For 37 years the Chicago Golf Show was considered the unofficial start to the Chicago golf season.  And then the pandemic hit.

The show was cancelled in 2001 and 2022 because of pandemic concerns, but it’s back this weekend in full force at the Stephens Convention  Center in Rosemont. It’ll feature Colt Knost, an on-course TV reporter for CBS, and Paige Spiranac, a prominent social media influencer on golf, sports and fitness.

Knost is one of the most decorated amateurs in golf history, having won the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Public Links and was a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team in 2007.  He won the Public Links title at Cantigny, in Wheaton, then played on various pro tours before retiring in 2020.

Spiranac and Knost will appear together on the show’s Daily Herald Main Stage at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and Knost will also be there at 11 a.m. on both days.

Show visitors can also sign up for free rounds at the 13 Chicago area courses operated by SportsVisions and Illinois PGA professionals will be offering free lessons.  There will also be deals available on equipment, apparel, shoes, golf bags and balls, swing aids, indoor putting greens and range finders.

Show hours are noon to 6:30 p.m. on Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday.

IPGA MAJORS ARE SET:  The Illinois PGA has announced its 2023 schedule and its two oldest and biggest major championships will have major venue changes.  The Illinois PGA Championship, first held in 1922, will make its first appearance at Thunderhawk, in Beach Park, Aug. 14-16 and the 74^th staging of the Illinois Open will be at Flossmoor July 31-Aug. 2.

The Illinois PGA was played at a first time venue last year, at Makray Memorial in Barrington, when player-of-the-year Brian Carroll edged 13-time winner Mike  Small for the title.

Flossmoor hasn’t hosted the Illinois Open since 1984 when former PGA Tour player Lance Ten Broeck won the title.  That south suburban club also was the site for Bob Harris’ victory in 1955.

First of the section’s four majors, the Match Play Championship, will make its second appearance in three years at Bull Valley, in Woodstock, May 8-11 and The Players Championship will conclude the big events Oct. 9-10 at Twin Orchard, in Long Grove.

HERE AND THERE: Thomas Pieters, who grew up in Belgium before starring collegiately at Illinois, will reportedly join the LIV Tour this week.  He was the 2012 NCAA champion for the Illini and holds a No. 34 world ranking after spending most of his professional time on the European tour. The LIV circuit begins its second season on Friday in Mexico.

Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim snapped a string of six straight missed cuts on the PGA Tour at last week’s Genesis tourney in Los Angeles.  He finished in a tie for 62^nd place.  Northbrook’s Nick Hardy missed his second cut in eight starts at the Genesis event.  He’ll play in this week’s Honda Classic, the start of the PGA’s Florida Swing.

Four Illinois players were in the 78-man field in last week’s PGA Tour Champions Chubbs tourney in Florida where Bernhard Langer tied Hale Irwin’s record for most wins on the 50-and-over circuit.  Mark Hensby tied for 18^th, Jeff Sluman tied for 25^th and Illinois Golf Hall of Famers Gary Hallbeg and Jay Haas tied for 66^th and tied for 70^th respectively.

Palatine Hills has landed a qualifying round for the U.S. Women’s Open.  The qualifier, one of 26 nationwide, will be held on June 7 and the main event will be July 6-9 at California’s Pebble Beach.

NAPLES, FL. – Bernhard Langer now shares the honor of being the winningest golfer in the 43-year history of PGA Tour Champions.  In winning the Chubbs Classic on Sunday Langer notched his 45^th win on the 50-and-over circuit to pull even with Hale Irwin.

The 36^th playing of the Chubbs was like a home game for Langer, who has lived in nearby Boca Raton for over 30 years.  Langer has won the Chubbs five times and came into Sunday’s final round on the Tiburon Golf Club’s Black course as the defending champion.

Moving ahead of Irwin could come as early as the next tournament, the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Ariz., in two weeks. Langer has won there in the past, but he was savoring win No. 45 Sunday without looking past that.

“It was extremely special because I never thought it would happen,’’ said the 65-year old Langer, who extended his record of being the oldest Champions Tour winner to four events.

Irwin won the first of his 45 tournaments in 2007, the same year that Langer won his first.  Irwin got his 45 in 217 starts and Langer has made 319.

Langer was tied for the lead after the first round on the Black Course at Tiburon Golf Club and led by one after Saturday’s second round.  He bettered his age in posting a 64 on Friday and matched his age with a 65 on Sunday.  His 17-under-par SCORE resulted in a three-stroke victory margin but the historic win wasn’t that easy.

Fred Couples knocked Langer out of the lead by making four birdies in the first six holes on Sunday.  When he cooled off Padraig Harrington shot 29 on the front nine to take the lead and Dicky Pride, in the field as a sponsor’s exemption, used a hole-in-one at No. 10 to also move into the top spot.

Langer wasn’t aware what was happening to them as the back nine unfolded, but it was to his benefit.

Harrington put his tee shot near a pond at No. 14 and needed three more shots to just get out of the hazard.  That led to a double bogey, and Harrington was done.  Steven Alker, one of Langer’s playing partners, threatened until putting a fairway bunker shot into the water at No. 13. That also meant a double bogey and finished Alker.

Pride his tee shot tee deep in the woods on No. 17 and finished bogey-bogey. That left Langer a stroll to the finish, where the gallery piled in behind him in appreciation of his accomplishment.

“My whole life has been an improbable story,’’ said Langer after the celebrating had died down.  “I should have died as a kid when I had an extremely high fever.  Doctors told my mother not to have a child, but she got pregnant anyway.  They told her to abort me, but she decided not to take a chance of killing herself and me.  We both survived.’’

Then came his start in golf.

“I was just a German kid from a village of 800 who started as a caddie,’’ he said.  “Nobody started a career in golf in Germany.  They thought I was crazy.  Just to earn a living at it was incredible.  Maybe some day we can make a movie about it.’’

That may take a while, as Langer has no intention of cutting back on his tournament schedule any time soon.

David Glod has boosted the profile of his 36-year old Batavia-based Tour Edge golf club company in recent years by building an advisory staff around players on PGA Tour Champions, and none of Glod’s signing was more important than Bernhard Langer.

Eight competitors on the 50-and-over circuit are Tour Edge ambassadors, and they include former major championship winners in Langer (1985 and 1993 Masters),  Mike Weir (2003 Masters) and Tom Lehman (1996 British Open).

The spotlight is only on Langer now, because he’s on the brink of a major historical accomplishment.

Hale Irwin holds the Champions record with 45 tournament victories from 1995 to 2007. Langer, with 44, could tie Irwin with a win at the Chubbs Classic, which begins its 54-hole run Friday (FEB 17) at Tiburon, in Naples, FL.  Langer, 65, is the defending champion. He’s also won at least two times every year since 2011, so he could well pass Irwin during the 2023 campaign.

Still a full-time player, Langer believes he “has a few more wins in me,’’ and he’s quick to point out his Tour Edge equipment as a key to his success.

“I love it,’’ he said.  “It’s a great company. I signed with them two or three years ago and just renewed for another two years. The company is phenomenal.  They make a great product and it’s getting better. I just tested their new hybrids, and they brought out a new set of irons that Mike Weir immediately put into play.  I loved just looking at his, so I’m getting mine hopefully in Naples.’’

Irwin was a frequent winner in Chicago (1990 U.S. Open at Medinah, 1975 Western Open at Butler National and three Champions Tour events – 1995 at Stonebridge and 1998 and 1999 at Kemper Lakes). The Stonebridge win was Irwin’s last on the 50-and-over circuit and came in the same year that Langer won for the first time on the Tour. He had 42 wins on the European Tour but only three on the PGA, including his two Masters.

He is off to a slow start with the seniors this year, with a tie for 10^th in Hawaii in January and a tie for 39th in Morocco last week.  Langer, a Florida resident for over 30 years, feels more comfortable heading to Tiburon.

“I think I have a slight advantage living in South Florida, being used to the grasses, mostly Bermuda,’’ he said.  “To me it feels like a home game.’’

Home game or not, he has no plans to reduce his tournament schedule.

“If I’m healthy, if I enjoy the game and have fun doing it and am somewhat successful, I’m probably going to continue,’’ he said. “ I do have my aches and pains, but I enjoy being out there with my colleagues, and I’m still fairly good at it.’’

Though Langer didn’t play well in last week’s Trophy Hassan II event in Morocco the event had some surprise results by Illinois players.  Mark Hensby won the Illinois State Amateur in 1994 and the Illinois Open in 1996 shortly after arriving from Australia and then captured the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic in 2004 after earning his PGA card.  His career hasn’t been as promising since then, but Hensby finished second in Morocco – his best finish in 11 Champions Tour starts since he turned 50.

Long-time Chicago resident Jeff Sluman, basically retired from tournament golf over the last three years, showed up in Morocco and tied for 19^th in the 66-player field.  Sluman won’t be playing in Naples but Hensby and Illinois Golf Hall of Famers Jay Haas and Gary Hallberg will.

HERE AND THERE:  The 38^th Chicago Golf Show returns to the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont Feb. 24-26.  The show was cancelled due to pandemic issues in 2021 and 2022.

Three Illinois PGA members received national honors from the PGA of America at the recent PGA Merchandise Show in Florida.  Jamie Nieto, of The Preserve at Oak Meadows, received the Deacon Palmer Award, Nick Papadakes of Onwentsia the PGA Professional Development Award and Cog Hill’s Kevin Weeks the PGA Teacher and Coach of the Year Award.

A $5.9 million renovation at Canal Shores, the 103-year old course that winds through Evanston and Wilmette, will begin in June.  A youth golf facility and caddie academy will be created with architect Todd Quitno overseeing the project.  Some of the holes will remain open until Aug. 1 with the project to be completed in the summer of 2024.

Top level men’s professional golf has been hard to find in the Chicago area in recent years. That won’t be the case this season.

The upstart LIV Golf League finally announced its schedule on Tuesday and it included a return to Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove.  That means the top men’s players will be visiting twice in 2023.

The PGA Tour hasn’t had a tournament in the area since Medinah hosted the BMW Championship in 2019, though the sport’s premier circuit has had the annual John Deere Classic as a fixture in downstate Silvis.

This year, though, the PGA Tour will come back to the Chicago area with the BMW Championship, a FedEx Cup Playoff event, scheduled at Olympia Fields. Then that circuit won’t be back for any event until 2026 when Medinah hosts the President’s Cup team event.

LIV’s return to Rich Harvest wasn’t a surprise.  It hosted one of the controversial Saudi-backed circuit’s most successful events in its inaugural 2022 campaign with Australian Cameron Smith winning the title.  LIV held eight tournaments last year and will have 14, spread across the world, this year.

Tuesday’s announcement was delayed until a television contract was finalized, and that was accomplished when The CW Network agreed to terms last week.

There was also a question on Greg Norman’s status as LIV’s chief executive officer and commissioner.  PGA Tour leadership, notably Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, wanted Norman out but his role has been expanded instead after former managing director Majed Al-Sorour was dropped down to a member of the board of directors.

The Olympia Fields and Rich Harvest events will be a month apart, setting up a big fall climax to the Chicago season. The BMW is Aug. 14-20 and the LIV stop in Sugar Grove is taking a new date, Sept. 22-24.

Both are well clear of golf’s four major championships, the British Open being the last to wrap up on July 23.  The Rich Harvest event will be played opposite the PGA’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.

One interesting scheduling issue surfaced with LIV’s announcement.  LIV has a new event, at Orange County National in Orlando, FL., on tap a week before the first major, April’s Masters. There will be LIV players competing in the Masters against PGA Tour stars.  Orange County National has been the regular host of the Demo Day at the PGA Merchandise Show and was in that position when the show teed off on Tuesday.

LIV again has three of its events scheduled at courses owned by Donald Trump, but that third – a climax to the 2022 season – has been scaled down to a regular event instead of the team championship, which will now be played Nov. 3-5 in Saudia Arabia.

Obviously LIV isn’t going away any time soon and its court battle with the PGA Tour figures to become an increasingly heated one.

The first LIV event of the year will be Feb. 24-26 at Mexico’s Mayakoba Resort. The stars that bolted the PGA Tour for the big money offered by LIV – notably Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia – return to the LIV roster and more stars need to be added since the team competition has been expanded for the second season.

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Northbrook’s Nick Hardy will be a more colorful player when he begins the 2023 portion of his second season on the PGA Tour at this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii. It’s  the circuit’s first full-field event of 2023.

The 26-year old University of Illinois alum signed last week as the PGA Tour ambassador for Swag Golf, a five-year old company that produces putters and club headcovers. Its headquarters are also in Northbrook.

Swag has named the hand-crafted putter that Hardy tested in the final months of 2022 as the  “Hardy Prototype.’’  It apparently works, as Hardy made eight straight birdies with it (one off the PGA Tour record)  in his second tournament with the new blade at Mexico’s Mayakoba course in November.

His new clubhead covers, though, will be more noticeable when Hardy arrives at the first tee this week. Hardy has collected headcovers for years, now having about 60 over multiple brands. His new ones will be among the most colorful on tour and could be the most coveted among collectors.

Hardy will be rotating headcovers each week, and the first set will have an Hawaiian theme. Hardy’s favorite cover is one featuring former Bears’ coach Mike Ditka.

Swag’s founder, Nick Venson, focused on creating putters at first.  He was a Scotty Cameron enthusiast before working at putter manufacturer Bettinardi. The headcovers, though, were an immediate hit when U.S. captain Steve Stricker ordered some for his winning team at last year’s Ryder Cup.

“I don’t switch things,’’ said Hardy.  “I have the same driver shaft, same iron shaft and had the same putter for eight years before this one. Their putters are already great, and we’ve dialed in something I love even more. They make the best covers I’ve ever seen, and I want to make more of a collection.’’

Hardy needed a strong showing in a three-tournament, season-ending playoff series to retain his PGA Tour card, then made cuts in the first five events of the wrap-around 2022-23 campaign before missing in the final event.

HERE AND THERE

Jaravee Boonchant, the Thailand golfer who won this year’s Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood by seven shots, has earned her LPGA card.  The Duke University player earned her spot on the premier women’s circuit by finishing in the top 45 at the recent Qualifying School.

Jeff Sluman, a long-time Hinsdale resident and six-time winner on both the PGA  Tour and PGA Tour Champions, has been nominated for a three-year term on the U.S. Golf Association’s Executive Committee. He’ll join Chicago’s Tony Anderson, who is in the process of serving his second term.

The Winnetka Park District has named Northbrook-based KemperSports to manage its nine and 18-hole courses, both of which will be closed in 2023 to facilitate an extensive renovation led by Libertyville architect Rick Jacobson. Both courses will re-open in 2024.

The Chicago District Golf Association has announced an 89-event schedule for 2023.  The key dates are for the 92^nd Illinois State Amateur, July 18-20 at Bloomington Country Club, and the 103^rd CDGA Amateur, June 26-29 at Lake Shore in Glencoe.

Eagle Ridge Resort, in Galena, has announced that it’s all new Stonedrift Spa is now open at a new location, where the General Store had been located.

Patrick Flavin’s attempt at earning his PGA Tour card through a year’s worth of Monday qualifiers made for a captivating story throughout the 2022 season.

The Highwood resident, who won the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open in 2017, came up a bit short in the final day of his long season of traveling in September, but the year ended with a nice consolation prize last week when Flavin finished in the Top 40 of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Qualifying Tournament for the 2023 season in Savannah, Ga.

Both Flavin and Deerfield’s Vince India tied for 24^th in the last of the four-tournament series.  That meant both are assured eight early season starts when the PGA’s alternative circuit begins play in January.

India has played on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2015.  That’s been his main tour home since he was the Big Ten Player of the Year for Iowa in 2011. Lake Forest’s Brad Hopfinger, India’s teammate at Iowa, will also be back for another Korn Ferry season, but he isn’t assured the starts that Flavin and India earned in the Qualifying Tournament.

Neither are Illinois alums Michael Feagles and Brian Campbell, but they also secured another year of Korn Ferry membership.

HARDY START:  Northbrook’s Nick Hardy, who had to go to the Korn Ferry Finals to retain his PGA Tour membership, responded with the pressure on in that three-tourney series in August and September and he hasn’t cooled off since.

Hardy made the cut in the first five PGA Tour events after retaining his card, finishing a career-best tie for fifth in the Sanderson Championship. The PGA Tour season has two events remaining, and Hardy isn’t in the field for this week’s Houston Open.

TAMPA-BASED:  Elizabeth Szokol, the only Chicago-connected player on the LPGA Tour, has taken residence in Florida.  Her place in Tampa is a 40-minute drive from the Pelican course, site of this week’s last event on the circuit’s regular season.

Szokol, in her third LPGA season, grew up in Winnetka and played two seasons at Northwestern. Her swing coach, Justin Sheehan, is the head professional at Pelican but Szokol calls nearby Avila her home club.

“I’m from Chicago so needed a warmer place,’’ said Szokol.

She had a great second season on the circuit in 2021, making it into her tour’s top 60 to qualify for the season-ending CME Group Championship, in Naples. Its $2 million first prize is the largest winner’s check in the history of women’s golf.

Szokol played in only 12 events this year, though, and stands No. 105 in the CME standings going into next week’s season climax.

Big things are coming down the road for The Pelican.  “The Match’’ – this time featuring Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy vs. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth – is a 12-hole under-the-light event coming in Dec. 10 and next year’s LPGA event there  will be rebranded as The Annika in honor new host Annika Sorenstam.

HERE AND THERE:  Coach Mike Small’s next recruiting class at Illinois includes Max Herendeen, of Bellevue, Wash., who won the Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill in August, and Ethan Wilson, who helped Team Canada capture the Junior World Cup in Japan.

Chuck Kletcke will become the first Golf Pro Emeritus in the 112-year history of Edgewood Valley Country Club in Burr Ridge when he ends his 25 seasons as head  professional at the end of the year.

The Downers Grove Park District’s nine-hole course, site of the original Chicago Golf Club in 1893, will be rebranded next year as the Belmont Golf Club. That was  its name after Chicago Golf moved to its present 18-hole location in Wheaton in the 1890s.

Prolific Aurora architect Greg Martin is making plans to renovate 27-hole Village Links of Glen Ellyn.

The Winnetka Park District’s 18-holer won’t re-open in 2023 to accommodate the village’s stormwater management project.

The tournament director of Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event will be leaving his post on a record high.

Clair Peterson, who officially ends his 20-year stint leading the John Deere Classic, announced on Monday that this year’s Birdies for Charity program  raised a record $13,908,668 for 481 participating charities in the Moline area.  That total is $89,514 more than the previous record set in 2019

The Birdies for Charity program was established in 1971 and 98 percent of its $159.57 charity total was raised since John Deere assumed title sponsorship in 1998.  Peterson is a 45-year John Deere employe.

“The annual charity announcement is the reason we exist – to help raise money for our local charities,’’ said Peterson.  This year’s $13.9 million total works out to approximately $37 for each of the Quad Cities’ 375,000 residents, again making the tournament No. 1 in per capita contributions on the regular PGA Tour.  The JDC has held that honor for more than a decade and Peterson’s role has been widely recognized.

“Clair is green and yellow (John Deere’s colors) though and through,’’ said Zach Johnson, the tournament’s 2012 champion and long-time board member as well as the current U.S. Ryder Cup captain.  “His leadership and wisdom have taken the JDC to phenomenal levels.’’

J.T. Poston won this year’s tournament with a 21-under-par performance at TPC Deere Run, in Silvis, in July.  He’s expected to defend his title from July 3-9, 2023.

BIANCALANA’S BIG FINISH: No one was better than veteran teaching professional Roy Biancalana during the climax to the Illinois PGA’s tournament season. Playing out of The Hawk Country Club in St. Charles, Biancalana won the IPGA’s Errie Ball Senior Player of the Year Award for the fourth time in five years.

Biancalana won two of the section’s four senior majors, repeating as the winner of the Match Play event.  Though Kishwaukee’s David Paeglow took a wire-to-wire victory in the season-ending Senior Players Championship it was Biancalana who has the most to look forward to in 2023.

He’ll be the only IPGA player in the field for the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship on May 25-28.  That’ll be special, since it’ll be the first major championship to be contested at PGA Frisco – the new Texas home of the PGA of America. Biancalana earned his spot by finishing in the top 35 at the Senior PGA Professional Championship.

IWO’S RISING STAR: Jaravee Boonchant, playing without a practice round only hours after arriving from her native Thailand, won July’s Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood, in Romeoville, by seven strokes in and she didn’t stop there.

Earlier this month Boonchant won the LPGA’s Epson Tour Championship, posting a record 23-under-par for 72 holes on the LPGA’s International Course in Florida.

HERE AND THERE: The University of Illinois men’s team held a No. 9 national ranking in the college polls after concluding its fall season with a third-place finish in the Isleworth Collegiate in Florida.

Chadd Slutzky, of Deer Park and Royal Fox Country Club in St. Charles, is the Chicago District Golf Association’s Player of the Year and Tim Sheppard, of East Peoria and Pekin Country Club, is the CDGA’s Senior Player of the Year.  Sheppard became a three-time winner of that award.

Illinois’ representative in the PGA Junior League’s national championship again came out of Cog Hill, and this time the team made a strong run at the title in the 12- team finals in Scottsdale, Ariz.  Led by Cog Hill teaching pro Kevin Weeks, the Illinois squad earned the No. 1 seed in match play before losing a tense semifinal match to Team California.  Florida defeated the Illinoisans in the third-place match.

Winnetka native Brit Stenson has been elected president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and Lake in the Hills architect Mike Benkusky is a new member of the board of directors.

Brian Carroll, head professional at The Hawk Country Club in St. Charles, is the Illinois PGA Player of the Year.

Carroll, who led the Bernardi point standings most of the season, clinched the title with a tie for seventh in the IPGA Players Championship last week at Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe.  That was the final event of the IPGA tournament season.

“I’ve been close to winning this honor a number of times,’’ said Carroll.  “There was one time where I was leading in the points race for most of the year going into the last event and got edged out.  This has been a goal of mine for a long time, and I’ts nice to finally get it done.’’

Carroll won the IPGA Professional Championship — his first ever win in one of the section’s four major tourneys — and was runner-up in the IPGA Match Play Championship.

Kevin Flack, from Mauh-Nah-Tee-See, in Rockford, won The Players event with a 1-under-par 141 for the 36 holes at Lake Shore. He played in only three of the majors, having not gained Class A membership in the section until June.  He had successfully defended his title in the IPGA Assistants Professional Championship earlier in the season.

LIV REVISITED: Jerry Rich, owner of Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, couldn’t be more pleased with the controversial LIV Tour’s tournament held on his course.

“The weather was beautiful, the turnout was outstanding and the competition was top-notch,’’ said Rich.  “Since I’ve always wanted to host the best professional men’s golfers in the world, the LIV Golf Invitational Chicago was a dream come true.’’

The LIV circuit competes in Bangkok, Thailand, starting on Friday and has an Oct. 14-16 tournament in Saudi Arabia before concluding its first season at Trump Doral in Miami Oct. 28-30.  Next year’s schedule, which is to include a Chicago stop, will be announced in Miam

DRIVE, CHIP & PUTT: Medinah hosted a regional for the Drive, Chip & Putt again and four local players earned spots in the national finals at Georgia’s  Augusta National next April.  Heading the qualifiers was Northbrook’s Martha Kuwahara, who repeated as the regional champion in the Girls 14-15 division.  She had a 268-yard drive and three chips within two feet in winning the regional.

Other locals advancing to Augusta National were Emory Munoz, of Lockport, in the Boys 7-9 division; William Comiskey, of Hinsdale, in the Boys 10-11; and  North Aurora’s Ben Patel, in the Boys 12-13.

.HERE AND THERE: Northbrook’s Nick Hardy, in the second tournament of his second PGA Tour season, tied for fifth in last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi and earned $280,943.  Thomas Detry, another Illinois alum, tied for ninth and Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman tied for 24th. All three, plus Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim, will compete in the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas this week.

The University of Illinois men’s team won the Folds of Honor tournament in Michigan by 15 shots last week and has climbed to No. 5 in the Golf Coaches Association national rankings.

Tom Kearfott, of El Paso, and Tim Sheppard, of East Peoria, won the Chicago District Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Crystal Lake Country Club.  It was their fifth title in the event’s seven-year history.

Naperville’s John Perna, founder of The Players Service in Downers Grove, has been named Illinois Junior Golf Association Person of the Year.

Cog Hill Ravines, of Lemont and guided by professional Kevin Weeks, is in the PGA Junior League national  championship this week in Arizona.

Zero Friction, Oakbrook Terrace-based golf products manufacturer, has named Tom Cismoski its senior vice president of U.S. sales.