Doug Ghim got some good news this week.  The U.S. Golf Association made the PGA Tour player from Arlington Heights one of the 156 official starters in the 125^th U.S. Open, which tees off on Thursday at Pennsylvania’s Oakmont course.

Rugged Oakmont is a frequent U.S. Open site, and that was undoubtedly a big factor in the USGA accepting a record 10,202 entries at the April 9 deadline.  Hopefuls were whittled to 156 after 110 local qualifiers and 13 final qualifiers. The latter included 36-hole competitions in Canada, England and Japan in addition to the 10 held across the U.S.

Ghim, as a PGA Tour member, didn’t have to play in a local elimination and chose to enter the final qualifier in Dallas.  He wound up in a seven-players-for-one-spot playoff for the final Oakmont berth available there.

This week, with players starting to arrive at Oakmont, the USGA announced the last seven who would be elevated to the field following late withdrawals and the completion of other qualification procedures. Ghim was one of the lucky ones.

Ghim, 29, attended Buffalo Grove High School but — preferring to focus on national amateur events — played only one season of high school golf. After starring at the University of Texas, where he won the Big Hogan Award as the best male college golfer in 2018, Ghim was runner-up in the 2017 U.S. Amateur, then turned pro and earned his PGA Tour card in 2020.

While he’s earned $7.6 million Ghim has yet to win on golf’s premier circuit. This year he’s made the cut in 10 of his 15 starts and finished in the top 25 in three events.

A long-time Las Vegas resident since turning pro Ghim will make his second appearance in the U.S. Open proper at Oakmont.  He missed the cut in his only other start in 2018.

A SMALL WORLD:  With Mike Small dominant for decades as both a player and coach Illinois golf has frequently seemed like a “Small world.’’ This time it’s a little different.

Mark Small, who plays out of Prestwick in Frankfort, won the 23^rd Illinois State Senior Amateur last week.  It was his first win in a Chicago District Golf Association-administered event in 29 years.  Small won the Illinois State Amateur in 1996 but he’s contended many times between his big wins.

Mark Small, now 61, was in the top 10 of the last four Illinois State Senior Amateurs.  He was runner-up last year and gave Mike Small a scare in the Illinois Senior Open two years ago.

“There is going to come a time where I can’t do this anymore,’’ said Mark Small.  “But while I can, it sure is fun.’’

Mike Small isn’t exactly out of this picture, though.  The University of Illinois men’s coach has two of his former players competing in this week’s U.S. Open.  Thomas Detry and Brian Campbell qualified by winning PGA Tour events this year and current Illini player Jackson Buchanan also got in by sharing top honors in the qualifying event in Atlanta.

Buchanan qualified for last year’s Open at Pinehurst, N.C., but missed the cut.  He’ll make his professional debut at Oakmont.

FAST STARTER:  Elizabeth Szokol, Chicago’s only player on the Ladies PGA Tour, shared the first round lead at last week’s ShopRite Classic after posting a 63. She tailed off with rounds of 69 and 74 and wound up in a tie for 20^th place.

Szokol grew up in Winnetka,  played on New Trier’s 2010 state championship team and was the Illinois Women’s State Amateur champion in 2012.  That tourney will start its three-day run on Monday at The Grove, in Long Grove and it’ll have a new  look since Szokol won it.

The CDGA is now conducting the tournament and has incorporated a Mid-Amateur component to the 54-hole event. Players who have reached their 25^th birthday can play for the title in the 36-hole Mid- Am division.  If any finish among the top 20 and ties after 36 holes they’ll also be eligible to play the third round with the chance to win the IWSA title.

 

 

 

 

For 38 years Dan Roan was a most-respected sports anchor and reporter at WGN-TV. He retired three years ago – but now he’s back on the airwaves.

Roan was coaxed back to the broadcast world by Dave Lockhart, producer of the Golf 360 TV show, which debuted for its 10^th season this week on Marquee Sports Network – the home of the Cubs.

“It’s only four shows – not time-consuming at all,’’ said Roan, but it might seem like more than that. Each show will be broadcast several times each month during the golf season. The broadcast times will be posted on the Golf 360 website.

“For the first show my role was minimal.  Dave did a lot of research for it,’’ said Roan.“But I’m always excited to talk about golf in Chicagoland and beyond.  It’s going to be a lot of fun.’’

Roan will host the show and Patrick Mannelly, the former Bears’ center who has been a Golf 360 regular since 2017, will be co-host. Billy Fitzgerald director of instruction at Beverly Country Club, is also part of the program.

“Dan brings professionalism and passion for the game of golf that truly comes through on the screen,’’ said Lockhart.  “ His fans from the WGN days will be happy lo see him back on the air.’’

Roan doesn’t just discuss golf on the airwaves.  He also played the game quite well.  He played on both the golf and basketball teams at Illinois State. While he “didn’t play much,’’ he was a college golf teammate of D.A. Weibring, a three-time winner of the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic and also the designer of the course it’s played on – TPC Deere Run in downstate Silvis.

Now 72, the long-time Elmhurst resident remains a regular at Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course and now brings two of his four grandchildren out with him.

“When I retired I expected to play more,’’  said Roan.  “My handicap is skyrocketing, so I’m trying to figure that out right now.’’

That handicap was 0.2 last summer and is now up to 3.7.  That doesn’t detract from a memorable round Roan shot back in 2017 at Chicago Highlands with Mike Munro, who also has a broad  background in local golf.  Roan had a 63, which included a hole-in-one en route to a 30 on the back nine.   “It was pretty crazy at the time,’’ admitted Roan.

Since retirement Roan has also stayed involved in the game in more than a playing capacity.  He was named a director for the Chicago District Golf Association and was part of the crew at last summer’s Chicago Adaptive Open.

JOHN DEERE CLASSIC: John Deere, sponsor of Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event, has signed a multi-year extension to continue as title sponsor through 2030.  The JDC sponsorship started in 1998, and this year’s event will be played July 3-6.

The tournament, meanwhile, announced three sponsor exemptions to the tourney – NCAA champion Michael La Sasso of Mississippi, No. 2-ranked amateur Jackson Koivun of Auburn and No. 3-ranked Ben James of Virginia.

U.S. OPEN:  Monday was the last qualifiers for this month’s U.S. Open, with 36-hole eliminations at 10 sites. Only University of Illinois golfer Jackson Buchanan, who tied for first in the qualifier in Atlanta, survived among the Illinois-connected players competing. He was 18-under-par at Piedmont Driving Club. PGA regular Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights might make the field at Oakmont, in Pennsylvania.  He was the last man out in a seven-for-one playoff for the last of seven Open berths in Dallas on May 19 and could advance as the first alternate.

HERE AND THERE:  Brad Kay, of Arlington Heights, qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, to be played at The Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs, June 26-29.  Kay was also the defending champion in the 23^rd Chicago District Senior Amateur, which concludes its four-day run on Thursday at Briar Ridge, in Schererville, Ind.

Illinois sophomore Max Herendeen has been named to Team USA for this week’s Palmer Cup matches in South Carolina and the Illini women’s team has landed transfer Tavia Burgess,  who just completed her freshman year at Morehead State.

The Illinois PGA’s 36-hole Assistants Championship will be decided on Monday at Bryn Mawr, in Chicago.

 

 

 

 

The selection process is over for the next induction class into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame and two of the six to made it were PGA Tour regulars after being early survivors of the qualifying school format.

Bob Zender came first.  After winning the Illinois State Amateur three times and earning All-American status at Purdue Zender won the 1971 PGA Tour qualifying tournament and played on the circuit for a decade.  During that time he found time to win three consecutive Illinois PGA Championships (1976-78) and match Ben Hogan’s course record of 62 at Chicago’s Ridgemoor Golf Club.

David Ogrin followed him after an amateur career highlighted by victories in both the Illinois Amateur and Illinois Open in 1980. The Waukegan product had more success on the PGA Tour than Zender did, notching 32 top-10 finishes and winning the 1996 Texas Open when he outdueled Tiger Woods down the stretch in Woods’ first professional season. Ogrin, now a successful golf instructor in Texas, also had a tie for 10^th in the 1997 U.S. Open.

The 21st induction class will be added to the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame at The Glen Club in Glenview on Oct. 17.

Joining Zender and Ogrin will be Dan Dinelli, course superintendent at North Shore Country Club for 36 years and one of the nation’s leading turfgrass experts; Steve Skinner, chief executive officer at KemperSports who played a pivotal role in shaping modern facility management; Horace McDougal, a Chicago native and Northwestern golfer in 1923 who emerged a pioneer for racial integration in the sport; and Joe Roseman, whose contributions spanned course design and construction.  Roseman designed courses across the Chicago area and built the first lighted par-3 course in the 1930s.

NCAA WRAPUP: Northwestern’s women won the NCAA title under the direction of coach Emily Fletcher in dramatic fashion, beating No. 1-ranked Stanford 3-2 in the final match  after Stanford had won the stroke play portion by 27 shots.

The Illinois men finished 18^th in stroke play and didn’t make it into the top 15 for the final round.  Illini sophomore Max Herendeen, however, qualified for the final round as an individual not on a non-advancing team. He finished tied for 27th among 81 players.

Both Illinois teams announced major signings for next season.  The men landed Dane Huddleston, a transfer from Utah State, and the women added Alexis Meyers, who led Glenbrook North to the last two state championships and was second as an individual.  She also won the Illinois State Junior by seven strokes.

Huddleston, from Woodland, Wash., will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Illini.  He won five tournaments including the Western Athletic Assn. title at Utah State this season.

HERE AND THERE:  Illinois alum Nick Hardy had his best finish on the PGA Tour this season with a tie for 11^th at last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas. That may have triggered a breakthrough for the 29-year old Northbrook product  who has been struggling this season after joining the PGA Tour in 2018. He missed the cut in his first six starts and nine of his first time but now has played all four rounds in three of his last five.

Elmhurst’s Jordan Less became the first player to win titles in both the Chicago District Amateur (2019) and CDGA Mid-Amateur. Less played professionally for three seasons before regaining his amateur status.  He won his Mid-Am at Kemper Lakes.

The 35^th playing of the Thompson Cup matches, pitting the the top senior players from the Illinois PGA and Chicago District, will be held on Thursday (MAY 29) at Ridge, in Chicago.

The 23^rd CDGA Senior Amateur begins its four-day run on Monday (JUNE 2) at Briar Ridge, in Schererville, Ind.

While there are no local players in the field, the U.S. Women’s Open will kick off its four-day run at Wisconsin’s Erin Hills on Thursday (MAY 29).

 

 

 

Last week’s PGA Championship at North Carolina’s Quail Hollow had its surprises.  None of the 20 club professionals survived the 36-hole cut.  Neither did established stars Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka and Shane Lowry.

One who did play all 72 holes was also surprising.  Luke Donald, the long ago Northwestern star, had missed cuts in all five of his starts on the PGA Tour this season and was over par in every one except the team event in New Orleans.

Donald shot a 4-under-par bogey-free 67 in the first round at Quail Hollow and got into a tie for third place.

“Where I am in my career, I’m obviously very grateful to the PGA of America for giving me an invitation to play,’’ said Donald.  “I was there only because I’m captain of the European Ryder Cup Team.  I wouldn’t be in the field otherwise.’’

Donald’s hot first round created an interesting side issue.  He was a shot of ahead of Keegan Bradley, who will be Donald’s opposing captain in September’s Ryder Cup matches at Bethpage Black in New York. Bradley, 38, didn’t need an invitation. He’s a solid player on the PGA Tour, missing only one cut in his 11 starts prior to the PGA.

“Keegan is top 20 in the world.  He can have one good week out here, win, and he’s absolutely in the conversation of being a playing captain,’’ said Donald.  “That’s not quite in my future, but we live very close together.  I see where he practices and he practices very hard.  He’s still one of the top players in the world.’’

Donald, 47, was one of those, too, before back problems slowed him down.  He graduated from Northwestern in 2001 and – despite never winning a major championship – climbed to No. 1 in the world in 2011 and held that spot for 40 weeks.  He also remained active in the Chicago golf community while retaining  NU director of golf Pat Goss as his swing coach. Donald’s best finish in a major was also in Chicago — a tie for third in the 2006 PGA at Medinah.

The Donald vs. Bradley competition at Quail Hollow didn’t last long.  Bradley finished at 4-under-par and in a tie for eighth place.  Donald struggled in with 74-73-76 to finish at 6-over-par and tied for 60^th.  Champion Scottie Scheffler was at 11-under in his five-shot victory.

As a Ryder Cup captain Donald was superb in the Europeans’ last win in Italy after being a second choice.  Sweden’s Henrik Stenson was picked, then dropped after he jumped to the LIV Tour.  Donald was the backup pick and retained the job for the upcoming team competition.

Now living in Jupiter, FL., Donald has changed a bit since being the winning captain in golf’s premier team event.

“Well, I’m still 5-9, not hitting it far enough,’’ he said.  “As a player not much has changed.  I still like to work on my game, and it gets harder the older you get.  As a captain I had some doubts whether I could fulfill that role when I was given the call (in 2022).  Certainly in the last three years I’ve learned a lot about myself.  I’ve learned a lot about leadership, how to come out of my natural introvertness.  It’s only helped me as a person and helped me understand myself a little bit better.’’

The LIV Tour remains an issue as far as team selections are concerned for this year’s Ryder Cup.

“I do not get involved with the politics of that,’’ said Donald, but he wants the 12 best players available to him at Bethpage and that would mean LIV players Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton – and possibly Sergio Garcia – would have to be declared eligible for selection.

Even without them Donald will field a good team.

“It’s always nice when potential guys on your team are up there every week playing against the strongest fields in golf,’’ said Donald.  “At the Masters we had obviously Rory (champion Rory McIlroy), Justin (Rose), Ludvig (Aberg).  Then there’s Shane (Lowry) and Sepp (Straka). The players always seem to elevate their games in Ryder Cup years, and I love the momentum we have so far.’’

 

 

 

The PGA Championship, second major event of the PGA Tour season, claims the national golf spotlight on Thursday at Quail Hollow, in Charlotte, N.C., but the Illinois Section of the PGA staged its first of four majors last week and it produced a result for the local record books.

Jim Billiter, of Ivanhoe Club, won the Illinois PGA Match Play Championship for the fourth time at Butterfield Country Club in Oak Brook, and that put him in some very select company in the history of Illinois golf.

The IPGA first conducted a match play championship in 1952.  Since then only three players in 73 years have won more titles than Billiter. Bob Harris, who played out of Sunset Ridge in Northfield, remains the event’s dominant player with six titles.  He accumulated them consecutively, from 1958 to 1963.

Bill Ogden, of North Shore in Glenview, won the inaugural playing of the event, then waited 15 years to win for the second time in 1967.  He also took the crown in 1970, 1971 and 1972.

The other five-time winner was Bob Ackerman, who worked at Aurora Country Club.  His wins came between 1985 and 1995.

Billiter had a 10-year gap between his first win, in 2015, and his most recent victory. It was a mlld surprise, in that Billiter was the No. 12 seed at Butterfield and had last won the tournament in 2021. Though he won the 2015 IPGA Championship, an event conducted at stroke play, Billiter’s competitive reputation comes in match play.

Since earning his Class A PGA membership in 2009 he has appeared in 17 IPGA Match Play Championships and advanced to the third round or further in 11. He made it past the quarterfinals six times and never lost a match in the semifinal or championship rounds.

“It’s always special to win this event,’’ said Billiter. “I’ve always thought that I was a better match play player than a stroke play player because you have to think differently.  Butterfield is an amazing place, and I especially love it because there is almost no out-of-bounds to the right. To come through so many tough matches and lift the trophy again, it’s incredibly rewarding.’’

Making his feat more notable was the fact that he wasn’t at full strength.

“I’m dealing with a torn labrum,’’ he said.  “I can swing, but I just can’t swing as fast.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to play much this season.  We’ll keep pushing through the rest of the season and get it fixed in the offseason.’’

Billiter didn’t have much trouble in the final, where he defeated North Shore’s David Krzepicki 5 and 3. The quarterfinal and semifinal matches were much tougher. Billiter rallied from three down with eight holes to play to beat David Paeglow of Kishwaukee  in DeKalb 2-up.

In the semis Billiter drew Frank Hohenadel, of Mistwood in Romeoville.  Hohenadel had beaten Billiter in a 20-hole match in the third round in 2024, but this time Billiter prevailed 3 and 2.

HERE AND THERE:  The Chicago area didn’t have a player in the 156-man official starting field at the PGA Championship, but one might still get in.  Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim was the No. 7 alternate, but four players dropped out after arriving at Quail Hollow, lifting Ghim to the No. 3 alternate. He’s had a decent season so far, making eight of 12 cuts and earning $538,587.

Northbrook-based KemperSports has taken over the management of McHenry Golf Club.  It’s Kemper’s 12^th property in Chicago and third private club, following Royal Melbourne and Hawthorne Woods.  McHenry opened in 1922 and is noted as the place where the first metal wood was designed. Gary Adams, son of long-time McHenry head pro Vale Adams, designed the club and founded TaylorMade, the equipment manufacturer now based in California.

The first championship of the Chicago District Golf Association’s 112^th season concludes  Wednesday f fhs  CDGA Mid-Amateur Championship at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer.

TruSpec Golf, a leading custom club fitter and club builder, has opened a second Chicago  location at The Golf Practice academy in Lisle. The other is in Highland Park. TruSpec has 40 studios nation-wide.

 

 

The Presidents Cup, played every two years between the top PGA Tour players from the U.S. and a select team of International stars from all parts of the world except Europe, hasn’t created much excitement since its debut in 1994. The U.S. holds a 13-1-1 edge in the series.

Medinah hosts the next staging, in September of 2026, and it’ll have an intriguing twist.  The opposing captain of the International squad, Australian Geoff Ogilvy, will know the course better than his U.S. counterpart, Brandt Snedeker. Ogilvy and Snedeker were named to their respective posts last week.

Snedeker played for the U.S. in the 2013 Presidents Cup and was on the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2012 and 2016. He was an assistant captain for the U.S. in the 2024 Presidents Cup and is a vice captain on this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team, which takes on Europe at New York’s Bethpage Black this Sepember.

Ogilvy played for the International side three times and has been a captain’s assistant for the Internationals in the last four Presidents Cups, so both know all about team golf. Ogilvy, however, knows all about Medinah’s No. 3 course.  His Australian-based design firm, OCM, oversaw the renovation of the historic layout, a two-year project.

The new Medinah No. 3 re-opened last summer.  It has larger greens, scale bunkering, wide fairways and a new routing than the old No. 3. Snedeker saw it for the first time in a walk-around last week.

“Geoff did a great piece of work,’’ said Snedeker – but Snedeker is going to change it for the 2026 Presidents Cup.

“We’re going to redo the routing a bit,’’ he said.  “Hole 4 will be the first hole.  That way, the routing is going to be a little bit different.  Geoff is going to have intimate knowledge of this course.  He has his fingerprints all over it.  He knows it better than anybody is going to know it.  That’s something we’re going to have to deal with.’’

Ogilvy downplays his apparent advantage.

“This may be a little advantage pre-tournament,’’ he said, “but by the time we get to Thursday morning (of tournament week) it will be pretty nullified. Touring professionals can learn a course really quickly. By the time we tee off I imagine the U.S. team will have it pretty well worked out.’’

HERE AND THERE: Next week’s PGA Championship at North Carolina’s Quail Hollow almost had a Chicago connected player in the field.  Andy Svoboda, head professional at Butler National, and Dakun Chang, the Illinois PGA Player of the Year in 2018 when he worked at Twin Orchard, tied for 20^th in last week’s PGA Professional Championship in Florida but were eliminated in a four-for-one playoff for the final spot at Quail Hollow. The top 20 in the Profesional Championship earned spots at Quail Hollow.

The IPGA Match Player Championship,  first of the Illinois Section’s four major events, concludes its four-day run on Thursday at Butterfield, in Oak Brook.

Illinois’ rivals in the May 12-14 regional at Atkins Golf Club in Urbana include two teams ranked ahead of the No. 14 Illini nationally – No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 10 North Carolina.  Marquette and Illinois State are also in the 14-team field that sends the top five teams to the NCAA finals May 23-28 at Omni LaCosta in California.

The fifth annual Jackson T. Stephens Cup will be played at Shoreacres, in Lake Bluff, Sept. 15-17.  The event, named after a former chairman of Georgia’s Augusta National, features 12 men’s and women’s collegiate teams plus individuals from the U.S. Military Service Academies and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.  Northwestern will have teams in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

Illinois senior Jackson Buchanan has been named the winner of  the Byron Nelson Award, which cites academic and community excellence in addition to golf performance. Buchanan shot a 5-under-par 67 on Monday and shared low Wheaton’s Tee-K Kelly and Aurora’s Bryce Emory in a U.S. Open local qualifier at Briar Ridge in Schererville, Ind.

 

 

 

 

 

Last year the Illinois PGA’s newest big thing was the addition of a season-long team competition that was  well received by section members.  This year’s newest big thing is more far-reaching.

The Illinois PGA Open Series tees off on Monday at White Eagle, in Naperville. That’ll be the first of six one-day tournaments that are open to IPGA professionals (members and associates), amateurs with a handicap index under 10.0 and other professionals that are at least 18 years old.  Players under 18 may be accepted, too, but must submit a playing resume first.

It’s a unique format that has been long in the planning stages.

“We have been talking internally, and branching out to more of our staff,’’ said Andy Mickelson, the IPGA tournament chairman, director of golf at Mistwood in Romeville and the section vice president.  “We went to the CDGA (Chicago District Golf Association) to get their blessing.  It’ll be good for tournament golf in Illinois. We think it’ll be a big hit.’’

The Series won’t conflict with the IPGA stroke play events.  Handicaps won’t be used in the competition and there’ll be sponsors for each event.  The entry target for each event is 90 players.

In addition to club pros the  White Eagle event includes Mike Small, the University of Illinois men’s coach; Vince India, a two-time Illinois Open champion who has been a regular on the Korn Ferry Tour; and Sarah Arnold, a two-time champion in the Illinois Women’s State Amateur.

Mickelson expects prize money for the pros will probably be in the “low four figures for the winner.’’ Amateur prizes will be in the form of gift cards. Entry fee in the first event was $225. Some of Chicago’s top courses will be hosting Series events.  Flossmoor will host on May 21, Hinsdale  on June 9, Elgin on July 14, Aurora on July 28  and Bill Valley on Oct. 8.

Players can walk or ride in the events. They’ll be assigned to play separate tees based on age and/or gender.

HERE AND THERE: Chicago products Nick Hardy and Doug Ghim get back in action on the PGA Tour on Thursday in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.  Hardy and Davis Riley won the circuit’s lone team event in 2023 and will play together again.  Ghim’s partner is Johan Kim. Luke Donald is paired with Camilo Villegas and Illinois alum Thomas Detry with Robert McIntyre.

Illinois’ second-oldest golf course, Rock Island Arsenal, will re-open as a nine holer after being closed since 2018.

Chicago’s first U.S. Open local qualifier is today at Stonewall Orchard. The first U.S. Senior Open qualifier is Tuesday (APRIL 29) at Kankakee Elks.

Vernon Hills will hold the grand opening of its new short game facility –The Back Nine at the Muny—on Tuesday.

The University of Illinois men’s team, coming off a third-place finish in the Boilermaker Invitational at Purdue, will seek its 14^th Big Ten title in 16 years when the three-day league tourney tees off Friday at Baltimore Country Club.

Jay Sigel, one of the world’s best amateurs in the post World War II era, has passed away at age 81, a victim of pancreatic cancer.  Sigel won one of his most notable titles in 1984 at North Shore Country Club when he defeated Chris Perry 8 and 7 in the final of the U.S. Amateur. That made Sigel the eighth player to win the U.S. Amateur in back-to-back years.

Tickets to the LIV Golf League’s Chicago tourney Aug. 8-10 at Bolingbrook Golf Club are now on sale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Galena’s Eagle Ridge, long been Illinois’ premier golf resort, has brought in a new instructor who knows the area well.

Scott Szbowicz went to Eagle Ridge  on his honeymoon 41 years ago.   Szybowicz and his wife, Jane, have been squeezing in regular visits to Eagle Ridge during his 37 years as a PGA member. Now the connection with the resort is getting more serious.

Szybowicz is in the process of transitioning his golf instruction efforts to Eagle Ridge, and that’ll be a big boost to the pro shop operation directed by John Schlaman.

“John’s excited about the quality of the facility that Eagle Ridge is,’’ said Szybowicz.  “It needs an instruction program, so this is such a natural fit. That’s my function – to develop programs. For now I’ll have the whole load.  It’ll be a very busy summer.’’

Schlaman started his career as an assistant professional at Eagle Ridge and moved up to the head job of the resort’s South Course before leaving for 14 years to direct the operation at Prairie Landing, in West Chicago. He eventually returned to Galena as a resident, and in 2022 was named the resort’s director of golf.

Szybowicz is going in a similar direction. He taught golf at a variety of locations in the Chicago area and is now completing a corporate project that isn’t in the golf industry while planning the move to Galena. He’ll  be playing a major role in developing an instruction program there.

“It’ll be part-time initially,’’ said Szybowicz.  “I’ll be there most weekends and holidays and make myself as accessible as I can.’’

Eagle Ridge is a 63-hole facility that has made major upgrades since Mark Klausner took over ownership of the resort in 2018.

Szybowicz was a PGA golf coach and golf instructor at Antioch Golf Club; Prestwick, in Frankfort; Thorngate (formerly in Deerfield) and Mission Hills, in Northbrook. He also taught at the Chicago Athletic Association, the Saddle & Cycle Club and Chicago’s Diversey Range while running his own golf school.

Currently a Volo resident, Szybowicz and his wife plan to live full-time in Galena.

“It’s in a setting that doesn’t look like Illinois,’’ said Szybowicz.  “It looks like Ireland.  We’ve always loved it and have friends who moved there.’’

Eagle Ridge will soon be a hopping place for golfers. Only the South Course is open now, but The General opens on Friday (APRIL 18), the North on April 25 and the nine-hole East on May 2.

HERE AND THERE: Dan Roan, long-time TV sports anchor at WGN, will be the new host of Dave Lockhart’s Golf360 TV show. The show begins its 10^th season in June on Marquee Sports Network.

Canyata, an exclusive golf retreat in downstate Marshall since 2005, has been acquired by Escalante Golf of Fort Worth, TX. Escalante is a boutique owner and operator of luxury golf courses in 17 states.  Canyata has a new general manager, Brent Allen, and a new superintendent, Brock Burton.  It’ll open for members’ play in May.

The major renovation at Orchard Valley, in Aurora, is underway but the driving range remains open.  The $8.8 million project is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2026.

Eight stations have been added to the range at Mistwood, in Romeoville. Now all four teaching bays can be used at the same time.

Vernon Hills golf course has announced a new partnership with the Chicago School of Golf to bring top tier instruction and expanded player development programs to golfers of all ages and skill levels.

Birdies for Charity, the charity arm of the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic in Silvis, IL., has launched its 32nd season.  It’ll be accepting new charities through May 30.

 

 

 

The 89^th Masters golf tournament was followed by people world-wide, golfers or not.  It’s not unusual for publishers to use that big event to introduce their newest books, and – since I dabble with book reviews periodically – it’s not unusual for those publishers to send me their books for review purposes.

The week before the Masters teed off at Georgia’s Augusta National I received a copy of “Together We Roared,’’ an interesting  account of the glory days of Tiger Woods and his long-time caddie, Steve Williams. It was written in third person but Williams was a co-author with Evin Priest (William Morrow, an imprint of Harper/Collins Publishers). It was a nice rehash of many of the great moments that Woods provided us.

Those days, though, are gone.  Woods, 49, hasn’t won a tournament since 2019 – the year he captured his last Masters and the 82^nd and last win in a PGA Tour event.  He didn’t even attend this year’s Masters, not even the past champions dinner, while recovering from a torn Achilles that required surgery in March.

Yes, the Woods Era is over.  It probably would have ended much sooner, but there was no player to replace him.  Now there is.

Rory McIlroy didn’t just win the Masters on Sunday.  He became the first golfer since Woods to complete the career Grand Slam.  Only five had done it before McIlroy – Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods.

Winning titles in the Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and The (British) Open is no small feat, and McIlroy’s emotional reaction, dropping to his knees and sobbing uncontrollably after the last putt dropped, was a fitting climax to an historic day in sports.

I had a personal reason for being delighted by the result.  Picking the winner in the Masters is an annual rite of spring for golf columnists.  I made my first pick in 1986 – the first year I covered the Masters in person.  My Masters picks were made for publication every year since then, but tabbing McIlroy to win  last week in the Daily Herald was only my third  winner.  The others were Fred Couples in 1992 and Scottie Scheffler in 2022.

McIlroy may never match Woods’ records, but he did surpass the drama on Sunday in my memory book.

There are four most memorable Masters in my years.  The first was in 1975, when Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf  and Nicklaus were paired as a threesome in the final round.  It came down to the final hole and final putts by each, Nicklaus knocking his in last for the victory. Lots of drama that day.

Even more came in 1986, my first Masters on site at Augusta National.  Nicklaus won his record sixth title that year thanks to a heart-pounding final round.  That was the most memorable day writing-wise in my professional career.  And, then there was 1987.   A year after Nicklaus’ last win the Masters was decided in a playoff with relative unknown Larry Mize beating legends Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman in sudden death.

And now for McIlroy’s win.  “His Era’’ may not last as long as the Nicklaus and Woods reigns.  Scheffler is fine player, though not as charismatic as the others.

Still, professional golf needed a day with all the excitement that McIlroy’s win provided.  The sport that’s been struggling through conflicts between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf. Players from both circuits play together in the Masters, but in very few other events.  Golf needs more such tournaments.  This year’s Masters underscored that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Masters tees off on Thursday at Georgia’s Augusta National, and – judging by the pre-tourney hype – it’s going to be a strange one.

Over the last four years issues involving the PGA Tour and LIV Golf were prominent.  Not so this year.  Merger talks seem non-existent. LIV has remained a viable threat to the established circuit, even without making a notable signing for this season. The Saudi-backed circuit has also improved its television offering thanks to a new deal with Fox.

The PGA Tour continues to miss the star power of the players that defected to LIV – Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson in particular.  LIV has only 12 players among the 96 in this year’s Masters field but six are past champions.

That doesn’t simplify the annual task of predicting the next winner of one of the four golf major titles.  World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion with two wins in the last three years, but  — battling a hand injury — he hasn’t won an event among the 14 tournaments put on by the PGA Tour so far this year.

LIV has staged only five events, and last week’s stop at the Doral Blue Monster in Florida was the only one held in the United States.  There’s a similarity in the two tours, though.

Rahm was the dominant player for LIV last year, concluding his first campaign after leaving the PGA Tour with a rousing win in the Individual Championship at Bolingbrook Golf Club.  Like Scheffler, though, Rahm hasn’t won a tournament in 2025.  He has been in the top 10 in all five LIV events, however.

Ludvig Aberg, the Swedish sensation on the PGA Tour, was runner-up to Scheffler in last year’s Masters, but he didn’t even make the cut in last week’s last PGA Tour tuneup event – the Valero Texas Open. Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, who battled Rahm for individual LIV honors last year, has two wins and leads that tour’s standings this year but he could only tie for 33^rd at Doral. That doesn’t suggest he’s ready for the Masters, either.

So, who will wear the green jacket on Sunday?  The prediction here is that it’ll be Rory McIroy. The Irishman won at Pebble Beach and The Players Championship and tied for fifth at Houston in the last of his five starts in 2025.  He also needs to win the Masters to complete a career Grand Slam of the sport’s four major titles.  This is the perfect time for him to get the job done.

LOCAL FLAVOR:  The Chicago area had four participants among the 80 qualifiers for Sunday’s national finals in the Drive, Chip & Putt competition.  Their results were good, too.  Brelle Downer, of Lockport, was second in the Girls 7-9 division.  Chloe Lee, of Plainfield, was third in Girls 12-13;  Hudson Hodge, Clarendon Hills, was fourth in Boys 10-11 and Jack Kemper, Winnetka, was eighth in Boys 12-13.

Two members of the Northwestern women’s team were in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which concluded at Augusta National on Saturday.  Elise Lee tied for 14^th, nine strokes behind champion Carla Bernat Escuder, a Kansas State senior from Spain.  The other NU competitor, Lauren Nguyen, didn’t survive the 36-hole cut.

As far as the 72-hole main event goes, only University of Illinois alums Thomas Detry and Brian Campbell will be among those teeing off on Thursday.  Both won PGA Tour events this season to earn their spots in the Masters.