Last week’s LIV/Chicago tourney at Bolingbrook Golf Club set the stage for this week’s LIV Individual Championship at the Club of Chatham Hills in Indianapolis. Last year Bolingbrook hosted that tournament with Jon Rahm winning.
Rahm has a mathematical chance to win the top prize again after finishing tied for second at Bolingbrook. He gained ground on front-runner Joaquin Niemann, who tied for 17th after piling up five early season wins.
Niemann takes a 12.27 point lead on Rahm into Indianapolis. He has 206.43 points to Rahm’s 196.16. No other player can break into the top two in the standings at Indianapolis. To win again Rahm would have to finish at least in a tie for seventh. Niemann needs a second-place finish even if Rahm wins.
LIV has confirmed a return to two of its U.S. markets in 2026, but Bolingbrook and Chicago weren’t among them. The circuit will play in Virginia and Washington D.C. and LIV also confirmed returns to Riyadh, Saudia Arabia for the season opener Feb. 5-7; Adelaide, Australia; Mexico City, the United Kingdom and Singapore. There will be some course changes at those sites, still to be announced, and a new tournament is scheduled in South Africa.
Those confirmations account for half of the 2026 season with two weeks left in this one.
Bolingbrook hosted LIV the last two years after Rich Harvest, in Sugar Grove, was the site the first two years of the circuit’s existence. The players liked Bolingbrook, especially the attendance there this year.
“Chicago has such great sports fans, with the way they responded to the tournament,’’ said Phil Mickelson.
ILLINOIS OPEN AFTERMATH: Last week’s Illinois Open presented by Troon was a big hit in its first staging at Kemper Lakes, in Kildeer. Troon manages Kemper Lakes now and also made a large contribution to the purse. No site is set for next year’s tourney, though.
Carrie Williams, the Illinois PGA executive director, said the first-round setup of 7,497 yards may have been the longest in the 76-year history of the tournament. In the final round the tee at No.18 was moved up to 287 yards, making it a rare drive-able par-4.
“We wanted to show off the full experience at Kemper Lakes,’’ she said. “Ideally we would like Kemper Lakes to be an anchor site. We’d come every two-three years, It wouldn’t be a representative state open if we didn’t travel a little.’’
FEDEX CUP UPDATE: The Western Golf Association conducts its BMW Championship, second event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, beginning on Thursday at Caves Valley in Maryland.
The 50-man field includes Illinois alums Thomas Detry and Brian Campbell. Both need to climb into the top 30 on the FedEx point list to play in the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta next week. Detry stands 36th and Campbell 39th. Campbell won the John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop, in July.
HERE AND THERE: Marty Schiene, who won three Illinois Opens in his tournament-playing days in the 1990s, has retired as the men’s coach at DePaul. His replacement is Ryan Jamison, a DePaul alum who spent the last five years as a PGA Tour caddie for, among others, Akshay Bhatia and Brandon Wu.
Northern Illinois has named Ryan Stefko as the assistant to both men’s coach John Carlson and women’s coach Kim Keiser.
Jerry Rich has announced that Jasmine Ly, one of NIU’s top players, has become an ambassador for his Kids Golf Foundation. Ly played in 45 tournaments for the Huskies and was the first NIU golfer to win the Mid American Conference women’s title.
Next big event on the Chicago District Golf Association schedule in the 33rd Illinois State Mid-Amateur Aug. 18-19 at Inverness. Qualifying for the Illinois State Senior Amateur begins the same day play concludes at Inverness. The Illinois PGA will conduct the Illinois Super Senior Open Aug.19-20 at Pine Meadow, in Mundelein.
The GolfPass Academy will bring its clinic program at Chicago’s Harborside International on Aug. 21. Lauren Thompsosn, former co-host of Golf Channel’s Morning Drive, will be the host.