Category: Features

Conway Farms gets spruced up for ’15 BMW Championship

It’s back to Chicago for the BMW Championship. The Western Golf Assn. will continue its policy of playing its premier event close to its home base every other year, and Conway Farms will again be the site of tourney after it leaves Cherry Hills. It’ll next be contested from Sept. 14-20 in 2015.

Conway Farms, based in Chicago’s North Shore community of Lake Forest, hosted the tournament for the first time in 2013 and the event was a rousing success. It was one of the best-attended tournaments of the year on the PGA Tour, with 130,000 spectators. It produced the lowest 18-hole round of the season – Jim Furyk’s 59. It raised $2.3 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation and – for the second straight year – the BMW Championship was named the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year. The estimated economic impact for the area was $30 million.

Tournament director Vince Pellegrino called the support received at a new location “overwhelming.’’ Given that a PGA Tour event hadn’t been staged in Chicago’s North suburbs since 1972, it was no surprise when the PGA Tour confirmed the return to Conway Farms on May 28. There was no reason to change a good thing.

Still, the announcement was good news for the club’s most prominent member – former world No. 1 Luke Donald.

“As a member I’m proud that Conway Farms will again be hosting the BMW Championship,’’ said Donald, “and, as a PGA Tour player, I’m excited to have another opportunity to compete on my home course against the world’s best players.’’

Having the 2013 BMW at Conway was a tonic for Donald, who needed a strong showing there to earn a place in the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings that would qualify him for The Tour Championship in Atlanta. Donald got it with a tie for fourth place showing at Conway.

That tourney was filled with other highlights. Furyk’s hot second round made him only the sixth player to shoot a 59 in a PGA Tour event, following Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Paul Goydos and Stuart Appleby. Furyk was 12-under after making 11 birdies and a holeout for eagle at the par-4 15th hole.

Hunter Mahan also made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole, and controversy wasn’t lacking with Tiger Woods assessed a video-aided penalty. Those developments also helped make for an exciting week.

Woods finished in a tie for 11th, as Zach Johnson emerged the champion with a 16-under-par 268 performance. A 65 in the final round gave Johnson a two-stroke edge on Nick Watney and a three-shot advantage on Furyk, who finished solo third.

The tourney had one major problem – the weather. The final round couldn’t be completed on time because of heavy rain, and the tourney didn’t end until Monday.

When the event returns next year the place and the course will have a new look. The club membership undertook some major projects this summer that will enhance the next BMW Championship.

The practice range was closed on July 17 for a major renovation, and the course also was shut down early, on Aug. 4, to allow for renovation work by architects Tom Fazio and Dennis Wise. It won’t re-open until Memorial Day weekend of 2015.

All the greens were renovated and some other tweaks – described as “minor’’ by general manager Todd Marsh – were also made to the course so the 70 players who qualify for the next BMW Championship will find an even better layout than the one played in 2013. As you can tell, Conway Farms members take their golf seriously. Of the 265 members, 165 have single digit handicaps. That puts Conway in the top five clubs in the country for having that many quality players in its membership.

More extensive work was done off the course. Sixty-six spaces were added to the parking lot, the golf shop underwent a complete renovation and a state-of-the-art caddie headquarters was also constructed.

Even before the updating the Tom Fazio-designed layout was plenty good for tournament play. Six years after its 1991 opening it hosted the men’s NCAA Championship and a year later the U.S. Junior Amateur was played there.

Before the BMW’s arrival Conway also hosted the American Junior Golf Assn. Canon Cup in 2002 and 2006, the men’s Big Ten Championship in 2006, the Western Amateur in 2009 and the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 2011.

Until the BMW came to town, however, the course’s only tests from pros came in the 2007 U.S. Open local qualifying and the 2008 U.S. Open sectional qualifying. The course was set up at 7,216 yards with a par of 71 for its first full-fledged test from PGA Tour players. The low scoring was in large part due to helpful playing conditions – rain-softened greens and little wind throughout the tourney.

Scoring could be much different next time, if the weather isn’t as ideal and the renovation creates more challenging playing conditions.

Michigan’s True North brings Carlson out of retirement

HARBOR SPRINGS, MI. – Terry Carlson thought his working life was done after being a head golf professional in the Chicago area for 26 years and then getting a big sendoff into retirement at a prestigious club in Arizona.

Terry Carlson couldn’t turn down the chance to work at True North.

Forty years as a club professional plus one as a player on the Champions Tour seemed like plenty until Carlson got a call from one of his former members. He wanted Carlson to spend four summer months running the golf operation at True North, a northern Michigan club that had undergone an ownership change and was in transition.

“I never realized how beautiful the courses are here,’’ said Carlson, who just reached his 70th birthday. “And I was overwhelmed when I saw this place. It’s a top-50 golf course in America. Every hole is just gorgeous.’’

The addition of five golf cottages has made True North a more attractive destination.

Carlson knows all about good golf courses. He was the head pro at Elgin Country Club for 10 years, then spent 16 in a similar position at Glen Oak in Glen Ellyn. While at Glen Oak he served term as president of the Illinois PGA.

Then he got a call from Estancia Club, a Scottsdale, Ariz., private facility that has a course ranked in America’s Top 100 Courses by Golf Digest magazine. Its members include two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and several other PGA Tour players. Carlson spent 14 years there.

In addition to his club duties in Arizona and Illinois Carlson was a good enough player to earn playing privileges on the Champions Tour for one season and play in nine major championships.

“I’m very proud of that. Club pros today don’t get a chance to do that,’’ said Carlson. “It was a great life for me.’’

Carlson left Scottsdale after his retirement and moved to New Orleans to be close to family members. Then came the call from True North.

Elevation changes, on both the tees and greens, add to the challenge at True North.

“I jumped at the chance to come here,’’ said Carlson. True North has 67 members, and the list isn’t quite like it was at Estancia with its array of PGA Tour players. True North, however, does have Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly, former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and the son of Hord Hardin, former chairman of the Masters tournament for Augusta National.

True North has an interesting history. Its designer was the well-respected Jim Engh, whose first Michigan design – Tullymore in Stanwood – was an immediate hit in the Midwest. True North, which opened two years later in 2003, is at least as good. Carlson calls it a “good, tough and fair’’ layout. It measures 7,040 yards from the back tees with a rating of 73.2 and slope of 146.

“(Engh) has a specific style with his bunkering,’’ said Matt Payne, True North’s general manager. “What he did here was let the course flow with the natural terrain.’’

The first ownership group wanted the course to be the centerpiece for a real estate development. That didn’t work out. The next wanted to go fully public. That didn’t work, either. The present four-man group of owners is moving in a different direction, with five new golf cottages built in the last two years to create a setting for a national membership..

“They wanted a fully private, low volume, high quality level experience,’’ said Payne. “Our members just want a place to play when they come. We’re pretty casual, a first-name club that’s unique to the area. We don’t need a lot of members to make the place successful. We just need the right people to make it successful.’’

An up-close view of the wildlife is an added attraction to a round a True North.

Northern Michigan is loaded with good golf courses, most of them public or resort layouts. But not True North. Payne says the initial target for members is 150.

“We’re building a private club, which means we’re trying to sell privacy,’’ said Carlson. “We’re kind of bucking the trend. This is a place where a guy who doesn’t want to own a second home – and a lot don’t these days – can come and stay in our cottages. We take care of everything from the moment he arrives until the moment he leaves and we can pick up him and take him back to the airport. For a guy looking for a vacation home, this is a pretty good choice.’’

The club is offering generational memberships, meaning a member’s privileges extend to a spouse, parents and all dependents of the members. The club is looking to fill the membership roster with more than just individuals, but with a lineage of legacy that will be with the club for many years down the road. The member also has the ability to transfer the membership to a dependent at any time.

National corporate memberships are also an option. The club is offering one-time visits for non-members to enable them to experience the club, the cost depending on rounds played, cart and lodging fees and transportation requirements. Details on how that works is available through www.truenorthgolf.com.

A Q&A with USGA’s Tom O’Toole

The U.S. Golf Assn. is based in Far Hills, N.J., and its leaders don’t get to Chicago all that much. That’s why Tom O’Toole’s recent stopover offered a good opportunity to find out what’s new with golf’s ruling body in the United States.

O’Toole, the USGA president, is from St. Louis. He’s been involved with USGA matters since 1988 and is in his seventh year as a member of the USGA Executive Committee. O’Toole is in his first year as president after serving as secretary in 2010 and vice president from 2011 to 2013. He has also been a USGA rules official on more than 135 championships including every U.S. Open since 1990.

While O’Toole’s visit was designed to connect with key supporters and benefactors for next year’s U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields, KemperSports arranged for some select media to question him about current issues in our game. O’Toole spoke expansively, and this is the boiled down version of what he said:

QUESTION: While it’s great that the U.S. Amateur is coming (its 115th playing is from Aug. 17-23, 2015, on the North and South courses at Olympia Fields), Chicago is not on the current list for a U.S. Open – or any other USGA championship, for that matter. Will any big events – particular U.S. Opens – be coming?

O’TOOLE: It’s been the long-standing practice of the USGA that we don’t talk about invitations that we receive for particular championships because we protect the confidentiality of clubs and regions and communities that are in that mix. That said, Chicago certainly is a wonderful golf town. We’ve had great U.S. Opens here, even in the last couple of decades with Hale Irwin winning at Medinah (1990) and Jim Furyk at Olympia Fields (2003).

We would always look to interact with a club that would issue an invitation, or facility if it’s not a private membership club like Medinah or Olympia Fields, to bring the U.S. Open back to this storied town of Chicago.

QUESTION: Which club, or facility, would be the best bet for that?

O’TOOLE: Suffice to say that our experience next year at Olympia Fields will be one that will be looked at closely. I’m sure it will cause the club possibly to entertain other discussions with us about future championships at the club.

QUESTION: This year was an unusual one for the USGA, in that both the men’s U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open were played on the same course for the first time, and in back-to-back weeks. In retrospect, was that a good idea and will it likely be tried again?

O’TOOLE: We’ll continue to look at something like that. We knew there was associated risk with doing that, predominantly centered around the Women’s championship. We don’t want to be braggadocios, but we pretty much avoided those risks and ended up with two great weeks of championship golf.

We always thought it would be an unbelievable celebration of women’s golf. You don’t always achieve your objective when you start down a road like that, but I think we did that. There were more eyes on women’s golf that second week. Our ratings were fabulous, the best they’d ever been for the Women’s Open. We had great galleries. It was mission accomplished.

QUESTION: Given the USGA’s new, more lucrative television contract, could some of that money be used to start a U.S. Senior Women’s Open?

O’TOOLE: That’s been a hotbed of discussion. Mike Davis and Dan Burton, who chair our Championship Committee, met with players on the (LPGA) Legends Tour. We had a good exchange, and we’re looking at it very in-depth. It’s the only sector of golfers we don’t have a national championship for. We don’t want to rush to have one if we don’t think the championship is viable.

Do we have a number of golfers from both the female professional ranks or female amateur ranks who would want to participate? We’re looking at what the Legends Tour is, how big its fields are. They range anywhere from the mid-40s up to 100. What would be the right fit for that? We promised this group that this was not lip service, that we were taking a very serious look at this championship.

I want to get this resolved by year’s end so we can say, we’ve made a decision, we’re going to go forward, we’re not, and here is the reason for either answer. I’d look for something this year.

QUESTION: One tournament that went away this year was the U.S. Public Links, for both men and women. Any regrets about that?

O’TOOLE: It was somewhat of a sad time when we retired that championship, but society has changed. We need to be celebrating that point, the fact that we don’t have in any of our national championships any requirements about what your socioeconomic background is, what golf club or facility you play for or represent.

It’s a wonderful thing that in this day and age we’ve evolved past that, particularly in a sport that’s been accused of being an elitist sport, exclusionary and not inclusionary. We don’t need those championships anymore because our society is open, our game is open. It’s something to be exhilarated about and not be disappointed about.

QUESTION: Finally, the U.S. Amateur that is coming to Olympia Fields next year may not be the most heavily followed of the USGA events but your organization in many ways finds it the most important. Why is that?

O’TOOLE: Well, it’s our oldest championship (it was first held in 1895) and the USGA is an amateur body. That’s why we were formed in December of 1894 – to conduct championships that are primarily of the amateur variety.

I don’t think there’s any debate in men’s amateur golf that the most coveted title is the Havemeyer Trophy (which goes to the U.S. Amateur champion). It just has a long connection with what the USGA represents and the epitome of what we’re trying to do in our championship presentation. The level of competition that you enjoy at the Amateur is the best in the amateur game. We have a particular attachment to it for what it means in championship golf going forward.

Legends do their part to help children’s hospital

FRENCH LICK, Ind. — Braden Tamosaitis got to roll some putts on the Pete Dye Course on Saturday and also meet many of the players competing in the second round of the LPGA Legends Championship.

Nine-year old Braden Tamosaitis got an up-close-and-personal look at the LPGA Legends Championship.

Braden, age 9, enjoyed the experience thoroughly and the players he touched most certainly did, as well.

“He’s a special little kid,’’ summed up Dave Harner, director of golf at French Lick.

Braden was born with spina bifida, hydrocephalus and Arnold Chiari II malformation. He underwent surgery the day after he was born and again on the second day of his life. Altogether he’s had 17 surgeries, but they haven’t dimmed his spirit for life. He was delighted to report that a couple of putts on the practice green even found the hole.

“He’s a very happy kid, and a better interview than I am,’’ said his father, Kevin, who drove his family over two hours (from Camby, Ind., near Indianapolis) on Friday night so that they could participate in Saturday’s Walk for Riley while the Legends tournament was in progress.

Riley Children’s Hospital at IU Health is the new charity partner with the Legends Championship. The hospital will received a check for $100,000 following Sunday’s final round to continue its work with families dealing with severe health problems.

“French Lick really stepped up,’’ said Kevin Tamosaitis. “We’ve been welcomed with open arms and treated like VIPs.’’

Harner said Riley Children’s Hospital’s involvement developed because `we wanted something everyone in Indiana could identify with and be a part of.’’ Harner knew of Braden and the Riley programs because his own son was involved in the Riley Dance Marathon at Indiana University.

“Riley affects all 92 counties in the state of Indiana plus Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio,’’ said Joe Vezzoso, vice president of hotel operations for French Lick Resort. “This is a win-win for everyone.’’

The Tamosaitis family isn’t new to the special events tied into Riley Hospital. Braden was named Indiana’s 2013 Children’s Miracle Network Champion, and that enabled him to represent the state in a celebratory event in Orlando, Fla., and then take a flight to Washington D.C. where – among other things — he met with President Obama.

Braden’s battle with spina bifida, though, continues. He watched Saturday’s event from a wheelchair near the No. 8 tee and more surgeries at Riley wouldn’t be unexpected.

“He looks forward to them,’’ said his father, “because he gets room service and his friends are there, both patients and doctors. He’s very comfortable there. It’s not like a home-away-from-home; it’s like our other home.’’

Five families from Riley participated in Saturday’s Walk. They were scattered around the course, and those participating in the Walk got to interact the Riley families. That made the Walk all the more special for over 75 youngsters who came from all parts of the area.

“The First Tee of Louisville brought 35 kids,’’ said Harner. “We had them from three years old through high school.’’

Walk participants and the Riley families participated together in an introductory event on the Dye Course putting green, with two of the LPGA competitors – Lorie Kane and Ann-Marie Palli – offered instruction. Then the families went to checkpoints along the course and the Walk for Riley participants took off on a tour of the spectacular, hilly course. They received stickers at each checkpoint and those who covered the full 18 holes received a small gift upon completion of the hike.

Leukemia survivor was a big hit at Legends event

Ashtyn Brown’s final swing at the LPGA Legends Championship may not have produced the desired result, but there’s no doubt she was the star of the show.

As the ambassador for Riley Children’s Hospital at IU Health, Ashtyn was the honorary starter for the 54-hole tournament on Friday. She hooked her tee shot, just a minor distraction in a saga that began in March when the hospital’s partnership with the tournament was announced.

The end result, said French Lick director of golf Dave Harner, was a $100,000 donation to the hospital through tournament activities.

Along the way Ashtyn gave several speeches describing her brutal battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She also went on a media tour with Legends star Rosie Jones and played in Jones’ tournament in Roswell, Ga.

Once the Legends arrived at French Lick Ashtyn was a focal point at Thursday’s pro-am activities as well as the dinner in which she gave one more touching speech to a big gathering in the rotunda of the West Baden Springs Hotel at French Lick Resort.

In the pro-am she was paired with Joanne Carner, the LPGA Hall of Famer, and was the cart partner of Steve Ferguson, chairman of the board of Cook Group. There’s about a 50-year difference in age between Carner and Ashtyn, and their round together didn’t quite last 18 holes because of time constraints involving the Hall of Fame dinner.

“It was just incredible just to be out there with those ladies, especially Joanne,’’ said Ashtyn. “She has so much experience in golf and is a great lady as well. It’s not surprising or shocking how great these people on the Legends Tour are, and my being a golfer myself, you strive to be like them.’’

The Legends event wasn’t the first for Ashtyn in her role with the hospital. She also have speeches in golf-related settings in Indianapolis and at the PGA’s Children’s Miracle Network event in Orlando, Fla.

In all her speeches she related how she was diagnosed with the disease twice. The first was in 1999, and she endured over two years of chemotherapy. Three years later she suffered a relapse and needed another two-plus years of chemo, radiation and a trial medication that proved to be a miracle drug.

At one point, she said, her weight had dropped to 35 pounds and she was given a 10 percent chance to survive. Along the way she lost 10 of her friends along with her doctor to cancer, but Ashtyn beat the odds.

“Through speaking it’s helped me heal, just as much as I want to help other people,’’ she said. “I’ve gone through so much hurt.’’

But she is moving on from those trying days and will check in at the University of Indianapolis on Monday for her senior year. She calls the Legends experience “something I’ll remember forever.’’

In high school in Richmond, Ind., Ashtyn was a member of the state-runner-up girls golf team in her sophomore year and carried golf into college. After two years at Ball State she transferred to Indianapolis and is part of a strong team there. Though she’s a senior academically, she took a redshirt season previously and has two years of athletic eligibility remaining. She plans to make the most of it.

“I want to take my game as far as I can,’’ she said; “I love the game, but realistically I’ve got to get much better than I am now. I want my game to be the best it can be.’’

Blalock sees a bright future for LPGA Legends Tour

FRENCH LICK, Ind. — Jane Blalock and Nancy Lopez will be inducted into the LPGA Legends Hall of Fame on Thursday night. They’ll also oversee ribbon-cutting at the circuit’s new Hall of Fame at the West Baden Springs Hotel.

Steve Ferguson, chairman of the board of the Cook Group, celebrates the opening of LPGA Legends Hall of Fame with inductees (from right) Jane Blalock, Nancy Lopez, Jan Stephenson and Kathy Whitworth.

The big night precedes Friday’s start to the 54-hole LPGA Legends Championship on the spectacular Pete Dye Course here. Both Blalock and Lopez will play in the three-day event, but receiving well-deserved recognition for their golf accomplishments will take precedence.

Lopez has been one of the most popular players ever in women’s golf, having won 48 times on the LPGA Tour before moving on to the Legends circuit. Blalock was a gritty competitor, too, as shown by her 29 LPGA titles and LPGA record for most consecutive cuts made (299) but her efforts off the course overshadow her stellar playing record.

Without Blalock there would likely be no Legends Tour. She, along with 24 other senior players, put in $5,000 apiece to get things started in the 1990s. They didn’t receive much support from LPGA headquarters then but – led by Blalock as chief executive officer – the Legends Tour has carried on.

“Some people think I own it,’’ said Blalock. “I don’t. I just run everything.’’

Nancy Lopez checks out her own memorabilia in the Legends new Hall of Fame.

And, operating with a small staff from her Boston office, she’s run it well.

“Our first real tournament was in Green Bay, Wis., in 2000,’’ recalled Blalock. “It was great. We had 15,000 people a day. I’ll never forget the goose bumps when I arrived there for the first day. We were front-page news. Then the LPGA took notice and became a little more helpful. We were off and running.’’

It hasn’t been the smoothest ride since then. The Green Bay event, which had a $500,000 purse, thrived for three years and another popular tournament in DesMoines had a four-year run. Both had changes in local leadership, though, and didn’t survive.

Still, the circuit managed to put on several events each year and the same players were even more successful in Blalock’s other golf venture – a series of one-day clinics under the banner of LPGA Golf Clinics for Women. The clinic series is in its 24th year and the Legends Tour in its 14th.

This week Blalock revealed some big news for the circuit. Walgreen’s has signed on for two more years to host tournaments in Phoenix and Delray Beach, Fla., and Juli Inkster, winding down her career on the LPGA circuit, has agree to join the Legends for its Handa Cup team event in Mississippi next month. It’ll be played at the Old Waverly course where Inkster won the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open.

Last year the Legends had 11 tournaments. This year there’s seven but the number will be up again next year. Blalock expects to have at least 10 events when the 2015 schedule is announced and the circuit could grow dramatically in subsequent years if the long-discussed U.S. Women’s Senior Open becomes a reality.

The U.S. Golf Assn. is considering creating such a championship, and president Tom O’Toole said meetings with Legends members on the topic at both Phoenix and Pinehurst, N.C., weren’t just “lip service’’ on the USGA’s part. The LPGA is supporting the Legends’ cause as well.

“There were a few different commissioners, and for a time the LPGA didn’t hurt us, but certainly didn’t help us, either,’’ said Blalock. “That’s changing now with Mike Whan (as commissioner). He’s a visionary, a go-getter. He’s got the Symetra Tour in good order and he’s picking up more tournaments for the LPGA. He knew he had to right his own ship, so now we’ll get more support.’’

Famous artist Leroy Nieman captured Jane Blalock in her playing days.

Since the two preliminary meetings with the USGA Blalock said that Whan has asked her “for more ammunition, which I gave him….We put together a powerful document. Now I feel it’s not if (we’ll get a U.S. Women’s Senior Open), but when.’’

“I’m optimistic for the first time,’’ said Blalock, “and I want to get it in 2016 while Lopez is still playing. Can you imagine how much that would help our tour? The LPGA is talking about doing a championship for us, too. I met with Mike Whan in June, and he brought it up.’’

To stimulate more interaction with the USGA the Legends offered invitations to both the winner and runner-up from the U.S. Women’s Amateur to compete in the Legends’ November stop in Florida and both accepted.

One USGA concern was whether there’d be enough senior women willing to compete to make the U.S. Senior Women’s Open a viable championship. Blalock says there are “easily 100’’ who would try just on the pro side and the Legends would provide most of them.

Back in 2000 the circuit called itself the Women’s Senior Golf Tour. Many of its players didn’t like the “senior’’ connotation and then the men’s circuit changed its name from the Senior PGA Tour to the Champions Tour. The led the women to change, too.

“We did some brainstorming,’’ said Blalock, “and feel that Legends is a really good name. It doesn’t mean you have to be old. It denotes quality. It works.’’

Second International Crown, at Rich Harvest, should be bigger than the first

The LPGA’s first International Crown competition ended less than a week ago and already preparations are well underway for the second staging, in July of 2016 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove.

Rich Harvest owner Jerry Rich, LPGA star Anna Nordquist from Sweden and LPGA commissioner Mike Whan (left to right) hosted a Launch Party on Friday at Naperville’s Hotel Arista for the next eight-country, 32-player competition two years down the road. The first version was won by Spain at Caves Valley in Maryland. The Rich Harvest version falls a month before golf’s return to the Olympics in Brazil.

“I love the Olympics, but we’ll give the world what the Olympics won’t,’’ said Whan, who grew up in Naperville. “The Olympics won’t give us team dynamics.’’

The International Crown certainly did at Caves Valley. The top two seeded teams, the U.S. and Korea, met in a do-or-die playoff for the fifth and last spot in the finals, Korea winning. The disappointing showing by Team USA didn’t hurt world-wide viewership.

“There were 167 countries watching, ‘’ reported Whan, “and our Saturday TV viewership was 82 percent of the number at our last Solheim Cup.’’

For a first-year event, that was deemed outstanding, and Whan added that “over 5,000 articles were written about the International Crown in Korea alone.’’

Rich hosted the most successful Solheim Cup, a U.S. win over Europe in 2009. He and Whan started plans for creation of International Crown a few weeks later at Rich Harvest.

A creative dessert topped off the festivities at the International Crown Launch Party.

“Chicago’s the greatest place in the world if you love golf,’’ said Rich. “People really turned out in 2009, and we’ve been working for over two years on the next International Crown.’’

A big part of that work has been in the recruitment of high school golfers. Rich invited every girls team in Illinois to the 2009 Solheim Cup. For the International Crown he’s invited over 1,800 teams from Illinois and neighboring states. They’ll be housed at Northern Illinois University and Aurora University during the matches.

Whan also announced the first two Ambassador Sponsors for 2016, Rolex and Calamos Investments. The first Crown had five corporate sponsors. More will be coming.

“Jerry’s going to make it huge,’’ said Whan. “Rich Harvest is one of the top 10 golf venues in the world. I can’t think of any that can match Rich Harvest for ambiance, specialness and theater.’’

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Asian Watch Party was vital for International Crown’s future

The first International Crown concludes Sunday at Caves Valley, in Owings Mills, Md., but a Saturday gathering that wasn’t held anywhere near the course will have a more direct bearing on how the event plays out at Rich Harvest Farms in 2016.

Jerry Rich, in the forefront during the Crown’s creation, hosted a Watch Party for nearly 200 members of Chicago’s Asian community at The Stonegate in Hoffman Estates. Big-screen televisions flanked both sides of the speakers’ podium, ethnic food and beverages were offered and Crown memorabilia was available.

Rich and his staff hosted smaller gatherings for other ethnic groups in the days leading up to the inaugural staging of the global team competition, but Saturday’s was the big event that Rich most wanted.

Among those attending were Chunho Park, senior reporter for The Korea Daily of Chicago, and Kay Kihwa Rho, president of IOTRIO, an Asian education group. Chunho Park and I found out that we live just a few blocks from each other. What a small world we live in, and just one aspect of the International Crown is that it will bring people from different parts of the world together for a positive experience.

Chunho Park (left) and Kay Kihwa Rho were among the key members of Chicago’s Asian community in attendance at the International Crown Watch Party.

Another factor is the economic impact it is certain to have in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has told Rich that the International Crown “is the Olympics we didn’t get.’’

The International Crown at Rich Harvest will be played a month before golf is restored to the Olympic Games in Brazil. It will be a big deal, especially if Rich’s efforts to stir interest in Chicago’s various ethnic communities is successful.

“The people we have here at this Watch Party will really make that event successful,’’ Rich predicted. “We need the various (ethnicities) on the golf course cheering for their countries. That’ll create excitement and let this tournament grow for the next 50 or 60 years.’’

Rich has no doubt that’ll happen (neither do I, for that matter). He has called the Crown “my legacy’’ and likens it to Bobby Jones’ creation of the men’s Masters tournament 50 years ago.

Jerry Rich, flanked by communications manager Samantha Rubin, addressed the Watch Party gathering while the International Crown telecast was in progress.

“We look at the International Crown as being as successful for women as the Masters was for the men,’’ said Rich.

The very successful Solheim Cup, staged at Rich Harvest in 2009, was barely over when Rich welcomed LPGA commissioner Mike Whan to his Sugar Grove headquarters. Rich told Whan: “You have the greatest product in the world, and you’re not marketing it properly.’’ (No argument from me on that one, either).

Women’s golf is more global than the men’s game, and the best women players aren’t Americans or Europeans. They needed a unique event like the International Crown.

“Of the top 100 players 60 percent are from Asia,’’ said Rich. “The best players in women’s golf are from Asia. We’ve found, in working with these ethnic groups, that they love golf but don’t know who the best players are. The Japan people, for instance, didn’t know the best players from Taiwan or Korea. This will really be something different for them.’’

The well-decorated bar added to the festive atmosphere at the International Crown Watch Party.

Rich left Caves Valley at the midway point of the first International Crown because of the importance he felt Saturday’s Watch Party merited. He described what he saw at Caves Valley as “absolutely terrific,’’ though there were some understandable snags in a first-time event. Attendance – he estimated it at about 15,000 per day – didn’t approach the 120,000 who showed up for Rich Harvest’s Solheim Cup.

While Caves Valley looked great on television, it wasn’t as fan-friendly as Rich Harvest will be. The steep hills at Caves Valley made spectator traffic difficult but, again, the first staging of the Crown was deemed an overall success.

“If I was disappointed about anything, it was that they didn’t energize the youth at all,’’ said Rich. “We are really going to do that (at Rich Harvest). High school girls will bring energy to the tournament.’’

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Woods won’t have White Eagle record for long

Sooner rather than later one of Tiger Woods’ longest-standing course records will be broken. I suspect it won’t take long. Curtis Malm just needs to find someone willing to play the championship tees with him at White Eagle Golf Club.

No one plays back there these days on White Eagle’s Red-White rotation of nines that comprise its championship course. (Another course record of 64 was set by member Ron Potter in 1998 using the regular tees).

Woods was still an amateur in the mid-1990s when he shot 4-under-par 68 while in town to play in the Western Open. Malm, the Illinois PGA Player-of-the-Year the last two seasons, became White Eagle’s head professional last winter and certainly has the game to take Woods’ name off the record books – and you can be sure he’ll be trying to do just that.

White Eagle players face a shot towards the clubhouse to finish their rounds.
In the meantime, White Eagle is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It’s a vibrant private club located in Naperville on the Aurora border that has a tournament history that shouldn’t be forgotten.

The club was created amidst cornfields for its opening in 1989. Just three years later its Red-White nines were used for the LPGA Chicago Sun-Times Shootout. The tourney was first held the year before at Oak Brook Golf Club, when Martha Nause produced one of the greatest finishes in LPGA history to win the title.

Nause finished birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle, holing out from the fairway on the last hole to beat Kris Monaghan by one stroke in the LPGA’s first return to Chicago in 18 years. The LPGA had a Chicago stop in its first season of 1950, but was a very sporadic visitor after that. Though the U.S. Women’s Open was played at LaGrange Country Club in 1974 and 1981, the last LPGA Tour stop before the Sun-Times Shootout was in 1973 – the Child & Family Service Open at Midlane, in Wadsworth.

As exciting as Nause’s win at Oak Brook was, the tourney profile was definitely elevated by the move to White Eagle – the first Arnold Palmer-designed course in Illinois.

White Eagle hosted in 1992, when Dottie Mochrie won the title. (She was married then, but later assumed her maiden name of Pepper and went on to a career as a top TV golf analyst).

The Sun-Times’ role as title sponsor ended after the 1993 tourney, won by a relative unknown in Cindy Schreyer, and Peter Fleming – best known as John McEnroe’s doubles partner on the tennis circuit – was the leader in keeping the event alive in 1994. The tourney was renamed the Chicago Challenge, and Jane Geddes was the champion.

Sponsorship was hard to come by after that, but the successful three-year run at White Eagle led to Chicago getting the U.S. Women’s Open again in 2000 (Karrie Wood winning at the Merit Club in Libertyville) and another LPGA Tour stop. The Kellogg-Keebler Classic was played at Stonebridge, in Aurora, from 2002-04 and it had high-profile champions in Annika Sorenstam (2002, 2003) and Webb (2004).

White Eagle hasn’t needed big tournaments to thrive since then. It added its Blue nine in 1996, making it one of the few private facilities in Chicago with more than 18 holes. A few years ago a golf simulator was added for use in the winter. The club has 75 players in its busy junior program, a caddie program that employs 40-45 youngsters, clay courts for tennis buffs and a swimming program that has participants from beyond the club membership.

The Chicago District Golf Association’s Sunshine Through Golf program also is a six-week visitor during the summer and the club hosts about 80 weddings and 20 corporate outings each year.

Malm’s arrival suggests a significant competitive event might be in the club’s future again, but only time will tell. For now club leadership is planning a renovation process that will strictly focus on enhancing the golf experiences for its members and guests. Part of the 25th anniversary celebration included an outing that featured Greg Huigens (photo below at right), who was both the men’s champion and men’s senior champion at White Eagle in 2013. Joining us the the celebration outing are Chicagoland Golf publisher Val Russell (left) and club historian Chip Wagner (second from left).

JDC may have had humble beginnings — but look at PGA Tour stop now!

The John Deere Classic wasn’t always the John Deere Classic. Illinois’ only visit from the PGA Tour in 2014 had a modest beginning. For starters, it was called the Quad Cities Open and was only a satellite event on the circuit in 1971.

That first event was played on 6501-yard Crow Valley Country Club in Bettendorf, Iowa. Deane Beman – later to become the PGA Tour commissioner – took home a check for $5,000 for winning the first tournament, and Crow Valley got the attention of some prospective home buyers who purchased property around the course.

Things didn’t change much the next year. Beman won again (but this time his check was for $20,000) and there were more home owners around Crow Valley. Beman played one more year, finishing in a tie for sixth in 1973, and Crow Valley hosted two more times, Sam Adams winning in 1973 and Dave Stockton in 1974.

That’s how it all began. The tourney moved to Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley, IL., the next year and remained until 1999. During its stay there the tourney had a variety of names – the Ed McMahon-Jaycees Quad City Open from 1975-79, the Quad Cities Open again from 1980-81, the Miller High-Life Quad Cities Open from 1982-84, the Lite Quad Cities Open in 1985, Hardee’s Golf Classic from 1986-94, the Quad City Classic from 1995-98 and – finally – the John Deere Classic.

Going back to Crow Valley and Oakwood is always fun. I’ve played both, most recently Oakwood last month. Both are still very nice private clubs, but TPC Deere Run was a big factor in taking the tournament to a new level.

John Deere, the official Golf Course Equipment Supplier of the PGA Tour, became the title sponsor of the tournament in 1999 and the tourney moved to TPC John Deere Run the following year.

For years the tournament, in one of the smallest markets on the PGA Tour, carried on with its future in limbo. That’s no longer the case. Now it’s one of the biggest success stories on the circuit.

The JDC will be held for 44th straight year from July 7-13 with a $4.7 million purse and no worries about the quality of its field. The tourney at first had September dates, in the days before the FedEx Cup playoffs. Lots of top players were reluctant to play after August’s PGA Championship in those days.

Then the JDC was moved to July, but in a time slot a week before the British Open. Many players opted to use JDC week for rest and more leisurely travel across the pond until JDC director Clair Peterson hired a jet to fly them directly to the British Open site a few hours after the last putt dropped at TPC Deere Run.

Peterson made that innovative move seven years ago, and the field has been solid ever since. This year’s has the most exciting young player in golf, 20-year old Jordan Spieth, as its defending champion and popular past champions Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson return as well.

TPC Deere Run is located in Silvis, IL. Like Oakwood, the course is on the outskirts of the Quad Cities – officially comprised of Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa.

Those Mississippi River towns roughly two hours west of Chicago have a combined 375,000 residents. Last year’s John Deere Classic helped raise $6.3 million for 467 charities in the Quad Cities area, ranking it first overall on the PGA Tour in per capital contributions. Since 1971 the tournament has helped raise $55.38 million for charity. Golf has indeed been good to the people of the Quad Cities.

“We’re so fortunate to have a golf course like this and an operation like this,’’ said Peterson. “Deere Run is one of the great venues on the Tour.’’

This year there was one significant change in the ranks. Alex Stuedemann is now the head superintendent, replacing Paul Grogan who has moved into retirement but is still involved.

Otherwise, it’s efficient business as usual with Laura “Divot’’ Ekizian heading the 1,400 tournament volunteers for a staff that is headed by Peterson, director of sales and operation Sally Welvaert, assistant tournament director Andrew Lehman, office manager Vickie McWhorter, administrative assistant Sara Stalf, Birdies for Charity leader Kristy Kethcham Jackson and Amy Orendorff, manager of charity development and services.

“This is truly a team of professionals, and they’re passionate about what they do and they’re committed to doing it the right way,’’ said Ekizian. “Within the PGA Tour ranks they’re respected for the results they bring year in and year out.’’

Peterson’s jet will fly to the British Open again, this time to Royal Liverpool, and his longstanding sponsor exemption policy has bolstered the tournament as well.

`We have a proud history of giving elite young players an opportunity to test their games against the highest level of competition,’’ he said. “By doing so, the tournament gives its loyal fans a glimpse of the PGA Tour’s future stars.’’

Provide a helping hand to a young player in need, and he’ll tend to remember that kindness down the road. That was never more evident this year, when Spieth prepared to defend his first PGA Tour title. He had received a sponsor’s exemption in 2012 when Johnson emerged the JDC champion.

Spieth would have received another invitation last year had he needed it, but he got into the 156-man field off his own record and the 19-year old went on to become the youngest winner of a top-level professional tour event in the last 80 years. He outplayed Johnson and Canadian David Hearn in a five-hole playoff after holing a bunker shot on the last hole of regulation play to stay in contention.

“There’s no way I win last year without that opportunity the year before,’’ said Spieth. “There’s no way that I’m able to feel comfortable and make the adjustment on the PGA Tour so quickly without the few starts I was given….This is just a very, very special tournament close to my heart, not because I won. It already was before that. This tournament just does it right. I love coming to the Quad Cities. There’s nowhere that has people this nice.’’

Johnson, a JDC sponsor exemption in 2002 and 2003, is on the tournament board of directors and has sponsorship from the tournament. Others who received invites to play in the Quad Cities include Justin Leonard (1994), Tiger Woods (1996), Matt Kuchar (2001), Jason Day (2006) and Patrick Reed (2013). Their careers have blossomed, and this year Peterson has given exemptions to four college stars – Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers and Cameron Wilson, Oklahoma State’s Jordan Niebrugge and Iowa’s Steven Ihm.

Rodgers is the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur. Wilson, ranked No. 2, won this year’s NCAA individual championship.