Author: lenz

Niemann struggles; DJ, Mickelson shine in LIV start

Sergio Garcia tees off with Dustin Johnson looking on. They shared the first-round lead in the LIV/Chicago tourney at Bolingbrook Golf Club. (Joy Sarver Photos)

 

For the moment, at least, there’s some suspense on who will emerge as the individual champion on the LIV Golf Tour. With five wins in the first 11 tournaments Chile’s Joaquin Niemann would seem a shoo-in for the season-long  honor with just this week’s LIV/Chicago event at Bolingbrook Golf Club and next week’s event in Indianapolis remaining.

Niemann had a big lead on second place Jon Rahm, the defending champion, entering the Bolingbrook stop, but Niemann showed his vulnerability in a big way in Friday’s first round.

Playing with Rahm, he made a triple bogey seven on the eighth hole and stumbled in with a 3-over-par 74.  So,  Niemann goes into Saturday’s second round in a tie for 45th place.  He beat only seven in the 54-man field in the first round.

Neither Rahm nor Niemann were doing much talking Friday. Of more immediate significance was how LIV’s biggest name stars performed.

Check out the club flex as Dustin Johnson smacks a tee shot en route to shooting a 67.

Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson shot 4-under-par 67s to take the lead after the first 18 holes and six players, most notably Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Rahm, were just one stroke behind. (Also posting 68s were Dean Burmester and Tyrrell Hatton).

Johnson was the clearly dominant player in 2022, when the Saudi-backed circuit made its debut. His game tailed off after that, however, and the American star finished dead last in LIV’s previous tournament in the United Kingdom two weeks ago.

“In the UK I wasn’t nearly as bad as my score,’’ insisted Johnson. “I feel I’m always close to getting my game back.  It just takes a couple of shots here and there to get me going again.’’

He got them on Friday, and it also didn’t hurt that his brother, Austin, was back as his caddie.  Austin had been missing in action for a while, and Dustin admitted “I’d prefer having AJ on my bag.’’

Jon Rahm’s intensity increases as he cuts into Joaquin Niemann’s lead in LIV player race.

And then there was Mickelson who, with Johnson, were the key signees for LIV when they made controversial decisions to break from the PGA Tour.  Mickelson hasn’t won on the LIV circuit yet but could have his best finish with two strong rounds this weekend. He strung four birdies in a row, had five in his first 16 holes and was tied for the lead briefly on Friday.

“I just need to finish rounds off better,’’ said Mickelson.  “I’m trying to get back to the top 10 (on the LIV standings).  I want to finish this year off right.  At 55 that’d be a good accomplishment against competition like this.  It would mean a lot to me.’’

Garcia has been searching for putting help, and he brought back one of his old blades for this week.  While it worked Friday, it may not stay in his bag for long.

“I have a new one coming in the next couple weeks, and I’m excited about it,’’ said Garcia. “We’re always searching for things to help us improve.’’

Meanwhile, Rahm and DeChambeau – second and third in the battle for the season individual honors – put themselves in position to challenge Niemann in the final 10 days of the season.

“Joaco (Niemann) has played pretty bad golf before in the first round and come back and almost won tournaments,’’ said DeChambeau.  “He’s incredible out here.  He’ll do fine the next couple days.’’

In the team competition captain Louis Oosthuizen’s Stingers were 6-under par and one shot ahead of Garcia’s Fireballs.  DeChambeau’s Crushers and Johnson’s 4Aces were tied for third, three strokes behind the Stingers.

Striking signage was easily evident around the Bolingbrook course.

 

Another Rahm-Niemann duel at LIV/Chicago?

 

Jon Rahm did the celebrating at last year’s LIV/Chicago tournament at Bolingbrook with Joaquin Niemann watching. This week their roles could be reversed. (Joy Sarver Photo)

In 2022 – the first season for the LIV Golf League – the dominant player, by far, was Dustin Johnson. Every year since the race for that top honor has gotten tighter and the winner has changed.

In 2023 it was Talor Gooch. Last year it was Spain’s Jon Rahm. And now – going into Friday’s start of LIV/Chicago at the Bolingbrook Golf Club – it figures to be Chile’s Joaquin Niemann. He’s won five tournaments this year including the last one, in the United Kingdom two weeks ago.

“I don’t know if that’s momentum or not,’’ said Niemann after returning to Bolingbrook.  “I feel like I’ve just got to keep doing what I’ve been doing.’’

Last year he couldn’t chase down Rahm.  He won their head-to-head battle at Bolingbrook in what was then the LIV Individual Championship for the season.  This year the tourney designated for that honor is next week in Indianapolis. Point standings when it’s over will decide the winner, and Niemann has 206.80 points to Rahm’s 169.16.

That sounds onesided, but Rahm still believes he has a chance and Niemann agrees.

“I know it’s going to be tough,’’ said Niemann.  “Jon’s playing amazing golf.  I know how good a player he is. I was in a similar position last year, and I don’t want to finish it the same way. I’ve just got to go out and play golf.’’

The stop at Bolingbrook, a course designed by Arthur Hills, proved tougher than expected for LIV’s started studded 54-man field last year.

“I played great.  I remember the course was a lot of fun to play.  It was really firm and windy.  Conditions were unbelievable,’’ said Niemann. “I was happy with my performance.  I gave it everything I had.  That was the best I could do, and it wasn’t enough.’’

Though his wins have been piling up this season Niemann recently changed his coach and his caddie.  When asked about it this week he said it was a “tough question’’, wouldn’t discuss it further and quickly ended the press conference.

Though he’s second in the point stands Rahm hasn’t won this year.

“The only thing left to do this year is get a win,’’ he said.  “For there to be a realistic chance for me to win it all again starts with a win here, obviously combined with Joaquin maybe not having a great week.  I need that going into next week (in Indianapolis) with a realistic chance and hopefully have a showdown again in the last event.’’

Niemann and Rahm will play together in Friday’s first round with Bubba Watson completing the threesome off Hole 1.  The shotgun start is at 11:05 p.m. Friday, 12:05 on Saturday and it moves up to 10:05 a.m. for Sunday’s final round.

LIV NOTES: Last pre-tourney event was a pro-am at Bolingbrook on Thursday….The tour announced that the season-ending Team Championship Aug. 22-24 at The Cardinal at St. John’s Resort in Plymouth, MI., will have a new format.  The event will start with a Wednesday play-in match between the Nos. 12 and 13 teams from the season-long standings. The remain 12 teams will go through two days of match play starting on Aug. 22  with the survivors deciding the title on Sunday at stroke play.

 

 

Another Illini win: this time it’s Feagles at the Illinois Open

Michael Feagles (left) went on to win the Illinois Open, and it helped that he was playing with former Illinois teammate Dylan Meyer in the final round at Kemper Lakes. (Joy Sarver Photos)

 

 

Mike Small, the University of Illinois coach who has won 14 Illinois PGA titles, was bidding for a recording tying fifth Illinois Open crown on Friday.  He had an uncharacteristically bad day at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer and didn’t get it,  but the day wasn’t a complete downer.

In July one of Small’s former Illini players, Brian Campbell, won the John Deere Classic – Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event.  Then, on Wednesday, another Small pupil – Michael Feagles – captured the 76th Illinois Open,  the state’s biggest event for Illinois golfers.

Feagles, who lives in Arizona, took advantage of a recent rule change by the Illinois PGA that allowed non-residents of the state to play in the Illinois Open as long as they had some connection to the state. Feagles, thanks to going to college in Champaign, was the first non-Illinois resident to win the tournament.

“It was a little surreal,’’ he said.  “The way I played this week I didn’t think I would win.  I struggled the whole week, but now it’s great to be on the list of champions with the legendary Mike Small.’’

Feagles was paired with Dylan Meyer, a former Illini teammate from Indiana, and they teed off in the twosome immediately behind Small.

“I came to Illinois when I was an 18-year old wide-eyed kid,’’ said Feagles.  “The coach has been a role model to me, like a second father.  After I finished my round he told me to `get it done’ if I was in a playoff.  And he did it in a very coach-like fashion.’’

It was all laughs after Michael Feagles (left) outdueled Brian Ohr (right) to win the Illinois Open.

A three-hole playoff for the title was a definite possibility after Feagles finished with a 69 for a 54-hole score of 1-under-par 215 and Butler National head professional Andy Svoboda, Medinah teaching pro Travis Johns and 36-hole leader Brian Ohr were still on the course with a chance to win.

“The worst thing was not being able to control anything,’’ said Feagles.  “Golfers are all control freaks.’’

Svoboda finished at even par to finish solo second and was the low pro for the second straight year.  Ohr came in with bogeys at Nos. 14, 17 and 18 to lose the lead and wound up in a tie for third with Tommy Kuhl, another Illinois alum who shot a 66 – the day’s low round.  Glen Ellyn’s Grant Roscich, in a tie for fifth with Johns, was low amateur.

Pierce Grieve, who won last year’s Illinois State Amateur and this year’s Chicago District Amateur, also made a run at the title by shooting a 67. Preparing for the U.S. Amateur, Grieve climbed into a tie for 10th in his first Illinois Open appearances.

Feagles’ Illini background created a comfort zone for him.  He won and then lost his playing privileges on the Korn Ferry Tour after his Illini days were over.  He also didn’t survive a session of PGA qualifying school and spent the last two years grabbing tournaments where he could.

This is the form that made Michael Feagles the only player under par in the 76th Illinois Open.

“Last year I won a lot.  I learned how to win, and that’s huge,’’ he said.  Among his wins were the Arizona and Nevada state opens.

“I have no (tour) status, as I’ve had in the past,’’ he said.  “I learned how to win in college, but you have to also learn how to win at the next level. Now I’ll continue to go to Q-School and hope to keep my head on straight, catch lightning in a bottle and get to the PGA Tour.’’

Getting paired with Meyer was a big help in Wednesday’s pressure-packed situation.

“Playing with Dylan reminded me of college golf, where pars were very valuable,’’ said Feagles.  “Pro golf has become so birdie-crazy.  Dylan and I had a blast.  We were teammates for two years and played together on great teams at Illinois.’’

Meyer, who lost an Illinois Open title to Vince India in in a playoff two years ago, tied for 13th this time. At one point in the tournament there was an Illinois alum in five consecutive pairings.

TO THE VICTORS: Grant Roscich (left) was low amateur and Andy Svoboda (right was low pro at the Illinois Open, but Michael Feagles was the center of attention at the awards ceremony.

 

 

It’s Ohr by four with a round to go in the Illinois Open

Travis Johns, a teaching professional at Medinah Country Club, and Brian Ohr, who is “transitioning’’ to instruction after focusing on tournament play, were paired together in the first two rounds of the 76th Illinois Open and benefitted from it at Kemper Lakes, in Kildeer.

John, 47, took the first-round lead with a 68 when Kemper was set up at 7,497 yards – the longest in tournament history. Ohr, playing the same 18 holes but with a shorter setup,  shot 69 on Tuesday and now owns a four-stroke lead on the field at the 36-hole.

So, both have had a taste of leading the biggest championship in Illinois golf and liked playing together. Ohr goes into the last 18 with a four-stroke lead on Johns and Timmy Crawford, of Arlington Heights, who also had a 69 on Tuesday.

This is more than a three-man race, however.  Two of the Illinois PGA best players are just a stroke behind Johns and Crawford in a tie for fourth. Mike Small, coach of the University of Illinois men’s team, is one of them and he’s won the Illinois Open four times.  Andy Svoboda, head pro at Butler National in Oak Brook, had success on both the Korn Ferry and PGA tours before shifting to the club pro ranks.

Johns, though, may have a psychological edge on his rivals.  He’s already won at Kemper Lakes, in the Illinois PGA Match Play Championship in 2010, and has an added incentive.  He needs an Illinois Open win to complete an IPGA Grand Slam.

He already owns wins in the Match Play (two times), Illinois PGA Section Championship and IPGA Players Championship and hopes to become the first club professional to win the Illinois Open since Todd Tremaglio in 1998.

“I’ve thought about that,’’ said Johns, “but my last one is the hardest to get because tour players are here.’’

Johns, 47, struggled with his putting in the second round, three-putting four times.

“Normally I’m pretty good at putting, and I can’t remember when I last had a nine-hole round like that,’’ he said.  “There’s still a score out there if you can get it rolling.  A 66 isn’t impossible.’’

Ohr, 26, took a fling at the Korn Ferry Tour last year without much success.  This year’s he’s teaching at Next Level Golf in Northbrook.

“Moving to the instructional side has given structure to my life,’’ said Ohr, “but I haven’t completely closed the door on competing.  I’ll try to jump on the opportunity when it comes. I’m playing the best in my career.’’

His track record in the Illinois Open hasn’t been good – only two top-20 finishes in eight appearances – but he’s found a  new avenue for competition. The competing this year has been done on the Advocates Professional Golf Tour.

“It’s a great place to compete,’’ he said.  “I’ve had eight-nine events so I’m still staying sharp.  That Tour plays on good courses and has prepared me well.’’

Crawford, 24, has also struggled as a budding tournament player. He spent four years of collegiate golf at Loyola and then had a “bonus year’’ at Illinois for enduring a Covid year. He had five starts on the Korn Ferry Tour last year but none this year, so his recent tournaments have been on mini tours.

The low 50 and ties – 52 players who were 11 over par or better  after 36 holes — will wrap up the tournament Wednesday. The  final rounds begin at 7:30 a.m. with play in twosomes.

 

 

LIV Tour brings its stars back to Bolingbrook

The best golf you’ll see in the Chicago area this year begins on Friday when the LIV/Chicago tournament tees off at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

LIV, in its fourth straight year with a Chicago stop, has three events remaining on its 14-tournament season.  Last year only 22 of 54 bettered par at Bolingbrook in what then the LIV Individual Championship. Spain’s Jon Rahm won it in a duel with Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, who is the Saudi-backed circuit’s top player this season with five victories.

Tournaments rounds are Friday through Sunday with a $25 million in prize money on the line. The individual winner gets $4 million.

LIV is a very global tour, with its 14 tournaments spread over nine countries and four continents.  The last three of this season are in the U.S. with the two following Bolingbrook being in the Indianapolis and Detroit areas.

Niemann may be this year’s star so far, but his two closest competitors this week are Chicago area favorites.  Rahm, No. 2 on the LIV point list, won the PGA Tour’s 2020 BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in addition to his victory at Bolingbrook and he had top-five finishes in the BMW Championship of 2017 at Conway Farms and 2019 at Medinah.

Bryson DeChambeau is No. 3 on the point list. He won the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields in 2015, notched his first PGA Tour  win at that circuit’s only annual Illinois stop – the John Deere Classic – in 2017 and was the champion in LIV/Chicago when it was played at Rich Harvest Farms in 2023.

DeChambeau won nine times on the PGA Tour before moving to LIV.  He won the U.S. Open in 2020 and 2024 and was the runner-up twice in the PGA Championship.

LIV’s 13 four-man teams include 14 players who have won major championships, and that group has a combined 28 wins in those four most significant events. The Bolingbrook field also includes high profiles stars Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia.

WESTERN ROMP:  The 123rd Western Amateur had two Oklahoma collegians who are from Texas in the tournament final last week, and it turned out a blowout.  Oklahoma’s Jase Summy defeated Oklahoma State’s Ethan Fang 6 and 5 at Skokie Country Club in Glencoe. Summy was the first Sooner to win the Western since Charlie Coe in 1950.

The semifinals and finals are held on the same day in the Western, and Summy had to struggle through 19 holes  before beating Florida’s Zack Swanwick in his semifinal while Fang had an easy one in that round,  beating Notre Dame’s Jacob Modelski 5 and 3.

One of the most physically demanding tournaments in golf, the Western has four rounds of stroke play qualifying to determine 16 finalists for the three-day match play elimination. Summy went into the tournament ranked No. 9 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

“It was the biggest win over my life – by far,’’ said Summy.  “I knew my game was there, but I hadn’t quite broken through.  This time I did.’’

HERE AND THERE: Cousins Jackson Hulsay, of St. Charles, and Joseph Luchtenburg, of West Chicago, teamed up to win the Chicago District Golf Association’s Amateur Four Ball Championship at Eagle Brook, in Geneva.

Roy Biancalana, of The Hawk in St. Charles, posted a 67 for a one-stroke victory over Kyle Bauer, of Glenview, in the Illinois PGA Senior Masters at Onwentsia in Lake Forest.

Stacy Lewis, an LPGA mainstay who won the Women’s Western Golf Association Amateur title in 2006, will receive the WWGA’s Woman of Distinction Award at the group’s annual meeting on Sept. 25 at Sunset Ridge, in Northfield.

The First Tee of Greater Chicago has scheduled its 25th anniversary celebration for Nov. 13 at Venue West, in Chicago.

Michigan’s Island Resort will have a unique new course

Sage Run superintendent Matt Sly checks out the third hole of the new Cedar Course.

HARRIS, MI. – The Island Resort & Casino in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula already has two golf courses that offer variety for their players.  So, now they have a third course that will split the different style-wise between the two.

Michigan architect Paul Albanese, who designed the first two courses – Sweetgrass and Sage Run – has also designed the third one.  Officially it’s called Kishke.  That’s the term for Cedar in the Potawatomi language.  When it opens, projected for August of 2026, it’ll be known as the Cedar Course.

Sweetgrass was the first course built on the property and is widely recognized as one of the best in golf-rich Michigan.  Sage Run opened in 2018. It’s a fun course to play, but somewhat controversial.  It is certainly not easy.

Matt Sly, the course superintendent at Sage Run, says Cedar will be “a hybrid.’’

“It’ll be similar in yardage to the other two, but it’ll be a little more challenging than Sweetgrass, but not as hard as Sage Run,’’ said Sly. “It’ll have the wide, bentgrass fairways like Sweetgrass and rolling terrain like Sage Run.’’

Church pew bunkers, under construction, will emerge as a striking feature of the No. 9 hole when the Cedar Course opens at Sage Run.

There are a few more things you should know about this two-year project, planned as a $19 million investment.

While the new course will have no replica holes, it is being inspired by “the golden age of golf architecture.’’ That wasn’t the case at either Sweetgrass or Sage Run, and players will notice the difference.

“We wanted to give them a flavor of what it would be like to play overseas or from that era in the early 1900s,’’ said Albanese. “We are taking some great concepts from that era and incorporating them into the Cedar Course.’’

Most easily recognizable will be the church pew bunker on the ninth hole, reminiscent of Pennsylvania’s Oakmont – site of the 2025 U.S. Open. No. 6 has an enormous bunker left of the green and is called the Sahara hole.  No. 7 resembles the Juniper hole at Augusta National, annual site of the Masters. The par-5 second hole also looks intriguing with a long row of railroad ties clearly evident at this early stage of construction.

One other thing: the Cedar Course will have a six-hole partner.  An unusual short course is being constructed near the ninth green.  It’ll have two double greens and two regular greens.

The new addition to the Island Resort & Casino’s Convention Center  features six viewing screens and provides space for a wide variety of events.

Sweetgrass, Sage Run and Cedar are all names of the Indian tribe’s medicinal plants.  A fourth, Tobacco, is also being mentioned.  That suggests another course project could be in the works.

“We are building nine holes now with the hope of adding another nine in a few years,’’ said Sly.

A Michigan State graduate, Sly arrived on the scene 18 years ago as part of the crew that built Sweetgrass. He stayed around and is now more involved than just being superintendent at Sage Run.  He also coaches the boys and girls teams at Bark River Harris High School, which is located next to the Island Resort & Casino.  The teams play their matches at Sage Run, and the girls team was recently crowned the champion of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula schools.

While the new course is the major talking point going forward, other big projects have already been undertaken.  The Convention Center at the Island Resort & Casino received a 17,000 square foot addition that opened in June. Now there’s 30,000 square feet of convention space.

A new pro shop at Sweetgrass is also open now.  It offers a great view of the double green complex that serves both the No. 9 and 18 holes. That becomes a major focal point of the course, which already has an island green at No. 15.

Sweetgrass has a new pro shop (top photo) and it offers a view of the double green (below) that serves as the finishing hole on both nines. (Joy Sarver Photos)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, check islandresortandcasino.com.

 

Grieve has just two big events left in his amateur career

 

Lake Forest’s Pierce Grieve has a big stretch of golf ahead, and his game is ready for it.

Last week the 6-6 Grieve, who finished his collegiate career at West Virginia after starting it  at Louisville, was low man in the final qualifier for the 125th U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club in San Francisco. He’s  the only Chicago area player to make it to the finals, and that Aug. 11-17 event will mark the end of his solid amateur career that includes titles in both the Illinois State Amateur and Chicago District Amateur.

Not only that, but Grieve will bid farewell to the amateur ranks when he plays in the Illinois Open for the first time next week at Kemper Lakes, in Kildeer.

“The Illinois Open is the last win in Illinois that I’m missing,’’ said Grieve. “I’ve played Kemper Lakes a good amount and feel it fits my game really well.  Everything came together (at Aldeen). My game is in a pretty good place.’’

Getting to the U.S. Amateur was his main focus going into this key part of the competitive season for Chicago area players.  He shot a 7-under-par 65 to top the field in the final U.S. Am qualifier at Aldeen, in Rockford. Last week he entered the qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour’s NV5 Invitational at the Glen Club, in Glenview, and missed a chance to make the final field by one stroke.

The seventh and last qualifier for the 76th Illinois Open is Wednesday at Countryside, in Mundelein.  The 54-hole tournament proper tees on Monday.

STREELMAN IS BACK:   Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman, Illinois’ most successful PGA Tour player, returned to action at last week’s NV5 Invitational.  He had been sidelined since March after surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

Coming off a mediocre season the 46-year old Streelman made three of four cuts to start the 2025 campaign before his knee injury.  He made 300 cuts in PGA Tour events since joining the circuit in 2008.  In his return to action he shot 67-70, 5 -under-par at the Glen, and missed the cut.

Californian Johnny Keefer was the NV5 champion, shooting 28-under to win by two.  He’s No. 1 on the Korn Ferry’s point list with seven tournaments remaining and has already clinched a spot on the PGA Tour for 2026.

LIV UPDATE:  Next stop for the Saudi-backed tour is the LIV/Chicago stop coming to Bolingbrook Golf Club Aug. 8-10. LIV completed its non-U.S. schedule with a tournament in the United Kingdom last week with Chile’s Joaquin Niemann winning by nine shots over runner-up Bubba Watson.

Niemann was second in LIV’s individual standings behind Jon Rahm last season after Rahm won at Bolingbrook with Niemann the runner-up. Rahm’s Legion XIII unit leads the circuit’s team competition.

WOMEN’S U.S. AMATEUR:  Barrington’s Bridget Butler won the Illlinois State Women’s Amateur earlier this season and will chase a bigger prize at next week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes, in Oregon.

Butler was a redshirt at Nebraska as a college freshman after being sidelined 11 months with a torn ACL.  She bounced back with her victory in the State Am.

HERE AND THERE:  One of the biggest Chicago junior tournaments, the 45th Chick Evans Junior Amateur, crowned its champions at Itasca Country Club.  Northbrook’s Alexis Meyers, headed for the University of Illinois, won the girls’ division by beating Long Grove’s Campbell Ray, who is headed for her junior year at Stevenson High School, in the title match.  Tyler Samaan, of Elgin, won the boys division. He defeated Rayden Tee, of Hoffman Estates, in the final. Meyers will play in this week’s Junior PGA Championship on Purdue’s course in West Lafayette, Ind.

Northbrook’s Nick Hardy and Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim are both in the field at this week’s Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, the last event of the PGA Tour’s regular season.  Hardy used a final round 67 to climb into a tie for 28th at last week’s 3M Open in Minnesota while Ghim missed the cut.

The Chicago District Golf Association’s Four-Ball Championship concludes Wednesday  with semifinal and championship matches at Eagle Brook, in Geneva.

Doubling up: Two upgrades have increased the fun for Boyne golfers

Doon Brae (top), a nine-hole short course, and the Back Yaird, a massive Himalayan-style putting green,  have greatly enhanced the golf experience at The Highlands. (Joy Sarver Photos)

HARBOR SPRINGS, MI. – Operators of the three Boyne resorts have always stayed ahead of the game.  This year they’ve been twice as good at it.

Two upgrades at The Highlands, in Harbor Springs, have changed the golf atmosphere there.  One is called Doon Brae, a one-of-a-kind nine-hole short course that was planned as the star attraction.  The other is the Back Yaird – and, yes, that’s the correct spelling for a huge new putting green off  The Highlands dining area.

Doon Brae and the Back Yaird stand side-by-side, and they opened together on June 6 after lengthy construction periods. You can’t help but play fun golf on Doon  Brae, and the number of games you can play at the Back Yaird are limitless. There’s a small fee to play Doon Brae and there’s none at the Back Yaird,  but these two newcomers are considered teammates.

Veteran Michigan golf architect Ray Hearn designed Doon Brae, and a lot of thought was put into the process. Doon Brae is built on a ski hill.  You can see the ski lift chairs, but they’re not in use until the winter. Hearn is a big fan of sidewall bunkers, and that’s clearly evident at Doon Brae.

Aerial view of greens 3, 4 and 5 at Doon Brae reflects the new short course’s unique design. (Photo by Chip Henderson, Boyne Golf)

There’s no power carts available to get you around.  You walk and carry a few clubs (I brought along five).  A light carry bag is provided if you want one, and it’s likely you will. Tee areas are fluid.  There’s three per hole, but only one marker per each yardage.  Tee off on either side of the marker, as you deem appropriate.

Each hole has a plaque with the history of the hole’s design. There are greens with the Punch Bowl, Redan, Postage Stamp and Biarritz formats, among others. It’s interesting reading, and highly educational if you’re a serious golf buff.  A scorecard is available, but not necessary.

The course has lights for night play, speakers to bring music to the players and a bar also adds to the good times. The previous short course at The Highlands was very basic; Doon Brae is anything but that. It measures 1,050 yards from the back tees, and 851 from the front markers. Longest hole is 150 yards and the shortest is 88.

Doon Brae is a Scottish term, with Doon meaning going down into a valley and Brae meaning hillside. Downhill, uphill and sidehill lies are commonplace.  Rarely do you get a flat lie, and that enhances the fun experience. The greens, though, are the star of the show, as Hearn has created them as tributes to famous architects from the distant past like C.B. McDonald and Seth Raynor.

Doon Brae’s signage at each hole offers a look into how early courses were designed.

“It’s a terrific course,’’ said  Ken Griffin, Boyne’s director of sales and marketing. “It opens up the resort to guests who are new to golf or who might not have the time to play one of our championship courses.  Doon Brae is all about fun.’’

Size is the thing at the Back Yaird.  It’s built over 65,000 square feet.  Three nine-hole courses are set up on that terrain, and there’s space for a fourth if needed. Each nine is distinguished by different colored pins in the holes. You can have informal competitions at the Back Yaird – but they can be serious battles if that’s what you want. You can also use that space to just practice, if that’s what you want to do. It’s best suited for post-round or post-dinner activity. It’s not physically taxing.

Whether it’s Doon Brae or the Back Yaird, you’ll find a number of participants playing barefoot. Enough said for how serious the participants approach their time on the two.

One of the courses at The Highlands — the Donald Ross Memorial — has undergone regular upgrades.  It opened with 17 Ross-designed holes chosen from his courses world-wide.

Signage explains the most recent hole rebuilding job on the Donald Ross course. (Joy Sarver Photo)

 

The other hole wasn’t designed by Ross, but No. 10 from Scotland’s Royal Dornoch was from a course which the designer grew up playing. It was the last hole re-done and re-opened this year.

Ross emigrated to the U.S. from Scotland in 1899 and he has an estimated 600 courses to his credit. A panel of Boyne officials selected the holes and the course was named Best New Resort Course in the USA by Golf Digest in 1990. It was a fine composite of holes then, but future research revealed that some needed changing to assure their historic credibility.

Six were rebuilt over a three-year period.  The course was played a hole short at times, and with a reduced rate to reflect that. Now it’s back to 18 holes and – while more upgrades are being considered – more hole shutdowns are not scheduled.

My favorite hole on my favorite Boyne course — No. 13 at Arthur Hills. (Joy Sarver Photo)

My favorite Boyne course is the Arthur Hills at The Highlands.  The most memorable hole there is the par-5 thirteenth, which offers a breathtaking view from the elevated tees.  This year there was an added attraction.  Loggers have been working diligently to restore damage done by a spring storm, and it was interesting to watch them do their duties while in no way disrupting play.

Boyne’s story began in 1955 when Everett Kircher purchased a failing ski resort.  Seventy years later it continues to flourish. While Kircher immediately put in a nine-hole course, the golf side of Boyne took off in 1971 with the opening  of The Heather at The Highlands.  Doon Brae, the 11th course, opened in 2025.

While Doon Brae was in its finishing stages of construction Boyne Golf hauled in some major awards.  Most noteworthy was USA Today naming Boyne Golf the No. 1 golf resort destination in the U.S. and The Highlands was named No. 2.

You can’t do much better than that.

No. 16 at Crooked Tree has its own special look. (Photo by Chip Henderson, Boyne Golf)

 

A golf trip doesn’t have to be just about golf

The Mackinac Bridge brings together Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. (Joy Sarver Photos)

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI. – The first time we visited this vacation hotspot in Northern Michigan we came largely to check out the golf.  It appeared to be a well-kept secret on the Island that we should be uncovering – and it was.

The island’s iconic Grand Hotel has an 18-hole course that is well worth playing. The front nine by the hotel is called The Jewel and Tom Bendelow designed it in 1898.  It offers a pleasant setting and the horse-drawn carriage ride to the back nine added a fun touch of the unusual.

Jerry Matthews, a Michigan architect, updated The Jewel in 1987 and designed the back nine, called The Woods, in 1994.  A lot of golf history there, but Wawashkamo was another matter.  This nine-holer was well away from where the action was on the Island and had much more history than the 18-holer.

Called Wawa, it was built in 1898 with Alex Smith the designer.  You play this unusual layout using sand to create your own tees, feathered golf balls and hickory club.  Just like the Island itself, its golf courses have lots of history.  You get the idea.

The best way to see Mackinac Island is on one of the horse and carriage tours.

All that was well and good, a story worth telling, and it produced our first travel writing award – a big boost as we were just getting this website going. That was in 2016. We’ve changed our thinking a lot since then.

While we did visit the Island just to watch the boats finish the storied Chicago-to-Mackinac yacht race a few years later, we thought this year would be a good time to visit Mackinac Island again with no  pre-conceived ideas. It was a good idea.

In our many trips around the United States we have seen both golf and travel writing change, and we’ve needed to change with it.  Covering just golf wasn’t enough. We started blending our travel destination stops with more family visits, then looked for other attractions to check out. That’s enriched our experiences.

Arch Rock, hovering over Lake Huron, is one of the best views on the Mackinac tours.

That was especially true of our return to Mackinac Island.  We visited like tourists this time. We enjoyed the 20-minute boat ride to the Island, when we crossed under the Mackinac Bridge, from the waters of Lake Michigan to the waters of Lake Huron. We took a two-hour carriage tour of the property.  We sampled the fudge, which seemed to be on sale at every other storefront.

We also savored the food at the Chippewa Hotel and chowed down on those delicious pasties – an area-wide attraction – upon our return to our hotel in Mackinaw City.  Yum!

Wish we had taken this approach sooner. Our arrival at the Island came after four straight days of great golf at the Boyne resorts (much more on this in our next destination post).  We just wanted to get a fresh look at Michigan’s Upper Peninsula after that.

The Grand Hotel’s outdoor cafe, The Jockey Club, overlooks the putting green for the Jewel course.

A couple hours’ drive from the Island was Manistique, a town with a 1.8-mile walking/biking trail along the shores of Lake Michigan. We enjoyed our 2-plus mile walk the first day so much that we stuck around another day to go even further. The route had signs giving information about the birds, fish and plants along the way. Very interesting stuff.

Our next stop is back to the wonderful world of golf — a one-hour drive from Manistique along Lake Michigan’s shores to the Island Resort & Casino in Harris, MI. We have two rounds scheduled at this destination, one on the Sweetgrass course that we believe is one of the best in Michigan, based on a stop we made in 2018.  We’ll also get a sneak peek at a nine-holer that is under construction.

This stop, though, won’t be all about golf. Hopefully none of our others will be, either. We’ll be seeking more new adventures. Can’t wait to see what lies ahead, and we’ll tell you all about it.

Colorful flower displays are a trademark of the streets winding through Mackinac Island.

 

 

 

 

 

Korn Ferry Tour is back at the Glen Club

Back in 2019 Scottie Scheffler won the first NV5 Invitational Championship – a Korn Ferry Tour event played at the Glen Club in Glenview. Now he’s the world’s No.1-ranked golfer with five major titles, the most recent coming in last weeks’ British Open.

This year’s NV5 Invitational, conducted by the Western Golf Association, returns to The Glen this week.  Teeoff for Thursday and Friday rounds are off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees starting at 6:30 a.m.  On the weekend they run from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Scheffler is one of many players who have used the Korn Ferry as a path to the PGA Tour. Not all, of course, have been as successful on the preview circuit as Scheffler has been but the quality of play is impressive.

Last year’s champion at The Glen was Thomas Rosenmueller, who was 25 under par in winning the $180,000 first prize, and he’s on the PGA Tour now.  Last week’s winner on the Korn Ferry was Chandler Blanchet.  He was 27-under in his three-stroke victory in the Price Cutter Championship in Missouri. Adrien Dumont de Chassard, who starred at the University of Illinois, tied for fifth last week and he’s also spent some time on the PGA Tour.

WISCONSIN WINNER:  Amateur Kate Brody of Madison, WI., captured the 30th anniversary staging of the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open Tuesday at Mistwood, in Romeoville.

Brody won by seven strokes after posting an 8-under-par 136 for the 36 holes.  Tying for second were professionals Taglao Jeeravivitaporn, of Chicago; and Haeri Lee, of Buffalo Grove; and Elyssa Abdulah, an amateur from Hinsdale.

Defending champion Lauren Beaudreau, of Marco Island, FL., tied for 19th; two-time Illinois Women’s State Amateur champion Sarah Arnold, of Geneva, tied for 28th’ and two-time IWO titlist Nicole Jeray, a teaching professional at Mistwood, tied for 32nd.

LIV COUNTDOWN: Only one of the four events left on the Saudi-backed tour season will be played on foreign soil – next week’s tournament in Great Britain.  The last three are in the U.S., starting with LIV/Chicago Aug. 8-10 at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

LIV players had a presence at the British Open, headed by Bryson DeChambeau.  After opening with a 78 he finished with 65-68-64 to finish in a tie for 10th.  His last three rounds were the second lowest in the event’s 153 years, and Keegan Bradley, captain on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, gave strong indications that he will pick DeChambeau for his team at the matches in September at New York’s Bethpage Black.

 

Ten LIV players made the cut in the British Open and nine didn’t, including season points leader Joaquin Niemann, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka and Cam Smith.

PGA COUNTDOWN: The PGA Tour has only two tournaments remaining before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.  This week it’s the 3M Open in Minnesota.  Both Chicago area tour players – Doug Ghim and Nick Hardy – are in the field. Last week Ghim tied for 20th in the Barracuda Championship in California while Hardy missed the cut.

JDC AFTERMATH: The John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop, has announced that it has reached a milestone in charitable giving.  The tourney was first played in 1971, and this year’s event earlier this month has topped the $200 million figure. The official total for this year will be revealed in October.