GAYLORD, MI. – It has never ceased to amaze me how much better golf is in Michigan than it is in any other state. The season isn’t very long there, but the number of quality public courses is extraordinary. I should know. For over 25 years – starting about the time of the 1985 U.S….
Author: lenz
ILLINOIS PGA: Finally a non-Chicago club pro wins
The likelihood of Steve Orrick winning the 90th Illinois PGA Championship Wednesday didn’t seem good. No club professional from outside the Chicago area had won the event since Mike Sipula in 1952, and Orrick had two better established playing partners in the final threesome at Stonewall Orchard in Grayslake. Illinois coach Mike Small had won…
Europe will have big experience edge in Ryder Cup
If Ryder Cup experience means anything the U.S. team will be in big trouble when the biennial matches come to Medinah Country Club for their 39th staging beginning Sept. 25. Europe’s 12-man squad is loaded with veterans, to say nothing of talent. The European team, which has won four of the last five Ryder Cup…
Hohenadel wants to prove IPGA title wasn’t a fluke
What a difference a year makes. Last year the biggest tournament at Medinah Country Club was the Illinois PGA Championship, which decides the best player among the state’s club professionals. Next month, of course, Medinah hosts the 39th Ryder Cup matches and the player who shocked the Chicago golf scene with his win last year…
Champions Tour stars applaud Augusta National’s change
Four prominent members of golf’s Champions Tour learned of Augusta National’s decision to admit two women as members just as they were about to announce a new tournament coming to Chicago. All were delighted that the annual site of the Masters tournament was ending its all-male membership policy, and at least one wasn’t even surprised….
Champions Tour is finally returning to Chicago
Jeff Sluman showed up at Chicago’s East Bank Club on Monday for the announcement of the return of golf’s Champions Tour to Chicago. The 50-and-over circuit will compete in the $1.8 million Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club in Glenview next June 17-23. But, first things first. Long before the circuit’s return to Chicago…
My GolfVisions record: 16 courses played in four states
CHESTERTON, Ind. – Tim Miles Sr. tells me I’ve made golf history. He says I’m the first member of GolfVisions’ Player Pass program to play all of the 16 courses offered in this most innovative program, and I’ll tell you it wasn’t easy. Miles, the GolfVisions president, started the Player Pass program two years ago…
Only Stricker is sure bet for a U.S. Ryder Cup captain’s pick
The first phase to determine who will be playing in next month’s Ryder Cup matches at Medinah is over. Point standings, accumulated over two years, determined the eight automatic berths on the U.S. team after Sunday’s PGA Championship was completed and those earning berths were Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson,…
ILLINOIS AMATEUR: Prchal ends title run by college players
MARION, IL. – The college players’ domination of the Illinois State Amateur golf tournament is over. Collegians had won eight straight times until Glenview’s Quinn Prchal came through with rounds of 66-69 on Thursday at The Links at Kokopelli to notch a two-stroke victory over Derek Meinhart of Mattoon. Prchal went through the three-day 72-hole…
Roger Warren will be back for Junior Ryder Cup at Olympia Fields
The first in a long line of upcoming Ryder Cup announcements is coming up on Aug. 7. That’s when Roger Warren will announce the six boys and six girls on the U.S. team for the Junior Ryder Cup. This is just one of many events surrounding the big show coming to Medinah Sept. 25-30. The…