Jordan Spieth was just a kid – albeit a very promising golfer – when he played in the John Deere Classic for the first time in 2013. To say he took advantage of the opportunity is putting it mildly. Not only did he win the title in the only annual PGA Tour event left…
Author: lenz
Cog Hill hosts inaugural Chicago Adaptive Open
Marty Neal, the Libertyville Township Highway Commissioner, has long been an avid golfer. Now 61, he’s been playing for 40 years – and that’s since he lost his right hand after it got caught in a meat-grinder when he was 15. On May 10 he made his first hole-in-one when his tee shot on…
Mountain golf makes for a two-sports story at Georgia’s Sky Valley
SKY VALLEY, Georgia – This is not a report on your traditional golf travel destinations. Sky Valley Country Club is in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At an elevation of 3,297 feet it’s the highest and northern- most course in Georgia. The location is a plus for this Georgia Golf Trail layout, which justifiably bills itself…
CDGA’s involvement gave Women’s State Amateur a big boost
The Illinois Women’s State Amateur had been conducted by the downstate-based Illinois Women’s Golf Association for 90 years before the IWGA – beset by a loss of members – turned the event over to the Chicago District Golf Association this year. While the site remained at The Grove, in Long Grove, the shift in…
The evolution of Bryson DeChambeau started in Illinois
I can’t say I really know Bryson DeChambeau, but it certainly felt like it after he won the U.S. Open on Sunday at Pinehurst in such dramatic fashion. DeChambeau was just a kid out of Southern Methodist University when he won the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields in 2015. Chicago rarely gets an event…
It’d be helpful to get Nicklaus’ take on the PGA-LIV issue
OCALA, FL. – My starting point as a golf writer came at the 1968 Western Open at Olympia Fields. Jack Nicklaus won it. Over the next 56 years I’ve reported, commented and interviewed many people in the golf industry. Many times I’ve been asked who is the best interview in the golf world, and my…
Here’s the Illinois players teeing off in the U.S. Open
In most years there are two, maybe three, Illinois-connected players in the finals of the U.S. Open. This year, for the 124th Open that tees off on Thursday in Pinehurst, N.C., there will be four such players among the 156 starters. Interestingly, though, none of them are among the area’s regular PGA Tour players….
Cantigny starts a renovation just as Dubsdread re-opens
It may have been coincidental, but two of the Chicago area’s most prominent public golf facilities made announcements on the same day last week that will have a big impact on the area’s golf community. At Cantigny, in Wheaton, it was the ground-breaking for an extraordinary three-year redo. At Cog Hill, in Lemont, it was…
My reflections on a mind-boggling two weeks in pro golf
OCALA, FL. – Who would have thunk it? There’s some developments over the last two weeks in the pro golf world that defy the imagination – at least mine. These are changing times in golf, and that’s been the case for a while – but I never would have imagined the following series of…
Defending champ says PGA Tour needs more John Deere Classics
Illinois is one of those few states to have both a PGA Tour and a LIV Tour tournament this year. The friction between the two circuits is still there, but Sepp Straka downplayed it during the John Deere Classic’s annual Champions Day in Rock Island last week. Straka will defend his title in Illinois’…