Roger Warren got his start in golf while living in the Chicago area. He went on to big things in the game, and now he’s back.

Warren will captain the U.S. in the Junior Ryder Cup competition, which begins at 5 p.m. on Sunday with opening ceremonies at Olympia Fields Country Club. After two days of matches on Olympia’s South course the 12-player teams from the U.S. and Europe will shift to Medinah Country Club for a 2 p.m. Friendship match over 10 holes of the No. 3 course that will host the full-blown Ryder Cup competition beginning on Friday.

Warren became captain of the U.S. team for what the PGA of America bills as “an international showcase of golf’s next generation,’’ because he is the PGA president twice removed. It’s an honor that is bestowed on past leaders of the 27,000-member organization.

For Warren it’s also a homecoming. He was a high school teacher as well as a basketball and golf coach at Dundee Crown High School and the Illinois Math & Science Academy before entering the golf business at Village Links of Glen Ellyn in 1986. He’s come a long, long way since then.

After leaving The Links in 1991 Warren directed the operation at Seven Bridges in Woodridge from 1991-2003 and then headed for the famed Kiawah Island Resort near Charleston, S.C. He became the president there in 2005 and was concurrently the president of the PGA of America through 2006 and the PGA’s honorary president in 2008.

With August’s PGA Championship played at Kiawah Warren was additionally general chairman of that event.

“I’ve had my hands full,’’ admitted Warren, “but I couldn’t be more excited about the Junior Ryder Cup. I’m looking forward to it because of my background in high school coaching and because of the quality of the junior golfers on the team.’’

The Junior Ryder Cup will be played for the eighth time on Olympia Fields’ South course. The series is event at 3-3-1. Past participants include Rory McIlroy and Nicolas Colsaerts, both members of the current European Ryder Cup squad. Other golf notables who have played in the event include Sergio Garcia, Suzann Pettersen, and Matteo Manassero for Europe and Hunter Mahan, Luke Guthrie, Bud Cauley and Jordan Spieth for the U.S.

Warren’s U.S. squad is led by Robbie Shelton, of Wilmer, AL. Shelton, 16, won both the Junior PGA Championship at Sycamore Hills in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and the Junior Players Championship at Florida’s TPC Sawgrass this summer.

Each team has 12 players, six boys and six girls. The other boys include two hotshot Californians. Cameron Champ was runner-up in the Junior PGA and Beau Hossler, at 17, made the cut at the U.S. Open. Rounding out the boys’ contingent are Gavin Hall, of Pittsford, N.Y.; Jim Liu, of Smithtown, N.Y.; and Scottie Scheffler, of Dallas.

The U.S. girls are headed by Samantha Wagner, of Windemere, FL., and Alison Lee, of Valencia, Calif. Wagner was runner-up in the Junior PGA and Lee was the leading point-getter in the Junior Ryder Cup standings.

Five members of the U.S. team earned automatic spots off the post lists. The other seven are Warren’s captain’s picks. Only 2013 high school graduates, or younger, were eligible.

Other girls on the U.S. squad are Cathy Cathrea, of Livermore, Calif.; Karen Chung, Livingstone, N.J.; Casey Danielson, Osceola, Wis.; and Esther Lee, Los Alamitos, Calif.

“Their experience and quality of play is tremendous,’’ said Warren. “They are all great young players. I know they will perform well. This event is very competitive, and it gives these kids a taste o what could happen if they take up a career in golf.’’

There’ll be six foursome matches on Monday morning, three boys and three girls, and six mixed ball matches in the afternoon. Twelve singles matches, involving all the players on both sides, are on tap for Tuesday.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – For 11 years Jane Blalock has tried to get a senior tour going for the veterans or retirees on the Ladies PGA Tour. Now she’s apparently done it.

Blalock, the LPGA’s rookie-of-the-year in 1970 and a 27-time winner on the circuit, has made the LPGA Legends Tour her special project. She’s the chief executive officer of the circuit, which only consisted of a few events – some of them just one-day affairs – until recently. Those events raised over $8 million for charity, but pale in comparison to what’s coming in 2013.

Working with Dave Harner, director of golf operations at French Lick Resort, Blalock finally got the event that will help the Legends Tour go big-time. Harner and Blalock just announced that a 54-hole tournament will top off a week-long program at the southern Indiana facility that has the Pete Dye Course, the Donald Ross Course and the Valley Links nine-holer – dedicated to early course designer Tom Bendelow –on the property.

A fourth 18-holer, Sultan’s Run, supplements the resort’s golf options in Jasper, a 20-minute drive from French Lick.

The Dye Course, the well-received most recent creation of the prolific long-time Indiana resident architect, will be the site for the Legends biggest-ever event from Sept. 22-29, 2013. The 54-hole competition will follow the Alice Dye Women’s Invitational, an amateur event honoring Dye’s wife and sometimes co-course designer. Organizers promised there would be television coverage, though the particulars weren’t ready to be announced.

In between the amateur and Legends competitions will be a clinic, given by the former and current LPGA stars, and a pro-am. A Legends Hall of Fame will also be established at the resort.

“This is the largest event we’ve ever had, in every respect,’’ said Blalock. “This year we had eight events, and next year we’ll have at least 10. We’re expanding, and we’re going to have an event here every year as a celebration of women in golf.’’

Joining Blalock in making the announcement in the clubhouse at the Dye Course were LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley and long-time competitors Rosie Jones and Val Skinner. All spoke at the announcement festivities and participated in a golf outing afterwards.

Though many of the details weren’t announced, the event was triggered by a $300,000 donation to the American Heart Assn., which will be the tourney’s charitable beneficiary. In addition to the four women at the announcement, stars like Nancy Lopez, Patty Sheehan, Juli Inkster, Lori Kane, Liselotte Neumann, Nancy Scranton and Beth Daniel are expected to be involved. Blalock said between 30-60 players will compete.

“We’re expanding, and we’ll try to have all those great women – Kathy Whitworth, Mickey Wright, Louise Suggs — come to the event with us,’’ said Blalock.

She said the Legends Tour is for women “45 years young.’’ It’s 50 for the men’s ChampionsTour.

“This is the only time you’ll find our players admit their ages – even Jan Stephenson,’’ said Blalock. “And our super senior, Joanne Carner, can still beat all of us.’’

Indeed this is a big development for all of golf. The men’s Champions Tour was an immediate success once Arnold Palmer became involved in the 1980s. Now the women hope to follow suit, and the French Lick event could provide the impetus.

“French Lick has a proud history in women’s golf,’’ said Harner. “We had an open tournament here in 1957, which was won by Louise Suggs. The LPGA Championship was held here in 1959, with Betsy Rawls beating Patty Berg by one shot, and in 1960 the great Mickey Wright won her second LPGA Championship here.’’

Harner has been with French Lick through the hard times. He’s been with the resort for 34 years, and its comeback in the last six years has been astonishing. The town’s two big hotels, French Lick and West Baden, were hot spots in their early years and then required complete renovations after a casino was brought in.

The previous LPGA tourneys were all played at the Donald Ross Course, which was renovated. Dye built his course from scratch, and it has already hosted the Professional Players National Championship. Both courses were used last year when the Big Ten men’s and women’s championships were staged at French Lick. Those events will return in 2013 and 2014. The Legends event promises to be French Lick’s biggest yet.

“This is a fantastic, beautiful place,’’ said Skinner. “It’s nice to have a place where we can chase our dreams – even if those dreams have changed a bit.’’

“Our tour is lucky and honored to play at this amazing place,’’ said Jones. “We’re super excited.’’

“I’m ready!’’ said Bradley. “We have to wait a year? I’m ready now.’’

The upcoming Ryder Cup is much more than a three-day golf competition between the top touring professionals from the United States and Europe. It also encompasses a load of junior events that the PGA of America hopes will help grow the sport. Medinah Country Club will host some – but not all – of them.

Most unusual is the PGA Junior Golf League’s national championship. It’s a fledgling program patterned after Little League baseball and football’s Punt, Pass & Kick program, and it’s open to both boys and girls.

Golf’s version didn’t start until last year, and then in only four cities. It affiliated with the PGA of America in January.

Chicago came into the program for youngsters between the ages of 9-13 this year at just Pine Meadow, in Mundelein, and Cog Hill, in Lemont. The League’s national championship will start at Medinah on Sept. 14 with a skills’ competition and dinner. The following two days will feature team matches on Cog Hill’s No. 2 course followed by an awards ceremony.

“Last year there were 16 teams in the nation. This year there were 127,’’ said Dennis Johnson, head professional at Pine Meadow and captain of the Chicago team in the finals. “I thought it was stupid at first, but it’s an incredible program.’’

The format consists of a series of nine-hole two-player scramble matches with players getting jerseys (with numbers). It was only Pine Meadow vs. Cog Hill this year, and the Jemsek Golf facilities played four matches before Johnson picked an “all-league’’ team to participate in the national finals.

Next year he hopes to have 32 teams, with other Chicago clubs joining in.

“I will turn away no kid, but they can’t be raw beginners and they have to have clubs,’’ said Johnson. Some instruction and golf balls as well as the jerseys are part of the signup fee, which Johnson projects to be in the $150-200 range.

The program will get major exposure during and after the national championship. In addition to bringing teams from Boca Raton, FL.; Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco and Northern New Jersey to Medinah for the start of the national finals, Johnson’s Chicago team will return on the Wednesday of Ryder Cup week (SEPT 26) for an up-close look at the big global event. Their visit will be filmed for future promotional efforts.

Other members of the Illinois Section of the PGA, meanwhile, spent the summer conducting the Ryder Cup Youth Skills Challenge that will culminate with finals at Medinah on Sept. 22, three days before the pros arrive.

There were 57 local competitions, all free to youngsters who competed in age groups ranging from 6-8 to 15-17, and they drew over 3,000 participants. About 500 top finishers in those events qualified for regionals that were held at Oak Brook, Pine Meadow, Cog Hill and Cantigny, in Wheaton.

“As anticipated, it has been an overwhelming success,’’ said Michael Miller, IPGA executive director. “The event has truly allowed the community to embrace the enthusiasm and excitement of having the Ryder Cup right here in our backyard.’’

Those in the finals will receive free admission to the opening day of Ryder Cup week at Medinah.

Biggest of the junior adjuncts to the Ryder Cup, however, is the Junior Ryder Cup – a most competitive team event pitting the very best 17-and-under players from the U.S. and Europe. They’ll compete at Olympia Fields on Sept. 24-25 after three days of practice and opening ceremonies and then hold a more informal Friendship Bowl nine-hole match on Sept. 26 at Medinah in the final days before the main matches tee off.

Roger Warren is the captain of the U.S. squad. A teacher and coach at Dundee Crown High School and the Illinois Math & Science Academy, he got started in the business side of golf at Village Links of Glen Ellyn in 1986. He left the Links in 1991 to direct the operation at Seven Bridges, in Woodridge, through 2003. He went on to become national president of the PGA in 2005 and is now president of the Kiawah Resort in South Carolina, the site of this year’s PGA Championship.

“I couldn’t be more excited about the Junior Ryder Cup,’’ said Warren. “I’m looking forward to it because of my background in high school coaching and because of the quality of the junior golfers who are on the team. They’ll all be great players and good people.’’

Warren’s team of six boys and six girls features Robby Shelton of Wilmer, AL., who won the Junior PGA boys title in Ft. Wayne, Ind., last month, and Beau Hossler, of Mission Viejo, CA., who qualified for the last two U.S. Opens. Hossler, 17, was a sensation at this year’s Open at San Francisco’s Olympic Club when he tied for 29th and became the youngest player to survive the tourney’s 36-hole cut since World War II.

The girls portion of the team is led by Alison Lee, of Valencia, CA., who led the points list off a nationwide series of tournaments to determine the automatic qualifiers for the team.

The Junior Ryder Cup has been contested seven times, the U.S. winning in 1997, 2008 and 2010 and Europe winning in 1999, 2002 and 2004. The 2006 competition, in Wales, was halved, so the series is all even at 3-3-1 going into the Olympia Fields event.

It’s getting close now. The biggest event in Chicago’s rich golf history tees off at Medinah Country Club on Sept. 28, but plenty will be going on before then. September will be a month like no other for golf excitement in Chicago.

Medinah knows what big-time golf is all about, having been the site of three U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships, those being the most recent in 1999 and 2006. But Don Larson, the club’s Ryder Cup chairman, called the team event “the PGA times three.’’

To put it mildly, Chicago is about to witness an emotion-charged display of patriotism that – in that regard – will likely put the recent Summer Olympics to shame. There’s no event in all of sports quite like the Ryder Cup matches.

Players start arriving at Medinah on Sept. 25 for practice rounds. Even before that there’s a Junior Ryder Cup competition on Olympia Fields’ South course and a bevy of events relevant to the Ryder Cup will be going on throughout the month.

There’ll be golf ball artwork, Tartan Art on the Avenue, that may be the best viewed of everything, since it’ll be moved around the city and suburbs. It’s part of the Magnificent Moments fundraising campaign that includes a Sept. 27 pep rally, entitled Bagpipes & Blues, at the Field Museum.

During Ryder Cup week there’ll be the finals of a youth skills competition that will climax at Medinah. There’ll also be a celebrity scramble there. Needless to say Medinah will be packed throughout the week, and don’t expect to get a ticket unless you’re willing to be a big spender. The event was a quick sellout long ago.

First in importance as the big event closes in is the determination of just who will be playing in the competition. There’ll be 12 players on each team, and the first phase to determine who will be on the U.S. came immediately after the last putt dropped at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, S.C., on Aug. 12.

Point standings, accumulated over two years, determined the eight automatic berths on the U.S. team and those earning spots were Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson.

In past years the U.S. captain named his picks the day after the PGA, but that was changed this time around. U.S. captain Davis Love III will name four (as opposed to just two in the past) picks on Sept. 4 in New York.

The new system is much better than the old, in that it allows the captain to pick the players who are hot leading into the biennial matches. That meant Love was able to analyze play in three tournaments, two of them part of the pressurized FedEx Cup playoffs, before filling out his roster.

Love was looking for experienced, as well as hot, players for his four selections, which are to be announced on the Tuesday of the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick, in Indianapolis. The automatic eight are short on experience. Dufner, Bradley and Simpson have never played in the biggest team competition in golf and Watson and Kuchar have played only once. Love will want some veterans to back them up, even though Mickelson – the last of the automatic qualifiers – will make his ninth straight appearance. That’s a record for consecutive, as well as all-time, appearances.

Woods has played on seven Ryder Cup teams and Zach Johnson on three. Otherwise it’s a pretty green U.S. team.

Though he wouldn’t say it initially – the PGA of America wanted to build excitement for his picks’ announcement — Love is sure to name Steve Stricker to the squad. He was 10th on the points list but is Woods’ preferred partner. Hunter Mahan, one spot in front of Stricker and a two-time winner this season, also figures to make the U.S. squad for the second time as a captain’s pick.

The other two picks are up for grabs, with performances in the Wyndham Championship and the first two FedEx playoff events – The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship – critical in Love’s view.

If Love is worried about experience he could pick Jim Furyk (11th in the point standings) or even dip into the Champions Tour ranks for Fred Couples. If he wants an exciting young star Ricky Fowler or Dustin Johnson are possibilities.

Unfortunately there won’t be a local player on the U.S. squad. Mark Wilson, D.A. Points and Kevin Streelman loomed as possibilities, however remote, early in the year but Wilson was down in 23rd place in the standings with Points 31st and Streelman 69th. All are too far back to merit consideration.

If you put stock in the point list Brandt Snedeker, Bo Van Pelt, Robert Garrigus and Bill Haas will be considered.

The European team was chosen differently, with captain Jose Maria Olazabal making only two captain’s picks on Aug. 27 – the day after the Johnnie Walker Championship concluded at Gleneagles in Scotland. That’s a highlight event on the European PGA Tour.

Ten members of the European team were chosen off point standings that were finalized after the Johnnie Walker event. Olazabal made his picks too late for the printing of this report, but the heart of the team figured to be PGA champion Rory McIlroy, former world No. 1s Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer, and past U.S. Open winner Graham McDowell.

One player who will likely make the team, Lee Westwood, will be particularly worth following. Westwood missed the cut at the PGA Championship and took the unusual step of firing his coach, Pete Cowens, and temporary caddie, Mike Waite, the day after the last major championship of the season ended.

So, one of Europe’s steadiest players may go into the Ryder Cup with his game shaky, no swing coach and a relatively new caddie. Mike Kerr took over Westwood’s bag after Waite’s firing, and Waite himself was a fill-in for Billy Foster. Foster was Westwood’s regular bag-toter until he injured his knee. He’ll be sidelined for the rest of the year.

Four prominent members of golf’s Champions Tour learned of Augusta National’s decision to admit two women as members just as they were about to announce a new tournament coming to Chicago.

All were delighted that the annual site of the Masters tournament was ending its all-male membership policy, and at least one wasn’t even surprised.

“I had heard through the grapevine, because I’m a past champion. I knew they were thinking about it,’’ said Fuzzy Zoeller, who won the Masters in his first appearance at Georgia’s Augusta National in 1979. “I’m very happy. This is 2012. Let’s get this thing moving forward.’’

But, Zoeller added, “there are private clubs that should be able to write their own rules.’’

Jeff Sluman, Hale Irwin and Chip Beck and Sluman were all familiar with former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, one of the new Augusta National members. None knew the other, South Carolina businesswoman Darla Moore. Rice has played in the pro-ams of the Champions Tour’s Regions Tradition event in Alabama.

“Condy loves golf,’’ said Sluman. The talk has been going on for awhile. I thought she might already be a member.’’

“What a sweet lady,’’ said Zoeller. “But congratulations to both of them.’’

“There’s no way golf is going to succeed without the women,’’ said Irwin. “We need them in golf. This is great.’’

Jeff Sluman showed up at Chicago’s East Bank Club on Monday for the announcement of the return of golf’s Champions Tour to Chicago. The 50-and-over circuit will compete in the $1.8 million Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club in Glenview next June 17-23.

But, first things first. Long before the circuit’s return to Chicago for the first time since 2002, Sluman will play a prominent role in next month’s Ryder Cup matches at Medinah Country Club. A long-time Hinsdale resident, he was chosen as a vice captain of the U.S. squad by head man Davis Love III.

Because of his proximity to Medinah, Love put Sluman to work early. He sent Sluman to Medinah last week to have a look at the No. 3 course that has suffered in this summer’s weather. The famed layout had plenty of rough spots during a media viewing on Aug. 6 and several fairways were stripped after that.

Not to worry, Sluman said. He rode the course in a cart when Love’s European counterpart, Jose Maria Olazabal, played a practice round with record world No. 1 Luke Donald.

“Then I called Davis,’’ said Sluman. “Mother Nature has not been kind to golf courses in the Chicago area the last two years. They had too much rain and too much heat last year, and too much heat this year. I was away, but when I called home I was told the weather was brutal. But the (Medinah No. 3) golf course will be fine. It’ll be very, very good. The Ryder Cup isn’t for awhile (Sept. 25-30), and I expect it’ll be perfect.’’

Sluman expects the new short par-5 15th hole to be set up at 305 to 310 yards, making it driveable for the players on both teams. Sluman expects it to be “a great place for momentum swings.’’ Otherwise, Sluman defers course matters to his captain.

“Davis will know exactly what to do,’’ said Sluman. “When he gets here in a couple weeks he’s will go around with Curtis (Medinah superintendent Curtis Tyrrell) and determine what (areas) should be grown out, where they should pinch in. It’ll be the same for both teams, but Davis doesn’t want to have much rough. That’s great. Birdies and recovery shots are very exciting for crowds to watch. Hacking out of rough probably isn’t so exciting.’’

The new event, though still 10 months away, should be plenty exciting. It’ll have a different format than Chicago’s previous stops for Champions Tour players. They had tour stops at Stonebridge, in Aurora; Kemper Lakes, in Long Grove; and Harborside International, in Chicago, through 2002 and U.S. Senior Opens were played at Medinah in 1988 and Olympia Fields in 1997.

Hale Irwin won three of those Champions Tour stops as well as the 1974 Western Open at Butler National and the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah. He joined fellow tour players Sluman, Fuzzy Zoeller and Chip Beck at Monday’s announcement and Irwin, Sluman and Beck were also part of Encompass’ presentation to North Shore members during the negotiating process.

Northbrook-based Encompass took over the Champions Tour event in Tampa, Fla., last year and plans an event heavily-loaded with pro-ams at North Shore. Traditional pro-ams will be held on Wednesday and Thursday of tournament week and celebrity pro-ams will be included in the first day of the championship proper. Only tour players will compete on the final day.

The first in a long line of upcoming Ryder Cup announcements is coming up on Aug. 7. That’s when Roger Warren will announce the six boys and six girls on the U.S. team for the Junior Ryder Cup.

This is just one of many events surrounding the big show coming to Medinah Sept. 25-30. The PGA of America bills the Junior Ryder Cup as “an international showcase of golf’s next generation.’’

Warren is captain of the U.S. team, a duty that generally goes to an outgoing president of the PGA of America. For him it’s also a homecoming. Warren was a high school teacher and coach before entering the golf business at Village Links of Glen Ellyn in 1986. He’s come a long, long way since then but the Junior Ryder Cup will bring him back to Chicago, since the competition will be on Olympia Fields’ South course.

After leaving The Links in 1991 Warren directed the operation at Seven Bridges in Woodridge from 1991-2003 and then headed for the famed Kiawah Resort near Charleston, S.C. He became the president there in 2005 and was concurrently the president of the PGA of America through 2006 and the PGA’s honorary president in 2008.

As PGA president twice removed, Warren is the Junior Ryder Cup captain while also preparing for Kiawah to host the year’s last major, the PGA Championship, from Aug. 9-12.

“I’ve got my hands full,’’ admitted Warren, “but I couldn’t be more excited about the Junior Ryder Cup. I’m looking forward to it because of my background in high school coaching and because of the quality of the junior golfers who will be on the team. They’ll all be great players and good people.’’

Before going into the golf business Warren was the basketball and golf coach, as well as a teacher, at Dundee Crown High School and the U.S. Math and Science Academy. His duties with the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team will cover just one intense week after the selection process is completed. Warren will be helped out on that end of other PGA staffers.

The actual event at Olympia starts with practice rounds Sept. 21-23. Opening ceremonies will also be on the 23rd with matches following on Sept. 24-25. The Junior Ryder Cup experience ends on Sept. 26 at Medinah, when the two teams participate in the Friendship Bowl, a nine-hole competition on Nos. 1-3 and 12-18 on Medinah’s No. 3 course while the pro teams from the U.S. and Europe are finishing preparations for the main event.

M.G. Orender was a past PGA president who captained the last U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team, which defeated its European counterparts 13 ½-10 ½ in Scotland two years ago. He knows what Warren can expect.

“In my time as a PGA professional I don’t know of a better experience I’ve had,’’ Orender said. “I was so thrilled for those kids. They played their hearts out.’’

That was the third U.S. win in the seven previous competitions, the others coming in 1997 in Spain and 2008 in Bowling Green, Ky. Europe won in 1999, 2002 and 2004 and the 2006 competition in Wales was halved, so the Junior Ryder Cup series is all even at 3-3-1 going into the Olympia Fields shootout.

Each team has had one blowout win in the competition. Europe dominated in 1999 in Boston, winning 10 ½ – ½, and the U.S. romped 22-2 in Bowling Green, Ky. Most of the matches, though, have been hard-fought affairs.

“It’s an exciting event, and very competitive,’’ said Warren, “and it gives these kids a taste of what could happen if they take up a career in golf.’’

Competition involves foursome, mixed four-ball and singles matches. The U.S. players must be members of high school graduating classes of 2013 to be eligible for selection. Europe requires its players be no older than 16 on the final day of the competition.

The U.S. Junior Amateur champion and U.S. Junior Girls champion are given automatic invitations to play on the U.S. team. Those competitions concluded July 21.

Exemptions will also go to the champion and runner-up at the 37th PGA Junior Championship, which concludes Aug. 3 at Sycamore Hills in Fort Wayne, Ind. The top boy and girl from the US. Junior Ryder Cup point standings, which is based on competitions going back to 2011, will also earn spots on the team.

Warren will then make his captain’s picks to fill out the roster. It’ll be an honor to play for the U.S.. Jordan Spieth, now at the University of Texas, went 3-0 in his matches for the U.S. at both the 2008 and 2010 Junior Ryder Cups.

“Really unbelievable,’’ Spieth said of the experience. “The 2010 team was even stronger than our 2008 team, but the European team was better, too.’’

The team he’ll lead is very much a part of the wide-ranging activities surrounding the 39th Ryder Cup matches coming to Medinah on Sept. 25-30.

The Ryder Cup is much more than the intensely patriotic three-day competition played biennially between the top touring pros from the U.S. and Europe. There are plenty of events around the big one, and the Junior Ryder Cup is one of the most important.

Olympia Fields will host the Junior event on its South course. This will be the eighth time high school-aged teams from the U.S. and Europe collide as part of a Ryder Cup.

The “Big Three’’ was born on Jan. 2, 2012, when three Chicago-based golf websites joined forces to provide different perspectives on the game we love.

While we have worked together on an informal basis the past six months, the impact of that joint affiliation will become more clearly evident in the next two weeks as Rory Spears (www.golfersongolf.com), Tim Cronin (www.illinoisgolfer.net) and myself (www.lenziehmongolf.com) all hit the road to provide extensive coverage of the two biggest tournaments of the Chicago season.

All three of us will be at the U.S. Women’s Open, which begins on Thursday, July 5, at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis., and the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, which takes over TPC Deere run in Silvis, IL., on the outskirts of the Quad Cities on July 9. The tournament rounds of the JDC are July 12-15.

Blackwolf Run, just two hours from Chicago, will host the biggest tournament in women’s golf. TPC Deere Run, also a two-hour drive, will be the site of Steve Stricker’s historic run at a fourth straight championship, a factor that makes the event much more than a final tuneup for the British Open, which begins the following week.

Together we have over 100 years of experience as golf journalists. Our websites are different, each providing unique spins on issues affecting golf today. By checking out all three you will a more complete flavor on these two big events than you’ll get anywhere else – and it’ll all come with a Chicago spin.

After the Women’s Open and JDC are over we’ll turn out attention to annual local favorites – the Illinois Open, Illinois Women’s Open, Western Amateur, Illinois State Amateur and Illinois PGA Championship. The fun is just beginning.

TINLEY PARK, IL. – At first it seemed a walk down memory lane.

I hadn’t been back to the Odyssey Country Club in Chicago’s south suburbs since 1997 – the third and final year the course was used as the site of the Illinois Women’s Open championship. Odyssey got that tournament, the state’s most prestigious for women, off to a great start.

This recent visit was to participate in the Concierge & Hospitality Professionals Golf Outing, a delightful affair organized for the eighth straight year by Cheryl Justak to create awareness about the great golf available in the Chicago area and introduce it to concierges who can, in turn, pass it on to their clients and customers.

This year’s outing enabled me to re-connect with Ed Staffan, Odyssey’s manager/golf professional, and get acquainted with Nick Halikias, vice president of operations for the family-owned course and facility. The family also owns the adjoining Odyssey Fun World.

I didn’t know my playing partners before arrival, but James Cook, Tyrone Lyons and Stan Lee were all great guys. Stan could really deliver the long ball, Tyrone (my cart partner) hit some almost as long as Stan and had the sometimes difficult task of keeping my head in the game. Jimmy was the steadying influence for the rest of us.

There may have been better teams than ours (we finished 2-under-par), but I doubt any had as much fun.

Odyssey is a long drive from my home (over an hour), and that’s the main reason I didn’t have it on my calendar for such a long time. But I’ll be back.

I was very impressed with the development of both the course (designed by Harry Bowers and two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange, used as the consultant) and – particularly – the clubhouse. I’ve seen most every clubhouse at the Chicago area’s public courses, and Odyssey has one of the very best. It’s outing-friendly, and a perfect setup for weddings and other social gatherings.

I just wish I could have tasted the cuisine prepared by chef Alex Ottman, but another golf-related event – the flag-raising ceremony for the 2013 BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest, world No. 1 Luke Donald’s home course – was also a not-to-be missed socializing opportunity.

I had remembered the Odyssey course as player-friendly, yet plenty challenging. That hadn’t changed over the years. The par-72 layout is filled with lakes, wildflowers and gardens all meshing with holes that measure 7,095 from the back tees. Plus, the wildlife on the course is extraordinary. The course has a rating of 73.1 with a slope of 131.

Located between First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, one of the nation’s largest outdoor music venues, and Odyssey Fun World, which attract kids of all ages, Odyssey Country Club, 19110 S. Ridgeland, has a great location for entertainment options before and after a round of golf.

Len Ziehm on Golf is today announcing a fourth partnership agreement, this one with the website Hacker’s Central. Based in Minneapolis, this site provides information and rates courses in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Nevada and Illinois.

For starters, LZOG will contribute Travel Destination blog-type pieces as well as occasional news items relating to golf in Illinois to Hacker’s Central. We share the common purposes of passing on our love for the game to golfers of all abilities in all regions of the country.

In addition to the online golf community provided via Hacker’s Central, this group also produces Hacker’s Guides, which provide information on courses across the Midwest as well as in Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Southern California.

Founded by publisher Bruce Stasch in 2007, the Hacker’s Guide uses 60 different factors to rate a course in six different categories and is the most complete state-by-state golf course rating system since the U.S. Golf Assn. established par and course ratings. The Hacker’s Guide has rated over 530 golf courses across 13 states, including Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and North and South Dakota.

LZOG now has four partners, two of which operate beyond the boundaries of the Chicago area. Prior to hooking up with Hacker’s Central, LZOG established a partnership with Golf Now! Chicago, which — in addition to its website — has produced a premier designation guide for golfers for 10 years. It is guided by Indiana-based Cheryl Justak, who is running LZOG Travel Destination pieces on her website as well as two of our pieces in the 2012 printed version of Golf Now! Chicago.

In addition, LZOG is working with two long-time Chicago golf media buddies, Rory Spears and Tim Cronin. We have formed the “Big Three,’’ with the purpose of giving Chicago golfers a complete picture of pertinent news developments in and around our area. Rory operates out of the popular Golfers on Golf radio show and website while Tim, long-time golf writer for the Daily Southtown newspaper, has just introduced the first edition of his Illinois Golfer publication.