of Chicago flavor. Mike Harrigan, the former Medinah pro who has been teaching at Chicago’s Diversey Range and the Players Club of Chicago in Justice, qualified for the starting field off a 17th-place showing in the Senior PGA Club Professionals tourney last October in Virginia and Billy Rosinia, the pro at Flagg Creek in Countryside, qualified off the alternate’s list last week.

Their opponents will include long-established stars like Freddie Couples, Tom Lehman, Bernhard Langer, Kenny Perry and Hale Irwin. Last year’s winner, Tom Watson, won’t defend his title because of a pinched nerve in his wrist, but Harrigan and Rosinia will obviously be in some select company.

Harrigan, 63, never was a touring pro but this will be his fourth time in the Senior PGA and he also qualified for three U.S. Senior Opens. He survived the cut in the 2000 Senior PGA at Florida’s PGA National in a tourney shortened to 54 holes by weather problems.

“I just want to continue to compete,’’ said Harrigan, who spends nearly half of each year living in Jupiter, FL. “I’ve heard Harbor Shores is a great golf course. I’m looking forward to it.’’

Harbor Shores is a Jack Nicklaus design that opened to rave reviews in 2009 and was awarded two Senior PGA Championship before it was even completely open. The tourney will return to Harbor Shores in 2014.

Harrigan keeps his game sharp in Florida, where he plays at The Fox Club in Stuart. Its members include 15-20 touring or club pros and some top-ranked amateurs. He believes last year’s qualifying tournament will help his chances this week. He qualified at Creighton Farms, a course also designed by Nicklaus.

“I understand it’s very similar to Harbor Shores,’’ said Harrigan. “It was very difficult, with very undulating greens. I thought they were impossible.’’

More big tournaments will follow the Senior PGA at reasonably nearby courses. The PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, in the Quad Cities, is the only other one in Illinois but the U.S. Women’s Open will be played in Kohler, WI., the U.S. Senior Open in Orion, MI., and the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship in Indianapolis.

Illini in finals again

Illinois, which won the Big Ten championship the last four years, will compete in the NCAA finals for the fifth straight year. The Illini, thanks to a second-place finish in the Oklahoma regional, will be in the field at California’s prestigious Riviera course. The tourney begins a six-day run there on Tuesday (MAY 29).

Northwestern also qualified for the NCAA tourney but finished eighth in the Kentucky regional and failed to reach the finals.

A shot for the ages

St. Charles Country Club assistant Curtis Malm won last week’s 61st Illinois PGA Match Play title at Kemper Lakes in Hawthorn Woods. He made Rich Dukelow, an assistant at Cantigny in Wheaton and the reigning IPGA player-of-the-year, the losing finalist for the second straight year, but the section’s first major tournament of the season may be best remembered for the dramatic shot Jason Lee hit to end a second-round playoff.

Lee, the head pro at Chicago’s Ridgemoor Country Club and the tourney’s 2001 champion, holed a hybrid shot from 225 yards for double eagle to eliminate Kevin Rafferty of Dick’s Sporting Goods-Vernon Hills in 22 holes.

Here and there

Steve Stricker, who will bid for a fourth straight title at the John Deere Classic in July, played a round at The Glen Club in Glenview last week…..Pete Jordan, who played the PGA Tour for several years after developing his game at Medinah, was the caddie for J.J. Henry during the golfer’s bid for the Byron Nelson title last week….. The Illinois Women’s Open will return to its July dates (July 25-27) after being pushed back to August last year to accommodate a renovation project. Mistwood owner Jim McWethy has set June 1 for the course’s re-opening…..Settler’s Hill, in Geneva, re-opened on Tuesday following a lengthy renovation….Ivanhoe pro Jim Sobb couldn’t defend his Illinois PGA Match Play title last week at Kemper Lakes but he’ll go for a three-peat in the senior version of the tournament beginning Tuesday (MAY 29) at Shoreacres in Lake Bluff….The Chicago District Senior Amateur concludes a three-day run at Rockford Country Club on Thursday….First qualifier for the CDGA Amateur is Tuesday (MAY 29) at Royal Country Club of Long Grove. Glenwoodie, in Glenwood, will also host qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links tournament on that day.

For two years now Jim Sobb has been the man whenever the Illinois PGA holds a match play tournament. This year, though, his reign can to an abrupt halt.

The Ivanhoe pro won the section’s senior match play title in 2010 and 2011, was runner-up in the regular match play in 2010 and became the first player to sweep both titles last spring. To do it he had to win five matches in three days in the senior event and six in three days in the regular version.

Sobb, 56, tried to do it again on the same courses where he pulled off his historic sweep. He got by his first match Tuesday in the IPGA regular match play event at Kemper Lakes in Hawthorn Woods, edging 68th-seeded Jeremy Anderson, assistant at Twin Orchard in Long Grove, by a 1-up margin. But three-time winner Doug Bauman, from Biltmore Country Club in Barrington, eliminated Sobb 5 and 4 in his second match.

The 62nd annual tourney – first of the IPGA’s four major tourneys of the season — runs through Thursday.

The tourney started with 116 players, with the entrants seeded according to last year’s Bernardi point standings that determined the IPGA player-of-the-year. Sobb is the No. 4 seed and drew a first-round bye. Top-seeded Rich Dukelow of Cantigny, in Wheaton, also drew a first-round bye before winning his first match 5 and 4 over Michael Campbell of Village Links of Glen Ellyn.

“I’m sure everybody will be after me, but a couple things in my favor is that I’ve played these courses so many times,’’ said Sobb, who beat Dukelow 3 and 2 in last year’s final. While a Sobb title defense is now impossible, Dukelow advanced to the semifinals.

Last year the senior and regular match play competitions were held on successive weeks. This year the senior version is again at Shoreacres, in Lake Bluff, but on May 29-31 so Sobb will get some welcome rest before seeking his three-peat there.

ND golfer leads U.S. Open survivors

Notre Dame golfer Max Scodro, of Chicago, carded a 7-under-par 65 to earn medalist honors at Monday’s 90-player U.S. Open local qualifier at Schaumburg Golf Club.

Others qualifying for sectional play were Jack Perry of Evanston (67), former Illinois Amateur and Northwestern golfer Ravi Patel, Hinsdale’s Brett Tomfohrde and Libertyville’s Michael Schachner (all at 68) and Glencoe’s Jason Shapiro (69).

Most figure to bid for spots in the U.S. Open proper at a June 4 sectional elimination at Village Links of Glen Ellyn.

Cantigny’s “Double Jeopardy’’ ready soon

The frequently controversial 555-yard No. 2 hole on the Woodside course of the 27-hole Cantigny complex will re-open May 25. Erosion problems along the banks of a stream that lined the fairway of that hole, dubbed “Double Jeopardy,’’ forced closing of the entire nine.

Rick Jacobson’s design firm, in Libertyville, supervised the re-contouring of the fairway and that eliminated the blind second shot that had been required previously.

“We made a good hole even better,’’ said Cantigny executive director Mike Nass. “It was a hard decision to take Woodside out of play for so long…For fairness and playability, this is a huge step forward.’’

Here and there

The recently-sold Ditka Sports Dome, in Bolingbrook, will re-open Saturday, but strictly as a restaurant, now called McQ’s. The indoor golf area is being renovated and the first shots won’t be hit there until November….Acquiring Ryder Cup tickets might still be possible, assuming you’re willing to buy at least four tickets to the May 24-27 Senior PGA Championship at Michigan’s Harbor Shores course. For details contact www.RyderCupAdmin@pgahq.com…..The fourth annual Sunshine Marathon, a fundraiser for the Chicago District Golf Assn. charity arm, is Saturday at the Zigfield Troy course in Woodridge….A record 1,364 players entered the July 5-8 U.S. Women’s Open at Wisconsin’s Blackwolf Run. They range from 11-year old Californian Elizabeth Wang to Arizona resident Bobbi Lancaster, 61….A new Chicago company, NewSpin Golf, is about to introduce SwingSmart, a game improvement tool that provides instant information on key elements of the swing….Kewanee’s Tim Miler was the champion in the rain-shortened Illinois Public Links Championship at George Dunne National in Tinley Park….The 54-hole Illinois Mid-Amateur concludes today (WEDNESDAY) at Flossmoor.

Monday’s rains forced the Illinois Public Links Championship to be reduced from 36 to 18 holes, but the bad weather didn’t hamper the first of two local qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open – the first significant competition of this Chicago golf season.

Northwestern student Sam Chien, an amateur, and Iowa alum Brad Hopfinger, winner of last year’s Illinois Amateur who in his ninth month as a professional, shared medalist honors with 3-under-par 69s at Inverness, and Illinois coach Mike Small also advanced to sectional play by shooting a 70.

Deer Park’s Greg Conrad matched Small’s score and Wisconsin resident Andy Hansen and Bennett Blakeman of Burr Ridge also qualified for sectional play through a sudden death playoff. Blakeman, qualified for the last two U.S. Opens, the first as an amateur and last year as a pro.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. will host the second local qualifier on Monday at Schaumburg Golf Club. Most of the survivors of the 90-player eliminations are expected to bid for berths in the Open proper in the June 4 sectional elimination at Village Links of Glen Ellyn.

According to the U.S. Golf Assn. over 9,000 filed entries for this U.S. Open, the finals of which will feature 156 players competing at Olympic Club in San Francisco June 14-17.

Illini head local NCAA invitees

Small, who has guided Illinois to four straight Big Ten championships, got more good news this week when his Illini were assigned the seventh seed among 14 teams in an NCAA regional tournament at Norman, Okla. Loyola, like the Illini a conference champion, had the 14th seed there.

Northwestern, an NCAA qualifier for the 13th time in coach Pat Goss’ 16 seasons, was the ninth seed among 14 teams in a regional at Bowling Green, Ky., while Notre Dame was the 11th seed of 13 teams at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Teaching pros on the move

Joe Bosco, who co-founded the Green To Tee Academy with Peter Donahue in 1991, has opened his own instructional operation at The Glen Club in Glenview.

Donahue, meanwhile, will take the Green To Tee teaching staff to Highland Park Country Club. The Academy had been based at Glencoe since 2004.

In addition to opening his own teaching program, Bosco will team up with Mike Adams, who has taught numerous pro tour players, on a Foundation for Achievement program that consists of four-hour sessions at The Glen on May 21 and 22. Bosco and Adams will also host a Teach the Teacher Workshop for Illinois PGA professionals on May 22 at The Glen.

Silver Lake range to open

The 45-hole Silver Lake facility in Orland Park will hold the ribbon cutting for its new practice range at 11 a.m. on Friday. Long drive champion Joe Hajduch will be featured at the ceremonies.

Silver Lake has operated without a range since its opening in 1927. The new range will be located near the No. 9 hole on the North course, and that hole has been reduced to a par-3 to accommodate the range construction.

Here and there

Luke Donald’s fourth annual Taste of the First Tee fundraiser has been scheduled for June 20 at Northern Trust’s headquarters in downtown Chicago. Fellow PGA Tour stars Steve Stricker and Mark Wilson will also participate….The rain-shortened Illinois Public Links tourney wrap up Tuesday with 18 holes at the George Dunne National course in Tinley Park…..The Northwestern women’s team is the 15th seed in the 24-team NCAA East Regional, which begins a three-day run Thursday at State College, Pa…..GolfVisions has added Chapel Hill, in McHenry, to its Chicago area portfolio….The Crystal Lake Golf Learning Center, which is located across the street from the Prairie Isle course in Prairie Grove, has undergone an ownership change with Eric Pelfresne the new general manager….Erin Hills, a future U.S. Open site in Wisconsin, opens for the season on Thursday (MAY 10)…..Lemont’s Cog Hill has scheduled a two-person scramble tournament for May 19 on the No. 1 course…..Settler’s Hill, in Batavia, has set a May 22 opening. It’s been closed to accommodate a Waste Management renovation.

Last Sunday’s conclusion of the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open created a time of reflection for Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti, whose last appearance on golf’s premier circuit was at that tournament in 2011.

For Affrunti, a former Illinois Open champion and University of Illinois graduate, the last year has been difficult – and that’s putting it mildly. He became one of the few Chicago golfers in the last four decades to earn a coveted PGA Tour card in 2010, thanks to his showing on the Nationwide Tour. A shoulder injury, though, has prevented him from demonstrating his talents on the biggest stage in golf.

Affrunti played in six PGA Tour events last year, making the cut in two. He was never healthy, and was eventually diagnosed with a torn labrum in his left shoulder that required surgery last June. Affrunti has been rehabbing ever since. Two weeks ago he played his first 18-hole round, though he had to pick up on some holes.

“It’s been a real slow process, in part because I played on it too long,’’ said Affrunti, who has been practicing at TPC-Sawgrass, the Florida course that will host The Players Championship next month. He’s still a PGA Tour member, but is on a major medical exemption that will continue for awhile.

“I determine when I come back,’’ said Affrunti. “They allow you five Nationwide rehabilitation starts. I expect to make some of those in August or September, then go to Q-School in hopes of improving my status.’’

Even with Tour membership, it’s tough to get into tournaments and Affrunti will have seven months to earn enough money to keep his card once he returns to the circuit. He doesn’t want to rush things, and doesn’t expect to play in a PGA Tour event until 2013.

“The shoulder is coming along,’’ said Affrunti. “I ice it three-four times a day. I’ve played nine holes lots of times, but it’s a little sporadic where the ball goes.’’

Kemper expands its focus

Kemper Sports has been a big player in Chicago golf since 1978, but this season the Northbrook-based group that had managed seven Chicago golf facilities has taken on two notable additional projects. Two of Chicago’s oldest public facilities are now getting the Kemper influence with new personnel in place.

Rick Walrath has taken charge as general manager and head professional at Deerpath, the only public course in Lake Forest. The city-owned facility opened in 1927 and operates near three of Chicago’s premier private clubs – Onwentsia, Knollwood and Conway Farms.

“Deerpath is unique,’’ said Walrath, a former head pro at Wynstone in Barrington and assistant at Crystal Lake Country Club. “Well over 50 percent of our players are walkers. That’s very unusual in this day and age.’’

Fox Lake Lake Country Club, which opened in 1925, is one of the few family-owned courses left in the area. The Petrungaro family has owned this 18-holer, which also received a new GM-head pro in Vince Juarez. He had a similar role at Antioch Golf Club.

Kemper has also brought in a new GM at Highland Park Country Club, with Randy Farber moving over from Bolingbrook.

Here and there

A big weekend is ahead for Big Ten golfers. For the first time the men’s and women’s conference championships will be held at the same site – French Lick Resort in southern Indiana. The men will compete at the Pete Dye Course and the women at the Donald Ross Course. Competition runs Friday-Sunday. French Lick will also host both tourneys in 2013 and 2014.…. TaylorMade, Nike and Wilson will display their equipment at Deerpath’s Demo Day from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday….The Illinois PGA’s assistants and senior players begin their tournament seasons on Monday (APRIL 30). The assistants are at Northmoor in Highland Park and the seniors at Golf Club of Illinois in Algonquin…The Chicago District Golf Assn. will conduct its first qualifiers for the Illinois Mid-Amateur Championship at Village Greens of Woodridge on Monday and Balmoral Woods in Crete on Tuesday.

Cog Hill is off the PGA Tour calendar for only the second time since 1991 this year, but that won’t keep owner Frank Jemsek from tweaking his Dubsdread layout that hosted both the Western Open and BMW Championship.

Jemsek opened the premier course on his 72-hole Lemont complex last week with some minor changes. The fifth hole, which played as a par-4 for the PGA Tour stars, is now being played as a 507-yard par-5 from the back tees and the long, tight ninth hole has been shortened from the 613 yards it played for the pros to a maximum of 586. Both changes were made to answer complaints from PGA staffers, who felt No. 5 was too long for a par-4 and No. 9 was too long regardless of its par.

More significant changes will come down the road, with controversial architect Rees Jones still in charge. His $5.2 million renovation of the course in 2008 was widely criticized by PGA Tour players, a big reason the Western Golf Assn. moved the BMW Championship to Conway Farms in Lake Forest when it returns to Chicago in 2013.

“One reason we chose Rees was because he could enhance what the original architects (Joe Lee and Dick Wilson) did,’’ said Jemsek. “It’s a huge advantage having the same guy coming in so you get the same feeling.’’

Jemsek anticipates Jones eventually altering the No. 1 hole with the removal of some bunkers on the right side of the fairway and building a new tee box that will shorten the par-5 15th. He also wants Jones to re-design the seldom-used alternate hole for the par-3 second. Jones will devise a plan for those upgrades later this year, and Jemsek said the work would be done “down the line…..We’d like to have a little money in the bank first.’’

He downplayed the pros’ complaints of the last two years.

“Some things that they dislike now will go away over time,’’ said Jemsek. “It’s a great golf course, certainly a wonderful course.’’

Ryder Cup fever, Scottish-style

The next Ryder Cup will be contested at Medinah in September, but that didn’t keep the event’s host country in 2014 from coming to Chicago for promotional purposes last week. Fiona Hyslop, Scotland’s cabinet secretary for culture and external affairs, was on hand to launch a design competition for one of the giant golf balls which will adorn Chicago’s streets in advance of the Medinah event.

Excitement for 2014, though, is already in full force in Scotland.

“Our objective is to host the best-ever Ryder Cup, and reinforce Scotland’s position as being the Home of Golf,’’ said Hyslop . “The Ryder Cup is regarded as the third biggest event on the sports calendar, behind only the football (soccer) World Cup and the Olympics. Scotland is the perfect stage for world-class events.’’

No question Scotland is big on golf. Last year the country hosted the Johnnie Walker Championship, Dunhill Links, Walker Cup matches, Women’s British Open, Barclay’s Scottish Open and Ladies Scottish Open.

Hyslop reported an unprecedented level of investment in commercial golf facilities in recent years ($400 million), and three more big resorts are in the works — Blairs Estate in Aberdeenshire ($180 million), DeVere West in Linton ($80 million) and Whitekirk in East Lothian ($25 million).

Here and there

Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights, who qualified for the Illinois Open as a 15-year old last summer, finished second to Texan Branson Davis in the Goodman Networks Junior Championship last week in Bryan, Tex. Connor Black, the 2011 Western Golf Assn. Junior champion at Beverly in Chicago, was third…..Indian Lakes, in Bloomingdale, has scheduled two Demo Days. Callaway and Nike will show their products from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 29 and TaylorMade and Adams will do the same from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on May 6…..The Illinois PGA will conduct its Country Club of Decatur Classic on Monday (APRIL 23) and the Chicago District Golf Assn. opens its tournament season the following day with its Better Ball of Pairs competition at The Glen Club in Glenview….Medinah will host Illinois Patriot Golf Day on May 29, benefitting Illinois military families in need. The third annual event will be played primarily on the club’s No. 1 course, but No. 3 (the Ryder Cup venue) will also be used on a limited basis…. A celebrity charity event has been added to the Chicago calendar. The Chicago Legends Golf Classic is scheduled for Aug. 10 at Oak Brook Hills Marriott to raise funds for the Dr. Jeff Foundation, which helps parents with critically ill children.

Batavia-based Greg Martin has been one busy golf course architect within the Chicago area of late. Three of his public course projects are about to open for the season, and at least three others are in the works.

Martin handled two renovation projects last fall — the front nine at Fox Run in Elk Grove and the South nine at Arrowhead in Wheaton. Only the back nine at Fox Run has been playable so far this surprising spring, but the opening of the front is now scheduled for April 20.

The 27-hole Arrowhead facility has 18 of its 27 holes in operation. Martin has been working on that layout in nine-hole increments. He completed work on the East nine and did his work on the South last fall. That nine is to re-open in late April, with no date set yet. The West nine,which hasn’t been given the Martin touch yet, is now open, and Martin will do his work there in the fall.

Last fall he also did some tweaking at Settler’s Hill, in Batavia. That course is scheduled to open for the season around May 1.

Martin also expects to apply his talents at Wilmette, Mount Prospect, Prairie Bluff, in Lockport, and Oak Meadows, in Addison, in the near future. Oak Meadows will be the biggest project of the bunch. One of Chicago’s oldest public layouts, it was created as private Elmhurst Country Club in 1919 and assumed public status under its current name in 1986.

A charming layout that was the site of Ben Hogan’s victory in the 1941 Chicago Open, Oak Meadows has been hampered by flooding problems for years.

“We know we need to fix the golf course,’’ said Martin, whose firm was chosen from the 22 who applied for the job through the DuPage County Forest Preserve District. He isn’t sure how many of the present holes will remain, or if the adjoining East nine-holer will be incorporated into the re-design.

“Nothing’s off the table now,’’ he said. “Nos. 1, 2, 17 and 18 — those are great holes. We should keep them in some way.’’

Oak Meadows, which also lost its clubhouse in a fire several years ago, will remain in its current state for two years as design plans are finalized and work permits are acquired. Martin doesn’t expect the project to be completed until 2016.

“That reveals the complexity of the issue that exists,’’ he said. “We want to solve as many problems as we can.’’

Dubs set to open

Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course, a PGA Tour site every year but one since the Western Golf Assn. moved the Western Open there in 1991, opens for the season on Saturday (APRIL 14). The Lemont layout won’t host the pros this time, as the WGA moved September’s BMW Championship to Crooked Stick in Indianapolis. Jemsek Golf, though, has been working with both the PGA Tour and U.S. Golf Assn. in an effort to bring another high-profile competition to its 72-hole complex.

In the meantime, the Jemseks have altered the superintendent duties. Scott Pavalko, who joined the staff last year to ready Dubsdread for its last BMW Championship, will now also assume responsibility for the No. 2 course as well. The retiring Ken Lapp will oversee Nos. 1 and 3.

Here and there

The Illinois PGA has its Pro Pro competition scheduled for Monday at Chicago’s Harborside International….Dewey Lewis, who has taught and competed at Cog Hill for over 30 years, has been rewarded with emeritus status….The Downers Grove Golf Club will host the 36th annual Pine Hollow Open on April 28. Entries will be accepted through April 18….A Demo Day has been scheduled at Cog Hill on April 28….Cantigny, in Wheaton, has scheduled five Welcome to Golf clinics from adults and families. They’ll start in May.

Every few years, it seems, somebody in Butler National Golf Club’s membership suggests that the all-male facility may be willing to accept women as members, thereby making it possible for big-time golf to be played in Oak Brook again.
Citing “industry sources,’’ that same old story surfaced again in a Chicago newspaper this week. Such reports give the club, off the world golf stage since the Western Open moved to Cog Hill in 1991, a publicity boost, but that’s about all.
Until Butler’s membership takes a vote to allow women — and the measure passes — there’s no reason to give such reports any validity. And such a vote isn’t even in the works.
While Butler president Ed Gustafson has taken a no-comment stance on the latest report, a long-time Butler staff member who wished to remain anonymous told me “This is just another story that has come up before. It’s nothing new. It’s pure speculation. There’s not a story from our side.’’
And that well-placed staffer didn’t think such a vote would even be considered “for a long, long time.’’
Some historical perspective is in order here.
Butler’s opening in the early 1970s was big news. The super-tough layout provided a “permanent’’ home for the PGA Tour’s oldest tournament. The WGA moved the Western there in 1974, a year too early based on the course’s condition at the time. But the tourney was staged there for 17 years and produced some exciting championships.
No doubt some Butler members miss those good old days. Hosting the Western put their club in the spotlight. But, when PGA Tour and U.S. Golf Assn. then objected to its exclusionary membership policies, Butler gave up the Western after its 1990 staging and put itself out of contention for even bigger, more lucrative, events like the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Ryder Cup matches.
Cog Hill, in Lemont, became the Western Open site in 1991. Now Cog’s future as as a tournament site is in doubt, perhaps leading to the speculation that Butler might be in the running with the Western Golf Assn. to host the Western’s successor, the BMW Championship.
Cog Hill’s recent $5 million renovation wasn’t well-received by PGA Tour players, a group of whom rated the layout 46th of 52 tournament venues in a recent GolfWorld magazine poll. The BMW will be played at Crooked Stick near Indianapolis this year and might return to the Chicago area in 2013, but it’s highly unlikely the site would be Butler even then.
“If the membership policy changes the BMW Championship would be interested, because it’s a good golf course,’’ said Vince Pellegrino, the BMW tournament director. “But we’ve had no discussions with them and haven’t heard anything.’’
He called the recent report of a membership change of heart “the same thing we’ve heard before.’’
The BMW’s future, though, seems in limbo. Immediately after Cog Hill hosted the 2011 championship in September Pellegrino said an announcement of the site for the 2013 tourney would be made in a matter of weeks.
Four months have past, and Pellegrino said an announcement will have to wait at least another three-four weeks. Conway Farms, in Lake Forest, is the heavy favorite but Pellegrino said no deal has been done. Conway is the Chicago home course of Luke Donald, the world’s No. 1-ranked player.
Killing off the possibility of Chicago returning as an annual PGA Tour site, the WGA slated the 2014 BMW for Cherry Hills in Denver and a return to Chicago in 2015 is not sure thing, either. Harding Park, in San Francisco, is reportedly in the running for the tourney that year.
As for Butler’s return to the big-time, the membership issue is paramount. The club, though, did bring in a top architect, Tom Fazio, to renovate the course in 2005 and two prominent touring pros, Jeff Sluman and Mark Wilson, practice there.

Another Chicago golf season is almost history now. All that is left — except for the few recreational rounds remaining when weather permits — is the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. They’re coming up on Oct. 21 at The Glen Club in Glenview.

The Hall of Fame welcomed its first inductees in 1989. Classes were inducted annually until 1993 when inductions were made on a biennial basis. This year’s inductees include club professionals Steve Benson and Sherm Finger, superintendent Paul Voykin, and the late Bob Gardner, a legendary amateur who took on a variety of leadership roles as well.

Benson, who spent the bulk of his career at Hillcrest (now the Royal Country Club of Long Grove), and Finger, who was long based at Knollwood in Lake Forest, bring to 13 the number of club professionals included in the Hall, which is administered by the Illinois PGA and features photographic exhibits and memorabilia at The Glen Club. Voykin was the superintendent at Briarwood in Deerfield for 47 years.

Dukelow comes through

Rich Dukelow’s victory in last week’s Players Championship at Eagle Ridge in Galena also earned him the Illinois PGA’s player-of-the-year award.

Dukelow, 42, won the award for the first time, but he had previously been the Chicago District Golf Association player-of-the year in 1996, 1999 and 2001. In his last CDGA award season he captured the Illinois Amateur by nine strokes. The Players was the first big win in the club pro ranks for the teaching assistant at Cantigny in Wheaton, but he was the IPGA Assistants player-of-the-year in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

“I love teaching golf, but I still like to get out and compete against other professionals,” said Dukelow. “I’m thankful that Cantigny encourages me to do both and follow my dreams.”

Matt Slowinski, of Glen Oak in Glen Ellyn, was the IPGA Assistants player-of-theyear for this season and the Ivanhoe Club’s Jim Sobb won the award for senior pros.

Getting ready for Ryder Cup

With the 39th Ryder Cup matches still nearly a year away, the PGA of America has already done some fine-tuning on the big event coming to Medinah Country Club.

A walking tour of the course with managing director of tournaments and marketing Kerry Haigh revealed that the long, tough layout will be set up at 7,658 yards for the matches between the PGA stars from the U.S. and Europe with two of the four par-5s measuring more than 600 yards (No. 7 at 617 and No. 14 at 609).

Most interesting of the yardage determinations was at the new 15th. It’ll share a tee box with the par-4 12th hole, but Haigh could set the 15th at 391 yards or 308 yards. If the short tee box is used it’ll become driveable, though a pond guards the green on the right side. If that tee is used, No. 15 could be the most exciting hole of the competition.

Tickets will be scarce, and those who registered for the random drawing for individual tickets will learn how they fared sometime this week. The gallery will be limited to 40,000 per day.

“The PGA of America has seen record interest for the 2012 event, which has sold out many times over,” said Ryder Cup director Michael Belot. “That kind of response is a great testament to the last popularity of the Ryder Cup.”

Merger talk

John Kaczkowski, president of the Western Golf Association, was the featured speaker at the Women’s Western Golf Association fall meeting. The two longstanding organizations will join forces on Jan. 1, which could eventually produce some significant changes in tournament operations.

“We’ll work together on our amateur and junior tournaments next year, then see where it goes from there,” said Kaczkowski, who wouldn’t rule out a revival of the Women’s Western Open eventually. The WWGA discontinued that tournament, once a major tourney on the LPGA tour, after 1967.

Kaczkowski also said no decision has been made on a site for the 2012 BMW Championship. He expected a decision on that matter “in 30 to 60 days.”

Did you know?

The Chicago golf community has lost Bob Held, veteran teaching professional at Fresh Meadows in Hillside. He died suddenly last week. … The White Pines Golf Dome in Bensenville is scheduled to open on Nov. 1. … The Windy City Golf League will conclude its season on Sunday with the Arghe Isle Cup tournament at Arrowhead in Wheaton. … Tickets have just gone on sale for next year’s U.S. Women’s Open, to be played July 2-8 at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis.

Conway Farms, the home course of world No. 1 Luke Donald, remains the consensus favorite to land the 2013 BMW Championship, but the Lake Forest layout isn’t the only private facility Western Golf Association officials have checked out for the next time PGA tournament golf returns to Chicago.

Cog Hill, the public facility in Lemont that has hosted the PGA Tour stop since 1991, remains in the running and other sites that have been given varying degrees of consideration include The Glen Club in Glenview, Merit Club in Libertyville, Chicago Highlands in Westchester and North Shore Country Club in Glenview.

And another most interesting contender surfaced last week when Butterfield Country Club officials revealed that a contingent of PGA and WGA officials had an eight-hour visit to their 27-hole layout in Oak Brook in late August.

Butterfield, always considered one of the area’s better private facilities since its opening in 1922, has never hosted a significant tournament. Now, though, its willingness to do that is changing following the most extensive renovations performed in recent years.

Hampered by drainage problems, Butterfield’s members went 22 months without use of their golf course while architect Steve Smyers supervised a project that included the creation of more than three acres of ponds, the moving of 280,000 cubic yards of earth, the removal of 500 trees and the planting of 300 new trees — all accomplished in difficult economic times.

Though reluctant to put a cost figure on the project, Butterfield grounds chairman Paul Moreschi said that “Not a blade of grass was untouched. … It had to be the most expansive renovation a private club has ever undertaken.”

Cog Hill’s 2008 renovation of the Dubsdread course that has hosted the BMW cost $5.2 million. Butterfield’s was significantly more than that. The three nines re-opened in June of 2010, and the membership was given time to adjust to a more challenging course. Not all liked it, but the new version has elevated Butterfield’s stature — a fact underscored by the PGA visit.

“Our old course was really pretty, but not as strong as Medinah, Beverly or Olympia Fields,” said Moreschi. “When you go through something this big, you want your course to stand up to those courses.”

Butterfield’s does, and the general membership appears receptive to hosting big tournaments now. Its tournament scorecard shows a course that can play a hefty 7,780 yards, though it’s played much shorter than that normally.

“To get that long there would have to be a big event,” said Moreschi. “That wasn’t high on our priority list, but I got the impression (the PGA visitors) liked it as a potential site for the BMW in the future. It’d be a compliment if we were asked.”

Smyers’ work was well-received in a similar, but much less extensive, renovation of Olympia Fields’ South course. Butterfield’s attractiveness as a tournament site is also enhanced by its central suburban location and its 27 holes, which would provide more space for tournament-related features.

First Super champion

Jerry Moody, an assistant professional at Rolling Green in Arlington Heights, captured the first Illinois Super Seniors Open at Pine Meadow in Mundelein. He shot 1-over-par 73, then defeated Joel Hirsch with a par on the first hole of a sudden death playoff.

Bill Erfurth, the former Skokie Country Club professional, shot 74 to miss the playoff by a shot. At 82 he was the oldest player in the field.

Did you know?

Alex Lederhausen, a senior from Hinsdale, became Northwestern’s first Big Ten player-of-the-week in women’s golf since 2007. She was honored for her fourth-place showing in New Mexico’s tournament . … Alan Hill, who had been first assistant superintendent at Ruth Lake in Hinsdale, is now the head superintendent at Klein Creek in Winfield. … The Chicago District Golf Association tournament season came to an end when the Central Illinois team beat its Chicago Area counterparts in the Prairie State Challenge at Midlothian and the Lost Duns team of Kevin Gratkowski and John Smollen won the Better Ball of Pairs title at Bull Valley in Woodstock last week. … Patrick Polvin of Indian Head Park won the Palmer Flight at the Golf Channel National Championship at PGA West in California. … Char McLear of McHenry, Tanya Olson of Naperville and Laura Carson of Lake Bluff are representing Illinois in the USGA Women’s State Team Championship in Savannah, Ga. The tourney, which had teams from all states except New Hampshire, started Tuesday and concludes Thursday. It’s the last tournament on the USGA calendar for 2011.