Author: lenz

Montgomerie goes for a three-peat in Senior PGA at Harbor Shores

As far as major championships go, this is a rare lean year in the Chicago area. Last year there was both the U.S. Amateur and the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship. The Amateur has come and gone and the BMW is taking a year away; it’ll be played at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis in September before returning to Conway Farms, in Lake Forest, in 2017.

That leaves the 77th Senior PGA Championship, which begins its 72-hole run on Thursday at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich. Roughly a two-hour drive away, it’s by far the closest major tournament on any of the pro tours to be played in the general vicinity of Chicago.

The Senior PGA was played at Harbor Shores in 2012 and 2014 and will return in 2018. Last year it was played on French Lick’s Pete Dye Course in Indiana.

This week’s tourney has by far the best storyline than any of those. Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie will be the focal point. He’s trying for a three-peat, something that hasn’t happened in the Senior PGA since Hale Irwin dominated from 1996-98.

“Three in a row would be something very special,’’ said Montgomerie during a recent visit to Harbor Shores, where he won his first major title of any sort in 2014. “That doesn’t happen very often in any sport.’’

Montgomerie was an established international star before joining the Champions Tour. He never lost a singles match in eight Ryder Cup appearances, but his career was also notable for lots of near-misses in the big events. He was second in five majors between 1994 and 2006.

He’s blossomed on the 50-and-over circuit, however. His first three wins were majors – the two Senior PGAs plus the 2014 U.S. Senior Open. The first of this year’s five Champions Tour majors was last week’s Regions Tradition. Montgomerie finished in a tie for 17th place as Bernhard Langer won the title.

Illinois Amateur champ in NCAA finals

Medinah’s Tee-k Kelly, an Ohio State senior who won two of the last three Illinois State Amateur titles, was medalist in the NCAA regional at Blackwolf Run, in Kohler, Wis., last week and advanced to the NCAA finals. They run Friday though Wednesday, June 1, at Eugene Country Club in Oregon.

Illinois also qualified as a team at Blackwolf. The Illini won their fourth straight regional title and will be making their ninth straight appearance in the finals, a streak topped only by the 10 in a row by Texas and Southern California.

Illinois coach Mike Small, still competitive as a player at the pro level, was also awarded a sponsor’s exemption to the Lincoln Land Charity Classic, a new Web.com Tour event to be played next month at Panther Creek in Springfield.

Here and there

Erica Shepherd, of Greenwood, Ind., and Ashleigh Simon, of South Africa, advanced to the U.S. Women’s Open finals at Monday’s sectional qualifying round at River Forest Country Club. Shepherd was medialist with a 3-under-par 142 over 36 holes, two strokes better than Simon. Sabrina Bohanno, of Norridge, and Dana Gattone, of Addison, were the top Chicago area players. They finished eight strokes back in a tie for 11th place.

Medinah Country Club hosts its Patriots Day event for the seventh time on Tuesday. Last year’s event raised about $300,000. This year’s has a full field on the recently renovated No. 1 course. The event, sold out since February, will feature 35 foursomes. Veterans will also be honored at Willow Crest. That course has invited veterans to play free after noon on Memorial Day with tee times required.

Kyle Nathan, of Exmoor in Highland Park, added the Chicago District Golf Association’s Mid-Amateur title to the Illinois Mid-Am he won four years. Nathan CDGA win in the second annual event came last week at Lake Shore, in Glencoe.

Ivanhoe Club is going to be a busy place. The club plays host to the Rust-Oleum Championship, Chicago’s new Web.com Com Tour stop, from June 6-12 and the next day it will host the College of Lake County Classic, a fundraiser for the school’s scholarship fund.

Libertyville Sports Complex will kick off its Lessons for Kids program on June 14. The five-day camps for boys and girls in the 4-6, 7-10 and 11-plus age groups will be directed by PGA professional Chris McConnell.

The Illinois PGA’s Senior Match Play Championship concludes on Wednesday at Shoreacres, in Lake Bluff.

Want something different? Try the Mackinac Island courses

Golfers can enjoy the beauty of the Grand Hotel while playing the front nine of its Jewel course.

MACKINAC ISLAND, Michigan – There’s a lot of reasons why people take the 20-minute boat ride from Mackinaw City or St. Ignace to Mackinac Island from May through October every year. The Island is an interesting place. It’s different, and not just because of the boat ride required to get there.

Visitors – up to 15,000 a day during peak times – want to check out the elegant Grand Hotel – even if they don’t spend the night there. They like the shopping and dining options. They like the bike, carriage and horseback rides. They like the historical attractions, notably Fort Mackinac. The list goes on.

Very few visitors consider playing golf a high priority when they head for the Island, but maybe they should – especially the very serious golfers.

Mackinac has a course like no other, one that’s well worth checking out. Its Wawashkamo nine-holer is one of the very few unvarnished courses left from the pre-1900 era when American golf got its start. Golf historians say there are only about a half dozen courses throughout the entire U.S. that have been preserved as close to their original state as Wawashkamo.

The course that its aficionados simply call Wawa was built in 1898 on land that was already historical. A battle in the War of 1812 was fought there and a tree that was on the premises way back then – it was estimated to be 200 to 220 years old when it fell down a few years ago – is still eulogized on the course.

A carriage ride, with clubs loaded on the back, is part of the golf experience at Mackinac Island.

A group of Chicago guys who had cottages on the Island were looking for things to do on their visits, and a golf course was good for starters. They brought in Alex Smith, a Scotsman who was greenskeeper of the Washington Park course in Chicago, to design a one. Smith visited the Island and did a preliminary design before focusing on playing. He went on to win the U.S. Open twice.

The Chicago gang decided on the Indian-inspired name, which means “Crooked Trail.’’ Smith’s design underwent some changes in its early years but it remains very much like the one that Smith designed, and that makes it very historically significant.

“But,’’ said Chuck Olson, the head pro at Wawashkamo for the last five years, “hardly anyone knows it’s there.’’

Motorized vehicles are extremely limited on Mackinac Island, so Wawashkamo’s players get to the course by walking, riding a bicycle or – most of the time these days – taking a horse-drawn carriage ride that takes about 20 minutes from the Grand Hotel.

Both the Mackinac Island courses are short, but they have challenging water holes like this one.

In the early years players built their own tees, using sand and water, and you can still do that on the first tee at Wawashkamo. You can also rent clubs from Hogan that are from the pre-1935 era. (I did both). Modern day clubs, balls and tees are used by most of the players now however.

They take on a course that has nine holes but can be played as an 18-holer thanks to the availability of alternate tee placements. As an 18-holer the course measurers 5,949 yards. It features cross bunkers and chocolate drops (which are piles of stones) as hazards. Most unusual, though, is the Circus Ring that surrounds one of the greens. In the early years the ring was made up of high grass. It was there to force golfers to loft their approach shots. That became a problem because the golfers who couldn’t do that couldn’t find their balls in the grassy Circus Ring.

Now the “ring’’ is simply a roped off area around the green, and golfers aren’t allowed to set foot in that area.

Olson resides in a house a few steps from the clubhouse, so rarely leaves the premises until the winter weather sets in. He doesn’t get much company from players, since the course gets only about 5,000 rounds a year – from May to October – but Wawashkamo has about 120 members who enjoy the social life there. The outings that Olson organizes for them are a big reason the club can survive financially.

This turtle’s shell is painted with historical scenes from Wawashkamo’s storied past. Behind it was once the club’s caddie shack.

Olson obviously enjoys his job, but he’ll never be around as long as Frank Dufina, one of his predecessors. Dufina was Wawashkamo’s head pro from 1904 until 1967. That’s believed to the longest run by any pro at one club. Olson has carried on the Wawashkamo tradition.

“It’s a great place that has existed for 118 years with little change, and we are very interested in continuing to be good stewards to allow the club to have many more years as a great example of 19th century golf,’’ said Olson.

Mackinac Island has more golf than that offered at Wawashkamo. It’s hard to see most of the holes, though, because they’re off the beaten path. The holes that are easily visible comprise the front nine of the Grand Hotel’s course, which is called The Jewel.

The Jewel is no modern day marvel, either. The front side dates back to the 1920s. Now called the Grand Nine, it was one of the umpteen designs of Tom Bendelow. He inexplicably is not in the World Golf Hall of Fame, but his creations dominated the courses built in the early years of American golf.

The Woods restaurant includes the first duckpin bowling alley in the United States.

Bendelow designed the Grand Nine across the street from the Grand Hotel, which opened in 1887. His nine has views of Lake Huron and Round Island. Unlike Wawashkamo, however, the Grand Nine was renovated by Michigan architect Jerry Matthews in 1987 and Matthews designed a second nine, called The Woods, in 1994. The Woods has views of the Straits of Mackinac and the Mackinac Bridge.

Those two nines are over a mile apart, so a carriage ride of about 20 minutes is required to play all 18 holes.

Jason Horlicks, the head pro for 17 seasons, says The Jewel gets about 14,000 rounds a year, many coming from corporate outings.

“That’s not bad, considering the short season we have and the fact that we close at 6 p.m. each day,’’ said Horlicks. Daylight is available until 9 p.m. for much of the six-month season, and the other courses in Michigan take full advantage of that, but the schedule of events at the Grand Hotel necessitates shorter hours for The Jewel.

The Grand Nine is shorter and tighter than the Woods and both have nice finishing attractions. Together they form a 5,457-yard par-67 course from the back tees. Those going just nine holes can stop off at the Jockey Club for post-round socializing and The Woods concludes in front of the even more unique Bavarian-style restaurant of the same name. The Woods restaurant includes Bobby’s Bar in addition to full-service dining and the oldest duckpin bowling alley in the U.S. is also located in the clubhouse.
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Fountains are just part of the eye-catching features on the Grand Nine.

Chicago’s new Web.com Tour event will be an upgrade from its predecessors

The PGA Tour is bringing its secondary circuit back to the Chicago area for the first time since 2008, but things have changed a lot since then.

The Glen Club, in Glenview, hosted the LaSalle Bank (or Bank of America) Open on what was then called the Nationwide Tour through 2008 before sponsorship problems set in. The return comes under the banner of the Web.com Tour on June 6-12 when the $600,000 Rust-Oleum Championship comes to Ivanhoe Club.

Scott Cassin, tournament director at The Glen, is also in that role at Ivanhoe and this week he explained just how different the tournaments of the past were compared to the upcoming event. It goes far beyond the tour’s name change. The Nationwide was more of a developmental circuit.

“That’s no longer the case,’’ said Cassin. “Now (the Web.com Tour) is the pathway to the PGA Tour. It’s gained a lot of stature in the last couple years with international players coming in.’’

Previously, players used the Nationwide Tour to prepare for the PGA fall qualifying school. Now the Q-School feeds just to the Web.com Tour. So does the PGA’s Latinoamerica, Canadian and China circuits, which weren’t under the PGA banner a decade ago. The Web.com Tour’s best go directly to the PGA Tour in 2017.

“This (Web.com) tour is still about fun, and there’s a lot of young, hungry golfers,’’ said Cassin. And some older ones, too.

The initial entry list for Ivanhoe includes such names as Jonathan Byrd, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour; Len Mattiace, a PGA Tour champion twice and once a runner-up in the Masters; and Greg Chalmers, a veteran of the international circuits with wins in both the Australian Open and Australian PGA championships.

Based on the early entrants Ivanhoe will get nine of the current top 10 money-winners on the Web.com circuit, the only one not signed up yet being No. 1 Wesley Bryan. There’ll be a number of local players as well, headed by Lake Forest’s Brad Hopfinger — the last of only seven players to earn wins in both the Illinois Amateur and Illinois Open. Winner of the Amateur in 2011 and the Open in 2014, he moved up to the Web.com from the Latinoamerica circuit this year.

The structure of the Rust-Oleum Championship, which had been held the last two years in Cleveland, will be more comprehensive, too. At Ivanhoe – the tourney site for the next three years — there’ll be a celebrity pro-am and two qualifying rounds on Monday and the first local qualifier for the 2017 Drive, Chip & Putt contest on Tuesday before the 72-hole championship tees off. Tickets, though, remain affordable. They’re $20 for the week with those 17 and under admitted free.

Here and there

The Chicago District Golf Assn. concludes its three-day Mid-Amateur Championship on Wednesday at Lake Shore Country Club, in Glencoe, before conducting a sectional qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Open on Monday at Oak Park Country Club. Only two players from the 90 teeing off at Oak Park will advance to the Women’s Open proper at CordeValle in California in July.

Wauconda’s Josh Esler shared medalist honors at Monday’s U.S. Open local qualifying round at Exmoor in Highland Park with Chicago’s Brian Atkinson. Those two, plus Chicago’s James Lelliott, Maryville’s Keenaj Sampson and Rockford’s Kyle Slattery, qualified for next month’s sectional eliminations.

The NCAA men’s six regionals conclude Wednesday (TODAY), but Doug Ghim – a Texas sophomore from Arlington Heights – was an immediate sensation with a 64 in Monday’s first round of a regional in Franklin, Tenn. He had six birdies and an eagle in his first bogey-free round as a collegiate player. Illinois and Northwestern complete their bids to reach the NCAA finals on Wednesday with the Illini competing in Kohler, Wis., and the Wildcats in Stillwater, Okla.

Bears’ kicker Robbie Gould will co-host the Good as Gould event on June 4 at Eagle Ridge, in Galena. Gould and host professional Reagan Davis will conduct a free, interactive golf demonstration for families and individuals and the resort is also offering a VIP Golf Package for participants.

Jay Freitag of Glen View Club and Simon Allan of Prestwick, in Frankfort, led the way in Monday’s Illinois PGA stroke play event at Westmoreland, in Wilmette. Both shot 69s. Next up is the IPGA Senior Match Play Championship, which runs Monday through Wednesday at Shoreacres, in Lake Bluff.

HERE AND THERE: Boyne’s Heather course starts 50th anniversary season

The 10th hole at Harbor Shores, in Benton Harbor, Mich., has a green like no other. At least I’ve never seen one like it. This big, heavily-sloped monster, designed by Jack Nicklaus, will test players in the Senior PGA Championship from May 28-29.
Here’s the latest for golfers who like to travel:

The Heather Course at Michigan’s Boyne Highlands Resort hit a milestone when it opened for the season on Friday the 13th. The 2016 campaign will mark the Heather’s 50th anniversary season. The Robert Trent Jones Sr. design was the first course at Boyne.

Heather opened for the season on the same day as The Preserve and the Quarry/Preserve at nearby Bay Harbor, and that was cause for celebration as well. Bay Harbor, with its three distinct nines, is beginning its 20th anniversary season, and Friday’s openings meant that all of the Boyne courses are now taking players.

Four of them – the Arthur Hills Course at Boyne Highlands, Alpine at Boyne Mountain and Crooked Tree and Links/Quarry at Bay Harbor opened on April 29 and The Donald Ross Memorial and The Moor at Boyne Highlands and The Monument at Boyne Mountain opened on May 6.

Purdue course to open soon

Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind., will soon have two Pete Dye-designed courses. Dye’s Kampen Course hosted the 2003 NCAA women’s championship and the 2008 NCAA men’s championship.

Now the second course at the Birck-Boilermaker Complex will be known as the Ackerman-Allen course. Staffers hope to have it available for the Purdue Club Scholarship Day on June 4.

Ackerman-Allen was previous known as Purdue South. It was designed by Bill Diddle in 1964 and hosted a memorable NCAA men’s championship in 1961 when the host Boilermakers won the team title and Jack Nicklaus was medalist.

That course was modified by Chicago architect Larry Packard in 1968 to accommodate some residential building and the course underwent still more changes from 1996 to 1998, when the Birck Boilermaker Complex was opened.

There figures to be plenty of drama at this 18th green on Blackwolf Run’s Meadows Valley Course when a men’s NCAA regional is held there Monday through Wednesday. (Photo by Rory Spears)

Reynolds Lake Oconee unveils Quick Six course

The Plantation Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga., re-opened on May 1 after a multi-phase restoration project directed by architect Bob Cupp. A flexible short course routing was added as part of the project.

Cupp’s design also incorporated a Quick Six course within the regular layout. None of its holes are longer than 130 yards. Mark Lammi, Reynolds’ vice president of golf, said the Quick Six will appeal to golfers of all age and skill levels and offer the option of playing a quick few holes as well.

Handa Cup is leaving U.S.

The ISPS Handa Cup matches, a fixture on the LPGA Legends Tour for 10 years, won’t be played in 2016 at the request of long-time title sponsor Dr. Haruhisa Handa. The matches, held last fall at Palm Aire, in Sarasota, FL., were scheduled to return there this year until Handa requested a postponement.

Handa wants to hold the event, which matches a team of American-born Legends players against a squad from around the world, outside the U.S. for the first time. No site for the next Handa Cup matches has been announced, but it’ll likely be held in either late spring or early summer of 2017.

This hotel room view underscores the rich history to be celebrated this year at Virginia’s Omni Homestead Resort.

Bits and pieces

The Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs, has named John Johnstone as vice president of food and beverages. He had been director of club operations at Augusta National.

St. Lucie Trail, which was added to the PGA Village complex in Port St. Lucie, FL., last year, will close on Sunday for aerification work. It’ll re-open on June 4.

Brett Schoenfield has returned to The Omni Homestead Resort in Virginia as managing director. He’ll oversee Homestead’s 250th anniversary festivities.

Crystal Springs, in Hamburg, N.J., has launched a new golf academy featuring instructor Brian Rogish. He had previously work at Turning Stone, in Syracuse, N.Y., and Nemacolin Woodlands, in Pennsylvania.

Wild Dunes, in Charleston, S.C., has announced the completion of renovations at its Boardwalk Inn and new Coastal Provisions restaurant.

Two Canadian resorts – Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and Cobble Beach – were able to open before the first day of May. Jasper Park’s opening on April 30 was its earliest in 10 years.

The Edgewood Tahoe course in Stateline, Nev., has opened for its 48th season. It’s a George Fazio design that was renovated by Tom Fazio. The course will be open through Oct. 16, 2016.

Glen View’s Bauer wins IPGA Match Play title in a walk

Kyle Bauer won the Illinois PGA’s last major title of 2015, the IPGA Players Championship. Now he’s won two in a row. (Photos by Nick Novelli).
Very few players in Illinois PGA tournaments walk their rounds. Kyle Bauer, the 11-year head pro at the Glen View club, is one who does. He doesn’t think it puts him at a competitive disadvantage, and Thursday he proved it.

Bauer captured the 65th playing of the Illinois PGA Match Play Championship at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer and his win came on a day when all the players had an unusually difficult physical test. Weather hampered the four-day event throughout, which meant the last three rounds all were played on Thursday. None of the eight players still alive on the final day had ever played three matches in one day.

“At my club I’ve never played in a golf cart,’’ said Bauer, “so I’m used to walking. I’m not sure if anybody else walks, but it’s not that big a deal. I’m used to it, but I’m sure I’ll be tired tomorrow.’’

Walking what turned out to be 45 holes in a 10-hour span wasn’t the only factor when the title was on the line. Bauer went up against long-hitting Medinah teaching pro Travis Johns, the tourney’s 2010 champion and a two-time IPGA Player of the year. Bauer played from behind on every par-4 and par-5 hole as Johns was generally 50 yards further off the tee.

Again, no insurmountable problem as Bauer worked his way to a 4 and 3 victory.

“I usually hit my drives in the fairway,’’ Bauer said. “The golf course was playing extremely long (because of the soggy conditions), and my mindset was to not give any holes away.’’

Johns won the first two holes with conceded birdie putts and Bauer needed to sink a five-foot par-saver to halve No. 3.

“At that point I was hoping to not lose 10 an 8,’’ he said. Then Johns gave him a boost, hitting his tee shot out of bounds left on the par-5 fourth.

Medinah’s Travis Johns was a 4 and 3 loser in the IPGA Match Play final.

“I struggled all week off that tee,’’ said Johns, who hit two balls in the water right at No. 4 in his earlier matches. He felt shaky putting was more responsible for his loss in the title match, though. Bauer wasn’t so sure.

He won No. 4 with only a bogey and then took No. 5 when Johns three-putted to get the match to all square.

“That settled me down. I was 2-under the rest of the day,’’ said Bauer. “That’s what this tournament is all about –not giving away holes.’’

Bauer took the lead for good with a 15-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole. He made Johns dormie with with a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 14 and closed him out with a par on the next hole after Johns found his third shot on the par-5 buried in a green-side bunker.

Despite the busy week in the first major tournament of the Chicago season Bauer may not be done yet. He’s in Monday’s local qualifying round for the U.S. Open at Exmoor in Highland Park.

NCAA tourneys could provide a bonanza for Illini, NU

The collegiate golf season reaches its climax in the next three weeks, and it could go down as one for ages as far as Illinois schools are concerned.

Both the men’s and women’s teams at Northwestern qualified for the NCAA tournament and the Illinois men’s squad looms as one of the favorites for the national title again. Coach Mike Small’s Illini are ranked No. 2 in the national polls and Emily Fletcher’s NU women are No. 8 in the women’s poll.

Fletcher’s team is already qualified for the NCAA finals after last week’s rousing 18-stroke victory at a regional elimination at Shoal Creek in Alabama. Small’s Illini are the top seed in the men’s regional that starts on Monday at Blackwolf Run’s Meadows Valley Course in Kohler, Wis.

In addition to the 13 teams competing, the 10 individual invitees there include Tee-K Kelly, the Ohio State senior and Medinah member who won two of the last three Illinois State Amateur titles, and Miami of Ohio sophomore Patrick Flavin, who is from Highland Park.

Northwestern’s men’s team is the No. 9 seed in a regional at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla. All the regionals are contested over 54 holes and the top five teams and low individual at each regional qualifies for the national finals at Eugene Country Club in Oregon. The women compete at Eugene from May 20-25 and the men from May 27-June 1.

Illinois is a No. 1 regional seed for the second straight year and an NCAA qualifier for the ninth straight year on the men’s side. The Illini, ranked behind only Texas nationally, will be seeking their fourth straight regional title at Blackwolf Run.

The NU women earned at least a share of the Big Ten title in three of the last four years but the regional title was the first ever for the Wildcats, be it the men’s or women’s teams. Freshman Janet Mao shared individual honors at Shoal Creek, and that was an encouraging sign that Fletcher’s team is peaking at the perfect time. The regional marked only the third tournament where Mao’s score counted towards the team total.

Knoll tops first U.S. Open elimination

The U.S. Golf Assn. reported that 9,877 players entered the U.S. Open and the elimination process has begun for next month’s finals at Oakmont, in Pennsylvania, Ray Knoll, the 2014 Illinois Amateur champion from Naperville, carded a 4-under-par 68 to win the first Illinois local qualifier on Monday at Village Links of Glen Ellyn.

Knoll, who plays collegiately at iowa, was one stroke better than Tim Streng who teaches at Northwestern’s Wildcat Academy. NU sophomore Dylan Wu was a stroke further back but all three – along with Patrick Duffy and Kyle Kochevar – advanced to sectional play.

Another regional was held at illini Country Club in Springfield, with Bloomington’s Kyle English and former Illinois State basketball player Brandon Holtz sharing low score honors with 2-under-par 69s. Mini-tour player Kurt Slattery of Taylor Ridge, also made it to sectional play. Once again Chicago won’t have a sectional elimination. The closest will be in Ohio, but qualifiers from the locals can opt for sectional berths in any area.

Here and there

Despite a lengthy weather-related suspension of play on Tuesday the 65th llinois PGA Match Play Championship is scheduled to be completed as scheduled on Thursday at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer.

The Chicago District Golf Association’s second Mid-Amateur Championship has a Monday-Wednesday run at Lake Shore, in Glencoe.

The women’s teams from Illinois Wesleyan and Aurora are in the NCAA Division III finals this week. The tourney, which started on Tuesday, concludes on Friday at Bay Oaks in Houston.

The Illinois PGA will hold its next stroke play events on Monday at Westmoreland, in Wilmette.

Could Mistwood’s playing staff be the best in the U.S.?

Mistwood director of golf Andy Mickelson said it, almost without any hesitation.

“I’d be bold enough to say that we could put our playing staff against any in the country,’’ Mickelson told me.

And I couldn’t argue with him.

Mistwood owner Jim McWethy has a big staff of teaching pros in Romeoville and their playing resumes are impressive entering the first big month of the competitive season in the Chicago area.

Start with Mickelson. He won the PGA Assistants national championship in November on the Wanamaker Course at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, FL., and then proved that was no fluke by winning the TaylorMade national championship at Pebble Beach in March.

Brian Brodell, the director of junior development, is the reigning Illinois PGA Player of the Year and he’ll be out to repeat beginning this month at the 65th IPGA Match Play Championship at Kemper Lakes. That’s the biggest of the May tournaments and the event where Brodell got his big season in 2015 off to a great start. He finished as the runner-up to Merit Club’s Jim Billiter in that one.

But the Mistwood staff is deeper than those two. Chris Ioriatti, performance specialist, shot a record 63 over his home course last year, then teamed up with Mickelson to win the IPGA’s Fall Pro-Assistants title in 2015 and its Spring Pro-Assistants title this year.

And John Platt’s no slouch, either. Mistwood’s director of instruction and long-time coach at the high school and college level, frequently contends in the IPGA Senior tournaments. Brodell, Platt and Ioriatti are well-decorated as teachers and/or coaches but they can play, too.

“We have such a great staff,’’ said Mickelson. “We all motivate each other. That creates a culture people are attracted to; they’re attracted to good golf.’’

Mickelson is the best of the lot at the moment, but is no threat to Brodell’s bid to repeat as IPGA Player of the Year. Mickelson’s status with the PGA of America doesn’t qualify him for either the IPGA Match Play or IPGA Championship – two of the section’s four major tournaments.

While that precludes him from becoming Player of the Year, it doesn’t keep him out of big national events. Last year he won $24,000 with his victories in the PGA Assistants and TaylorMade Championships.

“Of all the club pros, that was probably the hottest six months any of them had,’’ said Mickelson, who could cash in again this November. He will be the only club pro in the Pebble Beach Invitational for TaylorMade’s players on the PGA, LPGA, European and Champions Tours.

Mickelson had a slow start as a professional player. He had no notable amateur wins before turning pro after college, and started as an assistant to then head man Visanu Tongwarin at Mistwood. When he was offered a promising job outside of golf at a Lisle packaging company Mickelson took it and regained his amateur status.

He was runner-up to Bloomington’s Kyle English in the 2011 Chicago District Amateur at Medinah before being lured back into golf via an offer from Mistwood general manager Dan Bradley. Mickelson returned to the club’s staff but it wasn’t until last year that his game exploded. Still, Mickelson — now 34 — has no intention of becoming a touring player.

“With my confidence level and where my game’s at I think I would make money at the professional level,’’ he said, “but not at this place in my life. I have a 4-year old and a 6-year old and I’m married, plus this (Mistwood) is a great place.’’

Brodell’s story is quite different. The son of a club professional in Appleton, Wis., he played college golf at Wisconsin and was the assistant coach for the Badgers for four seasons. Then he moved on to Purdue as an assistant coach for three more campaigns. He came to Mistwood two years ago in part to deal with some personal issues and has thrived on both the teaching and playing front.

“ There’s a difference between being a teacher and a coach,’’ he said. “I love to compete, and I’m confident in my ability. I’ve been through the demons of missing four-footers.’’

Playing-wise, though, he’ll compete just as he did last year – strictly in the IPGA events. Teaching will come first, and his pupils range in age from seven to 69, but Brodell will join Mickelson and Ioriatti in weekly playing sessions with members. The staff hotshots rarely play together, and Brodell won’t go far to play in tournaments, either.

“I won’t travel, but I might caddie a bit,’’ he said. One place he might do that is in the Rust-Oleum Championship, the Web.com Tour stop coming to Ivanhoe Club from June 6-12. Brodell isn’t looking at himself as a player in that event.

“If the Illinois PGA got an exemption for its Player of the Year and I could give it to anyone, I’d give it to Andy,’’ said Brodell. “He’s playing that well right now. I think I could make the cut, but Andy could win.’’

For now, at least, Brodell’s tournament aspirations are geared toward the IPGA Match Play Championship. That event helped his Player of the Year bid last year, but the loss to Billiter in the final remains a bad memory.

“I had won a lot of close matches, then (Billiter) hit one of his worst shots on the 21st hole. It went in the water, and that left the tournament for me to win,’’ said Brodell.

He couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity, though. Brodell had his own problems at Kemper Lakes’ 171-yard par-3 third hole, struggling in with a double bogey. That allowed Billiter to win the match and title with just a bogey.

Player of the Year wasn’t decided until six months later, however, and Billiter contributed to Brodell’s victory, citing club commitments for not playing in either the Illinois Open or IPGA Players Championship. Billiter also won the IPGA Championship, and those are the four events offering the most Player of the Year points.

Brodell didn’t win any of the four IPGA majors but picked up points in all of them. He tied for 12th in the Illinois Open, tied for 28th in the IPGA Championship and tied for third in the IPGA Players Championship. His Player of the Year award was just another reason for the Mistwood crew to celebrate.

Mickelson’s two big wins and the completion of McWethy’s nine-year facility-wide renovation plans also made for happy times at the club, and the celebrating doesn’t figure to end there just yet.

Web.com Tour returns — with tourney at Ivanhoe

After eight years the Web.com Tour is back. This is going to be fun.

The PGA Tour’s developmental circuit was just that when it held tournaments at Kemper Lakes in 2002 and The Glen Club from 2003 to 2008. The return event has very little to do with those. In fact, the only link is Scott Cassin, the tournament director for the LaSalle Bank Open from 2004 to 2007 and the Bank of America Open in 2008. He will also direct the Rust-Oleum Championship, which takes over Ivanhoe Club for a 72-hole run from June 9-12.

Cassin, though, is quick to point out that the return of the Web.com Tour isn’t about him. For one thing, the circuit was called the Nationwide Tour when the tournaments were played at Kemper Lakes and The Glen Club. The new event for this season – plus two more in 2017 and 2018 – is due to the efforts of Tom Reed, an Ivanhoe member and president and chief executive officer of Rust-Oleum. The company’s headquarters are in Vernon Hills but it held its big tournament at Lakewood Country Club in Cleveland last year.

Reed wanted it staged in his hometown – and at his club, to boot. A good number of his 400 employees at Vernon Hills were quick to volunteer their efforts for the tournament at Ivanhoe. It’ll be a $600,000 event with the champion receiving $108,000. The field will consist of 156 professionals with only the low 65 and ties playing in the final two rounds.

The Web.com Tour was popular with Chicago’s diehard golfers in its days at Kemper Lakes and The Glen. They liked getting up close and personal with the PGA Tour stars of the future and seeing how they compared with a few of the older players gearing up for the Champions Tour. Those events produced some memorable champions, too.

Most notable of the bunch, of course, was Jason Dufner. He won the LaSalle Bank Open in 2006 then became a solid PGA Tour player, winning four times including the PGA Championship in 2013 and making the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

He wasn’t the only champion to make his mark later on, though. Australians Andre Stolz and Brendan Jones won in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Both arrived at The Glen Club with world rankings in the top 100, signifying plenty of promise. Stolz won at Las Vegas on the PGA Tour the year after his win at The Glen. Jones spent most of his time after his win in Japan where he won 13 tournaments.

Chris Couch, the LBO winner in 2005, won on the PGA Tour at New Orleans the following year and eventually accumulated five wins on the developmental circuit. John Riegger, the 2007 LBO winner, went on to win on the Champions Tour as well and Kris Blanks, winner of the last event at The Glen, had some near misses on the big circuit. He finished second in the 2010 Puerto Rico Open and lost the 2011 Canadian Open title in a playoff.

The Rust-Oleum Championship couldn’t be coming to the Chicago area at a better time. With the BMW Championship being played at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis in September, the Rust-Oleum Championship will be the only PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament in the Chicago area this year. It’ll include a celebrity pro-am on the Monday of tournament week, a Drive, Chip & Putt qualifying competition on Tuesday and a regular pro-am on Wednesday. The Golf Channel will provide TV coverage of the four tournament rounds.

Though Ivanhoe director of golf Jim Sobb has long been among the top players in the Illinois PGA ranks, Ivanhoe will be making its debut as a tournament venue when the Web.com Tour visits. The club has roots back to 1949 when members of the Sky Crest Country Club of Chicago found themselves without a home and relocated to Thorngate Country Club in Deerfield. They opted to find a new location in 1987 and Ivanhoe opened in 1991 with an 18-hole course designed by local architect Dick Nugent.

The club was transformed into a 27-hole facility in 1995 by architect Arthur Hills, who created three nines – named Forest, Prairie and Marsh. The original 18 holes, measuring 7,059 yards and playing to a par of 71, will be used for the tournament. Ivanhoe is one of the few clubs to earn Certified Signature Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary status in America and underwent a major renovation of its 10,000-square foot clubhouse in 2006.

Ivanhoe will have a similar caliber field to those at The Glen and there’ll be at least one hometown favorite. The first sponsor’s exemption went to Michael Schachner. He developed his game at Ivanhoe before moving on to Duke University where he posted a 60 in a collegiate round. Now a veteran of golf’s mini-tours, Schachner has been a perennial contender in the Illinois Open.

Schachner figures to have some company from the local ranks. The Illinois PGA will conduct Monday qualifying sessions at sites to be determined and they’re expected to draw a hefty number of local amateurs and professionals.

The 2015 winner of the Rust-Oleum Championship in Cleveland was Shane Bertsch, who has since returned to the PGA Tour.

As was the case in previous Web.com Tour visits, the Rust-Oleum Championship will be spectator friendly and tickets are affordable. Youngsters 17 and under will be admitted free and tickets for four days of tournament play for all others are $20. A ticket upgrade, to $30 for the four tournaments days, is also available. It’ll provide a seat at the 18th hole pavilion area.

And one other thing. The Rust-Oleum Championship won’t be the only Web.com Tour event in Illinois this year. Springfield will host one, too. The $550,000 Lincoln Land Charity Championship will be played at Panther Creek from July 14-17.

Panther Creek is no stranger to tournament golf. It hosted the LPGA’s State Farm Classic from 2007 to 2011. Its course, designed by Hale Irwin in 1992, also hosted last year’s Illinois State Amateur. Tee-K Kelly, a Medinah member from Wheaton, won that event for the second time but there were more fireworks from the 2014 winner. Ray Knoll, of Naperville, couldn’t defend his title but he posted what’s believed to be the lowest score in the tournament’s 85-year history with an 8-under-par 63 that included an albatross on Panther Creek’s tenth hole.

Illini, NU golfers are NCAA-bound again — as Big 10 champions

This is getting to be old hat. The University of Illinois men and Northwestern women are heading back to next month’s NCAA tournaments as Big Ten champions.

Coach Mike Small’s Illini and Emily Fletcher’s Wildcats defended their titles last weekend on Indiana courses. Illinois ruled for the seventh time in eight seasons and NU, which tied Ohio State for its title, were champions for the third time in four years.

The Illini men won dramatically. They trailed Iowa by eight strokes entering the final round, then stormed back to post a Big Ten record 838 score – four better than the previous mark set by Ohio State in 2004. Thomas Detry, who shot a final-round 64 to tie the Big Ten record, and Charlie Danielson finished one-two in the individual standings. Danielson won the Les Bolstad Award for lowest stroke average (70.7) during the season.

“This was huge for our seniors (Detry and Danielson),’’ said Small. “These have been the best four years for Illinois golf.’’

Northwestern’s Hannah Kim won the Mary Fossum Award for posting the low stroke average for Big Ten women during the season.

The NCAA regionals run May 5-7. NU is the No. 2 seed at Shoal Creek in Alabama. The Illini haven’t received their regional assignment yet.

CDGA season tees off

The Chicago District Golf Assn. tournament season tees off Wednesday (TODAY, APRIL 27) with the first of two qualifiers for the second CDGA Mid-Amateur – one of 11 championships the organization will conduct this season. The second qualifier is Monday at Village Greens of Woodridge and the final is May 16-18 at Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe.

Monday is also the entry deadline for the first event of the CDGA’s new Net Series. The Series consists of four team and two individual handicap competitions. First of the better ball events is May 23 at Crystal Lake Country Club.
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Montgomerie prepares for three-peat

Colin Montgomerie made an early appearance at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich., this week to begin his quest for a third straight win in the Senior PGA Championship. That tourney — the only major championship on any of the three major tours to be played near the Chicago area this year — is May 26-29 on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

Harbor Shores hosted the tourney in both 2012 and 2014, when the Scottish-born Montgomerie won his first major title on any tour. He also won last year at French Lick in Indiana. The last player to three-peat in the Senior PGA was Hale Irwin, who won from 1996-98.

This year’s Senior PGA will have at least one notable new player in the field. John Daly will be among Montgomerie’s rivals.

Glen Club welcomes AJGA

The Glen Club, in Glenview, will host the American Junior Golf Association Preview from Friday through Sunday. It’ll feature 78 boys and girls in the 12-19 age group who want to improve their eligibility status for the AJGA’s summer tournaments.

Friday will be a practice day and the 36-hole tournament proper will consist of 18-hole rounds Saturday and Sunday. Tee times will run from 7-9 a.m. off both the Nos. 1 and 10 tees.

Instruction Day spotlights Cog Hill

The PGA of America will culminate its 100-day Centennial celebration with a series of instruction sessions to be televised on The Golf Channel next Wednesday (MAY 4). One will be broadcast from Cog Hill, in Lemont, from 3-4 p.m. with Stan Utley, Todd Sones and Kevin Weeks the instructors.

Other clubs included in the day-long series of one-hour clinics are Baltusrol, in New Jersey; Ibis, in Florida; Keeton Park and Fossil Trace, in Colorado; and TPC Harding Park, in California.

Illinois lands eight Evans Scholars

The Western Golf Association has awarded Evans Scholarships to 27 caddies who reside in Illinois and eight of them have chosen to attend the University of Illinois starting in the fall. Among them are Daniel Arias, Highland Park; Madeline Atwood, Mount Prospect; Kevin Baczek, Roselle; Clara Baumgarten, Wheaton; Daniel Benson, Countryside; Angela Bogusz, DesPlaines, Nicholas Castelli, Highland Park; and Antonino Conte, Addison.

Others selected from the Herald area include Andrew Christopher, of Glenview, who will attend the University of Colorado; Dante Bruno of Elmwood Park (Purdue); Katlin Coy of Glenview (Marquette); Claire DeRosa of Park Ridge (Wisconsin) and Alison Dobbins of Crystal Lake (Indiana).

Mistwood pros celebrate clubhouse opening with another victory

Mistwood’s magic foursome (from left) John Platt, Brian Brodell, Chris Ioriatti and Andy Mickelson.

How much better can things get at Mistwood?

This was a big week at the Romeoville course, if for no other reason than owner Jim McWethy is hosting a week of special events to celebrate the grand opening of his spectacular new clubhouse.

Opening of the 27,000 square foot clubhouse, which includes McWethy Tavern and the Grand Hall dining facility, completed nine years of planning and construction at Mistwood. The course was renovated first, a two-year project, and then a state-of-the-art Performance Center was constructed.

As director of golf Andy Mickelson was on hand for the start of the grand opening festivities on Monday but he had to duck out early. Mickelson and assistant professional Chris Ioriatti had an early afternoon tee time at St. Charles Country Club in the Illinois PGA’s Spring Pro-Assistants Championship.

They won last fall’s version of the competition and they were up to the task again, shooting a 9-under-par 63 to top the 64-team field. More playing success by Mistwood’s staff of professionals is likely, as another teach pro – Brian Brodell – is the reigning IPGA Player of the Year and John Platt was among the section’s top senior players last year.

Though the golf season is still young, big things are already happening at some of the public facilities – and not just at Mistwood. Two Wheaton facilities – Cantigny and Arrowhead – have stepped up their offerings for this season as well.

At Cantigny, the popular Vision 54 program introduced last year has been expanded. Instructor Gay Crain conducted a training course last year. Now the program, which begins on Thursday, includes an overview course followed by three optional follow-up courses that go more in-depth on specific skills.

Vision 54 is based on teachings at Annika Sorenstam’s academy in Florida and the best-selling book “Play Your Best Golf Now’’ by Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson. The courses represent “a process, a philosophy, a new outlook and a holistic approach to golf.’’

Cost for the four one-hour sessions is $160 and will be limited to five golfers, ages 14 and up. The program will be repeated in May, June and August.

Arrowhead, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, has added a new, high-tech addition to its clubhouse. Pelican Golf Fitting Center held its grand opening last week.

In moving into the Wheaton Park District facility Pelican becomes the first subsidiary of GolfDirectNow — a firm headquartered in a warehouse two miles away in Warrenville. GolfDirectNow has sold golf equipment via the Internet the last four years.

Kent Sirois, who had been director of golf at both Naperville Country Club and White Eagle in Naperville prior to joining the golf staff at Dick’s Sporting Goods for a 15-year run, and local swing instructor Mike Mandakas are in charge of the Pelican facility.
Pelican offers club-fitting, club repair and instruction with the help of such new state-of-the-art equipment as BodiTrak, TrackMan and SAM Puttlab.

“It’s very technical and will help many, many golfers – regardless of their ability,’’ said Sirois.

At least a dozen vendors have provided equipment to supplement the club-fitting procedure.

“We’re not biased to any vendor,’’ said Sirois. “It’s all in what fits any individual. We can fit almost anybody.’’

Have some seconds

Last weekend was one for near-misses as far as Chicago area tour players were concerned. Northwestern alum Luke Donald finished tied for second (behind champion Branden Grace) at the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Classic and Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti was in a six-way tie for second in the PGA Tour’s Latinoamerica circuit in Argentina.

Donald, a former world No. 1, cracked the top 10 on the PGA circuit for the first time since Travelers Championship eight months ago. It was his fourth runner-up finish in the Heritage and he also has two third-places finishes there.

“This was a great step in the right direction,’’ said Donald, who earlier said he’d considered quitting the tour during a frustrating 2015 season. “I’m really positive about my game going forward.’’

Here and There

Illinois senior Charlie Danielson has been named to the U.S. team for the Palmer Cup matches against Europe’s top college players. Danielson is the fourth Illini player selected to the Palmer Club, played last year at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. Others were Thomas Detry, Thomas Pieters and Scott Langley. This year’s matches are June 24-26 at Formby Golf Club in England.

Cog Hill will hold a Tee It Forward Scramble for two-player teams from noon-2 p.m. on Saturday on its No. 1 course. Cog has also announced that players can certify to use GolfBoards. The new form of on-course transportation will be available at the Lemont facility this season.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. opens its tournament season next Wednesday, April 27, with a qualifier for the CDGA Mid-Amateur Championship at Wilmette Golf Club.

The Pine Hollow Open will celebrate its 40th anniversary on April 30 at Downers Grove Golf Club.

Arlington Lakes plans a July 1 opening for its 18-hole course that has been undergoing a renovation.