The reign of college players continued in the 84th Illinois State Amateur on Wednesday, but this time it took a four-hole playoff to decide the champion.

Deer Park’s Chadd Slutzky, a 36-year old financial trader, took a two-shot lead into the 36-hole finale of the tournament at Cantigny, in Wheaton. He wilted, finishing solo fourth in his bid to become the first non-college winner since 2003.

The championship was then decided in a duel of future Big Ten rivals. Naperville’s Ray Knoll (above), a sophomore-to-be at Iowa, outlasted Northbrook’s Nick Hardy, who enters Illinois in the fall.

Hardy shot 66-69, the best scores in both the third and fourth rounds. That enabled him to finish 8-under-par 280 for the tourney’s 72 holes but the strong finish only got him into a playoff with Knoll, who has been on a golf marathon. He qualified for the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic last week and played 39 holes in a failed bid to qualify for the U.S. Amateur in South Bend on Monday.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever played this much golf in my life,’’ said Knoll. “It’s been a crazy, hectic week.’’

He got the victory because of a bad drive hit by Hardy on the fourth extra hole. It sailed right, into a hazard. Hardy had to take a drop and struggled in with a double bogey six. Knoll’s drive was shorter and in the right rough, but he hit a 7-iron punch shot from 150 yards to within 15 feet of the hole,and got down in par for the victory.

Knoll’s win came in the first playoff for the title since 2004 and was a popular one with the Cantigny staff. He started playing golf at Cantigny’s Youth Links when he was five years old. He continues to practice there but went four years without playing the course until a practice round prior to the State Am. Though he lives 10 minutes away from Cantigny, he plays most of his golf at Cress Creek in Naperville.

Counting practice rounds Knolls played 257 holes in a 12-day stretch that ended on Thursday. He’ll take a weekend trip to Michigan Friday and Saturday, then play a Sunday practice round at The Glen Club in Glenview on Sunday in preparation for Monday’s start of the Illinois Open.

Chadd Slutzky, a 36-year old financial trader from Deer Park, is in position to reverse a trend in the 84th Illinois State Amateur golf tournament on Thursday.

College players have won the prestigious title every year since 2003 but Slutzky was better than all of them in the first two rounds at Cantigny, in Wheaton. Slutzky followed his opening 66 with a 73 on Wednesday and stands at 5-under-par 139 entering Wednesday’s 36-hole wrapup to the tournament.

“Winning this would be huge, the biggest win of my life probably,’’ said Slutzky. “Just playing the same course with the younger guys and leading after two rounds is incredible.’’

Two promising college players, however, are in close pursuit. Kyle Kochevar, a redshirt junior at Virginia, is two shots back after carding a 70 in the second round and Raymond Knoll (Iowa) is another stroke back after shooting the day’s best round – a 67.

“I’m just trying to play the best I can. It doesn’t matter if I’m a college kid of nor,’’ said Kochevar, a Glen Ellyn resident still a week shy of his 20th birthday.

Neither Slutzky nor Kochevar has contended in the State Amateur before. Slutzky reached the finals twice but didn’t survive the 36-hole cut in 2008 or 2009. Kochevar entered the tournament for the first time this year.

Naperville’s Knoll, 18, came into the State Am after qualifying for last week’s John Deere Classic – the state’s only PGA Tour event of 2014. He shot 65 in a qualifying round but didn’t survive the 36-hole cut.

SILVIS, IL. – Local heroes Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker were in the hunt and the weather couldn’t have been better. That assured the John Deere Classic its best year for attendance and revenue since tournament director Clair Peterson invited Michelle Wie to spice up the field eight years ago.

Johnson and Stricker, though, couldn’t deliver when the $846,000 first prize was on the line. Brian Harman (below, celebrating his qualification for the British Open), stood the tallest on Sunday — even though the third-year left-handed hitting pro from Georgia measures just 5-foot-7.

Harman didn’t have the resume that three-time winner Stricker had built up, nor could his compare with Johnson, who won here in 2012 and finished as the runner-up for the third time on Sunday. Harman, who started the tournament with a No. 115 world ranking, had never even led one round of a PGA Tour event until this week.

All that didn’t matter once the final round firing began. Starting the day with a one-stroke lead on Stricker and playing in the final twosome for the first time on the PGA Tour, Harman showed he was up to the task early. He put his second shot on the par-5 second hole to four feet and made the eagle putt.

Stricker had the dubious honor of watching Harman the rest of the way, and he could produce no better than a one-over-par 72 to finish in a tie for 11th. Johnson, playing four groups behind Harman, got home in 64, best round of the day. It was two better than Harman in the final round but one shy of matching him over 72 holes.

Harman, who finished at 22-under-par 262, strung three straight birdies in a crucial stretch from holes 14 through 16. Three in front after that last birdie putt dropped, he nursed the lead through the last two holes.

“He’s fierce. There’s not a whole lot of fear there,’’ Johnson said of Harman. “He might be a small guy stature-wise, but there’s nothing small about him in his golf game.’’

Harman was paired with Johnson in the JDC’s final round two years ago when Johnson emerged the champion and Harman tied for 19th in his first JDC. They’ve practiced together occasionally since then in St. Simon’s Island, S.C.

“My guess is he probably learned a little bit when we played together two years ago and now he’s applying it,’’ said Johnson. “He’s had some low numbers….He’s always been known as a gritty player who plays pretty simple golf. To me it was just a matter of time. What we saw today is totally indicative of a lot of hard work and perseverance.’’

Harman admitted the previous pairing with Johnson had long-term benefits, but more went into this breakthrough win.

“At the beginning of the year I tried to imitate too many other players,’’ he said. “Then I decided I should just try to be a better version of myself.’’

That didn’t always work. He missed the cut at the Greenbrier Classic in his last tournament and made a 10-hour drive back to Georgia for practice and a thoughtful day on the beach before regrouping in the Quad Cities.

Harman was 11-under-par on the par-5s this week, and TPC Deere Run has only three of them. The U.S. Junior Amateur champion in 2003, he had gone 88 starts without a win on the PGA Tour. His best results prior to Sunday were two third-place finishes.

“I’ve had a lot of chances this year, and I learned from all those chances,’’ said Harman, whose perks from winning included a berth in this week’s British Open. “I just had to be able to close it out, especially with Zach playing such a good round. Pulling it out was pretty cool.’’

Both Harman and Johnson had caddie issues during the week. Johnson’s regular bag-toter, Damon Green, was playing in the U.S. Senior Open but Johnson said that didn’t affect the outcome. Harman’s caddie, Scott Tway, became ill during Thursday’s first round and Jay Hatch, a high school coach in Davenport, Iowa, carried the final 12 holes. Tway resumed his duties in the second round and finished the tournament.

Harman became the sixth University of Georgia golfer to win on the PGA Tour this year and is the 21st first-time winner in the JDC’s 44-year history.

SILVIS, IL. – If ever there was a day for low scoring it was in Saturday’s third round of the John Deere Classic. The course was softened by an overnight downpour, and the lift, clean and place rule was put into effect. Only a light breeze factored into the playing conditions on what has been one of the easiest course on the PGA Tour over the years.

Only one threesome, though, really took the ideal conditions to heart. Scott Brown, Jhonattan Vegas and Daniel Summerhays started the day in the middle of the pack and climbed the leaderboard fast.

Brown posted the best round of the week, a 10-under-par 61 that matched the low round on the PGA Tour in 2014 and was the lowest third round in JDC history. Vegas, in danger of losing his playing privileges after enduring shoulder surgery, carded a 63 and Summerhays included two eagles in a round of 65. One of those eagles came off the shot of the day – an approach that caromed off a Shot Link tower behind the No. 5 green and rolled into the cup.

“Best eagle I’ve ever seen,’’ said Vegas, who got the party started with birdies on the first three holes. As a group the threesome was 24 under par and had a best ball of 57 on the par-71 course.

Brown, whose only PGA Tour victory came at last year’s Puerto Rico Open, made 10 birdies and was surprised that there weren’t more low scores.

“Scores are always low here,’’ said Brown, “and the course was drier than I thought it would be. We could have played the ball down easily.’’

Brown was on 59 watch after going to 9-under with a 10-foot birdie putt at No. 15. He had another 10-footer for eagle at the par-5 17th but misfired and, though he tapped in for birdie, his chances at become the seventh player in PGA Tour history to dip under 60 were gone.

The 44-year old tournament didn’t have two such hot scores in a round since Paul Goydos shot 59 and Steve Stricker 60 in the first round in 2010. Like Vegas, Goydos has been playing on a medical exemption and this JDC could be his last tournament on the PGA Tour if he doesn’t finish high in Sunday’s final round.

Vegas, who had shoulder surgery in February of 2012, has three tournaments left on his medical exemption status. He needs to earn $281,000 in those events to keep his PGA Tour card and could get it with a high finish on Sunday.

“I’m trying to win a golf tournament. That’s my mentality,’’ said Vegas. “I’ll just play golf and whatever happens, happens.’’

As good as they were on Saturday, Brown and Vegas have plenty of work to do if they’re to claim the $846,000 winner’s check on Sunday. Brian Harman, a left-handed golfer, and three-time winner Stricker were almost as good as they were on Saturday in landing spots in the final twosome of the final round. It’ll be Harman’s first experience in a final group pairing on the PGA Tour.

Bolstered by eagle puts of 29 feet at No. 2 and 47 feet at No. 17, Harman carded a 6-under 65 on Saturday to open a one-shot lead on Stricker, who shot 64. Harman is at 17-under 196 through 54 holes. Brown is solo third, another shot back, and Vegas is in a tie for eighth.

Third-round co-leaders Zach Johnson and William McGirt shot 69s and dropped into a four-way tie for fourth. Defending champion Jordan Spieth shot 67 and is tied for 14th. Spieth is six shots off the lead, the same deficit he faced after 54 holes last year before he took the title in a three-man five-hole playoff.

SILVIS, IL. – The John Deere Classic isn’t Zach Johnson’s personal showcase. It just seems that way at times.

Johnson, from Cedar Rapids, has long been Iowa’s premier touring pro. He got his start thanks to sponsor exemptions offered by the JDC and he used them well at his closest hometown tournament .

Eventually Johnson won the 2007 Masters became a member of the JDC’s board of directors. This year he landed a sponsorship agreement with the event and, — oh, yes – he’s also playing well at TPC Deere Run again. Johnson won the JDC for the first time in 2012 when he snapped Steve Stricker’s three-year winning streak.

Last year he didn’t win the JDC (19-year old Jordan Spieth did), but Johnson did capture Illinois’ other PGA Tour stop of 2013 — the BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest. The year’s it appears he could be back at the top of the JDC leaderboard when the $4.7 million tourney concludes on Sunday.

Johnson gained a share of the first-round lead after shooting a 63 on Thursday. He added a 67 in Friday’s second round to hit the midway point in the tourney in a tie for the lead with William McGirt. Both are at 12-under-par 130 and one stroke ahead of Johnson Wagner, Steven Bowditch and Brian Harman.

“Once again, a pretty solid day,’’ said Johnson. “There were a lot of positives all around. I’m just really comfortable here.’’

There’s an eerie similarity to Johnson’s effort this week and the year of his victory here. Two years ago his regular caddie, Damon Green, was given the week off so he could play in the U.S. Senior Open. Green qualified for the Senior Open again this year, so he’s competing in Tulsa, Okla., instead of being on Johnson’s bag.

So far, no problem. Two years ago Johnson used his swing coach, Mike Bender. This time he borrowed Matt Kuchar’s bag-toter, Lance Bennett. The results were still good, as Johnson enter the weekend three strokes ahead of Stricker and five in front of defending champion Spieth.

“It definitely feels different. An integral part of my team is not with me,’’ said Johnson. “But Lance has adapted to me. He could caddie for anybody. ‘’

The field was cut after Friday’s round, and among those failing to qualify for the weekend rounds was the tourney’s Cinderella story. Raymond Knoll, a Naperville North graduate who will begin his sophomore season at Iowa in the fall, earned a place in the field by shooting a 7-under-par 65 in Monday’s qualifying round at Pinnacle Country Club in nearby Milan.

Knoll, 18, couldn’t keep the good times going, shooting 74-71 to miss the cut in his first PGA Tour event. His Iowa teammate, Steven Ihm, did make it to the weekend, however. So did the other two amateurs in the field, Stanford’s NCAA champion Cameron Beckman and Oklahoma State’s Jordan Niebrugge, who will defend his Western Amateur title at Chicago’s Beverly Country Club later this month.

Due to the threat of severe weather in the Quad Cities, Saturday’s rounds will start off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees.

It may have been too little too late, but Russ Cochran took more than a mediocre paycheck away from the Encompass Championship on Sunday.

The left-handed golfer claimed the tournament 18-hole record with an 8-under-par 64. The previous low round in the Champions Tour event was 65 posted by 2013 champion Craig Stadler and Bob Tway last year. Tom Lehman matched it in this year’s first round on Friday.

Cochran caught fire after two lackluster 1-under-par 71 rounds on Friday and Saturday. His round was still shy of the North Shore overall record – a 61 by Luke Donald, who played the course frequently while a student at Northwestern – but it enabled Cochran to climb 34 places and finished in a tie for sixth place.

“I was streaky the first two days, but then just made a point of getting my weight on my toes and getting down to the ball,’’ said Cochran. “It sounds simple, but it seemed to do the trick.’’

Cochran was 11 strokes behind leader Lehman at the start of the final round, and that was too much ground to make up. Cochran made birdie at No. 1, however, and then rolled in an 18-foot eagle putt at the 515-yard sixth after hitting the green with a 2-hybrid second shot.

A bogey on the next hole slowed Cochran momentarily, but he strung five birdies in a row on the back nine and holed his longest putt of the day, 22 feet, for par at No. 18 after an errant drive wound up in the right rough.

Cochran drew one of the tourney’s 10 celebrities, Northwestern basketball coach Chris Collins, as his pro-am partner in the two-man team competition. He didn’t blame Collins for his shaky first two rounds in the tournament within the main tournament.

“I owe D.A. Weibring (a Champions Tour player who didn’t compete at North Shore) the biggest steak he could ever eat,’’ said Cochran, “because I think he had something to do with that pairing. I’ve been a big fan of his and his dad (one-time Bulls’ coach Doug Collins). What a wonderful guy he is.’’

The amateurs weren’t part of the final round and the course played differently than the first two days after torrential rains caused a suspension in play on Saturday.

“The course was soft, so it was easier to hit the fairways, but it played longer, too,’’ said Cochran. “It’s a really good golf course.’’

Cochran believes at least one other Chicago course is really good, too. His biggest win on the PGA Tour was in the 1991 Western Open at Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course in Lemont. The course hosted the PGA Tour for the next 19 years before the Western Golf Assn. went in a different direction. The tourney, now called the BMW Championship, is held out of Chicago every other year and the home layout is Conway Farms in Lake Forest.

Cog Hill is no longer in the rotation. A controversial renovation by architect Rees Jones was blasted by the players, and that was a factor in the WGA’s change in policy.

“I’m upset about that, I really am,’’ said Cochran. “I don’t know the mentality on the (PGA) Tour anymore, but that was one of the most beautiful courses on tour. It took a little rap, but it’s still a wonderful track. You’ve got to blame the architect. He messed up, and that’s a shame.’’

Kirk Triplett wasn’t excited about his Saturday round in the Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, even though it was a good one.

Triplett, an early starter, posted his second straight 5-under-par 67 and his 10-under 134 is three strokes behind leader Tom Lehman entering Sunday’s final round.

“If you drive the ball well on this golf course, things set up for you,’’ said Triplett. “I don’t feel like I’m hitting it great, but my misses have all been in good spots….It really seemed like a boring round, but boring just the way you like it – a good boring.’’

What isn’t so boring for Triplett is the development of his son Sam. In April he signed a letter of intent to play for coach Pat Goss at Northwestern and he’ll arrive in Evanston with the chance to make an immediate impact on the NU team.

“It was Sam’s good school work and good golf,’’ said Triplett. “It had nothing to do with me.’’

Sam was the latest signee for Goss, who landed Charles Wang of Sarasota, FL, and Dylan Wu, of Medford, Ore., in November. The trio will be part of a rebuilding effort. Goss’ prize recruit from the previous year, Matt Fitzpatrick, left school after the fall semester and Jack Perry, the star of this year’s squad, used up his eligibility.

Fitzpatrick, an English golfer who won the 2013 U.S. Amateur, decided he couldn’t combine college studies with the golf opportunities afforded the winner of that title. He was the only amateur to make the cut at last week’s U.S. Open and made the cut in his pro debut at the Irish Open, which concludes on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Tripletts, father and son, left North Shore for more afternoon golf nearby after Kirk’s morning round on Saturday. Sam, who has caddied for his father, led his high school team to the Arizona prep title in 2011, won the Ping Match Play Championship in 2012 and tied for third in the Junior America’s Cup in 2013.

“Northwestern has an excellent golf program and a coach who has a reputation for developing his players,’’ said Kirk Triplett. “When they were interested in Sam I was very excited about that. It’s a very good fit for him, and he looked at a lot of schools all across the country.’’

Kirk has travelled across the world playing tournament golf and is in position to win his first tournament since February’s ACE Group Classic in Naples, FL., in Sunday’s final round at North Shore. If he’s successful it’d be his fourth victory in less that three seasons on the Champions Tour. He stands 14th in the Charles Schwab Cup point race and has career winnings on the 50-and-over circuit of over $2.6 million.

“On (the Champions) tour there isn’t the same physical level as there is on the regular tour,’’ said Triplett. “On the regular tour you’ve got to be full throttle, and everything’s got to be going pretty good for you…..I have enough physical ability to compete on this tour. The last four, five years on the regular tour I didn’t feel that way.’’

Triplett won three times on the PGA Tour and also had a win on the satellite Web.com Tour in 2011. Starting at No. 10, he went without a bogey in his Saturday round and the last of his five birdies came on a 30-foot chip-in at No. 5.

Kenny Perry won the Champions Tour’s Charles Schwab Cup last year and was the circuit’s only player in action last week when he tied for 28th in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, N.C.

At 53 he was the oldest player to make the cut at the Open, but he wasn’t so good in his return to the 50-and-over set on Friday. He opened with a bogey, added two more (one on a par-5) and settled for a 1-under-par 71 in the Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club in Glenview. After finishing tied for third last year, he’s far down the leaderboard after Day 1.

Perry has been asked about the Open frequently since arriving here.

“In most U.S. Opens I feel pretty stressed out,’’ he said. “You’ve got 25-yard fairways, six-inch rough. Last week you just had the scrub off the fairways and you could actually play out of it. I was excited. I didn’t feel claustrophobic out there and just had a wonderful week.’’

Along the way he holed a 4-iron from 220 yards, a swing that Perry called “the shot of my life.’’

Perry’s start Friday was in keeping with his slower start on the Champions Tour this season. He has but one victory and stands fourth in the Schwab Cup point race. Front-runner Tom Lehman thinks Perry is adjusting to playing on both the PGA and Champions circuits.

“You learn quickly that it’s tough to accomplish much on either tour if you do that,’’ said Lehman. “You’re in no-man’s land. Guys figure out that you’re better off committing to one tour or the other, and Kenny’s done that. He’s committed out here, and he’s playing great. I’m not surprised ever when anybody from (the Champions Tour) steps over to the other (PGA) tour and plays well. I expect it.

Here and there

Most of the 81 touring pros were under par, but not defending champion Craig Stadler. He shot a 1-over-73. Last year his winning score was 13-under for the 54 holes.

Bernhard Langer, winner of the Schwab Cup five times in seven years and the current leader in the point standings for 2014, didn’t start so well, either. He shot 71 in his return to the tour after going on a fishing trip to Alaska with his two sons and brother last week.

The locals had a good day. Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman, who tied for third last year, shot 67 and Lake Forest’s Chip Beck, who plays the circuit on only a limited basis, had 70.

The Encompass wasn’t the only big game in town on Friday. The Western Golf Assn. wrapped up its Western Junior Championship at Flossmoor Country Club with Northbrook’s Nick Hardy, a University of Illinois recruit, finishing in a tie for second behind champion KK Limbhasut, a native of Thailand who now lives in Loma Linda, Calif..

The first day of Chicago’s only pro tour stop of the year certainly had its share of twists on Friday. So many, in fact, that Tom Lehman’s 7-under-par 65 was almost an after-thought. Here’s a sampling:

In the middle of the first round Tiger Woods announced on his Facebook page that he’s ready to compete again. He sent word from Florida that he’ll play in next week’s Quicken Loans National – an event that raises money for his charitable foundation.

Meanwhile, back at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, retired Bear Brian Urlacher drew more gallery attention than most of the Champions Tour players did in the $1.8 million Encompass Championship. He’s again paired with Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman in the two-day two-man pro-amateur portion of the event that concludes on Saturday.

Another long-time Bear, center Patrick Mannelly, made his own retirement announcement from football before teeing off in the pro-am..

Tom Kite, the 1992 U.S. Open champion, criticized the U.S. Golf Assn. for the way it conducts its U.S. Opens, the most recent of which concluded on Sunday at Pinehurst, N.C.

“Since (USGA executive director) Mike Davis started setting up the courses the U.S. Open has had lower scoring than ever before…..At Pinehurst there was no rough at all. A lot of guys can drive the ball very poorly and still have good tournaments. The guys who grew up in the old style, when the rough was very penal, don’t like what’s happened with the U.S. Open.’’

And then there was Roger Chapman, the English golfer who shot a 6-under-par 66 but was more emotionally involved in his country’s dismal showing in the World Cup soccer tournament than he was in his own great round.

“`The press will crucify them,’’ said Chapman. “We invented the bloody game. I can’t remember England being out of the World Cup after two games.’’

Soccer has been the subject of choice between Chapman and his new caddie, Angel Monguzzi since they formed their working relationship.

“He’s an Argentinian guy who caddied for Vicente Fernandez for a long time,’’ said Chapman. “He just seemed to be saying the right things at the right time. We were talking about football and the World Cup, so we had a bit of giggle at England yesterday.’’

That was in the aftermath of a 2-1 loss to Uruguay in England’s first World Cup game. Chapman didn’t find it so funny after another 2-1 loss to Italy while he was on the course Friday. Chapman — winner of two major titles on the Champions Tour last year — is convinced something is wrong soccer-wise, and he blames it on the structure of the English Premier League.

“There needs to be a radical change in the Premier League,’’ he said. “They say the Premier League is the best league in the world. It probably is for the amount of foreigners playing. They’ve got world class players, but we should limit them to three-four per game and let our youngsters in our country know what it’s like.’’

And that’s not all from Chapman.

“(The Engligh soccer players) also get paid too much,’’ he said. “The passion doesn’t seem to be there. It looks as though they want to just go on holiday basically.’’

BENTON HARBOR, MI. – The rap on Colin Montgomerie was that he couldn’t win the big ones. That changed on Sunday at Harbor Shores.

Montgomerie finally won a major title and finally won on American soil. In his Hall of Fame career he had done neither until his four-stroke romp in the 75th Senior PGA Championship.

Playing his entire career on the European PGA Tour Montgomerie accumulated three runner-up finishes in the U.S. Open and one each in the British Open and PGA Championship. Winning a major on the Champions Tour isn’t quite the same as winning one of those, but for Montgomerie – the winner of 40 other tournaments world-wide — it’ll do.

“I’ve been coming here for 22 years for major championship golf, trying to win,’’ said Montgomerie. “It’s a relief that it’s happened. It might have a senior connotation, but it is a major championship and it’s great to be part of history.’’

Tom Watson, who has won his share of majors – eight as a PGA Tour player and five more on the Champions circuit — was Montgomerie’s closest pursuer. Both shot 65s in the final round, Watson doing it thanks to putting four twos on his scorecard. He came within one shot of shooting his age and described his effort as “one of the best rounds from tee to green that I’ve played in years.’’

“But,’’ said Watson, “it wasn’t good enough to beat Colin. He never had any luck playing the regular tour, but he came close a lot of times.’’

Watson won’t be a challenger in Montgomerie’s next tournament appearance, the Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club next month. Busy with duties as the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, Watson ruled out his appearance in Chicago’s only pro tour stop of 2014 after Sunday’s round.