There’s only one bad thing about the upcoming BMW Championship — the climax to Chicago’s golf tournament season. Kevin Streelman won’t be there.
The Wheaton product, last of the players with Chicago connections in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, got off to a great start in the Dell Technologies Championship in Boston last week but couldn’t keep the momentum going.
Needing to hold a spot in the top 70 in the FedEx point standings, Streelman faded in the final two rounds on Sunday and Monday and wound up No. 86 on the point list. That brought an end to his 2016-17 season.
Only 70 players will be in the BMW Championship, the third event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. That $8,750,000 event will be played Sept. 14-17 at Conway Farms, in Lake Forest.
Streelman had a bad start in golf’s postseason series, shooting 74-80 to miss the cut in the first tournament – The Northern Trust in New York. His No. 90 ranking at that time, though, still got him into the 100-man field in Boston and his 70-65 start there elevated him into a tie for second place through two rounds at the Dell Technologies Championship.
At that point Streelman was projected to jump all the way into the top 30 who would qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta — the event that follows the BMW Championship on the schedule. A shaky final two rounds, though, killed Streelman’s hopes. He finished 74-73, ended in a tie for 35th in the tournament and his all-important FedEx ranking plummeted enough to put him out of his hometown PGA Tour stop.
Losing four shots to par in a five-hole stretch from Nos. 5-9, Streelman dropped 14 places in the final round in Boston.
“Obviously I would have loved to get to Conway and see some of my buddies,’’ said Streelman. “It would have meant a lot for me to get there.’’
Joining him on the sidelines will be two of the sport’s biggest names – Bubba Watson and Adam Scott. They also failed to climb into the top 70 at Boston. Justin Thomas won the Dell tournament, Dustin Johnson was the champion in New York and Jordan Spieth finished second in both events. That trio will be the favorites when gates open at Conway on Sept. 12.
Here and there
Illinois Women’s Open stars Samantha Troyanovich and Samantha Postillion survived last week’s first stage of the Ladies PGA Tour qualifying school in California. Stage II is Oct. 16-22 in Venice, Fla., and two other Chicago players—Elizabeth Szokol and Stephanie Miller – will join Troyanovich and Postillion in the field there.
Brothers Greg and Riley Bauman, sons of Doug Bauman – long-time head professional at Biltmore in Barrington, played together in the last pairing of the final round in the 25th Illinois State Mid-Amateur at Exmoor, in Highland Park last week. Greg won the title and Riley finished in a tie for fourth.
Preparations are already underway for next year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes, in Kildeer. The club is commemorating the 25th anniversary of its first major women’s event – the 1992 U.S. Women’s Amateur — and will soon announce a name for its treacherous final three-hole stretch. The Women’s Amateur 25 years ago saw current LPGA Players Association president Vicki Goetze Ackerman defeat Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam in the title match.
Rich Harvest Farms owner Jerry Rich will host a Kids Golf Foundation Charity Pro-Am at his Sugar Grove club on Sept. 19.
The First Tee of Greater Chicago will hold a 36-hole fundraiser at Canal Shores on Sept. 29. Proceeds will support the development of a First Tee Learning Center and Short Course at the Evanston facility.
The On Par for DuPage Outing, benefitting the DuPage Country History Museum and People’s Resource Center, will be held at Arrowhead, in Wheaton, on Sept. 21.
The Tour Sponsored by Under Armour will hold its Illinois Region qualifier for its national tournament on Saturday at Calumet Country Club, in Homewood. There will be four handicapped flights with the top 10 in each qualifying for the finals on May 18-20 of 2018 in Port St. Lucie, Fla.