Jim Sobb’s playing record speaks for itself. The 30-year director of golf at Ivanhoe Club won eight of the Illinois PGA’s four major tournaments, including the IPGA Championship three times. He also won nine of the section’s Senior majors, and this month he’ll go after his sixth title in the IPGA Senior Championship. He has…
Author: lenz
Illinois Open win puts Vince India in select state golf company
Unless your name is Vince India the 69th playing of the Illinois Open will likely be an easily forgettable experience. Annually the biggest tournament for Illinois residents, this year’s version was a weather nightmare. Heavy rains delayed the first and second rounds. The weather cleared for the third round, but it couldn’t start until second-round…
After an array of upgrades historic Tam O’Shanter is thriving again
Six decades ago the Tam O’Shanter Country Club in suburban Chicago was among the most famous golf courses in the world. It was owned by George S. May back then, and May was a man far ahead of his time when it came to golf promotion. Tam O’Shanter opened in 1925. May took ownership in…
No reason to think Small won’t make it win No. 13 in IPGA Championship
The Illinois PGA Championship has been Mike Small’s personal playground for nearly two decades and there’s no reason to think that the 96th playing of the tournament this month at Stonewall Orchard in Grayslake should be any different. The University of Illinois men’s coach has won the IPGA title a record 12 times, his first…
PGA Tour schedule for 2018-19 will require some fresh thinking
I did enough venting about this year’s tournament schedule in our last issue. Then – wouldn’t you know it? – the PGA Tour made its plans for the 2018-19 wrap-around season official. There’s lots of food for thought when you analyze that one. Just knowing the PGA Tour dates isn’t enough to project how our…
Hammer’s Western Amateur win was one for the ages
This week’s Illinois Open will be hard-pressed to duplicate the drama provided in the Western Amateur, which concluded on Saturday with one of the most dramatic championship matches in the event’s 116-year history. Cole Hammer, an incoming freshman at the University of Texas, was 4-up on Alabama senior-to-be Davis Riley with eight holes to play…
Did Patrick Flavin attempt a `Mission Impossible?’
Last year Highwood’s Patrick Flavin did something very special, winning both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open. No player had won both in the same year since David Ogrin did it in 1980. This year Flavin will try to do something even more special. He’ll try to repeat in both. No player has ever…
Sunset Ridge is back in the tournament spotlight for first time since 1972
It’s been quite a while since Sunset Ridge had had a moment in the sun tournament-wise. The private club in Northfield hosted the Western Open in 1972. While Sunset Ridge hosted Illinois PGA stroke play events, U.S. Golf Association qualifiers and high school tournaments in subsequent years, it has been without such a high-profile event…
McCarron makes his first major title defense at Exmoor
Scott McCarron may be a battled-hardened mainstay on PGA Tour Champions, but he anticipates a unique feeling when he opens play in the Constellation Senior Players Championship at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park. “It’ll be the first time I’ve defended a title in a major,’’ said McCarron, looking ahead to the July 12-15 tournament…
Flavin reaches Western Am Sweet 16 in his farewell to amateur golf
Patrick Flavin’s amateur career is going to end with a bang after all. He earned a coveted place in the Sweet 16 of the 116th Western Amateur on Thursday at Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield and his professional debut at next week’s Illinois Open looks much more promising than it did a week ago….