The Korn Ferry Tour, the developmental circuit for players trying to make it to the PGA Tour, makes its annual Chicago area stop this week. Its NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank, begins its 72-hole run on Thursday at The Glen Club in Glenview.
Scottie Scheffler, now the game’s No. 1 player, was the tourney’s first champion. He won in 2019 when the event was known as the Evans Scholars Invitational, and that was his first professional victory. Other promising young players want to follow in Scheffler’s footsteps.
Trace Crowe had an unusual path to winning the NV5 title last year. He had missed seven straight cuts and was without a top 10 in 28 career rounds on the Korn Ferry circuit. Then, after getting into contention, he had a triple bogey on the second hole of the final round at The Glen before posting his 25-under-par 259 final score.
Crowe was only the fourth player to win a Korn Ferry tournament after making a triple bogey in the final round, the first being former world No. 1 David Duval in the 1993 Korn Ferry Championship. Crowe rallied after his mishap, making eight birdies and carding a 5-under-par 66 before beating Patrick Fishburn in a two-hole playoff. Now Crowe’s a member of the PGA Tour.
Illinois-connected players on the PGA’s development circuit were numerous over the years, but this year’s Korn Ferry membership has only three — University of Illinois alums Brian Campbell and Dylan Meyer and Brad Hopfinger, a former Illinois Amateur and Illinois Open champion.
Campbell appears on the brink of earning his PGA Tour card, standing eighth on the Korn Ferry point list with the top 30 at season’s end advancing to the premier circuit.
Beaudreau wins IWO
Lauren Beaudreau, a Benet Academy and Notre Dame product, captured the 29th Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood in Romeoville. Beaudreau, playing out of Marco Island, FL., grew up in Lemont. She finished the 36-hole event at 3-under-par 141 on Tuesday.
Beaudreau owned a one-stroke edge on three golfers, headed by two-time champion and Mistwood teaching professional Nicole Jeray. Also at 142 were two collegiate players competing out of Inverness – Caroline Smith and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra.
Smith is a redshirt senior at Indiana and help the Hoosiers to the Big Ten title last season. Lopez-Chacarra, from Spain, plays collegiate at Wake Forest.
HERE AND THERE
Lake Forest’s Pierce Grieve captured the 93rd Illinois State Amateur in a three-hole playoff with Marcus Smith of Rockford. Grieve, a 6-6 left-handed golfer, captured the title at Atkins Golf Club, the newly-renovated home course for the University of Illinois teams in Urbana. Grieve is now headed to the U.S. Amateur.
Farah O’Keefe, a University of Texas freshman, was both the medalist and champion at last week’s 124th Women’s Western Amateur at Onwentsia, in Lake Forest. Her victim in the title match was Californian Elise Lee, an incoming freshman at Northwestern.
Medinah Country Club has opened its famed No. 3 course for members play. The course, site of the 2012 Ryder Cup matches as well as multiple playings of the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, was closed all of last year for a major renovation. Power cart usage hasn’t been allowed yet, and there’ll be no guest play until 2025. The course will host the President’s Cup in 2026.
Geneva’s Katherine Lemke, Inverness’ Caroline Smith and Barrington’s Mara Janess are among the 156 qualifiers for the U.S. Women’s Amatuer, to be held Aug. 5-11 at Southern Hills in Oklahoma.
Architect Todd Quitno is overseeing the building of a new 16,000 square foot putting green and short game practice facility at Vernon Hills’ course. He is also the designer of Canal Shores, which plans to have 12 of its 19 renovated holes open for play on Aug. 1. The Evanston course will also have a new name – The Evans at Canal Shores – to honor Chick Evans, founder of the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation.