lenz – Page 2 – Len Ziehm On Golf

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 76^th 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 123^rd 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 25^th 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 125^th 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 76^th 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 45^th 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 28^th 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 11^th 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 30^th 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 19^th; two-time Illinois Women’s State Amateur champion Sarah Arnold, of Geneva, tied for 28^th’ and two-time IWO titlist Nicole Jeray, a teaching professional at Mistwood, tied for 32^nd.

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 10^th. 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 20^th 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.

Less was more in winning the Illinois State Amateur

Jordan Less, hitting a tee shot, and Connor Hamm staged a stirring duel as partners in the final two rounds of the Illinois State Amateur. (Photos Courtesy of the Chicago District Golf Association).

The Illinois State Amateur has been played for 94 years, but it’s doubtful it ever had a tournament wrapup quite like Thursday’s at Stonebridge Country Club in Aurora.

Macomb’s Connor Hamm shot a 9-under-par 63 in the morning to start the 36-hole final day of the event, and that gave him a seven-stroke lead on the field. Ham’s luck turned sour in the afternoon 18, however, starting with his approach to the first green.

“It took a terrible bounce, hit a cart path and went 50 yards over the green,’’ said Hamm. That cost him a bogey, and things got worse two holes later when his tee shot on a par-3 mysteriously disappeared.

“We thought it hit the bunker, but it was no where to be found,’’ lamented Hamm, who was joined in his search by playing partner Jordan Less, of Elmhurst, and several tournament officials and fans. Hamm had to walk back to the tee and drive again. He put it on the green but three-putted for a double bogey. In three holes his lead was cut by five strokes.

Less was the only player to take advantage of Hamm’s misfortune. A former Northern Illinois University player who took a fling as a professional on the Korn Ferry Tour, Less took the title with a birdie-birdie finish. He rolled in a 10-footer at No. 17 and a 17-footer to win at No. 18.

Hail to the champion. Elmhurst’s Jordan Less is now headed to the U.S. Amateur.

With 68 to finish Less posted a 16-under-par 272 score for the 72 holes and Hamm, who fizzled to a 75 in the final round, was one shot back in second. Less, who won the Chicago District’s Mid-Amateur title earlier in the summer, will now play in both the Illinois Open and U.S. Open in the next two weeks. He competed in both before giving professional golf a shot.

“I was a pro for 2 ½ years,’’ said Less. “At the end I was in the same spot as I was when I started, and I didn’t want to stay in that same spot.’’

So he regained his amateur status and has “no regrets’’ about his fling at the pro level. He’s working in a tool manufacturing business now and will remain an amateur golfer.

“It’s not a case of having any expectations,’’ he said. “It’s just more a state of my mind. I’ve got more trust in my game now, and that’s a good thing.’’

Less pulled a cart during the tournament, and the highlight for the week was his albatross in Monday’s first round. He holed a 6-iron from 200 yards at the 540-yard ninth hole. Thursday’s rounds included two aces at the 177-yard eighth hole, but Less didn’t get one of those. Michael Jorski of Clarendon Hills and Kyle Davies of Chatham made the aces.

Two 15-year olds — Jorski and Ben Patel of North Aurora — were among the top 20 finishers who qualified to play in the 2026 State Am without going through qualifying tournaments. Jorski added to his impressive resume. He was a winner in the Drive, Chip & Putt competition at Augusta National in 2023.

Jordan Less’ unusual putting style delivered key birdie putts on the last two holes at Stonebridge.

Pierce Grieve’s next goal is the U.S. Amateur

Pierce Grieve has won Illinois’ two biggest amateur tournaments. (Photo Courtesy of the CDGA)

The biggest tournaments of the Chicago golf season are coming fast and furious now, starting with the 94^th Illinois State Amateur, which concludes its three-day run at Stonebridge, in Aurora, on Thursday.

Next week comes the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open Monday and Tuesday at Mistwood, in Romeoville, followed by the Korn Ferry Tour’s NV5 Invitational July 24-27 at The Glen Club, in Glenview and the Western Amateur July 28 through Aug. 2 at Skokie Country Club, in Glencoe.

There won’t be a repeat champion in Thursday’s 36-hole wrapup to the Illinois State Amateur. Last year’s winner, Pierce Grieve of Lake Forest, chose not to defend following his victory in the Chicago District Amateur two weeks ago.

“I’ve got a busy schedule, and I just figured it’d be a lot of golf with the U.S. Amateur coming up,’’ said Grieve, who became just the 12^th player to post wins in the Illinois State Amateur (2024) and Chicago District Amateur – the two biggest events for amateurs in the state.

Grieve is looking for bigger challenges now, with his focus on getting to the U.S. Amateur. He has to get past a qualifier on July 23 at Aldeen, in Rockford, to get to the finals Aug. 11-17 at Olympic Club in San Francisco. That could make for an ideal end to his successful amateur career.

“Professional golf is on the horizon,’’ he said. “I’m not sure when that’ll be, but it’s definitely in the near future.’’

Depending on what happens in the U.S. Amateur qualifier in Rockford, Grieve’s professional debut could come locally – at either the NV5 Invitational or the Illinois Open.

NEXT WEEK: The 30^th anniversary playing of the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open has drawn 90 players with 14 of them professionals. They’ll play 36 holes with no cut, and the field will be re-paired for the second 18-hole round.

A professional — Lauren Beaudreau, a Notre Dame alum who grew up in Lemont – won last year and will defend her title. Now playing out of Marco Island, FL., she posted a 3-under-par 141 to win by one shot last year over Mistwood teaching pro and two-time champion Nicole Jeray and amateurs Caroline Lopez-Chacarra of Spain and Caroline Smith of Inverness.

The NV5 Invitational is part of the Korn Ferry Tour, which provides a path to the PGA Tour for its players. Five past winners – Scottie Scheffler (2019), Cameron Young (2021), Harry Higgs (2022), Trace Crowe (2023) and Thomas Rosenmueller (2024) – are now playing on the PGA circuit.

The Big Ten Network is offering complimentary grounds admission to registrants. Contact the Western Golf Assn. for details.

FED EX COUNTDOWN: This week’s Barracuda Championship in California is the third from the last event on the PGA Tour’s regular season and both Chicago area players, Northbrook’s Nick Hardy and Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim, in the field and coming off strong showings.

Hardy had his best finish of the season – a tie for eighth –in last week’s ISCO Championship in Kentucky. Ghim, who didn’t play in Kentucky, led the John Deere Classic through 36 holes before finishing in a tie for 31^st two weeks ago.

Both players are in jeopardy of missing the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Only the top 100 in the season-long standings get into the first playoff event and Ghim is No. 116 and Hardy No. 173. Northwestern alum David Lipsky, who tied for third at the JDC, is the best bet for Illinois representation in the postseason, standing at No. 115.

The only regular season events after the Barracuda are the 3M Championship in Minnesota and the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.

TIGHT RACES IN LIV: The Saudi-backed circuit has just one tournament left before its schedule shifts back to the United States at LIV/Chicago on Aug. 8-10 at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

Eighteen LIV players are in the field this week at the British Open, then the circuit resumes play in the United Kingdom July 25-27. Talor Gooch won the individual title and Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII took the team honors in last week’s stop in Spain. Gooch, the circuit’s Individual champion in 2023, won for the first time since that season.

Rahm won last year’s Individual title at Bolingbrook in a duel with Joaquin Niemann. This time the Bolingbrook stop will be the last regular season event before the Individual championship in Indianapolis and the season-ending Team championship in Michigan.

Niemann holds a lead over Rahm in the Individual standings going into the United Kingdom event. Rahm’s Legion XIII is the team leader.

Eagle Ridge Resort is getting into some fishy business

Can you believe this huge tiger muskie was pulled out of Lake Galena? (Courtesy of Eagle Ridge)

GALENA, IL. — Since Mark Klausner took over the ownership of Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa seven years ago the facility has taken on an exciting fresh new look. That’s especially true this year.

“We continue to expand our horizons,’’ said Klausner, a resident of the Eagle Ridge area for 25 years.

“We’re re-inventing ourselves all the time,’’ said Colin Sanderson, the resort’s director of sales and marketing. “Since 2019 we’ve taken the profits and put it all back into the resort and we’ve been building partnerships within the area.’’

Already the resort has added the Smokehouse Barbecue to its dining options and celebrated a rare double honor for its 63-hole golf complex.

Coming soon will be a unique new package combining fishing with the golf. Details haven’t been announced yet, but the new package is a no-brainer. The golf has always been extensive, and fishermen have found great success in Lake Galena. The tiger muskies are biting, and one angler recently caught one that measured within an inch of the Illinois record.

Klausner remains especially proud of the Stonedrift Spa, which has been a big hit since its opening a year ago. The barbecue was a natural, too, as the Smokehouse – the brainchild of general manager Steve Geisz, a smoker enthusiast – fills a need for the entire area. Barbecue restaurants have been a rarity there, and the Smokehouse opened a month ago.

Eagle Ridge has added barbecuing at the Highland Restaurant, which adjoins The General golf course. Sun sails are also being added to the Highland to provide comfort for outdoor diners.

As for the golf, Scott Szbowicz was hired in the spring to revamp the instruction program. He’s been operating as a roving instructor in the Chicago area but has taken residence in the Galena area and will have an increasing presence at the resort.

The golf operation also got a big boost when the raters at GolfWeek magazine judged both Eagle Ridge’s oldest and youngest courses in the top 15 in Illinois. The General, an Andy North and Roger Packard design that opened in 1997, was ranked No. 7 and the North Course, which opened on July 4, 1977, was ranked No. 15.

Director of golf John Schlaman shows off The General’s new viewing area. (Joy Sarver Photo)

“Selecting The General was obvious,’’ said director of golf John Schlaman. “It didn’t surprise me because it’s been in Golf Digest’s Top 100, but the North was a pleasant surprise. It was an honor to see the North on the list, and that’s not saying anything negative about our South course. They’re so different from each other.’’

The General is spectacular because of its elevation changes. There’s a 289-foot elevation change from the No. 1 hole to No. 18 and the signature fifth hole (formerly No. 14 prior to a recent and well-received decision to flip the nines) is a par-4 with a 189-foot drop from the tee to the green.

While the steep, winding cart path rides at the General can be exciting while requiring caution, the older North is longer than The General and a more likely tournament course. North is 6,884 yards from the tips and The General 6,726. The South is noted for having streams running through 11 of the 18 holes.

Six new blue chairs have been added at The General, providing an up close view of both the No. 10 tee and No. 18 green. The elevated patio at The Highlands also offers the same views there, making for a pleasant setting when players are finishing their rounds.

Schlaman was on board when The General made a high-profile grand opening, then he left for 14 years to head the then new Prairie Landing in the Chicago suburbs. He returned to Eagle Ridge as head pro at the South before moving up to his present position and has a good perspective on the evolution at Illinois’ premier golf resort.

“We’ve aged gracefully,’’ he said. “We have longevity approaching 50 years on our oldest course, and the property is super cool. Our rolling terrain is only in this part of the state.’’

Author: lenz