Big golf events used to be commonplace in Chicago. Now, not so much.

No U.S. Opens or PGA Championships are scheduled in these parts. The PGA Tour comes only every other year, for the BMW Championship. The LPGA and Buy.com Tour no longer make annual stops here. Only the Champions Tour, with its new Encompass Championship, offers that.

Enter Jerry Rich. His influence on the golf landscape is a broad one.

He built his own course, Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove – and it’s one of the best in the country. He’s also been a leader in growing the game, thanks to his non-profit Kids Golf Foundation that has impacted the lives of 150,000 youth since its founding in 1998. The respected caddie program at Rich Harvest has also helped in that regard.

Rich Harvest may be an ultra-private club, but Rich has used his course for numerous fundraisers, most notably the Bob Murphy Pro-Am that has been held the past 10 years.

The point of this piece, though, is what Rich has been doing lately. That’s extraordinary, too.

In January he was in Florida to participate in the announcement of a new LPGA event – the International Crown – at the massive PGA Merchandise Show. Less than six months later Rich was at the forefront of another announcement, when Arnold Palmer reported that his Palmer Cup event would be played at Rich Harvest in 2015.

Life hasn’t been easy for Rich the past few years. He won his own battle with cancer in the months leading up to Rich Harvest hosting its biggest event so far – the 2009 Solheim Cup battle between the LPGA teams from the U.S. and Europe. Then, last month Rich lost his wife Betty after her lengthy battle with health problems.

Through all that Rich has worked behind the scenes to underscore his commitment to amateur golf and keep the big events coming.

The Solheim – which brought 120,000 spectators to Sugar Grove — may have provided the biggest boost to Rich Harvest’s international profile, but prior to that the course hosted the Western Junior Championship and Mid-American Conference Championship in 2003 and 2012 and the NCAA Division I Central Regional in 2007. (The latter will return to Rich Harvest in 2014).

Even with the Palmer Cup and International Crown on the horizon, Rich Harvest will be the site of two more Western Golf Assn. championships – the Western Amateur in 2015 and the Centennial Western Junior in 2017.

Make no mistake, though. The Palmer Cup will take the course’s impact on college golf to a higher level and the International Crown will be the biggest event yet on Rich Harvest’s calendar. Those events may seem a bit far down the road now, but they will merit periodic updates leading up to their stagings. Let this be the first one.

The Palmer Cup dates to 1997, when the legendary Arnold Palmer created an annual Ryder Cup-style competition between the college stars of the U.S. and Europe.

“A unique event – the 10 best Americans against the 10 best European-born (college) players,’’ said Rich. “Arnold wants to bring it to a whole new level and raise a little more money, because they don’t have the sponsors in Europe that we have here.’’

Former PGA of America president Jim Awtrey contacted Rich on Palmer’s behalf in the winter of 2012. An agreement to host the event was made this spring.

In landing a Palmer Cup Rich Harvest joins the list of famous layouts that have hosted the competition. Past venues in the U.S. include Baltusrol, Kiawah, Whistling Straits and Cherry Hills while the matches in Europe have been held at St. Andrews, Royal Liverpool, Ballybunion, Prestwick, Royal Portrush and Royal County Down.

Past participants in the matches include Luke Donald, Russell Henley Jonathan Byrd, Lucas Glover, Ben Curtis, Hunter Mahan, Graeme McDowell, Dustin Johnson and Bill Haas. So, count on the pro stars of the future coming to Rich Harvest in 2015.

Rich went right from the Palmer Cup announcement, made during the 20 1/2-9 ½ U.S. victory in this year’s Palmer Cup at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club in June, to Baltimore for more meetings on the International Crown. This will also be a biennial team event, with LPGA stars from eight countries competing. This first staging will be at Cave’s Valley in Maryland in 2014.

“It’s going to be huge, the biggest thing that ever happened to the LPGA,’’ said Rich. “I told Mike Whan (LPGA commissioner) that he has one of the greatest products in the world and that we had to create an event that would bring the great players in. This way the American public can start identifying with these girls.’’

The rosters for each country will be determined on a two-year point system, and competition for both player and country to qualify for the event will be intense. That’ll become more evident as the inaugural International Crown approaches and determination of the 32 players and eight countries is on the line.

Though he was prominent in the creation of the event Rich didn’t want to host the first one. He wanted additional time to develop data that would be helpful in staging the event long-term That led to Rich and his staff gathering information on 1,800 girls high school teams in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. They’ll play a prominent role prior to and during the event’s staging at Rich Harvest.

Rich has given me an inkling of the exciting things coming down the road regarding the International Crown, but we’ll leave the announcements to him and his capable staff. Suffice it to say, Rich Harvest’s first venture with the International Crown probably won’t be its last.

“We’re hoping we can keep the International Crown here forever,’’ Rich said. “Mike Whan gave me until the end of the year to find sponsors, and possibly Rich Harvest could do it. Chicago needs that event, and I’d rather have these (players from different countries) come to Chicago.’’

More to the point, if big golf events are to be played here with any regularity Chicago needs the efforts of Jerry Rich to make it happen.

Clair Peterson, tournament director for the John Deere Classic, has felt blessed – and with good reason.

From 2009-2011 he had a very popular champion whose presence enhanced the interest in the JDC. Steve Stricker, from nearby Madison, Wis., tried to become only the fifth golfer in 140 years to win a major professional tournament four straight times last July. That made the 2012 JDC international news.

Stricker wasn’t successful in his bid for a four-peat, but the interest generated by his attempt led to the JDC raising a record $6.79 million for 493 local and regional charities. That dollar figure was a staggering $1.5 million over the previous high, and the PGA Tour presented the tourney with its Most Engaged Community Award for 2012.

Though Stricker won’t be playing for such a lofty spot in golf history, this year’s JDC – scheduled for July 8-14 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis — wil have a defending champion who is every bit as popular in the Quad Cities.

Zach Johnson dethroned Stricker, and no player is closer to the tournament than Johnson. He’s been a JDC board member since 2003 — his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

“We’ve had great story lines,’’ said Peterson, the tournament director since ’03. “Steve Stricker is a humble, hard-working guy who comes back for every media day. He made a tremendous title defense that wasn’t over until an hour before the finish on Sunday. And now we have Zach, a favorite son who has been with us through good and bad times. We couldn’t have scripted it any better.’’

Johnson’s connection with the tournament began the year before Peterson moved into his present position.

“In 2002 Zach, being from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had a network of investors that lobbied for us to give this kid a chance.’’

Johnson was given a sponsor’s exemption that year, but didn’t survive the 36-hole cut. He asked Johnson for an exemption the following year, when he was starting his career on the Nationwide Tour.

“He called me Mr. Peterson then, and I told him we should be on a first-name basis,’’ said Peterson. The exemption was granted, but Johnson missed the cut again. He did, however, blossom on the Nationwide (now Buy.com Tour) and wound up that circuit’s leading money-winner.

That feat earned Johnson his PGA Tour card, and Johnson invited him to become a JDC board member. Johnson, armed with a business degree from Drake University in DesMoines, Iowa, has retained that role ever since and never missed the tournament even when it might have been to his own detriment.

In 2007 Johnson won the Masters and could have picked up a very significant appearance fee to play in a European tournament the week of that year’s JDC. He chose to return to the Quad Cities instead.

Even before that Johnson went the extra mile to help the event that he regularly refers to as “my fifth major.’’ When Vijay Singh, the champion in 2003, declined to appear at media day for the 2004 tournament Johnson stepped in.

“We didn’t know what to do, so we asked Zach to take on that role. Now, 10 years later, there’s a good bookend to that story,’’ said Peterson. Johnson, as this year’s defending champion, gets the spotlight at the next media day event this month (JUNE).

As a board member Johnson has recruited top players to the Quad Cities, John Huh being one of them for this year. Johnson was also instrumental in Peterson’s wildly successful decision to hire a jet to take players directly from the Quad Cities to the British Open instead of increasing the tournament purse.

Johnson advised the JDC was to hire the jet because “it’d make the players’ life easier.’’ In so doing, it greatly improved the field at the Quad Cities in its traditional dates the week before the year’s third major championship across the pond. In 2011 South African Louis Oosthuizen prepared to defend his British title by playing in the JDC instead of resting or playing in a European event for a substantial appearance fee.

Oosthuizen enjoyed his Quad Cities experience so much in 2011 that he used his prize money to buy a John Deere tractor for his family farm in South Africa. This year he’s returning to the Quad Cities with his father and father-in-law so that they can get the same tour of the John Deere plant that he received.

Johnson, of course, is no longer a resident of Cedar Rapids. He and his family (wife Kim, sons Will and Wyatt and daughter Abby) live in Sea Pines, Ga., where the weather is more conducive to year-around golf. Johnson’s parents, though, still live in Cedar Rapids and he’s been able to maintain his duties with the JDC board despite his PGA Tour commitments.

“Our board has 37 people overall and the executive committee has about eight people,’’ explained Peterson. “We meet once a month before board meetings and Zach calls in. He couldn’t possible be there.’’

But he has learned to play TPC Deere Run over the years. He finished second to Stricker in 2009 tied for third in 2011 before his breakthrough win last year. It came in a two-hole playoff with Troy Matteson, the clinching birdie coming when Johnson hit a 6-iron from 193 yards on the No. 18 hole to within inches of the cup.

That was Johnson’s ninth win on the PGA Tour. Stricker wound up fifth, tied with Luke Guthrie – another University of Illinois golfer who got into the tournament on a sponsor’s exemption. Stricker, though he’s playing a very limited schedule, will be back in the JDC field.

“I wasn’t surprised he wanted a limited schedule,’’ said Peterson. “He is focused first and foremost on his family, and being away from home so much truly bothered him. Financially he has been very successful, and making that decision took the pressure off him. He goes out when he wants, when he’s healthy and refreshed.’’

Even on a limited schedule Stricker has been very competitive in the tournaments he has played in. Maybe a Johnson-Stricker duel at TPC Deere Run will be in the offing. In the Quad Cities there couldn’t be anything better.

There are two major changes coming to amateur golf in the Chicago area for 2013. Both involve scheduling, and both represent improvements from the way things were.

For starters, the Chicago District Golf Assn. made one major schedule change, as well as a few others. The big one has the men’s 83rd Illinois State Amateur leaving its longstanding August spot on the calendar and moving to July 16-18. It’ll be contested at Aldeen, in Rockford.

The Illinois Mid-Amateur and Illinois Public Links are also moving back in the schedule, and that’s good, too.

Secondly, on the women’s side, the 80th staging of the Illinois Women’s Amateur is getting a slightly later date and a rare appearance in the Chicago Area. It’ll be played at Cantigny, in Wheaton, from June 25-28. That puts it closer to the only other big event in women’s golf for Illinois players. The 18th Illinois Women’s Open, which will get a July 31 start at Mistwood in Romeoville, is expected to have an amateur-dominated field again.

These changes have been generally – but not universally – well-received. Let’s have a look at them both.

In moving back the State Amateur the CDGA staff felt it was easing the burden on its top players. The U.S. Amateur was in August, too, and that put two of their primary events close together. In fact, they were held on back-to-back weeks in 2012.

Now the U.S. Am is Aug. 12-18, in Brookline, Mass. – roughly a month after the Illinois Amateur champion is determined.

“It’s a good thing,’’ said Dave Ryan, the Taylorville veteran who was the CDGA’s Player-of-the-Year in 2012. “For a lot of kids (the State Am) was up against the U.S. Amateur, and it was hard for them to get to both.’’

From a non-contestant standpoint, the schedule changes are good because they create a month of golf excitement in Illinois rather than spacing out the events, as has been the case in the past. The PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic is the week before the Illinois Amateur and the Illinois Open is the week after.

Quinn Prchal, the surprise winner of last year’s State Am, isn’t quite as convinced.

“It does appear that in 2013 most of the Illinois and Amateur tournaments are concentrated within a fewer number of weeks,’’ he said. “I imagine that scheduling golf tournaments is challenging.’’

He plans on defending his Illinois Amateur title “unless I qualify for the USGA Public Links.’’ That national championship is July 14-20 at Laurel Valley, in Pennsylvania.

Prchal became one of youngest State Am champions in history when he took the title at Kokopelli, in Marion, at 18 — just a few months after his high school graduation. He’s now a freshman at Princeton. The engineering student earned a starting spot on the Princeton team and had one individual top-10 finish (the Brickyard Collegiate in Macon, Ga.) and one team win (the Ivy League Match Play Championship, held on Princeton’s course) as his collegiate golf career got off to a promising start.

Ryan, conversely, may be the oldest-ever CDGA Player-of-the-Year, having won the honor at age 58. Now a year older, he spent much of the winter playing recreational golf in Scottsdale, Ariz. The lone exception was his participation in an April two-man team event at Whisper Rock, the prestigious club that includes such pro stars as Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples (as well as Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman) among its members.

Though he will continue his busy tournament schedule within Illinois, Ryan isn’t predicting another Player-of-the-Year season.

“I’m starting to feel aches and pains I’ve never felt before,’’ said Ryan, “and last year will be a tough act to follow. I got lucky last year. It was unusual for someone my age to do that.’’

Ryan expects to play in virtually the same events he played in during the 2012 season with one exception. He’ll skip the 94th CDGA Amateur (June 24-27 at Edgewood Valley, in LaGrange) to play in a qualifying round for the U.S. Senior Open on June 24 at Ruth Lake, in Hinsdale.

But he likes the other, less-high profile schedule adjustments made by the CDGA, those involving the Illinois Mid-Amateur (now Aug. 27-28 at Flossmoor) and the Illinois Public Links (now July 8-9 at Bowes Creek in Elgin). The Mid-Am was in April and the Public Links in May in 2012.

“Those were good moves because (they avoided) the spring weather,’’ said Ryan. “We had snow one time at the Public Links.’’

Last year was an unusual one, and not just because Ryan was the CDGA Player-of-the-Year. Though he won that award, he wasn’t Player-of-the-Year in the Senior ranks. That honor went to Lake Bluff’s Curtis Skinner, who accumulated enough points with his runner-up finish in the U.S. Senior Amateur.

That extraordinary tournament showing won’t lead to Skinner playing more locally, so the schedule changes “won’t affect me at all.’’

“If I had more time I would play in more of the state stuff,’’ said Skinner, “but Match Play events take up significant time, and amateur golf can be very expensive.’’

Especially if you have to travel to do it. By virtue of his showing at U.S. Senior Am, Skinner, now 55, earned spots in the U.S. Senior Open in July in Nebraska and U.S. Amateur as well as a return to U.S. Senior Amateur, in North Carolina.

His biggest focus will be on the U.S. Senior Open, where he missed the cut by one shot in 2011 when he made bogey on the last hole of the second round.

On the women’s front, the Illinois Women’s Golf Assn. could get another Northwestern vs. Illinois final again at Cantigny, assuming the college stars from both schools enter again. Elizabeth Szokol, now an NU freshman, won the 2012 title match over Michelle Mayer, now an Illini sophomore, at Ravisloe, in Homewood.

With IWGA leadership largely coming from Downstate, the Illinois Women’s Amateur was generally played away from the Chicago area. Last year was a rare exception, and in moving to Cantigny for this year the women will decide their champion on a course that has already hosted the men’s State Amateur three times.

Getting the chance to play Cantigny was a big reason for the date change, according to IWGA president Karen Tillett of Springfield. Cantigny was booked earlier in June.

“We’ve never had it this late before,’’ she said. “We were fortunate to get into Cantigny.’’

The IWGA will host its 34th Junior tournament July 30-31 at the University of Illinois’ course in Savoy and its 44th Senior tournament Sept. 17-19 at The Den at
Fox Creek in Bloomington. The Senior event will also include a Hall of Fame induction for the IWGA. Renee Sloan, the University of Illinois coach, will become on the fourth inductee into that Hall, which was created in 2008.

Luke Donald is just one of three Illinois players in their year’s Masters field. The other two – Kevin Streelman and D.A. Points – are in the field for the first time since making their tournament debuts in 2011.

Streelman (75-74) and Points (72-76) both failed to survive the 36-hole cut in their Masters debuts, and they’re coming into this one with different preparations.

Points should be tired. He qualified for the Masters by winning the Shell Houston Open two weeks ago. Rather than take a week off he opted to fulfill a commitment to play in the Valero Texas Open last week. He tied for 53rd place there – his sixth straight week of tournaments and his 11th event in the first three months of the year.

Streelman also played the week after his win, at last month’s Tampa Bay Championship, and tied for 21st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He rested in Arizona the last two weeks while the tour was competing in Texas.

FIRST LOCAL EVENT: Donald’s coach, Pat Goss, will divide his attention between helping Donald and preparing his Northwestern men’s team for one of its biggest tournaments of the season.

On Monday, the day after the Masters, Goss’ Wildcats will host 13 other teams in the Kemper Sports Intercollegiate at The Glen Club in Glenview. It’ll be the first significant competition of the Chicago season and the Wildcats’ last tuneup for the Big Ten Championship April 26-28 at French Lick, Ind.

NU’s tournament has a big Illinois flavor, with the field also including DePaul, Loyola, Chicago State, Bradley, Northern Illinois, Illinois State and Western Illinois. Marquette, Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis, Dayton, Ohio, Ohio State and St. John’s round out the field for the event that calls for 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday.

IPGA DEBUT: First event of the Illinois PGA tournament season is Monday – the Spring Pro-Assistants team competition at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. opens its season on April 23 with the Better Ball of Pairs event at The Glen Club.

Winfield’s Kevin Streelman wasn’t the only Illinois golfer earning a trip to the Masters in March. D.A. Points, the former University of Illinois golfer, also did it by winning the Shell Houston Open last Sunday.

Like Streelman, Points will be making his second Masters appearance next week; both missed the cut in 2011. Unlike Streelman, his recent victory wasn’t his first on the PGA Tour. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2011.

Since that win, though, Points had missed 17 of 25 cuts, including seven of nine this year. When he did survive the 36-hole cuts this season he finished just tied for 63rd and tied for 68th. At Houston, though, he birdied the first five holes en route to a first-round 64, then finished off the win with up-and-down pars on the last two holes on Sunday after enduring a three-hour rain delay.

The clincher was a 13-foot par-putt on the last hole, the last of many he made after putting a 25-year old Ping putter that his mother once used in his bag.

COG SETS THE PACE: First competitive events of the Chicago season will be Saturday and Sunday when Cog Hill conducts Spring Scrambles. They’ll be held on the Nos. 1 and 2 courses on Saturday and the Nos. 2 and 3 courses on Sunday. Entry fee is $60 per team.

The Lemont facility has three of its four courses open. No. 4, Dubsdread – long-time site of the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, will open on April 13 with a $155 greens fee, cart included. The other Jemsek Golf facility, Pine Meadow in Mundelein, opens on Thursday.

READY TO GO: Course operators have been stymied by fluctuating temperatures this spring, but the following courses have announced their openings: Oak Meadows, Maple Meadows and Green Meadows, in WHERE; Settler’s Hill and Tanna Farms, in Geneva; Foxford Hills and Cary Country Club, in Cary; Zigfield Troy, in Woodridge; Chevy Chase, in Wheeling; Arlington Lakes, in Arlington Heights; Ravisloe, in Homewood; and Schaumburg Golf Club.

Cantigny, in Wheaton, is to open on Friday. Fox Run, in Elk Grove, has nine holes open and the back nine – renovated by Aurora architect Greg Martin, will hold a grand re-opening on April 21. Most courses will base their openings on the weather, so a call ahead is advised.

COMING SOON: Eagle Ridge, Illinois’ premier golf resort in Galena, will open its South course next Monday (APRIL 8), The General on April 15 and the East course on April 22. The North layout is open year-around.

French Lick Resort, in Indiana, will open its Golf Academy on Friday.

You might notice there’s a new, old golf publication making its debut at the 30th Chicago Golf Show. Sound confusing? Let me explain.

Chicago Area Golf was the publication that provided coverage of the Chicago golf scene the last three years. Starting with this issue the publication that will do the same job will be called Chicagoland Golf.

It’s not a big name change, but it’s a meaningful one. Publisher Val Russell, who started Chicago Area Golf in May of 2010, thinks the name change will eliminate some confusion.

“It’s pretty simple,’’ said Russell. “Chicagoland Golf is a name that’s been around for quite some period of time because Phil Kosin published under that name for 20 years.’’

When Kosin succumbed to cancer in 2009 Chicagoland Golf ceased publication.

“When Phil passed I wanted to continue something similar to it,’’ said Russell. “Phil’s wife wasn’t interested in selling the name, so I started a new product. The long and short of it is that I still get checks and emails referring to us as Chicagoland Golf. It’s the name people refer to as our product. It just made sense to use a name that people recognized.’’

The confusion carried over to the Chicago Area Golf website.

“Somebody had that website name, so we had to go with www.chicagogolfonline, which didn’t match our publishing name,’’ said Russell. “We were able to pick www.chicagolandgolf.net as our website name. That’s important from a business standpoint as we go into 2013.’’

Russell doesn’t expect resistance to the name change.

“It’s really not a trademark or copyright,’’ he said. “Chicagoland Golf’s name is too common. In the publishing world you either use it or lose it. Part of my decision to use it is that I wanted to do it before someone else does.’’

Kosin started his publication in 1989, but it had a predecessor with a very similar name. Charles Chudek, who died in December, published Chicagoland Golfer in the 1960s.

“Some might be offended,’’ said Russell, “but the name has been around a long time in the Chicago marketplace. We’re not trying to undermine what Phil had done, but rather align our publication with what people related to. And our corporate name has always been Chicagoland Golf Media Inc.’’

Russell’s first issue came out in May, 2010. It was the first of six issues published that year. There were seven in both 2011 and 2012. The first each year is published to coincide with the Chicago Golf Show, then there are issues on a monthly basis from May through September and a fall issue that comes out in late October.

Coinciding with the name change is Russell’s decision to finally run his own picture in the publication.

“I’ve been asked why my picture isn’t in the paper,’’ he said, “but I’ve always been in the background side of publishing and didn’t feel the need to see a picture of me. Now there’s no reason not to.’’

Russell’s professional background has been in publishing. He grew up in Wyoming, where his father worked for a variety of small newspapers.

“I grew up in publishing, and I followed in his footsteps,’’ Russell said.

Eventually he took a job with the Audit Bureau of Circulation, where his focus was magazines. During his 17-year stint in that role he settled in Chicago. A Hampshire resident, he’s lived in the area since 1983.

From 2000-2010 he had his own consulting practice and he also taught a course called The Magazine Project at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism for eight years.

“My name has been printed in the mastheads of 200 million magazines over the years – and that number might be conservative,’’ said Russell. “I’ve worked for a lot of publishers over the years.’’

He opted for his own publication when his consulting practice was winding down, the result of the magazine industry declining to about one-third of what it was in its heyday. His first venture was Rockford Life, which was published in 2006 and 2007.

“It died a miserable death. We weren’t welcomed by the local newspaper,’’ said Russell.

Chicago Area Golf came next, a venture spurred in part by his interest in the game. He has been a member of the Northern Illinois Men’s Amateur Golf Assn. since 1988 and was on that group’s board from 19996-2007. Now he plays in a group called the Cog Hill 18. His handicap, once a 5, is now an 11.

“I like to play tournament golf, and I like to play social golf when I can,’’ he said. “Once you’re in this industry you don’t have as much time.’’

In addition to Chicagoland Golf Russell works as client services director for Omeda, a Northbrook-based firm that manages subscriber files for publishers.

He entered the golf publishing world at a difficult economic time, with both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times in bankruptcy. Chicago Area Golf, though, withstood the struggles. With the name change the new Chicagoland Golf will sport a spiffy new logo and Jason Clary, who had been at Century Publishing in Evanston, has come aboard as art director.

“We’ll have a new name, but be the same great paper,’’ said Russell. “We’ll continue what we’ve been doing. Our focus has always been golf in Chicago – be it a professional tournament or the junior game. That’s all we’re about. You won’t see articles on event the Masters or U.S. Open unless someone from Chicago does something spectacular.’’

The Chicago Golf Show celebrates its 30th anniversary beginning on Friday, and some significance announcements will be made as part of the festivities.

For one thing, the Chicago Open will be revived again, this time as a fundraiser for the Illinois Junior Golf Association. And Val Russell, publisher of the golf newspaper called Chicago Area Golf the past three years, will announce a name change for his publication.

The Show begins at noon on Friday at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont and runs through Sunday. The first 200 visitors each day will receive practice round tickets to September’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms. Each visitor can also claim a coupon for one free round of golf at one of the many area courses managed by Golf Visions. Wilson Sporting Goods is also having a golf ball give-away as part of the Show.

Featured celebrity will be World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins, who will take center stage at noon on Saturday. Recently named Golf Channel’s analyst for the Champions Tour, Wadkins will be on hand to promote Chicago’s return to the circuit at June’s Encompass Championship at North Shore.

Last year the Show had a record 16,000 visitors. This year’s gathering will check out 400 booths, each offering information about destination resorts, courses, tournaments and equipment. The Shannon Rovers will open the show each day.

Show hours are noon-7 p.m. on Friday, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Adult admission is $5 on Friday and $10 on Saturday and Sunday. Youngsters 12-18 will be admitted for $4 and those 11 and under are free.

Illini add assistant coach

University of Illinois men’s coach Mike Small has a new assistant. Eldorado, IL., native Justin Fetcho has replaced Zach Guthrie. Guthrie left the Illini to work as caddie for his brother and former Illinois golfer Luke – a rookie on the PGA Tour.

Fetcho was assistant men’s coach at South Florida from 2009-11 and assistant women’s coach at Oregon from 2011 until joining Small’s staff.

The Illini, ranked 19th nationally, are coming off their first victory in the Big Ten Match Play tournament. Thomas Detry, a freshman from Belgium, was named the league’s player-of-the-week for his showing in that event. Detry never needed to play beyond the 15th hole en route to winning all three of his matches.

Did you know?

X — KemperSports has added still another Illinois club to its growing portfolio. Rockford Country Club, one of the state’s most prestigious private facilities dating back to 1899, will now be managed by the Northbrook-based firm.

X – CareerBuilder has been named presenting sponsor the the Encompass Championship — the first Chicago stop on the Champions Tour since 2002. It’ll be held at North Shore from June 17-23. It’ll feature a Wednesday-Thursday celebrity pro-am before the 54-hole main event that has already attracted Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Nick Price and Tom Watson.

X – Fyre Lake, a course under new ownership in Sherrard, IL., near the Quad Cities, is now managed by GolfVisions.

A golf professional’s job was much different when Bill Ogden ran the shop at North Shore Country Club. Ogden not only could compete at the highest level, but he also was a master at handling the detail work that was required on the job.

The Chicago area never has had a club pro as widely successful as Ogden, and his myriad of accomplishments were recognized this week when he was named among eight inductees into the PGA Golf Professionals Hall of Fame. He’ll be inducted posthumously at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, FL., on March 12.

As a competitor Ogden was the Illinois PGA Player-of-the-Year a record six times and the only golfer to win the Illinois Open, Illinois PGA Championship, IPGA Match Play title and IPGA Assistants crown.

From 1953-72 Ogden won 31 of the section’s major titles and also competed effectively in PGA Tour events, gaining a tie for third in the 1956 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am and a tie for fourth in the 1968 Tucson Open.

Ogden was much more than a player, though. In his 40 years in charge at North Shore he became well known for grooming his assistants. Forty-three of them went on to land head jobs.

In 1970 Ogden was not only the IPGA president, he was also the section’s Professional-of-the-Year – and North Shore wasn’t exactly a full-time job for him. In the winters he was head professional at five different clubs in Palm Springs, Calif., between 1970 and 1980.

Ogden was the man among Illinois pros when I came on the golf-writing scene here in 1971. He retired from North Shore shortly after that and lived in California until his death at age 78 in 2005.

NU goes for a four-peat

Illinois, ranked 17th in the national collegiate polls, is the top-seeded team for the fifth straight year in the Big Ten Match Play Championships, which begin Friday at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Concession course in Bradenton, FL.

The Illini, though, have never won the league’s Match Play event. Northwestern has dominated, winning the last three titles. The Wildcats are the second-best Big Ten team in the national rankings, standing 29th.

KemperSports adds Harborside

KemperSports manages a wide variety of golf facilities in 26 states as well as internationally. Now the Northbrook-based firm will take on one of Chicago’s premier public facilities, 36-hole Harborside International.

Harborside, designed by Dick Nugent, was one of the first golf facilities created on what had been a landfill. Its development was a big boost for the far South Side, and now it’ll get the Kemper touch.

“We plan to introduce a variety of new programs at Harborside to cater to the residents of Chicago and surrounding areas,’’ said Kemper chief executive officer Steve Skinner. “We look forward to elevating the service, playing conditions and guest experience to make Harborside a must-play for Chicago golfers and visitors to the city.’’

Wadkins featured at Chicago Golf Show

World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins will take over center stage on the second day of the 30th Chicago Golf Show, which comes to the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont from Feb. 22-24.

Wadkins was just named as lead analyst for Champions Tour telecasts on The Golf Channel and he’ll be in Chicago to promote the new Encompass Championship, which comes to North Shore June 21-23. That event will mark the first Champions Tour stop in Chicago since 2002 when Harborside hosted.