Author: lenz

Aldeen’s French enjoys his reign as king of Illinois PGA Assistants

There are plenty of good players among the assistant professionals in the Illinois IPGA. That’s why Chris French’s domination of the 2017 Assistants Player of the Year race is so impressive.

French, one of two assistants under director of golf operations Duncan Geddes at Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford, accumulated 3,139.9 points in last year’s Assistant Player of the Year race. Runner-up Casey Pyne, of Crestwicke in Bloomington, was a distant second with 2,766.0, and Adam Schumacher, of Indian Hill in Winnetka, third with 2,760.5.

Schumacher won both the Illinois PGA Championship at Medinah No. 1 and the IPGA Players Championship at Eagle Ridge in Galena. Both tournaments are among the section’s four major events and Schumacher won both by three-shot margins but he was no threat to French in the Assistants competition. That’s how good a season French had.

“The big difference from other years is that I put in more time playing and practicing,’’ said French. “It was great to see the hard work pay off. You don’t always see that in the golf business, and if the results are not there it can be extremely frustrating.’’

French, 32, won three stroke play events outright – at Cress Creek in Naperville, Mistwood in Romeoville and Kishwaukee in DeKalb — and tied for first in another at Glen Oak in Glen Ellyn. He also tied for fifth in the Assistants Championship at Merit Club in Libertyville and added some points by tying for 42nd in the Illinois Open.

Not only did French notch some victories, he did it with some great scores on quality courses – 65 at Cress Creek and Mistwood, 67 at Calumet and 68 at Kishwaukee. Those scores might not have been his best performances of the year, either. He set the Aldeen course record last fall with a 9-under-par 63.

Aldeen is an established tournament site, too. It hosted the Illinois State Amateurs of 2001 and 2013 and was the site of this year’s Illinois Women’s State Amateur.

Not bad for a player who once quit the golf business altogether for five years. That was after playing four years of high school golf at Byron, which is near Rockford, and then earning junior college All-America recognition in two years at Rock Valley College in Rockford.

After his school years he spent two years as an assistant at Reems Creek, a public course in Asheville, N.C. After that he didn’t think that golf was for him, and he left the business.

“The main thing I did then was in music. I was a recording engineer. We made records for bands,’’ said French. “That’s as far away from golf as you can get.’’

Five years ago, though, he wanted back into the game in the area where he grew up. He took an assistant’s job at Aldeen and his play steadily improved, leading up to his breakthrough campaign in 2017.

“Duncan Geddes was the main one who encouraged me to keep playing,’’ said French. “After I won this (Player of the Year) award he told me I should take it as far as I can. He gave me the time off to play and practice.’’

After his big season French spent the winter in Florida “to see what would happen’’ and then played on the PGA’s Latinoamerica Tour in the spring. He had the company of some other Illinois hotshots – Tee-K Kelly, David Cooke and Brian Bullington – on that circuit. Kelly even won a tournament.

French competed in tournaments in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic from early May until early June without any notable successes.

“I didn’t play very well,’’ admitted French. “I lost momentum. It was cool to play on some great courses there but it was a little shock, too, because I had never been out of the country (U.S.).’’

He plans to go back in the fall, though. The Latinoamerica Tour doesn’t hold tournaments in the summer, preferring to resume its season in the fall. So, French’s three-month stint at Aldeen will conclude in August and that’s why he gives himself little chance to repeat as Assistants Player of the Year. He will, however, be around for the IPGA Assistants Championship, which is July 23 at Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette.

“I already missed two (IPGA Assistants) tournaments because I was playing in Latin America and I’ll miss more in the fall,’’ he said. “Not playing every event hurts in terms of repeating.’’

Ex-NU star Hannah Kim makes IWO her first professional victory

Hannah Kim (right) won her first pro title and Tristyn Nowlin was runner-up and low amateur.

Two years ago Hannah Kim tied for third in the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open. Last year she was the runner-up. So, guess what the former Northwestern standout did to climax the 24th playing of the IWO on Wednesday at Mistwood, in Romeoville?

Kim, the stalwart of coach Emily Fletcher’s powerhouse Wildcat teams of the past four years, did some major re-writing of the tournament record books while notching her first professional victory.

“Mistwood suits me well,’’ said Kim, “but I go into all my tournaments without any expectations.’’

That formula worked to perfection this week. Kim posted rounds of 68, 65 and 67 for a 16-under-par 200 total for the 54 holes. She tied the tournament record for low 18-hole score with her second-round birdie blitz. That gave her a six-stroke lead entering Wednesday’s final round as well as the tournament record for low score through 36 holes (133).

Her final score was a whopping seven strokes better than the previous mark held by a pair of amateur winners, Annika Welander in 2005 and Stephanie Miller in 2016.

Hannah Kim was a winner in only her third pro tournament.

Kim’s previous two appearances in the IWO were as an amateur, since she still had collegiate eligibility at Northwestern. She admitted to missing her college team.

“It’s hard with nothing getting paid for now,’’ she said, but that won’t be much of a problem if Kim keeps on winning pro tournaments. She is 26-under-par on her nine IWO tournament rounds over the last three years with this year’s showing the most impressive.

“My target score was double digits under par, and I did it,’’ said Kim, who earned $5,000 for the victory in her third professional tournament. A resident of Santa Ana, Calif., she had previously competed in the Ohio Open and California State Open. Next up is the Tennessee Open.

“I’m just trying to play a bunch of tournaments to keep myself sharp. I want to make it through (LPGA) Tour School and get my card,’’ said Kim. That competition starts in the fall.

Kim’s most serious challenger for the title on Wednesday was amateur Tristyn Nowlin. A University of Illinois junior from Richmond, Ky., Nowlin got within five strokes of Kim when she rolled in a birdie putt from the fringe of the No. 10 green. She gave the shot back on the next hole when she hit her second shot into a hazard left of the green, struggled to make bogey and never threatened again.

Like Kim, Nowlin is a big fan of Mistwood’s course. Last month she went all the way to the final of the Women’s Western Amateur on the same layout and that showing, in one of the nation’s most prestigious tournaments, led to her return this week.

“I wasn’t going to play but my coach (Illinois women’s coach Renee Slone) suggested I play since I had done so well in the Western Am,’’ said Nowlin, “so I thought `Why not?’ That tournament gave me a lot of confidence.’’

That wasn’t enough playing head-to-head with Kim in the final round. Kim maintained her six-shot lead through the first nine holes and kept her concentration through the back nine, especially on its two par-3 holes. She made a nine-footer to save par at No. 14 and made birdie at the 133-yard 17th.

Nowlin had a four-shot cushion on third place Sarah Burnham, a former Michigan State player, and Burnham was two ahead of two-time IWO winner Nicole Jeray, a veteran of the pro tours from Berwyn. Jeray, for the third time, was thwarted in her attempt to get an IWO title in three decades. She lost twice in playoffs since 2010.

Jeray has played on all three women’s tours – the Symetra, LPGA and Legends – the last few years and will again this year, though she is changing her golfing focus. She is now teaching and coaching at both Flagg Creek, in Countryside, and Cog Hill, in Lemont.

Patrick Flavin is Mr. Golf in Illinois for the next few weeks

Patrick Flavin has surrounded himself with some of the trophies he’d like to win in the next few weeks.

The star of last year’s Chicago golf season is about to strike again. While University of Illinois friends Nick Hardy and Dylan Meyer opted to turn pro as soon as the NCAA tournament ended in June, Highwoods’ Patrick Flavin decided to wait a while. Now it’s his turn to take the spotlight.

Last year Flavin, who played collegiately at Miami of Ohio, became the first golfer in 37 years to win both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open in the same year. David Ogrin, in 1980, is the only other one to do it.

Now Flavin wants to do something Ogrin didn’t do — defend both titles — and he also wants a final crack at winning the prestigious Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur as well.

Flavin opened defense of his Illinois State Amateur crown on Tuesday, posting a 1-over-par 71 at Bloomington Country Club. There’ll be another 18-hole round there today before Thursday’s 36-hole session decides the champion.

Bloomington, interestingly, is where Ogrin completed his sweep of the state’s premier titles. He won the Illinois Open there before becoming a journeyman on the PGA Tour from 1983-99. The highlight of his pro career was a victory in the 1996 LaCantera Texas Open, when he whipped Tiger Woods in one of Woods’ first tournaments as a pro.

Flavin wants to take his game to the premier pro tour eventually, but there’s some work to do first.

On Monday he will try to qualifying for the U.S. Amateur at Sand Creek, in Chesterton, Ind., and the week after that he’ll be a featured performer in the 116th Western Am at Sunset Ridge in Northfield. The Illinois Open title defense comes at The Glen Club, in Glenview, and Ravinia Green, in Riverwoods, from Aug. 6-8.

Flavin says his game is solid after spending the summer playing in some of the top amateur events around the country, so he has no regrets about remaining an amateur a little while longer.

“Definitely it was a difficult decision. What it really came down to was, there’s just so much more to play as an amateur,’’ said Flavin. “I’m trying to think about it in the long run. If I put myself in position to make the Sweet 16 of the Western Am or defend my title in the Illinois State Am or Illinois Open, that would be a great experience for me. In the long run it would really pay off. I’m going to give it a shot, for sure.’’

The U.S. Amateur final is at California’s famed Pebble Beach from Aug. 13-19. Assuming Flavin qualifies, that’ll be his last amateur event. He would turn pro in time to play in the Web.com Tour qualifying school starting in late September. While admittedly looking forward to playing at the next level Flavin has no regrets about spending another summer as an amateur.

“Some of my best buddies, like Nick Hardy and Dylan Meyer, are already out playing on the PGA Tour and playing well,’’ said Flavin. “That gives me some ants in my pants to get out there, too. But I’m really happy, really enjoying it.’’

Kim leads in IWO

Hannah Kim, the former Northwestern star, takes a six-stroke lead into today’s final round of the 23rd annual Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood, in Romeoville. Kim is at 11-under-par 133 after rounds of 68 and 65 in the first two rounds of the 54-hole tournament.

Amateur Tristyn Nowlin, a University of Illinois golfer who was the runner-up in the Women’s Western Amateur at Mistwood last month, is Kim’s closest pursuer after rounds of 71 and 68.

Crystal Lake’s Lexi Harkins and Samantha Postillion, of Burr Ridge, are another stroke back in a tie for third and two-time champion Nicole Jeray, of Berwyn, is alone in sixth at 141. Jeray is a member of the LPGA’s Legends Tour.

This IWO also has a celebrity caddie. PGA and Champions Tour veteran Steve Stricker has also been on the bag for his daughter Bobbi.

llini Meyer is cashing in

Dylan Meyer is adding quickly to his fast-growing bank account since finishing his collegiate eligibility at Illinois.

Meyer tied for 46th place at the John Deere Classic on Sunday, which meant an $18,096 paycheck. That boosted his winnings in three tournaments since turning pro to $236,569. He also just signed a contract to join Callaway’s Tour Staff.

“I played with Callaway equipment in college and amateur golf, and I know that this is the best decision for me,’’ said Meyer. “It was a natural choice to join Callaway.’’

Hardy, his Illini teammate the last four years, is four-for-four in surviving the cuts in pro events. He received invites to two tournaments on the PGA Tour and two on the Web.com circuit, and his winnings in barely a month as a pro is $37,671.

Meyer, Hardy and Stricker all finished at 10-under-par in the John Deere Classic. Stricker, also an Illinois alum, won that tournament three times and opted to return to the Quad Cities’ PGA Tour stop rather than play in the PGA Tour Champions major – the Constellation Senior Players Championship – at Exmoor.

Singh gets his first Champions major title in a playoff

PGA Tour Champions had become a showcase for Bernhard Langer the last few years, especially at its Constellation Senior Players Championship. That’s no longer the case.

At 60 Langer isn’t the dominant player he once was, and Sunday he wasn’t up to the task with another chance to win one of the circuit’s most prestigious major events at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park. Starting the day in a tie for fifth place, Langer faded to a 74 and a tie for 17th place.

Langer had won the Senior Players – the circuit’s major with the strongest field each year – three times in a row from 2015-17 and was runner-up to Scott McCarron last year. This time the title went to Vijay Singh in a two-hole playoff with Jeff Maggert.

While the day started with a crowded leaderboard at the top, it turned into a two-man duel between Singh and Maggert. Playing partners in the next-to-the-last group to tee off, they finished at 20-under-par 268. Then Singh made a par and decisive birdie in the playoff, and that was good enough for his first major title on the 50-and-over circuit. The World Golf Hall of Famer won both the Masters and PGA Championship in his younger days.

“This is a little different,’’ said Singh, now 55. “It’s a senior major, but any time you win a tournament, no matter what it is, it’s an accomplishment. I feel like I played well, and it’s a win. A win is a win.’’

Yes it is, and this one – in addition to the $420,000 paycheck — carries an added perk for Singh, who won 34 times on the PGA Tour and 22 more times in international events.

The winner of the Senior Players gets a spot in The Players Championship – one of the premier events on the regular PGA Tour. It’ll be played at Florida’s TPC Sawgrass in March, and that’s Singh’s home course.

Maggert had plenty of chances to win. As was the case in Saturday’s third round, he led most of the final 18 but dropped back into a tie with Singh when he tee shot at No. 16 hit a tree in front of the green.

“Of all the bounces you could have gotten, that was probably the worst one you can possible imagine,’’ said Maggert, whose ball bounced 40 yards back in the fairway. He chipped on and missed an 18-foot par putt, setting up a duel with Singh for the next four holes.

Maggert had birdie putts inside 15 feet twice, but missed them both, and Singh salvaged par after his drive sailed in the trees and thick rough at No. 17. He got the birdie he needed on their third trek down No. 18 in the second hole of the playoff. Singh put his approach to within 18 inches, Maggert missed his birdie chance and the tournament was over.

“Not making the 15- to 18-footers was the difference,’’ said Maggert. “Vijay’s round was kind of the same. We both birdied all four of the par-5s. The only difference is he didn’t make a bogey. I made one, with five birdies.’’

Singh made just one bogey the whole tournament, at No. 8 on Saturday. Maggert hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation on Sunday and finished the week hitting 66 of 72 – the best in the field by four. The only green he missed on Sunday was at the critical 16th.

“Fortunately for me Jeff missed a couple of makeable putts on the last hole, so it gave me a chance to win,’’ said Singh.

Singh became the seventh different player to win in the Champions’ last seven major tournaments. Still splitting time on the PGA Tour, he has three top-10s on the Champions circuit this year and that includes a win at the Toshiba Classic.

Small fades, but still picks up his biggest tourney paycheck

Illinois men’s coach Mike Small, who started the day tied for fifth, was no threat for the title in Sunday’s final round of the Constellation Senior Players Championship at Exmoor, but there was a bright side.

Small picked up his biggest check on either the PGA Tour or PGA Tour champions. He earned $67,200 for finishing in a tie for 10th place. His biggest previous paycheck was $57,200 when he tied for ninth at the 1998 RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour.

Paired for the second straight day with Bernhard Langer, Small made birdie on the first hole, but cooled off after that. He posted a 1-under-par 71 and finished the tournament at 15-under 273.

With three top-10s in four starts on PGA Tour Champions, Small has one more event on the circuit before his usual visits to the Illinois Open and Illinois PGA Championship. He is assured a berth in the 3M tourney in Minnesota Aug. 3-5.

Hale and hardy

Hale Irwin, who has titles in three tournaments played on Chicago courses – the Western Open, U.S. Open and Ameritech Senior Open – was far down the leaderboard on Sunday but he had a notable accomplishment.

Irwin shot his age (73) on Thursday and bettered his age on Saturday (70) and Sunday (72). He has shot or bettered his age 37 times on PGA Tour Champions and this marks the ninth consecutive season he’s accomplished that feat. He did it for the first time at the 2010 AT&T Championship when he was 65.

Farewell for awhile

Sunday’s round concluded the first Champions Tour major in the Chicago area since Graham Marsh won the U.S. Senior Open at Olympia Fields in 1997. Sunday’s round also brought an end to the last major on any tour scheduled at a Chicago area course.

PGA Tour Champions hasn’t announced its schedule for next season but executive director Greg McLaughlin, former tournament director of the Western Open, said the closest the circuit will come to Chicago is South Bend. The U.S. Senior Open will be played at the Warren Course there.

Though the open-to-the-public tournament festivities are over, the Champions Tour experience will continue one more day at Exmoor. A private outing, involving 88 players, is scheduled there today.

Being charitable

Constellation, as part of its sponsorship of the tournament, will provide $500,000 in grants to five Chicago charities that focus on education, youth development and affordable housing.

The charities are headed by the Evans Scholars Foundation, the Western Golf Association’s arm that provides scholarships for deserving caddies. Other beneficiaries are the Big Shoulders Fund, which supports inner-city Chicago schools; Girls in the Game, Habitat for Humanity Chicago and Special Olympics Chicago.

Bits and pieces

Jerry Kelly and Duffy Waldorf shot the best rounds on Sunday – 8-under-par 64s. Kelly made eight birdies to climb into a tie for fourth place. Kelly and Miguel Angel Jimenez, who tied for 10th, are the only players with top-10 finishes in each of the first four Champions majors this season.

The local hopes struggled. Barrington product Gary Hallberg, who was inducted into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame last year, finished at 7-under and in a tie for 32nd and Jeff Sluman was 2-under and in a tie for 57th.

Sixty of the 76 finishers bettered par. There were two withdrawals – John Daly and Fred Funk.

Can Langer continue his domination in Senior Players tourney?

If ever there was a player who could dominate a tournament it’d be Bernhard Langer at the Constellation Senior Players Championship.

The 60-year old German star won the tournament in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and finished second to Scott McCarron last year. Langer will try to get back on the winning side when the 36th staging of the event tees off on Thursday at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park.

Unlike some of the major tournaments, the Senior Players changes courses each year. That hasn’t bothered Langer in the least. He’s finished in the top 10 nine times in his last 10 starts in the tournament.

“It’s obviously been a lot of fun,’’ he said after his first look at Exmoor on Tuesday. “I’m having great memories, especially playing different golf courses. Sometimes you get to a golf course that you really enjoy and you play very well, but in this instance they were all different venues. I was just fortunate enough to play some really good golf on different venues.’’

He likened Exmoor, a Donald Ross design that dates back to 1896, to the Phildelphia Cricket Club. He won the Senior Players there in 2016, but Langer has been able to win most anywhere.

“He’s still the guy,’’ said long-time rival Fred Funk. “He’s 60-plus and still special, with no weaknesses. His strength is his mind. He went through the yips, then the ban of anchor putter.’’

Those putting-related issues didn’t bother Langer for long He is still the only player to win all five majors on PGA Tour Champions and his 10 wins in those events is also a record..

“This season has been good, though it started a little bit slower than some of the other years,’’ said Langer. “ I got it back on track and had a number of opportunities for victory before finally pulling one off in Houston.’’

That title at the Insperity Invitational is his only win of this season, but Langer lost two other tournaments in playoffs. He is fourth on the Charles Schwab Cup money list with $1,076,346, trailing David Toms, Jerry Kelly and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

The 78 players competing at Exmoor, though, comprise the toughest field of the season on PGA Tour Champions. It features 49 of the top 50 on the current money list, the only absentee being Steve Stricker who is competing in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic instead.

Besides Langer, five other past winners of the Senior Players Championship are in the field – Jay Haas (2009), Hale Irwin (1999), Mark O’Meara (2010), Kenny Perry (2013) and Loren Roberts (2007). Seven members of the field are in the World Golf Hall of Fame – Irwin, Langer, O’Meara, Tom Kite, Sandy Lyle, Colin Montgomerie and Vijay Singh.

Fifty-six members of the field have accounted for 328 PGA Tour victories and 52 of them have accounted for 258 titles on PGA Tour Champions. Twenty have at least one win on both the regular tour and Champions circuit.

Langer, even at 60, isn’t limiting himself to senior golf. He leaves Chicago on Sunday for the British Open at Carnoustie. That’s not the Senior British Open, it’s the third of this year’s four majors in all of golf. Langer won the event at Carnoustie in 1999.

“A brutal course,’’ he said. “I don’t know how it’ll be set up, but when I played there it was the worst setup I’ve ever seen in a British Open. That wasn’t much fun.’’

But Exmoor could be. He called the course conditioning “phenomenal.’’

“If you play well you can win on most courses, so it’s not so much the course or the setup,’’ said Langer. “But I do like this golf course. It’s all right there in front of you. There’s no trickery about it.’’

Trio shares Senior Players lead, but Small is in contention, too

Anybody who follows golf in Illinois shouldn’t be surprised when Mike Small gets into contention in a tournament, but when he puts himself in position to win a major title on PGA Tour Champions, well, that’s another matter.

The Illinois men’s coach did just that on Saturday, shooting a third-round 66 at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park. A fast start got Small within a shot of the lead and he remained there most of the rainy day before hitting the 54-hole stop two swings behind leaders Jeff Maggert, Bart Bryant and Scott McCarron – the tourney’s defending champion. The three leaders stand at 16-under-par 200 for 54 holes.

McCarron and Bryant posted 65s in the third round and fourth-place Vijay Singh matched Small’s 66. Small shares fifth with Bernard Langer, a three-time winner of the tournament and last year’s runner-up.

If anyone is surprised by Small’s lofty standing in the tournament, they shouldn’t be. At least Small isn’t.

“The last few years I haven’t done that much,’’ said Small. “I’d play one week, then have two or three off, then play another one. This year I’m playing three, four weeks in a row. I don’t usually do that. Ever, really.’’

While he’s dominated events like the Illinois PGA Championship, which he’s won a record 12 times, and Illinois Open, which he captured four times, Small’s top performances on the national stage have come at the PGA Professionals National Championship. He won that one three times, but those events are a long way from the caliber of the championship he could win on Sunday.

The Senior Players annually draws the strongest field of the five majors on PGA Tour Champions. And Small wouldn’t rule out his chances of winning.

“Who knows? I’ve got nothing to lose,’’ he said. “I’m just going to play golf tomorrow and I’m going to work on what I’ve got to work on. My golf swing has got to get better and more consistent. It leaves me sometimes, so I’ve got to work on that. If I can pay attention to that I’ll be all right.’’

Small’s game was more than “all right’’ on the front nine on Saturday. He had three birdies and an eagle en route to shooting a 31. Small finished it off with some great iron shots that set up birdies – from two feet at No. 8 and six feet at No. 9.

His play steadied after that until a bogey at the 17th dropped him two shots off the pace.

“That put a little damper on the day,’’ said Small. “Easiest tee shot of the day, and I put it in the trees.’’

Still, a player who is not a member of PGA Tour Champions – Small got into the event off three good showings in tournaments that gave him sponsor exemptions — is 18 holes away from winning one of the most prestigious titles available on the 50-and-over circuit.

Not every one of the seasoned veterans on the tour is surprised that Small is so high on the leaderboard. McCarron and Small have the same teacher, E.A. Tischler. Tischler worked with both of them this week before the tournament rounds at Exmoor.

“It’s not surprising at all for Mike Small,’’ said McCarron. “We played a practice round on Tuesday and he hit the ball really well. I’m not surprised at all that Mike Small is up there. He’s a great player, but he’s got one of the best jobs around, being a college coach. Even if he won he can’t give that up.’’

McCarron believes that this week’s good showing will benefit Small’s coaching.

“He’s always got good recruits,’’ said McCarron. “It’s amazing up at Illinois, which is not a great place in the winter. He recruits very well, and he’s got a great program there. I’m sure this will help.’’

Because of the threat of inclement weather Saturday’s round was played in threesomes starting off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees. That won’t be the case today. First tee time is 7:55 a.m. and play will be in twosomes. Small and Langer will be paired for the second straight day, starting at 1:45 p.m. Singh and Maggert follow at 1:55 and McCarron and Bryant are last off at 2:05. It’ll mark the fifth straight year that the defending champion plays in the last group of the final round.

Pavel leads latest of Champions’ bunched up major tourneys

The Constellation Senior Players Championship, in progress at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park, could be the last major golf championship in the Chicago area for quite awhile. None of the pro tours have such a tournament scheduled here after the last putt drops at Exmoor on Sunday.

On PGA Tour Champions, however, majors are a little different. The 50-and-over circuit holds five of them each year. They’re 72-hole events, while most of the regular tour stops are 54 holes.

The scheduling of them is also on the weird side. This is what Scott McCarron, defending champion in the Senior Players, calls “Major Season.’’

The Senior Players is the middle major in a three-tournament stretch. David Toms won the U.S. Senior Open two weeks ago and the tour didn’t have a tournament the following week. The circuit is also idle for a week after the Senior Players before another major, the Senior British Open, tees off. No other pro tour schedules like that.

“I think it’s great,’’ said McCarron. “I love playing four-day events. I love playing where they get the golf courses tough, so it’s great to play three in six weeks basically. It’s a lot of fun for us.’’

Scott Parel had the most fun on Friday, shooting a 6-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead midway through the championship. Parel, at 11-under-par 133, leads Brandt Jobe and Jeff Maggert by one stroke and some of the circuit’s more high-profile stars – McCarron among them – are in a seven-way tie for fourth, two shots back.

Maggert dropped out of a share for the lead when he finished his round with a three-putt bogey at No. 18 on Friday. McCarron also lost a shot – and a share of second place – with a bogey at the last.

“When you make a bogey on the last hole with a sand wedge (for your approach), that’s really disappointing,’’ said McCarron. “But I’m in the mix, so it’s all right.’’

Among those joining McCarron at 9-under are Kenny Perry, the co-first-round leader with Illinois coach Mike Small; Bernhard Langer, the man McCarron upset in last year’s tournament at Caves Valley in Maryland; and the always dangerous Vijay Singh.

Small dropped into a tie for 11th after shooting a 71. Langer had won the Senior Players three years in a row before finishing second to McCarron last year. Now they could duel again in the final 36 holes at Exmoor.

If Parel hangs on to win it would be a surprise. He came to golf late, after working 10 years in the computer industry. He didn’t play college golf and didn’t turn pro until he was 31 years old.. An early starter on Friday, he didn’t think his score would hold up for the lead after his round was over – but it did.

“If the conditions stay the same you’re going to have to shoot the same kind of scores that I’ve shot the last two days to have a chance to win,’’ said Parel. “The course is in perfect shape. The greens are perfect. So guys are going to make a lot of birdies out there.’’

McCarron likes the course but doesn’t feel his defending champion status means much.

“Defending champion doesn’t mean much unless you’re coming back to the same golf course you won at,’’ he said. “Then you have some good positive vibes. Exmoor was a completely new golf course to me and a lot of guys.’’

He’s been battling a sore right ankle that will require surgery when the season is over.

“It’ll be on the ligament that goes right through the ankle. They’ll reattach it,’’ he said. “It doesn’t bother me playing golf. It just bothers me walking. Now it’s starting to bother me under the ball of the foot, so pushing off is difficult. I’m limping around, but that’s the way it goes.’’

Friday’s low score was a 64 by Peter Lonard, who climbed from a tie for 46th place into a tie for 15th. Fifty-six of the 78 starters are under par for the first 36 holes. Today’s play starts at 8 a.m. with Parel, Jobe and Maggert going off last at 10 a.m.

Illini coach Small shares first-round lead at Senior Players tourney

Illinois coach Mike Small started Friday’s second round of the Constellation Senior Players Championship in a tie for the lead and then made birdies on his first two holes. The good times didn’t last for long, however.

Small dropped back after that and finished with a 71. That didn’t knock him out of contention going into the weekend rounds at Exmoor Country Club, but the focus shifted – for awhile at least – to how his Illini stars of the last four seasons are doing in their first two months as touring pros.

Dylan Meyer earned over $200,000 in his first two starts and Nick Hardy made the cut in all four of his tournaments. Both will play on the weekend at the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic after getting into the field on sponsor exemptions.

“Dylan is one of the most talented players I’ve ever coached and Nick is probably the biggest grinder and the most competitive player I’ve ever coached,’’ said Small, “so between those two guys they’ve got a good future.’’

Meyer was in Champaign last weekend and worked with Small on his putting before heading to the John Deere.

“I watched them (on TV) last night and keep tabs on the guys. They know that,’’ said Small. “We keep in touch.’’

As for his own playing future at least Small is having no trouble getting into tournaments. He is playing at Exmoor because he squeezed into the top 70 on PGA Tour Champions’ Charles Schwab Cup money list. He needed to hole a chip shot on his last hole in his last tournament in Madison, Wis., to do it.

That got him into the major at Exmoor and – because he was a top-10 finisher in Madison – he can also play in the 3M tournament in Minnesota after that.

Then comes the Illinois Open, which Small has won four times, and the Illinois PGA Championship, which Small has won a record 12 times. The Illinois PGA Championship ends on the day classes resume in Champaign. After that Small’s strictly a coach again, but he believes his tournament play now helps his recruiting.

“I’m going out to the U.S. Junior next week for three days,’’ he said. “What better conversation piece for recruits than this: I played with Bernhard (Langer) the Saturday of the tournament in Wisconsin, and that was a great learning experience for me. What better way for a coach to still be learning, still growing?’’

As far as playing goes he has no goals.

“If I still have fun doing it, if I still get nervous and still get a little anxiety, that’s good,’’ he said. “I’ve had a heckuva run. Golf has been very good to me. If I can do this for three or four more years and still be competitive I’ll do it. If I’m not competitive I won’t.’’

Crosby is a surprise leader after Round 1 of Senior Women’s Open

Scotland’s Trish Johnson is the only woman to have won a major senior tournament. She won the only one – the first Senior LPGA Championship last fall – and she got off to a good start on making it two-for-two in Thursday’s first round of the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton.

She’s not leading, though. Elaine Crosby, a late starter, posted a 3-under-par 70 to claim a one-stroke lead on Johnson, Sweden’s Liselotte Neumann and England’s Laura Davies. Crosby, 60, plays on The Legends Tour.

Johnson, who led wire to wire in the Senior LPGA Championship at Indiana’s French Lick Resort, won’t be able to go wire to wire at Chicago Golf Club, and Crosby, a former member of the LPGA Tour who lives in Jackson, Mich., wasn’t her only problem in the first round. Johnson encountered a couple things that were unnerving.

For one, though she was in the second threesome to tee off, there was a wait at the first tee. Opening ceremonies involved remarks by Mike Davis, executive director of the U.S. Golf Association, and a stirring rendition of The National Anthem by Grammy winner Heather Headley. Then came the opening tee shot by JoAnne Carner, a ready-made photo op for fans who stood four-deep at 7 a.m. to celebrate the long-awaited national championship for women 50 and over.

“A 20-minute wait or so on the first tee, it was quite nerve-racking, to be honest,’’ said Johnson after posting her 71.

Then there was the pin position at the par-3 10th hole. Johnson put her tee shot on the 136-yard hole on the back of the green, then rolled her downhill putt past the cup, off the green and into a bunker. Playing partner Helen Alfredsson of Sweden did the same thing and so did former U.S. Women’s Open champions Pat Bradley and Amy Alcott.

“If you’re behind the flag you cannot stop it. You’ve got to be either short or to the side,’’ said Johnson, who apparently is learning fast about America’s first 18-hole course that is hosting its 12th U.S. Golf Association championship but only the second for women. The first was the U.S. Women’s Amateur way back in 1903.

Chicago Golf Club offered a look this week’s players don’t see very much. Spectators can walk with them in the fairways. There are no gallery ropes, just directional markers around the greens.

That’s not the only difference from her first major win at French Lick, a Pete Dye design.

“French Lick is harder than this course,’’ said Johnson. “The fairways here are a lot wider. French Lick’s aren’t at all; You can hardly see any of them. And here it’s four rounds walking, which is not something you do on The Legends Tour.

Crosby qualified for this Senior Open at Conway Farms in Lake Forest, shooting a 72 to earn one of the five spots offered there. A big supporter of The Legends Tour, she has hosted its Wendy’s Charity Classic tournament for the last 16 years.

“Hopefully The Legends will gain momentum from this Senior Open,’’ said Crosby. “It’ll show that we can play. We may not have a lot of tournaments, but we do have a lot of pro-ams and we’re really good at those.’’

Davies – one of the expected contenders — finished her round in style, making eagle on the 18th hole. She hit a good drive on the 425-yard par-5 and put a 7-iron approach from 168 yards to 10 feet. She played with Juli Inkster and Neumann, and they’ll be paired again in today’s second round.

Neumann and Davies go way back. They played together in 1979 in the European Junior Championship. Inkster, the third member of the threesome, is still active on the LPGA Tour but she couldn’t keep up with the two Europeans. Poor putting has hampered her much of this season, but that wasn’t the problem on Thursday.

“I hit the ball like crap,’’ she said. “I drove really bad and played defensive all day. I hit maybe four fairways with my driver, and that’s been my best club all year. But it could have been a lot worse. I’m just excited that I actually putted pretty good.’’

So did Jamie Fischer, the director of instruction at Conway Farms. A qualifier for the tournament at her home club, Fischer started the finals with a 1-over-74 and is tied for 11th place after Round 1.

Carner, the star of the show at the first tee in early morning, made birdie on the last hole to shoot her age – a 79.