ORLANDO, FL. – The Ladies PGA Tour is returning to Chicago – but it won’t be until 2016. And then it will be for the staging of an extraordinary new team event.

Mike Whan, the LPGA commissioner, highlighted the first day of the 60th PGA Merchandise Show by announcing the arrival of the International Crown event. It’ll make its debut July 21-27 at Caves Valley, a Tom Fazio design in Owings Mills, Md., and the second staging will be in the summer of 2016 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove.

Jerry Rich, owner and designer of the Rich Harvest private facility that hosted the 2009 Solheim Cup matches, was a leader in making the new event happen.

“Three days after Mike became commissioner (in 2010)_ I brought him to Chicago and said we’ve got to do something special,’’ said Rich. “The greatest players aren’t just from America. They’re from Asia and around the world.’’

That started the planning process that led to Thursday’s announcement before a standing-room-only press conference at the Orange County Convention Center.

Rich Harvest’s Solheim Cup was a rousing success, but didn’t lead to the return of an LPGA annual stop to Chicago. The LPGA has only sporadically staged tournaments on Chicago courses, the last being the Kellogg-Keebler Classic at Stonebridge, in Aurora, in 2004.

That tourney had a three-year run in the aftermath of the U.S. Women’s Open being played at Merit Club in Libertyville in 2000. Karrie Webb won at Merit Club and at the last Kellogg-Keebler with Annika Sorenstam dominating at Stonebridge in 2002 and 2003.

The International Crown, though, will top all those and might well rival the success of the Solheim with the top players world-wide guaranteed to compete.

“At the Solheim Cup (of 2009) we had the largest event (the LPGA) ever had,’’ said Rich. “We had 120,000 people in Chicago – the greatest golf city in the world. Maybe this (new) event won’t approach the Ryder Cup that we just had at Medinah, but it will be huge.’’

Rich probably could have hosted the 2014 International Crown, but decided against it.

“I needed four years to wait because of our junior programs,’’ said Rich. His staff has studied the nearly 2,000 high school girls programs in five states. Those players, along with college players, will be invited to the International Crown with lodging already being arranged at Northern Illinois University and Aurora College.

The International Crown will present a different type of competition and have a broader world-wide appeal than the LPGA’s previous tries at one-week individual championships here. Whan predicted the event will “take women’s golf to the next level and allow fans to rally behind their homelands.’’

The International Crown will be held in even-numbered years to avoid conflict with the Solheim Cup. It’ll feature 32 players from eight countries battling to determine, according to the LPGA, “the world’s best golf nation.’’

Competition will be over four days, three for best-ball matches and one for singles matches. Teams will be determined by the top four players on the Rolex World Rankings after the 2013 CME Group Titleholders event, the last tourney of the LPGA season. If the International Crown were to be held now the eight teams participating would be South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Sweden, Australia, Taiwan, Spain and England.

The four players who will compete for each country when the competition begins will be determined at a later date.

“Our tour is so global, we need this type of an event,’’ said Stacey Lewis, the top-ranked American player. “People always want to know why golfers from Asia are so good. Now we can see how all the countries stack up.’’

Taiwan’s long-time world No. 1 player, Yani Tseng, likened the lead-in to the International Crown to “preparing for the Olympics.’’ The Rich Harvest version of the International Crown will about a month before the Olympics in Brazil, when golf will make its return to the Games.

The first International Crown event will offer a $1.6 million purse with each member of the winning team receiving $100,000. Ambassadors and financial supporters will be announced at a later date as will the nature of the trophy going to the winning nation

ORLANDO, FL. – The 60th annual PGA Merchandise Show teed off with a massive Demo Day on Wednesday but Chicago club manufacturer Tour Edge got a jump on the opposition a day early.

The Batavia-based company, in its eighth annual Multi-Manufacturers Media Day outing at the Legacy Club, introduced its first variable-fit driver. It was just one in a line of new products unveiled by Tour Edge president David Glod, but it drew the most attention.

Tour Edge isn’t the first company to test variable-fit clubs. Putter manufacturers were the first to do it, and now it’s spreading throughout the industry.

With Tour Edge’s Exotic line of clubs (shown above) a players can change the loft, face angle and shaft.

“You have options at your fingertips,’’ said Glod, who founded his company in 1986. “We’re planning on having an adjustable fairway wood, too, but it’s too net yet. It makes more sense with the driver.’’

Glod accepts the trend toward such state-of-the-art equipment and believes it’ll be around for awhile.

“It’s a great technology,’’ he said, “but it depends on the consumer. The guy who studies the game gets it. That’s why it’s been sticking around.’’

Training devices are also getting increasingly high-tech. Sky Golf, a pioneer in developing electronic yardage books with its Sky Caddie, now also offers Sky Pro – a swing analyzer that the company bills as “one of the most exciting products in golf today.’’ Many more were on display, in a series of colorful displays (pictured above), at the Demo Day lead-in to the PGA Merchandise show.

Swing Jacket, which isn’t so high-tech, is back on the market after a fire burned down its production facility in China. A player wears the tight-fitting jacket on the practice range and instructor Dave Brisbee says that player’s swing “can’t get out of position….It constrains range of motion to affect a better swing.’’

And then there’s Polara, a company not reluctant to admit that it’s equipment is usually “non-conforming’’ with the rules of the U.S. Golf Assn.

Polara drew plenty of attention with its no-slice golf balls. Now president David Felker said Polara is going into wedges, the first of which will be on the market before the year it out. Polara says its wedges “will help the ball spin more,’’ and Felker admits “it’s very unlikely’’ that they will conform to USGA specifications.

Still, the company believes it’s helping golf grow by making it an easier game for the estimated 85 percent of players who don’t carry USGA handicaps. To that end Polara is joining forces with the new Recreational Golf Assn. of America to push its products with more casual golfers.

The big show has plenty of golfers of all shades of interest. Over 40,000 will attend the three days of exhibits at the orange County Convention Center. Attendees will come from about 75 countries and walk down 10 miles of show alleys to check out the products of more than 1,000 manufacturers and brands.

Wednesday’s Demo Day, held at the Orange County National Golf Center in Winter Garden, drew out over 100 manufacturers. The Center has a circular range with 200 hitting bays spread over a 42-acre practice facility.

All the top manufacturers, including Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Good and Tour Edge, had the wares on display at Demo Day. So did other major manufacturers Bridgestone, Callaway Cleveland/Srixon, Cobra Puma, Mizuno, Nike, Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist.

Stars players past and president will also be making appearances, among them Davis Love III, Annika Sorenstam, Ian Poulter, Luke Donald, Lexi Thompson, Lee Trevino and Nancy Lopez. Ricky Fowler had a big presence — or at least his hat did. An enlarged replica of Fowler’s orange headgear enticed lots of picture takers — even though Fowler wasn’t there.

PGA Tour qualifying school hasn’t been kind to the few Illinois golfers who have tried it over the years, but that wasn’t the case this week.

Eric Meierdierks, the 2010 Illinois Open champion from Wilmette, and Scott Langley, the 2010 NCAA champion for the University of Illinois, both earned their PGA Tour cards during the six-round marathon that concluded at PGA West in LaQuinta, Calif., on Monday.

Meierdierks, a New Trier High School graduate who didn’t play golf in college at Michigan State, followed his Illinois Open win of two years ago at Hawthorn Woods with a playoff loss to Chicago’s Max Scodro in this year’s championship at The Glen Club, in Glenview. Meierdierks, who turned pro in 2009, has spent most of his time since then on the Gateway Tour in Arizona but he did return for his state’s premier championship.

Since turning pro he also had a Gateway win to his credit, but he also had to deal with personal issues in getting through Q-School. His father passed away six days before the first stage of the competition.

“That was the hardest tournament I ever played,’’ Meierdierks offered after the battle for his card ended successfully. “It made (the final stage) a walk in the park.’’

He also had good vibes as he toured the TPC Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course, the 18-holers at PGA West used for the qualifying rounds. Meierdierks’ family had vacationed off the No. 7 fairway of the Nicklaus’ course, and his glimpses of the lodging there triggered good memories for him in the heat of the competition.

This year’s Q-School – the last one to send players directly to the PGA circuit – had 1,558 registrants. There was a pre-qualifier and then three stages of eliminations before the top 25 and ties were awarded PGA playing privileges. Mierdierks tied for 14th, and Langley tied for 17th. Low man over the six tense rounds was Dong-hwan Lee, at 25—under-par. Mierdierks was at 20-under and Langley was another stroke back.

Also making it was Kris Blanks, the winner of the last Chicago area Nationwide (now Web.com Tour) tournament – the Bank of America Open at The Glen Club in 2008. Blanks earned a return trip to the PGA circuit. A shoulder injury had led to his failure to reach money-winning standards necessary to retain membership this year.

Another plus for the Illini

Langley’s arrival on the PGA Tour was just the latest in major accomplishments for University of Illinois alums. Five will play on the PGA Tour in 2013, with Langley joining Steve Stricker, D.A. Points, Luke Guthrie and Joe Affrunti. Affrunti is still recovering from major shoulder surgery last spring.

Like Langley, Guthrie will be a PGA Tour rookie. He qualified for the big tour by finishing second on the Web.com Tour money list – and he needed only 10 tournaments to do it. Guthrie didn’t turn pro until the Illinois season was over in June. Interestingly, Meierdierks’ Illinois Open win came in a duel with Guthrie.

Langley’s advancement was no surprise. In addition to winning his NCAA title the left-handed golfer was a factor in the last two U.S. Opens. He tied for 16th in 2011 and tied for 19th this year.

Illinois’ run of success hasn’t been without a cost. Coach Mike Small lost his assistant coach when Zach Guthrie, Luke’s brother, resigned that post. He’ll be Luke’s caddie on the PGA circuit in 2013.

They didn’t make it

Those who didn’t crack the top 25 (actually 26 earned turn cards) at PGA West included Camilo Villegas, Heath Slocum Billy Mayfair, Nick O’Hern, Skip Kendall, former Northwestern star Chris Wilson, ex-British Open winner Todd Hamilton and Patrick Cantlay, who dazzled the PGA Tour when he shot a 60 as an amateur in the 2011 Travelers Championship.

Next year’s Q-School will only offer spots on the Web.com Tour. That circuit will play a bigger role in determining who advances to the big circuit. This year the top 25 on that tour’s money list was promoted to the PGA Tour for 2013.

Anybody who follows the golf scene in Illinois should tune in to what happens the next few days in the final stage of the PGA Tour’s Qualifying School at PGA West in California.

Wilmette’s Eric Mierdierks, winner of the 2010 Illinois Open at Hawthorn Woods and runnerup (in a playoff) to Chicago’s Max Scodro at The Glen Club in 2012, hit the halfway point in the six-round marathon in a tie for ninth place. The top 25 and ties after the six rounds earn berths on the PGA Tour for 2013.

Mierdierks, 27, has never played in a PGA Tour event. A New Trier High School graduate, he developed his skills playing on Arizona’s Gateway Tour the past few years, and his game appears to be peaking at the right time.

The PGA Tour Qualifying School will be radically transformed in 2013. This is the last year its top players will earn berths for the following year on the PGA circuit, and Mierdierks wants to take advantage of what might be a last-chance opportunity. Q-School will offer only spots on the Web.com Tour in 2013. That means it’ll be even harder to get on golf’s premier circuit, and it’s plenty difficult already.

Mierdierks was one of 1,558 players submitting entries to the 2012 Q-School, which is being conducted in three stages. This final stage, still in progress, began with 172 players battling for the coveted PGA Tour spots. Through the first three rounds Mierdierks is at 203, and five strokes behind leader Meen Whee Kim. Mierdierks shot 66-67 in rounds 2 and 3 on Thursday and Friday over the Nicklaus Tournament Course and TPC Stadium Course to climb the leaderboard.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday rounds remain before playing privileges are determined. Most of the finalists will get privileges of some sort on the Web.com Tour in 2013 but, of course, the PGA spots are more coveted.

The last of the very few Chicago area players to earn a PGA Tour card was Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti. He earned his in 2010 by finishing in the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour money list. Affrunti, like Mierdierks, was an Illinois Open champion (2004) and also won the Chicago District Amateur in both 2000 and 2001. His PGA Tour hopes, however, have been hampered by a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Mierdierks won his Illinois Open title with a one-shot win over Luke Guthrie, the University of Illinois star who made it to the PGA Tour in a hurry. Making good use of some sponsor exemptions, he was a smash hit on both the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour in the second half of the 2012 season.

KemperSports update

KemperSports, the Northbrook-based golf management firm, continues to build a broad impact world-wide. Its latest project is the Vista Mar Golf & Beach Resort in Panama, and the soon-to-open 36-hole Streamsong Resort in Polk County, FL., has already received rave reviews in various golf publications.

Scott Wilson has been named director of golf at Streamsong. He had been at another KemperSports location, Vellano Country Club in California.

On the more local front, Nate Mather is leaving his job as general manager of Glen Flora Country Club in Waukegan to become GM of The Club at Fairvue Plantation in Gallatin, Tenn. – another KemperSports facility.

For the record

Hopefully this is the end of media reports suggesting Oak Brook’s Butler National might return as a big-tournament venue. Some club members would like the exposure Butler received as site of the Western Open from 1974-1990, but the vast majority want it to remain all-male and therefore not acceptable for U.S. Golf Assn. and PGA events. A vote was taken on the issue recently and my sources tell me only one or two members wanted to accept female members. Until that sentiment changes Butler as a tournament site is a non-issue.

Just my opinion

This joint announcement by the U.S. Golf Assn. and Royal & Ancient Golf Club banning the anchoring putting stroke isn’t that big a deal. Of course, anchoring a club against your body should be banned. It represents too big a departure from golf’s traditions. Royal & Ancient likely felt stronger about this issue than the USGA did, and the rule proposal was too long in coming.

And don’t forget, long putters (the belly variety and the longer “broom-handle’’) are still legal. That’s fine by me, though I suspect there’ll be some controversies over just what is anchoring and what isn’t once the rule is put into effect in 2016. How close to your body does the club have to be to be considered “anchoring?’’ Players might be willing to test the rule on that.

As far as I’m concerned, though, golf has a bigger issue to solve – slow play. That would be at the top of my list.

Calendar material

I’ve found golf just fine in this late-fall, early-winter period in Chicago and only wish more courses were still open. The Nos. 1 and 3 layouts at Cog Hill, in Lemont, are among the few that will remain open year-around, and some fun events are coming up on those.

The Frosty’s 3-Club Open will be held over No. 1 on Dec. 9 and the Eskimo Open will be played on both courses on Jan. 6.

Also notable is the Jan. 1 deadline established by the Western Golf Assn. for the sale of its holiday ticket package. The package includes two any-day tournament tickets, lanyards and ticket holders to next September’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms for a great price — $65. Only 2,500 such packages will be available.

There wasn’t much movement in Chicago’s club professional ranks the past few years, but that’s not the case now. Already five well-established head pros have announced plans to move on.

The move creating the most ripple effect was Mike Scully’s departure from Medinah immediate after the Ryder Cup. He is now in charge at Desert Mountain, a Scottsdale, Ariz., resort that has five courses.

Scully was also the vice president of the Illinois PGA, so his leaving the area after nearly 10 years created some adjustment in the section’s rotation of officers. Chris Gumbach became the IPGA’s 25th president at the Fall Annual Meeting. Gumbach, a member of the board of directors from 2007-12, succeeds Casey Brozek, who will continue on the board as honorary president.

Gumbach, in his 18th year at River Forest Country Club, has been that club’s head professional the past seven seasons.

Scully’s position as vice president was taken over by Jim Opp, the head professional at Bonnie Dundee who has been on the IPGA board for eight years and was most recently chairman of the Education Committee. Mark Labiak, in his 15th season at Ruth Lake, is the new secretary and Hans Larson (Westmoreland), Jim Miller (Bloomington) and Mike Picciano (Bull Valley) have taken on three-year terms on the board of directors.

Other pros departing their jobs are Ron Romack, at Exmoor; Carmen Molinaro, at Buffalo Grove and Arboretum, Jim Arendt at Naperville and Michael Knights at Midlothian. Molinaro and Arendt announced their retirements.

Watson honored at WGA’s Green Coat Gala

Tom Watson (left) is welcomed into the Western Golf Association’s Caddie Hall of Fame by WGA executive director John Kaczkowski at the WGA’s Green Coat Gala at Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel. (Chuck Cherney Photo).

Northwestern lands big-time recruits

Northwestern coaches Pat Goss and Emily Fletcher have each signed high profile recruits to letters of intent for 2013.

Goss picked up Matt Fitzpatrick of Sheffield, England, the 2012 British Boys Amateur champion. Goss calls him “the most significant player we’ve signed since Luke Donald’ and predicts Fitzgerald “will make an immediate impact on our program.’’

Fletcher added Kacie Komoto to her women’s team. Komoto, from Punahoe High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, is the reigning Antigua National High School champion. She was the Hawaii state champion in 2011.

CDGA revamps schedule, adds Super Seniors

The Chicago District Golf Assn. will had the first CDGA Super Seniors tourney to its schedule for 2013. The flighted one-day event for players 65 and over will be held Aug. 5 at Royal Hawk, in St. Charles.

Meanwhile, the CDGA’s premier event – the 83rd Illinois State Amateur – will get a major date change. It’ll be held July 16-18 at Aldeen, in Rockford, instead of taking its long-held spot on the calendar in the second week of August. The change will make the State Am a lead-in to the Illinois Open and Western Amateur and avoid a conflict with the U.S. Amateur, which received a date alteration from the U.S. Golf Assn.

Another significant change on the CDGA slate involves the 21st Illinois Mid-Amateur at Flossmoor. Usually held in May, the tourney will be conducted Aug. 27-28 in 2013.

Here and there

Jim Richerson, who heads Kohler Company’s golf operations, is the new Region 6 director for the PGA of America. He succeeds Butler National’s Bruce Patterson as the focal point for PGA activities in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

The Bolingbrook Sports Dome (formerly the Ditka Dome) now has its indoor golf operation in full swing. The facility was renovated by new owner Jim McWethy, owner of the Mistwood course in Romeoville, during the summer.

Two of Wisconsin’s top courses — Meadow Valleys course at Blackwolf Run and the Irish course at Whistling Straits – will offer reduced rates until their closing on Nov. 25.

LedgeStone, one of Missouri’s best public facilities in Branson, will hold a toy drive through Dec. 22. Players will get a free round (with a $22 cart fee) if they donate a toy during play Monday-Thursday.

Did you know?

The George S. May Insurance building, somewhat of a Chicago golf landmark, is now more. Located at Touhy and Washington in Park Ridge, it was recently taken down to make room for a Whole Foods store. May was a pioneer tournament promoter who put on big-money, high-profile tournaments at Tam O’Shanter in the 1940s and 1950s. Tam, long since reduced to nine holes, is located in Niles and is about two miles from where the May headquarters was located.

Illinois PGA will have a different challenge if the section decides to keep its first major tourney of 2013 at Kemper Lakes.

The club, which hosted the 1989 PGA Championship, the 1992 U.S. Women’s Amateur and several Champions Tour stops before it became a private venue in 2009, has begun a renovation project.

Taking small steps at first, the club approved Libertyville architect Rick Jacobson’s plans to radically change the bunkering. The original course had 199,000 square feet of bunkers. When Jacobson’s work is done it’ll have 112,000. But the number of bunkers will probably increase from the present 63.

Kemper has a 10-year master plan, and Jacobson started with the green-side bunkers on the back nine. They’re smaller and deeper now, and that trend will continue when he takes on the front nine next fall. A fall round at the Long Grove layout revealed some eye-catching new looks, particularly at Nos.13, 15 and 16. Only temporary greens were in play – with the exception of the tight par-4 12th, which remained unchanged — after Genesis Golf construction company began work on Oct. 1.

In its public days Kemper hosted 24 consecutive Illinois PGA Championships. Since going private the club has cut back on outside tournament play, but it does host the IPGA Match Play Championship in April. If the tourney returns in 2013 its players will face nines with radically different sets of bunkers. Not only will the size and depth of the bunkers be different, but so will the sand. The white variety, so well-received at Knollwood during this season’s U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, will be used in Kemper’s new bunkers.

Having such a lack consistency from one nine to the other is not ideal, but the IPGA might decide that keeping continuity at one of its favorite tournament sites overrides that.

A great fall for the Rosinias

In September Michael Rosinia won the boys 15-17 age competition in the Youth Skills Challenge, a Ryder Cup preliminary that drew over 3,000 entrants and concluded at Medinah the week before the U.S. and European pros went at it in their memorable team competition.

Two months later the IPGA announced that Billy Rosinia, long-time head professional at Flagg Creek in Countryside and Michael’s father, was its Senior Player-of-the-Year. He’ll pick up his prize at Medinah, too, when the IPGA hosts its awards ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 15.

Rosinia and Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb have dominated the IPGA senior events and one or the other has been player-of-the-year in each of the last six years. Rosinia edged Sobb this time, finishing in the top 10 of all six tournaments he entered with one victory and two runner-up finishes on his scorecard.

St. Charles assistant Curtis Malm had earlier clinched a rare sweep of the IPGA Player-of-the-Year and Assistant Player-of-the-Year honors. Malm was the third man to do it, and the first since Glen Oak’s Matt Slowinski in 2009.

Streelman sticks with Wilson

Equipment changes have done in many a touring pro over the years, and it’ll be interesting to see how successful world No. 1 Rory McIlroy is after making a switch in 2013.

As for Chicago PGA Tour player Kevin Streelman, he’s not taking such a risk. Streelman is staying with Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods. Streelman, from Winfield, signed with Wilson in 2010 and just signed an agreement to continue playing Wilson Staff FG Tour V2 irons. He’ll also carry a Wilson bag and wear a cap supporting the company.

Streelman had three top-10 finishes in 2013, including a tie for eighth at the John Deere Classic.

Jemsek Golf remains at Pine Meadow

There was plenty of doubt for most of the summer, but Jemsek Golf will continue to operate Pine Meadow in Mundelein.

The Jemsek family, owners of Cog Hill, began a lease agreement with the University of St. Mary of the Lake and the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1985. The next year, after architects Joe Lee and Rocky Roquemore worked their magic on the land, Pine Meadow was named the Best New Public Course in the U.S. by Golf Magazine. It’s been widely recognized as one of Chicago’s best layouts ever since.

Negotiations on an extension of the lease were lengthy and complicated but they were eventually successful, though terms were not announced.