GLENVIEW, Illinois – SpeedGolf, a sport created 14 years ago, combines a player’s golf score with his time covering 18 holes – and Jamie Young is good at it. So good, in fact, that he’s now the world champion.

Young, 52, from Kenosha, WI., won the World SpeedGolf Championship at The Glen Club on Tuesday. He shot rounds of 72 on Monday and 77 on Tuesday while averaging 10 minutes 20 seconds per mile.

Each round consisted of about five miles running and Young’s scores and speed together were good enough to beat 28 other competitors in the Elite Division in an event that drew athletes from 19 states and six countries.

The problem for Young comes in how to deal with the prize money. A $40,000 purse, put up by prominent Chicago golf course creator Mike Keiser, was offered at the World SpeedGolf Championship but Young couldn’t claim the $10,000 first prize because he chose to compete as an amateur.

Young is a golfer first and a runner second. He played college golf at the University of Oklahoma in the 1980s and was introduced to SpeedGolf five years ago when a friend encouraged him to compete in an event in Richmond, Va.

As was the case in the World Championship, there were amateur divisions at Richmond and Young posted a time that beat all the professionals. He received a nice trophy but Ireland’s Rob Hogan pocketed the $10,000 first prize.

“I turned pro after that,’’ said Young, “because there was talk about expanding it into a tour. I did two more tournaments, cashed in both and won about $5,000 but come the spring of 2015 the Richmond tournament was off, one in Portland was in doubt and the World Championship was to be determined.’’

Young went to the U.S. Golf Association to regain his amateur status, which would allow him to play in the big state golf events in Wisconsin again. He did play in last year’s World SpeedGolf Championship at The Glen Club and finished sixth, but he couldn’t touch the $2,500 prize that went with it because he was an amateur again.

Last January the USGA announced a rule change that would allow amateurs to donate their share of money won to charity, so Young made donations to his local Rotary Club and a church group. He’ll do the same with the first place money earned this year but he hasn’t ruled out a return to the pro ranks.

“If they get a tour going I might re-consider,’’ he said. He was one of four amateurs to compete in the Elite Division at The Glen.

In the meantime Young is keeping both his golf and fitness level in top shape in a variety of ways. He plays most of his golf at both Strawberry Creek, a private club with about 200 members that is owned in part by ex-Bears’ center Jay Hilgenberg in Kenosha, as well as a nearby public layout, Spring Valley.

A 1-handicapper at Strawberry Creek, Young has won the club championship four times and his three sons are his main rivals each year. The owner of his own investment company, Young has also competed in the Ironman Triathlon five times and has completed numerous marathons, most notably the big ones contested in Chicago, New York and Boston.

SpeedGolf presents a different challenge than those more traditional endurance sports. Young competes with six clubs in his bag. Each athlete runs by himself, accompanied by timers and scorers, with tee times eight minutes apart.

“My focus is more on breathing, not like a regular golf tournament where you’re feeling the pressure,’’ he said. “This tournament, though, I focused on shooting a good golf score.’’

He did that with an even par round on his first 18 holes and was 5-over in Tuesday’s second round in edging closest rival Wesley Cupp, of Rome, N.Y. Hogan finished fourth in defense of the title he won at The Glen last year.

If speed were the major consideration Young would have done just fine, too. He has played 18 holes at Strawberry Creek in just 56 minutes. He likes early-morning tee times, which allow him to get to his office for a day’s work after playing 18 holes and running four-five miles.

“For me it’s a great way to stay in shape,’’ said Young.

Emily Fletcher may not have been the best known of the 22 winners of the Women’s Western Golf Association’s Woman of Distinction Award, but she certainly was a popular choice at the group’s annual meeting and luncheon on Thursday at Indian Hill Club in Winnetka.

Fletcher received two standing ovations while accepting an award that was first presented to Patty Berg in 1994. Some of the other winners included legendary players Louise Suggs, Nancy Lopez, Kathy Whitworth, Betty Jameson and Mickey Wright.

WWGA president Kim Schriver presented the award to Fletcher, marking a new era for the winner’s list. Her career in golf isn’t like any of the others. Fletcher was a 30-year assistant professional at the Glen View Club who then built the Northwestern women’s program into a powerhouse after taking on a new professional challenge in 2008.

Fletcher was a college player who was one of the first to go through the pioneer golf management program at Ferris State University in Michigan. She thanked Ed Oldfield Sr., the long-time head professional at Glen View, for her entry into the club professional ranks and Pat Goss, director of golf at Northwestern, for convincing her to give college coaching a try.

Along the way Fletcher served for nine years as the swing coach and sometimes caddie for Jenny Lidback, a touring pro who notched 20 top-10 finishes on the Ladies PGA Tour and won a major title – the 1995 duMaurier Classic. Fletcher also beat breast cancer, a disease which had taken the life of her mother, while coaching at Northwestern.

Oldfield, who now lives in Arizona; Goss and Lidback all were on hand at Indian Hill for Fletcher’s awards presentation that concluded with her choking up after her second standing ovation.

On the coaching end her Lady Wildcats have won three of the last four Big Ten Conference titles and she was the league’s coach-of-the-year four times in the last six years.

Given the rich history of the WWGA, receiving the organization’s top award is a lifetime achievement that’s hard to match. The WWGA was founded in 1901 and will conduct its 117th Women’s Western Amateur at River Forest Country Club in 2017. That’s another big reason why the Chicago area can look ahead to its most exciting season of tournament play next year. The Women’s Western Amateur has been played at Chicago courses 44 times, but not since 2001 when Exmoor, in Highland Park, hosted.

Dubuque Golf & Country Club, in Iowa, will host the 90th Western Junior tournament next year. The WWGA also conducted one of the LPGA’s majors – the Women’s Western Open, from 1930 through 1967 – and the Women’s Western Senior from 1979 through 2007.

It took considerable time to find the book “Unfriended: The Power Brokers, Political Correctness and Hypocrisy in Golf.’’ That’s Ted Bishop’s account of the events surrounding his controversial impeachment as president of the PGA of America. Apparently it’s most readily found as a Nook offering. At least that’s how I found it.

After getting Bishop’s account of his well-publicized 2014 impeachment — which came less than a month before his term as president was to expire — it seems the PGA of America’s move was a great overreaction to what Bishop readily admits was his own mistake. He shouldn’t have tweeted that European golfer Ian Poulter whined like a “lil girl’’ in making comments about Tom Watson and Nick Faldo.

Watson, especially, is Bishop’s friend and Bishop was defending him, but his choice of words was taken as sexist and well outside the PGA’s policy of staying politically correct. That’s all well and good, but “Unfriended’’ makes for better reading than just that.

Bishop, a long-time Indiana club professional, spends only the first two chapters and part of another on his impeachment defense. The rest of the book provides interesting insights into a variety of golf subjects – the politics of the Ryder Cup, Phil Mickelson, Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Dottie Pepper, women in golf and the PGA’s current leadership.

There’s a lot of interesting golf insider stuff, even if the book did emanate from an episode that many in the sport would just as soon forget.

Arlington Lakes has been an 18-hole facility operated by the Arlington Heights Park District since 1979, so it was due for its first renovation. The result, though, was far beyond most expectations when the course re-opened on July 1.

The course had been closed for 13 months to allow architect Mike Benkusky to completely renovate a layout that was designed by the late St. Charles architect David Gill on what had been a Nike Missile Base. The course is built on just 90 acres so expanding beyond the 5,432 yard, par 68 specifications wasn’t possible.

What Benkusky could do, though, was modernize the layout and make it much more versatile for its players. That was done in two major steps: Benkusky flipped the nines, allowing for the creation of three- and six-hole loops for shorter rounds at certain times, and the extraordinary number of bunkers was reduced by two-thirds.

Tim Govern, operations manager for Arlington Lakes, is intrigued by the possibilities that the loops will create. He envisions more players – those with some time constraints — being enticed by the option of playing just three or six holes. Nos. 3, 6, 9 and 18 all come back to the clubhouse. Such playing options will be priced accordingly, and attractively. For example, a quick three holes would cost just $5 for juniors and seniors on weekdays.

“We’ll probably never be the most prestigious course to play, but we’ll always hope to be a course for fun golf at fantastic rates,’’ said Govern. “The course is finally going to be what it should be – a great, community municipal course.’’

Govern was understandably excited about that aspect of the new look but players teeing off during and immediately after the July 1 grand opening also were delighted by the well-conditioned putting surfaces, nine of which are brand new, and the increased number of tee placements. The course also has wall to wall cart paths now, allowing for play in more inclement weather conditions.

The new loops and the terrific greens are big improvements, but the bunker reduction will be the most appreciated aspect of the renovation for players who visited the course frequently in the past. It certainly is a boost for superintendent Al Bevers.

“We went from 106 traps to 37, or from 97,000 square feet (of bunker space) to 37,000 square feet,’’ said Bevers. That makes for much less maintenance work and much less frustration for more casual players.

Gill’s original design likely called for more bunkers to offset the inevitable lack of length. They did serve the purpose of making a short course more challenging, but that had drawbacks as well.

“The crazy bunkers that we had before were just too darn difficult for the clientele,’’ said Govern. Many of the surviving bunkers are now adorned with fescue edges.

Bevers and a five-man crew handled the bulk of the work, which also included the adding of a half-acre of lake space to provide better drainage. Seventy trees were also removed and some new ones were planted in strategic places.

As far as the rotation goes, Benkusky did much more than switch the nines. He also created three new holes (Nos. 7, 8 and 9) to improve the flow of play and congestion around the clubhouse, but water still comes into play on nine of the holes. The clubhouse also was upgraded in the $2.4 million project with a new patio area the most eye-catching improvement.

“This offers a lot for everybody,’’ said Benkusky. “We hope it brings the families out.’’

Based in Lake in the Hills, Benkusky has worked on a wide variety of Chicago area courses since opening his design firm in 2005. Among them are public facilities Ft. Sheridan, Brae Loch, Countryside and Red Tail and privates Hawthorn Woods, Itasca and St. Charles Country Club – the site of this year’s Illinois State Amateur.

ERIN, Wisconsin – The first thing you notice is the scorecard. The official yardage for Erin Hills at the 2017 U.S. Open is whopping 7,693 yards. That may make it the longest course in the 117-year history of the U.S. Open, though U.S. Golf Association staffers on site weren’t ready to confirm that.

“But don’t be alarmed by that,’’ said USGA managing director Jeff Hall at the media preview day at the course. “This will be the first time we’ve played a par-72 course in the U.S. Open since 1992. Tour players aren’t accustomed to have four par-5s at a U.S. Open but they’ll get that opportunity at Erin Hills.’’

The par-5s are No. 1, which is listed at 560 yards but could play as long as 608; No.7, listed at 607 but could play as short as 576 or as long as 619; No. 14, listed at 594 but could play as long as 650; and No. 18, listed at 637 but could play as long as 675.

The tourney is June 15-18, 2017 – the first U.S. Open ever played in Wisconsin and the first one in the Midwest since Olympia Fields hosted in 2003. Golf’s biggest event has sites set through 2026 and none of the succeeding ones are even remotely close to the Midwest.

Both course superintendent Zach Reineking and the architectural team of Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten were on hand for the preview day and joined Hall and the media contingent on the tour of the course.

Erin Hills will be open for public play through Oct. 6, and then the public won’t be able to play until after the 117th playing of the Open next June.

Hall set the greens will be in the 13 to 13 ½ range for the Open and will be slower than the surfaces this year at Oakmont.

Some other tidbits on the upcoming big event:

Few changes have been made since Erin Hills hosted the 2011 U.S. Open. The only notable one is at No. 3, and that wasn’t a major thing.

Reineking said 385 trees have been taken down in recent years and only six are left. None come into play except perhaps the only at No. 15 – and the future of that tree is in doubt. Since last year a new, elaborate practice range has been built near the clubhouse and parking lot.

The USGA estimates the economic impact of the 2017 U.S. Open on the Milwaukee area at between $120 and $135 million.

Community support has been outstanding. The USGA needed about 5,000 volunteers and received applications from 7,956. More than half of the volunteers were from Wisconsin and 52 were from foreign countries.

Though the planning remains a work in progress, tentative plans call for two spectator parking lots, both free to those using them.

The USGA will open its merchandise online shop on Sept. 8.

Though Erin Hills is built on 652 acres the USGA is planning for 35,000 spectators per day. The ticket sale was launched in June and sellouts for the four tournaments are expected. The four tournaments rounds have been sellouts for the last 29 years.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Weather conditions were less than ideal when the fourth annual Legends Championship teed off Saturday on the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort. A tee time adjustment, calling for play to begin off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees, was made when afternoon rains entered into the forecast.

The weather forecast, though, didn’t dampen the enthusiasm at the tournament’s annual Hall of Fame gala and induction dinner at the resort’s Hoosier Ballroom on Friday night. That event climaxed a day-long pro-am event on the Pete Dye Course.

Not only was the pro-am a sellout, with 51 fivesomes participating, but the dinner kicked off on another high note when Joe Vezzoso – the resorts’s vice president of operations – announced that this Legends Championship and its related events had led to a $200,000 donation to the Riley Children’s Foundation.

The evening’s featured event, though, was the induction of Elaine Crosby and Sandra Haynie into the Legends Hall of Fame. Jane Blalock, chief executive officer of the Legends Tour and a Hall of Famer herself, welcomed Crosby and Haynie into the select company that also includes Kathy Whitworth, Jan Stephenson, Nancy Lopez, JoAnne Carner and Rosie Jones plus the winners of the two women’s majors played at French Lick – Betsy Rawls and Mickey Wright. Rawls and Wright won LPGA Championships on what is now the resort’s Donald Ross Course in 1959 and 1960, respectively.

“We all love coming to this place. It’s magic,’’ said Blalock, who announced that The Legends Tour would also make a $1,000 donation to the Riley Children’s Foundation.

Crosby played on the LPGA Tour for 20 years and had victories at the 1989 Mazda Japan Classic and 1994 Lady Keystone Open. She has also hosted a Legends event in her hometown of Jackson, Mich., for 15 years. It has raised nearly $3 million for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids and it will raise much more, as the event’s sponsor has committed to another 15 years.

Despite those estimable accomplishments, she downplayed her selection to The Legends Hall of Fame, saying she was “very shocked’’ when she received notice of her selection from French Lick director of golf Dave Harner.

Citing Haynie and the previous inductees, Crosby said “I would never have put my name into a Hall of Fame with them. I’m just excited to be part of it, and very humbled. It’s not every day you get inducted into a Hall of Fame with a Hall of Famer.’’

For Haynie the honor completed a sweep for her in women’s golf. She had earlier been inducted into the LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame.

“Golf has been a wonderful journey for me,’’ said Haynie, who won 42 LPGA tournaments and four major championships. It’s given me a wonderful life, with wonderful friends. I want to thank French Lick for coming up with the idea for creating a Legends Hall of Fame, where our players will live forever. This is such an honor because I get to be with my friends.’’

FRENCH LICK, Ind. — The Ladies PGA Tour took two weeks off from tournaments to avoid conflict with the Olympic Games in Brazil, and the men’s PGA Tour greatly revised its schedule during that time period.

That wasn’t the case with The Legends Tour, the official senior circuit of the LPGA. Its biggest tournament of the season for players in the 45-plus age group was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, directly opposite the final two days of the women’s competition in Rio de Janiero.

The fourth annual Legends Championship, a 36-hole event with a $75,000 purse, will be played on the stunning Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort.

Jane Blalock, who created the Legends Tour in 2000 when her own great playing career was winding down, has no regrets about the scheduling opposite the Olympics.

“The Olympics is just good for all of golf,’’ said Blalock. “Hopefully it will bring attention to our Legends Championship as well.’’

While hardly the magnitude of the Olympics, The Legends Championship has its appealing qualities.

“Just look at our field,’’ said Blalock. “Laura Davies and Juli Inkster, Pat Bradey and Patty Sheehan. You talk about the cream of the crop, those are four of the greatest players who have ever played the game.’’

If anything, the arrival of the Olympics only makes the Legends’ stars envious of what they missed during their peak playing years. There wasn’t much international team play then.

“My only void in golf is that I didn’t get to represent my country in the Solheim Cup,’’ said Blalock, one of 10 Hall of Fame members competing in The Legends Championship. “We did have U.S. vs. Japan, so we did have the chance to wear the red, white and blue and hear the National Anthem, but I can’t think of anything more exciting than participating in the Olympics.’’

She sees the Olympics giving golf a need boost that will carry over for years to come.

“Golf has not been on the upswing,’’ said Blalock. “It’s been flat at best, but this will change all that. We’re going to get younger kids excited about it because now it’s an Olympic sport.’’

They’ll get even more excited, she expects, if the U.S. women perform well.

“Women’s golf has been on the (global) stage, but this is elevating it,’’ said Blalock. “The players are already stellar, and I hope the players from the U.S. will rise to the occasion and at least one will get on the podium (as a gold, silver or bonze medal winner).’’

The women stars of today supported the Olympics much better than their male counterparts, as many of the latter bypassed the Games citing concerns over the Zika virus. Blalock downplays that.

“There’s been too much speculation,’’ she said. “The guys have so many opportunities to play for their countries. The have the World Cup, the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup. For many the Olympics was not a big deal but – for those who participated – they’ll tell a different story. It is a big deal, and we’ll see a change (in attitudes) in Tokyo (the next Summer Olympics venue, in 2020).’’

As for The Legends Championship, it’s become a feature in this southern Indiana town that was once made famous as the home of basketball great Larry Bird. Golf has always been big here, too, however.

Walter Hagen started his storied run of four straight PGA Championships on what is now the Donald Ross Course, sister course to the Pete Dye Course where the Legends play. The Ross Course also hosted the 1959 and 1960 LPGA Championship, won by Betsy Rawls and Mickey Wright.

Inkster, already a legend off her playing record, is the defending champion in The Legends Championship. She won the title in her first tournament on the 45-and-older circuit. The first two stagings were won by Lorie Kane in 2013 and Laurie Rinker in 2014. The most eye-catch feat in the history of the event, though, may have been the 63 shot by Sherri Steinhauer in the rain-shortened tourney of two years ago.

Kane has been the hottest player on the circuit this year, winning the last two tournaments – the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial in Florida and the Self Regional Women’s Classic in South Carolina. Both were 18-hole events.

The Legends Championship also features a seven-player Honors Division, for stars 63 and over. Jan Stephenson won last year and will be going for her fourth straight title in the tour’s Honors division events.

One of the circuit’s top players was a late withdrawal from The Legends Championship. Liselotte Neumann returned to her native Sweden this week after learning of the death of her mother.

In addition to the action on the Pete Dye Course a highlight of the festivities will be the induction of Sandra Hayne and Elaine Crosby into the Legends Hall of Fame on Friday night. The Legends’ Hall is located at the near West Baden Springs Hotel near the Pete Dye Course.

Lake Shore’s Bob Koschmann and Itasca’s Phil Benson were honored Monday at the 24th Illinois PGA Senior Masters Championship at Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest.

Koschmann is wrapping up his 40th, and final, season at Lake Shore in Glenview. He learned of an opening at Lake Shore while working as a caddie for PGA Tour player Jim Jamieson. Koschmann was hired on the spot as an assistant pro and worked there two years before taking a similar post working under legendary club pro Bill Ogden at North Shore.

With two more years of seasoning under Ogden, Koschmann was ready to begin his long stint as the head man at Lake Shore. He plans a move to Scottsdale, Ariz., after his retirement.

Benson also found happiness after settling at one private club. He entered the PGA of America’s then-new Professional Golf Management program at Ferris State after his high school graduation in 1975 and began his career at Itasca in 1979.

“I pretty much do the same thing now as I did in 1980,’’ he said. “I take are of the members, take care of the wives, take care of the kids, run the events, teach the people how to play and always listen to all their interesting stories when they come off the course. I don’t ever feel like I’m going to work when I go to work, so I guess that’s why I stayed in the field and stayed at Itasca. It’s always enjoyable to come to work.’’

Koschmann and Benson became the 47th and 48th club professionals honored at the Senior Masters event, the last 13 stagings of which were at Onwentsia. Their accomplishments were cited at a luncheon that preceded 18 holes of competition that included a pro-am. Tournament director Robert Duke gave the competitors pre-tournament instructions before sending them on to the course.

This is a milestone year for one of the Chicago area’s very special golf facilities. St. Andrews is turning 90 years old, and only a handful of other golf clubs – private or public — have lasted that long.

Not only that, but St. Andrews’ road to success has been done family style. None of the other historically-rich clubs can match the family longevity that’s evolved at St. Andrews.

The West Chicago club’s story begins in 1926 when architect Edward B. Dearie built the first course. Three years later a second 18-holer, then called Lakewood, was added. One (the first, called St. Andrews) was built as a private club for members, the other (Lakewood) was for daily fee players. Private clubs dominated the game in the Chicago area before that, beginning with the building of Chicago Golf Club – the nation’s first 18-hole course — in 1892.

St. Andrews’ 36-hole facility became the home base for Joe Jemsek in 1938. Born the day before Christmas in 1913, he got involved in golf as a caddie and then a parking lot attendant at Cog Hill, in Lemont, and by age 19 he was a club professional there.

Jemsek gained fame by hitting a 501-yard drive in a long-drive contest at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair, then moved to St. Andrews in 1938 after his bosses at Cog Hill wouldn’t give him a raise. That’s when the family side of St. Andrews began.

Though he was a competitive player, Jemsek’s goal was to own a golf course and the opportunity arose when St. Andrews owner Frank Hough offered him the facility for $40,000. Using a combination of savings and a loan, Jemsek not only took over ownership of St. Andrew; he also married Hough’s daughter Alice.

Jemsek would later take over the operations – either through ownership or lease agreements — of Cog Hill, Fresh Meadows in Hillside, Pine Meadow in Mundelein and Glenwoodie in Glenwood. He also added two more courses to the 36 at Cog Hill and became most-aptly known nation-wide as “the father of public golf.’’

St. Andrews, though, was his first venture into golf ownership and management. He opened both courses to public lic.

Jemsek, his wife and two children – Frank and Marianne – resided in a home behind the first green of the St. Andrews Course and now Marianne and her husband, Jerry Hinckley, live there. Though still part-time California residents, they became active owners of St. Andrews after Jemsek’s death at age 88 in 2002.

Son Frank Jemsek, meanwhile, has long directed the operations at Cog Hill and Pine Meadow and his family members play various roles in what happens there.

St. Andrews, though, is where it all started. It was the first public course to host a U.S. Open qualifying round in 1947 and the first to offer U.S. Golf Association handicaps to its regular players. Joe Jemsek also hired the legendary woman player Patty Berg as St. Andrews head professional, and she remained on staff for almost 50 years.

Eventually the Lakewood course at St. Andrews was renamed as the Joe Jemsek Course.

Lots of golf courses have come and gone in the Chicago area since the first tee shot was hit at St. Andrews. Many big tournaments have been scheduled at private clubs or Cog Hill, but St. Andrews remains a popular place for golf beginners and diehards alike.

The Hinckleys have brought in their own upgrades. Music on the front lawn has become a Wednesday night fixture, one of many things that sets St. Andrews apart from other public facilities, and those artists move indoors – to the St. Andrews Room – come October. The driving range was expanded more recently and now has hitting bays heated for winter use.

St. Andrews, long a popular destination for weddings as well as all types of golf outings, remains an extraordinary family-oriented operation.

Oldest on the staff is 89-year old Annie Judson, Marianne Hinckley’s aunt and Joe Jemsek’s sister. She has worked at St. Andrews for 65 years in a wide variety of capacities.

Dave Erickson, the head professional and practice range manager, has been employed by Jemsek Golf since 1970 and spent the last 27 years at St. Andrews. His aunt Anabelle was office secretary for many years.

Michelle Bockrath, the pro shop manager as well as marketing and live entertainment coordinator, has been at the club for 32 years – which is still five years short of her mother Jackie Tomaso. She’s worked the Half Way House for 37 years.

When Amos Lapp retired as course superintendent his son John replaced him and, when John retired, his nephew Brian took the job. Between Amos, John and Brian the Lapps have spent 42 years at St. Andrews.

The maintenance crew includes Jaime Cabrera (39 years); Darrell Redmond and Jesus Garcia, who are both 30-year employees; Jim Smith (27 years) and Antonio Garcia (25). Joe Baker was bar manager for over 50 years and his son Jude now holds that position. Three other Bakers are veterans of the bar operation – Dave for 36 years, Courtney for 28 and Brenda for 22. Another bartender, Tom Howell, has been on board for 27 years.

Cheryl Soto, the assistant general manager, is in her 41st year with the club and head ranger Dennis Maher is in his 28th season. Starters Walt Larsen and Don Rericka are 25-year men and Nick Koukos has worked in the pro shop for 26.

Teaching pro Mike Cain has been at St. Andrews for 27 years after starting work there on the maintenance crew in his teen-age years. The maintenance gang also provided a start for Butch Hansen, who has been a starter for 22 years.

Waitresses Susan Hansen, on board for 27 years, and Dee Albrecht, for 22, have also topped the two decade mark and bartender Tracy Page and practice center supervisor Carlos Alanis reached it recently.

And the list goes on. St. Andrews’ centennial is only 10 years away and there are sure to be plenty of long-term employees on hand for the celebration.

A sports event like no other will soon be hitting the Chicago area soon.

The UL International Crown is a women’s golf event – nothing so unusual about that – but it’s also a team competition with a global feel. Only the Ryder Cup, for men, and Solheim Cup, for women, fall into that category and the UL International Crown is much different than both of those.

Eight countries will be represented when the UL International Crown comes to the Merit Club from July 19-24. The Ryder and Solheim Cups are both two-team affairs — U.S. vs. Europe. Add six more teams and you’ve got what event director Drew Blass admits is “a different animal.’’

And that’s putting it mildly. You have to be there to fully appreciate how different the UL International Crown is.

“I love the Solheim Cup,’’ said Blass, who worked on that event when it was played to rave reviews at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove in 2009, “but the U.S. was only playing the European Union. Here each of the eight countries get their own national anthems. All the players will be in their team uniforms, with no sponsor logos.’’

The Ladies PGA needed a different event, one that underscored what an international scope its players offer at each and every tournament, and the UL International Crown fits that to a tee. The competition for places at the Merit Club actually began as soon as the first UL International Crown concluded in 2014. All the players on the LPGA Tour – as well as smaller professional circuits world-wide — had a chance to qualify.

Under this unique format all the players are awarded points off their tournament showings as individuals and those are translated into their positions in the Rolex World Rankings. Then the rankings of the top four players in each country are combined and the eight countries with the lowest total receive invitations to the UL International Crown.

That means that the big week at the Merit Club will feature 32 players representing eight countries be battling for one – highly coveted – crown.

The format does keep some top players – like world No. 1-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand, No. 2 Brooke Henderson of Canada and popular Norway veteran Suzann Pettersen – out of the finals. Their countries don’t have enough other top players to earn a position in the top eight in the team standings.

Blass doesn’t see the absence of a few top stars as a negative. In fact, it has some long-range benefits.

“It’s a positive, because it grows the game globally,’’ said Blass. “Look at China. I would never have guessed that China would be in this field two years ago but now it has four qualified players.’’

Two years ago it had but one, Shanshan Feng. She made a point of thanking the three young players who improved their rankings to elevate China into the finals of the UL International Crown.

Even without players like Ko, Henderson and Pettersen, the field at Merit Club will be filled with world-class players fighting for a unique honor – that being the world’s best women’s golf-playing nation.

The final eight teams have been divided into two four-team pools. The Republic of Korea had the lowest point total during the qualifying process and was accorded the No. 1 seed in Pool A. The U.S. had the second-lowest point total and received the No. 1 seed in Pool B.

Japan, Chinese Taipei and England are also in Group A and Australia, Thailand and China are in Group B. Each country will play two, four-ball matches between each of the other three countries in their pool in the first three days of competition.

Then, the top two point-earning countries from each pool and one wild card country will advance to Sunday’s series of single matches. The cumulative points from the four days of competition will determine the champion.

When the UL International Crown was played for the first time in 2014 Spain won the title. Spain, however, didn’t survive the qualifying process for this second playing of the UL International Crown.

Unlike the Solheim Cup, there will be four days of matches at the UL International Crown instead of three. There will also be a pro-am event before the matches begin at the UL International Crown. There isn’t one in the Solheim Cup format.

“We couldn’t be more excited,’’ said Kraig Kann. chief communications officer for the LPGA. “It’s an event that will have an Olympic-type field. All that we won’t have is a podium to hand out gold, silver and bronze medals.