The Chicago District Golf Association staged two of its biggest tournaments last week, with Barrington’s Bridget Butler winning the 92nd Illinois State Women’s Amateur at The Grove, in Long Grove, and Tennessee golfer Ford Martin capturing the Chicago Adaptive Open in a playoff with Winfield’s Victor Postillion at Fox Bend, in Oswego.
This week, though, is the CDGA’s biggest event of them all. The 105th CDGA Amateur ends its four-day run with the 36-hole title match on Thursday (JUNE 26) at Briarwood, in Deerfield.
One of the most prestigious events in Chicago golf, the CDGA Amateur may have been the area’s most memorable tournament of 2024 when Winnetka’s Tyler Greenspahn outlasted Medinah’s Dan Stringfellow in a match that went 39 holes.
Greenspahn, who just completed his freshman year at Southern California, and Stringfellow were back in the field for Monday’s 36-hole stroke play qualifying round at Briarwood. The tourney drew 358 starters, and they were whittled to 75 in four state-wide qualifying sessions.
Sixteen got through the Monday stroke play session at Briarwood and two rounds of match play on Tuesday left four still alive for Wednesday’s (TODAY’S) 8 a.m. semifinals.
NO SMALL FEAT: Illinois men’s coach Mike Small won his third Illinois Senior Open title by beating a fellow member of the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame. Gary Hallberg, who spends more time on PGA Tour Champions, and Small were the only players under par over 36 holes at Hawthorn Woods. Small’s 8-under-par 136 gave him a five-shot cushion on Hallberg.
“That course gets in my head a little bit,’’ said Small. “I was runner-up at two Illinois Opens back in the day when it was played there. I couldn’t quite pull it off and get the win then, and I didn’t play well (at Hawthorn Woods) last year.’’
Small plans to play in the Illinois Senior PGA, the Illinois Open and Illinois PGA Championship in an upcoming three-tournament stretch. He has won the IPGA Championship 14 times and the Illinois Open four times.
WOMEN’S WORK: The Illinois Women’s State Amateur brought Butler back to competitive golf.
“It was my first tournament in 11 months, since I redshirted at Nebraska,’’ the 19-year old said after beating co-runner-ups Kayla Sayyalinh, a junior at Southern Illinois, and Alexis Meyers, an incoming freshman at Illinois, by three strokes with a 4-under-par performance for the 54 holes.
The win earned Butler a place in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Aug. 4-10 at Oregon’s Bandon Dunes. Then she’ll be going through another redshirt season in college, this time at Stetson.
GRIFFIN ENTERS JDC: The PGA Tour has the Rocket Classic in Detroit this week, then shifts to Illinois’ only annual PGA stop – the John Deere Classic July 3-6 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis. The JDC has landed another top player in Ben Griffin, a two-time winner this season.
Griffin paired with Andrew Novak to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event and took the Schwab Challenge on his own a week after finishing tied for eighth in the PGA Championship. Last year Griffin tied for fifth in his first appearance at the JDC.
“He had a great tournament, and we are extremely happy to welcome him back,’’ said JDC director Andrew Lehman. “Ben has positioned himself well for the (FedEx) Playoffs and a chance to be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.’’
A WGA WINNER: Trevor Gutschewski, the U.S. Junior Amateur champion last year, captured the Western Golf Association’s 107th Junior title last week at The Harvester Club in Iowa.
Gutschewski, from Nebraska, missed the cut at the U.S. Open before winning the WGA event. He finished one stroke ahead of Cameron Kuchar, the son of PGA veteran Matt Kuchar. Gutschewski joined an elite list of past champions that includes Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa.
This latest win earned Gutschewski an exemption into the Western Amateur July 28-Aug. 2 at Skokie Country Club in Glencoe.