The number of men among the PGA of America’s 29,000 members far outnumber the women. That’s no secret, and the number of married couples working in the business as PGA members isn’t very big either. It’s under 100 nation-wide.

What might be surprising out of that segment of the golf industry, though, involves two married couples who are both Illinois PGA members. In both cases the wife is a better player than the husband.

In one case there’s no question about it. Katie Pius, assistant professional at Biltmore Country Club in Barrington, is one of the best players in the section, man or woman.

“She’s just a better golfer than I am, plain and simple,’’ said her husband Josh Pius, head professional at Inverness. “She’s a talented player.’’

The playing disparity may not be as clearcut for Jennifer and Cory Ferrell, but Jennifer has been in more competitive situations. As Jennifer Broggi she was one of Illinois’ best amateurs when she was in high school at Naperville North and college at Illinois State. She turned pro after finishing up at ISU in 2002 and kept competing for awhile.

“When I got out of college I spent three winters in Florida,’’ she said. Ladies PGA headquarters is in Daytona Beach, so Florida was a good place to test her skills at a higher level.

“It wasn’t awful, but I honestly decided after getting a reality check,’’ she said. “I tried it, and it wasn’t my cup of tea.’’

The Ferrells met through the PGA’s training program and married in 2007. While they have no children, they’re both deeply involved in working with young players.

While Jennifer isn’t playing in many tournaments theses days, she isn’t completely out of the competitive side of golf. She has been the assistant coach of the girls team at Glenbard East High School since 2007.

“The season is short – just six-eight weeks, and I do enjoy it because it brings back memories of college,’’ she said.

Cory, completing his seventh season as head professional at the nine-hole Sugar Creek course in Villa Park, has 400 youngsters between the ages of 6-13 in his youth program there. He also works with Revelation Golf, a program that provides therapy through golf to military personnel.

Cory, born and raised in Maryland, grew up in the golf business. His father is a lifetime PGA member, and Cory was head pro at both Maple Meadows, in Wood Dale, and Seven Bridges, in Woodridge, before coming to Sugar Creek. He also was a teach pro at Old Oak, in Homer

Jennifer is more deeply involved in golf than just through high school coaching. She’s head professional and division manager at Glendale Lakes in Glendale Heights.

Neither of the Ferrells feel that working in the same industry presents unique problems.

“It’s no different than two teachers or two police officers,’’ said Cory. “Golf is just different because of the goofy hours.’’

Katie and Josh Pius also met through golf, when Josh was in the midst of a five-year run as an assistant professional at North Shore Country Club in Glenview and Katie was an assistant at Westmoreland, in Wilmette. They’ve been married for five years and are in their sixth seasons on their current jobs.

“I had always said I’d never marry a golf professional because I knew the hours they work,’’ said Katie, “but then I met Josh.’’

Josh grew up in Michigan and spent two years as a head professional in Wisconsin before coming to Inverness. They have two children, Betty 3 ½ and Millie, 1. Their clubs are just a few miles apart, and that’s a big help.

“There’s a lot of (time) coordination there,’’ said Josh, “but I don’t consider it difficult. I know what she’s going through, and she knows why I’m going through, so we support each other throughout the season. It’s nice having someone who understands what you’re going through.’’

“I don’t work full-time – just seasonally and part-time,’’ said Katie, who is one of three assistants working with head man Doug Bauman at Biltmore. “That’s the only way this would work. The kids are in day car on the days when I work, and we visit Josh sometimes.’’

Katie does some teaching and runs the women’s leagues at Biltmore while retaining her status as the best woman player in the section. She plays in most of the section tournaments while Josh is limited basically to what he calls “the silly season,’’ when the events are more on the social side. They make an effort to play one nine-hole round together ever month.

“Obviously I’d like to play more,’’ said Katie. “This year is the most limited my schedule has been, but I hope to get more competitive once the kids get a little older.’’

The John Deere Classic has been played in the Quad Cities of Rock Island and Moline in Illinois and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa for 48 years, but this year’s staging represents a significant milestone.

It’ll be the 20th year the tournament has been played at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, which is on the outskirts of Moline, and Moline is where the John Deere Company national headquarters is located. Ever since John Deere took over sponsorship in 1999 and the tourney moved to Deere Run this tournament — in one of the smallest markets on the PGA Tour — has been big-time, to put it mildly.

Through its Birdies for Charity program the JDC raised $13.4 million for 500-plus area charities last year. The tournament has established itself as the No. 1 tournament on the tour in per capital giving and No. 3 in total charitable giving, and each year it provides an estimated $54 million economic impact in the Quad Cities area.

Since Deane Beman, the former PGA Tour commissioner, won the inaugural playing of the tournament in 1971 the event has raised $107 for area charities.

“It’s unlike any other tournament,’’ said Michael Kim, who will defend his title from July 8-14.. “It’s such a tight-knit community. You can definitely tell how everyone in the community really backs the tournament. It’s s such a strong showing with the spectators and crowds. I wish we played every tournament out there now.’’

Over the years the JDC has been known for producing first-time PGA Tour winners – 22 of them, in fact. Last year it was Kim, and he won in style. His 27-under-par total not only produced a record eight-stroke victory margin but it also erased Steve Stricker’s 26-under par total in 2009 as the lowest in tournament history. Until Kim went crazy the most one-sided winner in tournament history was David Frost, who won by seven in 1993, before the tourney moved to TPC Deere Run.

“Obviously the best golf I’ve ever played for a week,’’ said Kim when he returned for a media day visit. He still watches his win on YouTube “just to remember that it actually happened.’’

The tournament had a long run at short, sporty Oakwood, in Coal City, before moving to Deere Run. The present home course was designed by veteran tour player D.A. Weibring, an Illinois State University alum who won the JDC three times when it was played at Oakwood.

Weibring, who had design help from Chris Gray, devised a 7,183-yard, par-71 course that has become a favorite of PGA Tour players. Some have even come to the JDC instead of heading overseas for the British Open, which is traditionally the week after the John Deere Classic. JDC director Clair Peterson has made his tournament an attractive option by chartering a jet for them from the Quad Cities Airport to the British site. Why head overseas sooner than necessary?

Last year the British site was Carnoustie, in Scotland, where Kim finished 35th behind champion Francesco Molinari. A week earlier Molinari had tied for second in the JDC but – like everyone else –couldn’t keep up with Kim.

While Kim’s win was one for the ages, it wasn’t the first in JDC history. This tournament has had lots of big moments – especially since it settled at TPC Deere Run. Stricker won his three-peat there (2009-11). Iowa native Zach Johnson, who is on the tourney’s board of directors and is its most devoted supporter among the PGA Tour players, played in his first tour event in the Quad Cities and ended Stricker’s run there.

Stricker’s first title started when he shot a 60 in the first 18 but wasn’t even leading at that day’s end because Paul Goydos had posted a 59. Jordan Spieth was among those winning for the first time at TPC Deere Run in 2013, when he was just 19 and the youngest winner on the circuit in 82 years. He triumphed again two years later — but hasn’t been back since.

And then there was Michelle Wie. Peterson gave her a sponsor’s exemption when she was 15 years old and she almost survived the 36-hole cut.

Peterson has always been welcoming to up-and-coming young stars. Lots have benefitted from his sponsor’s exemptions but this year Peterson changed his formula a bit. He invited a 45-year old with an unorthodox swing, one likened to a fisherman casting. Like Kim, Ho Sung Choi was born in South Korea and he can play. He won the Casio World Open on the Japan Tour last year.

There’s always something uplifting at the JDC. Among those this year is a boost in prize money—to $6 million. The winner will pick up $1,044,000.

Book report time again – and this one’s different. I’ve always avoided political issues on both my Len Ziehm on Golf and personal Facebook pages. The many books I’ve read lately in the political arena only tend to trigger reactions – pro and con – that I’m not interested in exploring.

Rick Reilly’s recently released “Commander in Cheat’’ clearly has political overtones. However, it is also filled with interesting, worthwhile information from the golf world and this website is all about golf. I first met Rick about 25 years ago when we were reporting on PGA Tour events (I believe in our case it was at the Memorial tournament). Rick’s an extremely respected, gifted writer. I heartily recommend his latest book. It offers lots of food for thought.

Chicago area players reaching the Ladies PGA Tour are few and far between. Only Nicole Jeray made it regularly over the last three decades and this year she’s decided to focus on a teaching job at Mistwood, in Romeoville.

There will still be a local rooting interest on the premier women’s tour, however. The timing was perfect for Winnetka’s Elizabeth Szokol to have a breakthrough season on the LPGA’s Symetra Tour in 2018, and that earned her a place in the big time of women’s golf.

The Szokol story began as she was about to enter high school at New Trier. She had been an avid tennis player but knee problems contributed to her looking for another sport. She opted for golf and immediately became a key part of New Trier’s powerhouse teams. She was on the varsity all four years, and her teams finished in the top three of the Illinois prep championship each season. That included a state title in 2010.

From there it was on to Northwestern for two seasons, the second of which saw Szokol earn second-team all-Big Ten honors as well as a spot on the conference’s All Academic team. She was also the Illinois Women’s Amateur champion in 2012.

Despite all that success on the home front Szokol opted to transfer to Virginia for her junior season and she finished her collegiate career there in style, finishing as co-medalist in an NCAA regional in her senior season. She was also 20th as an individual in the NCAA finals and part of a Virginia team that finished fifth in the nation.

“Playing on the LPGA Tour was always a dream, something I wanted to do,’’ said Szokol. “I saw improvement every year, and winning the NCAA Regional my senior year was a confidence builder.’’

Good college players don’t always make it at the professional level, however. Szokol had to survive three stages of 72-hole qualifying tournaments to just earn a spot on the Symetra circuit.

The first was in Palm Springs, Calif., where 350 players competed for 80 spots in the second stage. Szokol survived that and headed to Venice, Fla., where over 200 competed for 90 places in the third and final stage. She got survived those, too, and got through her rookie pro season with only limited success.

“That first year I found out that professional golf is a lot different than it was in college,’’ she said. “The second year I had things to figure out. Mainly it was time management. I had to find a good balance between practice and playing.’’

That task was made more difficult by a major health problem. Szokol needed knee surgery to fix extensive cartilage damage and wanted to have it in December of 2017. It had to be delayed a month, however, because no donor cartilage was available. After getting the surgery in January Szokol found herself in a brace from her left ankle to her hip. She had to learn how to walk again while her Symetra rivals were gearing up for the start of another season.

Amazingly, Szokol missed only the season-opening tournament of the 2018 season in Winter Haven, Fla. She started swinging a club while that event was going on and played in the next stop in Beaumont, Tex. The breakthrough came in the third event – the IOA Invitational in Atlanta.

Closing with a 4-under-par 68 Szokol came from five shots back on a windy day to claim a one-stroke victory. To play so well so quickly after surgery was a surprise to many, but not Szokol.

“My game was there and I putted well,’’ she said. Szokol didn’t win again in 2018 but she had seven top-10 finishes and a strong third in the season-ending Symetra Tour Championship. Her $76,612 in season winnings was good for fourth place on the year’s money list, and the top 10 were awarded their LPGA Tour cards.

Though there’s a big difference between the LPGA and Symetra circuits, the momentum from last year didn’t wear off when Szokol finally got her chance in the big time. Her first two tournaments were in Australia in February. A bad second round led to her missing the 36-hole cut in her LPGA debut but she rebounded the following week by tying for 58th in the Women’s Australian Open. That enabled Szokol to claim her first LPGA check — for $3,360.

“It was definitely great to go and play,’’ she said. “I was happy to get my first two starts and now I expect to play a lot. I’m guaranteed to play in all the full-field events except the majors.’’

Her tournament schedule resumed in mid-March in Phoenix and she expects to play in six tournaments on the West Coast in March and April.

When in Chicago she practices at Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe but her swing coach isn’t there. Szokol is working with Kim Lewellen, her college coach at Virginia who has since moved on to Wake Forest. Szokol also has her first agent and sponsorship agreements with Ping and Titleist.

Dustin Johnson doesn’t live in Myrtle Beach, S.C., anymore but his game blossomed there when he was still an amateur, and he hasn’t forgotten those days.

Johnson keeps many of his trophies at TPC Myrtle Beach. His golf academy is also there, and it got a major upgrade in time for the fourth playing of the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship earlier this month.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the golf school and its growth,’’ said Johnson “Golf has given me so much, and hopefully the school can play a role in the development of tomorrow’s golfers.’’

The Dustin Johnson Golf School is now the only facility in South Carolina with two Trackman machines. It also has the Swing Catalyst, which provides high speed video technology along with balance data; the K-Vest 3D Motion Analysis, which supplies instant 3D data in conjunction with the launch monitor; and the SAM PuttLab, the world’s most accurate and comprehensive putt analysis and training system.

Johnson was on site to christen the new facility during his namesake tournament, which has become one of the most prestigious junior tournaments. Johnson, who has donated over $500,000 to junior golf programs, also joined Hootie and the Blowfish as inductees into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame while he was in town but the most interesting DJ development may not come until this week.

Akshay Bhatia, who won the boy’s division of Johnson’s tournament, will play along with Johnson in the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship – the last of four straight tournaments comprising the circuit’s Florida Swing. The Valspar tees off on Thursday on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook Resort in Tarpon Springs.

Bhatia, 17, is the No. 1-ranked junior boy in the world. The Wake Forest, N.C., resident, who plays left-handed, set a tournament record in the Dustin Johnson World Junior with a 5-under-par 211 for 54 holes. That contributed to Bhatia getting a sponsor’s exemption into his first PGA Tour event. He plans to skip college and turn professional when he turns 18 next January.

Bhatia was by no means the whole show in Johnson’s junior event. Alexa Pano, of Lake Worth, FL., ruled the girls division and became the first player – boy or girl – to win the tournament twice.

BITS AND PIECES: Entries are now being accepted for Myrtle Beach’s biggest event. The 36th PlayGolf Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship will be held Aug. 26-30.

The name of the host hotel for the 29th International Network of Golf Spring Conference in Sebring, FL., has been changed from Chateau Elan to Seven Sebring Raceway Hotel. The hotel wanted to spotlight its connection to the auto track that hosts the famed 12 Hours of Sebring race. (Seven is a reference to the track’s famed hairpin turn). The golf event is May 19-24.

Dormie Network, a nationwide stable of private destination clubs, has acquired Hidden Creek in New Jersey and Victoria National in Indiana. Among its other clubs is Briggs Ranch in Texas. Victoria National and Briggs Ranch are both Web.com Tour sites.

Chicago’s KemperSports has taken over management of Thornberry Creek, the official course of the Green Bay Packers and the home of the LPGA’s Thornberry Creek Classic.

Billy Casper Golf recently held its 30th anniversary celebration at Reunion Resort in Kissimmee, FL. Billy Casper Golf operates 150 courses in 29 states.

Wisconsin’s SentryWorld has set a May 3 opening for its course, which will host the U.S. Girls Junior Championship from July 22-27.

FINALLY — AND JUST FOR FUN — we thought this a good time to spotlight some of the most memorable golf scenes we’ve enjoyed recently. Here are some of the “Best of Joy Sarver” photos:

We are delighted to announce another partnership agreement for the Len Ziehm on Golf website. Ohio-based Fred Altvater, a long-time friend and a golf teacher as well, is joining us on two levels.

Fred’s Back 9 Media Group includes the Ohio Golf Journal, a fine digital publication that provides golf tips and articles on all phases of golf. What makes Back 9 Media unique among our partners is that it also includes a video companion, Back 9 Report TV. Back 9 Report TV can be found on Roku but is also posted at http://back9report.com/.

Back 9 Report can also be heard on Blogtalk, TuneIN and ITunes.

Fred, who started his golf media ventures in 2007 and is the publisher of Ohio Golf Journal, won two Outstanding Achiever awards for his 2018 video projects at the International Network of Golf’s Media Awards. They were presented at the PGA Merchandise Show – an annual January gathering of leaders from all segments of the golf industry in Orlando, Florida.

Ohio Golf Journal becomes the seventh golf website partner for LZOG. All are a bit different but share the common goal of providing useful and interesting information to every variety of golfer.

The other partner sites are Rory Spears’ Golfers on Golf radio, Tim Cronin’s Illinois Golfer, Cheryl Justak’s Golf Now!Chicago, Brian Weis’ GolfTrips.com, Dave Lockhart’s LInksVideo and Jason Bruno’s LInksNation. LZOG now has partner sites based in five states — Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida.

The Chicago area has hardly been rich in players on the pro golf tours in recent years, but that situation improved significantly last weekend.

Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim and Deerfield’s Vince India earned spots for 2019 on the Web.com Tour, the PGA Tour’s alternate circuit, and former world No. 1 Luke Donald, shaking off lingering back issues, played in his first American tournament in eight months.

Ghim, the low amateur at last year’s Masters, tied for third in the 72-hole finals of the Web.com Tour’s qualifying tournament in Chandler, Ariz., and India, the reigning Illinois Open champion, finished 12th. They were paired together in the final two rounds.

That means both have a significant tour to play on in 2019. The Web.com offers direct advancement to the PGA Tour for its best players. Ghim, who has relocated to Las Vegas since finishing his collegiate career at the University of Texas, is guaranteed 12 tournament starts in 2019 and India will be assured of at least eight.

Ghim, shooting 66-65 on the weekend, finished 25 under par for the 72 holes and India, who opened the tournament with a 63, finished at 23 under.

India, one of just nine players to own wins in both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open, was a Web.com regular in 2017 but couldn’t retain his privileges for this year.

“I had full-time status in 2017 and played injured, which was stupid,’’ said India. “Last year I was able to play in only about one-third of the season. I was in a pretty weird place with my golf. Health was probably the reason for my golf problems.’’

Like Donald, India has battled back issues since concluding a stellar collegiate career at Iowa. Also like Donald, he used stem-cell therapy in his recovery effort.

“You’re never over back problems once they start,’’ said India. “There will always be rehab and therapy. It’s always in the back of my mind. I’ll need to keep working.’’

Web.com qualifying is held in three stages. Two Chicago amateur stars of the past, Northbrook’s Nick Hardy and Highwood’s Patrick Flavin, didn’t make it to the finals stage and will have to survive Monday qualifying rounds or land sponsor exemptions to get into the circuit’s tournaments.

Dylan Meyer, Hardy’s University of Illinois teammate, tied for 50th in the Web.com finals after a promising start as a pro. Using sponsor exemptions after his collegiate season ended in June, Meyer earned $275,109 in PGA Tour starts and another $10,060 on the Web.com circuit. While he’s not guaranteed any Web.com starts, Meyer will likely get into a few tournaments because he qualified for the finals of Q-School.

LUKE IS BACK: Luke Donald spent parts of 2011 and 2012 as the world’s top-ranked golfer after graduating from Northwestern and he remained active golf-wise in the Chicago area through his membership at Conway Farms in Lake Forest and support work for the NU golf program, Western Golf Assn., and First Tee of Greater Chicago.

Donald’s playing career tapered off after he suffered a herniated disc in his back that led to his dropping off the circuit in April. After taking three months of complete rest while receiving stem-cell therapy Donald returned to competition in October at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the European Tour.

So far the results haven’t been there. Donald missed the 54-hole cut in the Dunhill Links and his team was 10th among the 12 twosomes competing in last week’s GTE Shootout in Naples, FL. He’ll join Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman to give the Chicago area a presence on the PGA Tour when the circuit resumes its schedule in January.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD IN LPGA: For over two decades Berwyn’s Nicole Jeray was basically the only Chicago area player on the Ladies PGA Tour. Now Jeray is turning her focus to teaching at Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville and Winnetka’s Elizabeth Szokol will carry the Chicago banner on the LPGA circuit.

Szokol spent two collegiate seasons at Northwestern and two at Virginia before earning a place on the LPGA’s satellite Symetra Tour last year. Szokol advanced to the LPGA circuit by finishing fourth on the Symetra money list this year. She earned $76,612 and picked up her first victory at the IOA Invitational in May.

WINTER SCENE: Steve Kashul’s “The Golf Scene’’ will begin its Winter Edition on Sunday. The show, which will run at various times, is celebrating its 25th year anniversary on NBC Sports Chicago.

The Chicago Golf Show is also gearing up for its 36th winter staging. It’ll be held Feb. 22-24 at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosement.

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The Illinois PGA changes its president every two years, and the most recent changing of the guard on Nov. 19 was much different than all the previous ones.

When Jim Miller took over the reins from Mark Labiak the section gained an unusual new leader. Rarely has the IPGA had a president from a club outside of the Chicago area. Miller is in his 14th season as head professional at Bloomington Country Club, which is located in central Illinois.

And that’s not all. Miller is also continuing a family tradition. His father Hal was the IPGA president from 1982-83, when he was in the midst of a long and successful run at Evanston Golf Club in Skokie.

The Miller & Miller scenario begins at Evanston, where Hal entered the golf business as a caddie. He later worked there on the practice range and as a starter before becoming an assistant professional under the legendary player and teacher John Revolta in 1960.

Hal spent seven seasons as a Revolta assistant, then became the head professional in 1966 following Revolta’s retirement. Hal was the head man there for 35 years before retiring on Dec. 31, 2001. Now 82, he’s an honorary member of the club that he served in one capacity or another for about 50 years. Selected into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame in 2007, he also remains involved with the IPGA as a regular rules official at its tournaments.

A Glenview resident, Hal and wife Kathleen were the parents of five children, all of whom worked at Evanston in one capacity or another while growing up. Jim is the only one who followed Hal into the golf industry.

Jim, 52, graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1990, then spent three years as an assistant at Sunset Ridge, in Northfield, and another at Indian Hill, in Winnetka, before Hal had an opening on his staff at Evanston. Jim eventually succeeded Hal as the club’s head professional and held that job for five years.

His move to Bloomington came in 2005 and was made largely for family reasons.

“When I got married I had promised my wife (Julia) that I wouldn’t be gone as much as my Dad was when I was growing up,’’ he said. “I had been working 13-hour days because that was the expectation created from Hal. That was the standard he had set. By that time we had four children under the age of nine. My wife reminded me of the promise I had made and said she expected me to keep it.’’

Jim did. When as opening developed at Bloomington he applied, was hired and has found a good job fit. Their four children are Parker, now 21; Katie, now 19; Ashley, now 17; and Bailey, now 14.

Bloomington, which has 330 golf members, was agreeable to Jim’s need for more family time. A good enough player to qualify for two PGA Club Professional Championships and become the runner-up in the 1995 IPGA Match Play Championship, Miller is focused on a broader range of duties now.

“When I first got to Bloomington the pace was slower and the demands not quite as high (as he had at Evanston),’’ he said, “but I brought that with me, and Bloomington has gotten more like the Chicago clubs.’’

Bloomington has always been a prominent tournament site. In addition to welcoming the Illinois Open in 1980, the club has hosted eight Illinois State Amateurs including last year’s version — more than any other club. Bloomington has also hosted the Illinois State Women’s Amateur five times.

Miller inadvertently played a role in hurting Bloomington’s chances to bring an Illinois Open back downstate. He was the IPGA’s tournament chairman when the decision was made to alter the format of the event in hopes of expanding the field and increasing the entries. The Glen Club, in Glenview, became the permanent site for the finals and a nearby club was needed as the alternate site each year. Bloomington was too far away to fit the bill, but Miller is happy with the format change made in the section’s premier event.

An IPGA director for three years while at Evanston, Miller dropped off the board when he made the move to Bloomington but he returned in 2009 and was elected an officer in 2015, when he ran for the secretary’s position. That started his progression to the presidency. He was secretary in 2015-16 and vice president in 2017-18. Now he takes on the responsibility of leading an organization with about 800 members.

The IPGA presidency is much different than when his father was in charge. The IPGA had an executive director (Ken Boyce) at that time but no long-term headquarters and only two assistants for Boyce. Now executive director Carrie Williams heads a staff that has at least three times that number when summer interns are factored in and a long-term base at The Glen Club.

“There are some similarities to when I was president,’’ said Hal, “but there’s a lot of facets the president is involved in. When I was president there weren’t so many things.’’

Jim sees one big issue ahead.

“It’s diversity and inclusion,’’ he said. “I know that affects us (the IPGA) for sure, but it’s industry-wide. The sheer lack of women and minorities in our industry is staggering and it’s our mission to find out why and how we can change it.’’

That’s not his only chore, of course.

“My goal is just to increase new member services, be it through education, tournaments, outreach programs,’’ he said. “I also want to make sure the section financially is in a good position. We’ll try to make our jobs better for all our members.’’

The Chicago District Golf Association has honored Players of the Year since 1993 and the Senior Player of the Year has been designated since 1995. Those so honored have earned a cherished place in golf history, and some have taken the honor to even greater heights.

Joel Hirsch was the first CDGA superstar, winning the first two Player of the Year awards in 1993 and 1994, and he was also the first to win the Senior Player of the Year honors three times (1996, 1998 and 2001). Hirsch’s accomplishments gave way to Dave Ryan, who won Senior honors seven times between 2009 and 2016, and no golfer has topped the four Player of the Year awards accumulated by Todd Mitchell (2006, 2008, 2013 and 2016).

This year’s honorees are special, as well. One picked up his coveted honor without winning tournament that offered Player of the Year points during the 2018 season and the other rose to prominence after having serious doubts that he’d even be able to play this season.

Let’s meet this terrific twosome:

PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Trent Wallace, Joliet.

For three years Wallace has been playing in the shadow of three of the all-time great amateurs in the history of Chicago golf. Doug Ghim (2014), Nick Hardy (2015) and Patrick Flavin (2017) were the best in those years and have continued to do big things both locally and nationally. That made the award all the more special for Wallace, who is a senior at Illinois State.

“It’s a great honor to be in the same category of great players, especially those who have won recently,’’ said Wallace. “I had always been a streaky player, but this season I was in contention every week. My forte is to grind.’’

Grind it out, he did. Though he didn’t have a victory Wallace piled up points by tying fourth in the Illinois State Amateur (his third straight top-five finish in that event), finishing as the runner-up in the CDGA Amateur and tying for seventh in the Illinois Open.

In the CDGA Amateur Wallace lost the title to ISU teammate David Perkins, of East Peoria, in a match that went 23 holes. As a college player Wallace was medalist in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in his freshman and sophomore seasons. He also helped the Redbirds win the Wisconsin Badgers Invitational this fall.

“My coach (Ray Kralis) said it was the best win in school history,’’ said Wallace. “Coach Ray was the only Division I coach to offer me a scholarship. I jumped at it, and I’ve never looked back. Every year the program has gotten better, and this year we’re in line to do something special.’’

When the ISU season is over that’ll also be the end of Wallace’s days as an amateur golfer.

“I haven’t been able to get into the Western Amateur for whatever reason, and if I can’t get into events like that I don’t see staying an amateur doing me any good,’’ he said. “The State Amateur is a nice tournament, but I’ve got bigger and better things to worry about. I’m looking forward to turning pro.’’

Wallace started playing golf when he was 3 years old and developed through the junior programs at the Inwood public course in Joliet before playing high school golf for Joliet West. Now he’s ready to take his game beyond the Illinois borders.

He plans to head for Florida, where his father lives, after his college eligibility is over and try the mini-tours, Web.com Tour qualifying school and the PGA Latinoamerica Tour.

SENIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Tim Sheppard, East Peoria.

Sheppard didn’t let understandable frustration get the better of him. That’s why he is the CDGA Senior Player of the Year.

Sheppard had been the CDGA’s Central Illinois Player of the Year in 2002. That award was discontinued after being handed out from 1995 through 2013, and Sheppard had a great chance to win the overall Senior honor in 2016.

“I had a good year, but Dave passed me because he won the U.S. Senior Amateur,’’ said Sheppard. “Dave beat me only once in 2016, and I’ve been wanting to win a CDGA event for some time. That put added pressure on me.’’

Sheppard had another problem as well. He started feeling pain in his left elbow in June of 2017, and that severely limited his tournament play. He underwent surgery, but that didn’t solve the problem. He switched doctors and had a stem cell injection in November of 2017. That helped somewhat when the 2018 schedule started.

“I didn’t play for two weeks, and then the pain was tolerable,’’ he said. “But then the pain started going into my hand. I changed my golf swing. In 2015 and 2016 I was playing the best golf of my life, then this nerve issue put a halt to my playing for almost a year.’’

More surgery was scheduled, then postponed. Sheppard still sees it in his future, but he did get his game in order for a late-season run that landed him his Player of the Year award.

In September he won the Illinois State Senior Amateur – his first individual title in a state/CDGA event. In October he teamed with Tom Kearfott to win the CDGA Senior Amateur Four-Ball for the second time.

Sheppard also reached the semifinals of the CDGA Senior Amateur and qualified the match play portion of the U.S. Senior Amateur.

Now 57, Sheppard owns an insurance agency in Peoria, Married to Michelle and the father of two children, Sheppard plays out of Lick Creek in Pekin. He didn’t play college golf and his main sport was softball until he was 34 years old. He didn’t get into serious golf competitions until his mid-thirties.