If any player should have received a special invitation to the first U.S. Open ever played in Wisconsin it would be Steve Stricker. He won 12 PGA Tour events including the 1997 Western Open and three straight John Deere Classics from 2009-11. He’s also the current U.S. Presidents Cup captain. U.S. Golf Association leaders, however,…
Author: lenz
A third straight Final Four finish for Illini golfers
Illinois reached the Final Four of the NCAA men’s golf tournament Wednesday. Unfortunately, for the third straight year, that’s where the season ended for coach Mike Smalll’s perennial powerhouse. The Illini qualified for the match play climax to the tourney for the sixth time in the past seven years and got through the quarterfinals for…
Meyer falters, but Illini advance to match play at Rich Harvest
Illinois didn’t play its best golf on Monday in the final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championships. Coach Mike Small even had to talk tough to his players late in the round at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. “But that was exactly what we needed. We needed someone in our face,’’ said…
Gritty Meyer could become Illini’s third NCAA medalist
The individual champion will be crowned Monday in the NCAA men’s golf championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, and that player could well be Illinois junior Dylan Meyer. Meyer starts the fourth round in a tie for third among the individuals, three strokes behind Scottie Scheffler of Texas. Scheffler, after three straight rounds…
Illini off to good NCAA start on another bad weather day at Rich Harvest
The miserable weather that plagued the NCAA women’s golf championship last week unfortunately carried over to the men’s event as well. Friday’s first round of the men’s competition at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove couldn’t be completed, and Big Ten champion Illinois is one of the teams with holes left to play today before…
Runner-up finish in NCAA tourney doesn’t faze NU women golfers
A national championship eluded the Northwestern women’s golf team Wednesday, but you wouldn’t have known it by their post-tournament meeting with the media. It was non-stop clowning until coach Emily Fletcher was called on to reflect on the weeks’ surprising developments. NU had a so-so regular season, was dethroned as Big Ten champion and finished…
Rainouts shorten NCAA Women’s, Legends tourneys
Saturday was not a good day for all the top women golfers who are visiting for two big tournaments. Both the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove and the $300,000 Red Nose Walgreen’s Charity Classic, for players on the LPGA Legends Tour, were rained out. No balls were struck…
Miserable weather can’t derail fast NCAA start by NU women golfers
The Northwestern women’s golf team couldn’t repeat as conference champions; the Wildcats were runner-up to Michigan State. And, they couldn’t win their NCAA regional, either. NU was second to Alabama in that one. Coach Emily Fletcher’s team was no bridesmaid in Friday’s first round of the NCAA Women’s Championship, however. The day may have been…
NU women golfers are in spotlight as NCAA tees off at Rich Harvest
The golf version of the NCAA Championships tees off Friday at Rich Harvest Farms. The women go first in the competition that will keep the private layout in Sugar Grove a busy place until the last putt drops in the men’s tournament on May 31. Northwestern is the “home team’’ in the women’s competition. Coach…
Stem-cell therapy gives golfer India a career boost
Deerfield’s Vince India has won the Illinois State Amateur and been runner-up in the Illinois Open. Now he’s poised to go on to bigger and better things thanks to his willingness to try stem-cell therapy to cure his ailing back. “Stem-cell therapy is in more of a clinical stage now,’’ said India, who has playing…