The biggest tournament for Illinois residents, the 71^st Illinois Open, concludes today at White Eagle in Naperville.   A day later the PGA Tour’s major championships for 2020, the PGA Championship, tees off at Harding Park in San Francisco.

Before August is over the PGA Tour will have completed its FedEx Cup Playoffs, which conclude the 2019-20 season, but this year’s U.S. Open and Masters still won’t have been played.  The Open was postponed until September and the Masters to November.

Locally, the Illinois PGA didn’t have a tournament until July due to pandemic concerns.  Now its second biggest of the section’s four major tournaments, the IPGA Championship, falls just three weeks after the Illinois Open.

Given all the postponements and cancelations caused by pandemic concerns, tournament pileups like this were inevitable. Big events for both pros and amateurs, local and national, will come fast and furious now and they’ll run all the way into December.  The Ladies PGA Tour has its two biggest events – the U.S. Women’s Open and Tour Championship – scheduled on back-to-back weeks that month.

Here’s some things to keep in mind from the standpoint of Illinois players while these tournaments seemingly run almost together:

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP:  Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman has handled the scheduling pileups better than most of his tour colleagues.  With two runner-up finishes and four top 10s, Streelman could contend for his first major title in this week’s PGA Championship.  He’s also No. 19 in the FedEx standings, so he’s in good position to stay in the top 30 and make it all the way to the Tour Championship, which concludes on Sept. 7. The three playoff tournaments are huge money events, and Streelman looks ready to cash in big-time. One of them is the $9.5 million BMW Championship, at Olympia Fields Country Club August 27-30.

PGA TOUR: Doug Ghim, the Arlington Heights product in his rookie season on golf’s biggest stage, has been struggling.  He’s survived only five of 15 cuts but things are looking up.  Though he didn’t qualify for the PGA Championship Ghim cashed the last two weeks in tour stops – a tie for 18^th (his best showing of the season) at the 3M Championship in Minnesota and a tie for 48^th in last week’s Barracuda Championship in California.

KORN FERRY TOUR:  PGA Tour cards won’t be awarded until the end of the 2021 season but Northwestern alums Dylan Wu (4) and David Lipsky (16) and Illinois product Nick Hardy (19) are all in the coveted Top 25 spots in the rankings now, and in position to move up to the premier circuit if they can stay there.  The Korn Ferry has two Illinois stops coming up next month – the Lincoln Land Championship at Panther Creek in Springfield Sept. 3-6 and the Evans Scholars Invitational at Chicago Highlands in Westchester Sept. 10-13.

ILLINOIS OPEN:  Whoever wins the title today didn’t have to beat the defending champion. Bolingbrook’s David Cooke, a two-time winner, had to call off his title defense when Chesson Hadley made the 36-hole cut (and finished in a tie for 17^th) at the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship on Sunday.  Cooke is Hadley’s caddie now.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: The 50-and-over circuit finally re-started its season last week with The Ally Championship in Michigan.  Jeff Sluman, the only Chicago player on the circuit, withdrew after a 74-72 start.

WOMEN: Winnetka’s Elizabeth Szokol suffered a similar fate as Sluman when the LPGA re-started its season with the Drive On Championship in Ohio.  Szokol shot 80-74 and missed the cut.

 

 

 

The Western Golf Association’s three most prestigious championships certainly will look different this year thanks to ongoing pandemic concerns.

An announcement from the PGA Tour this week declared that there will be no spectators at its tournaments through the FedEx Cup Playoffs. That means the second of those three postseason events – the BMW Championship Aug. 25-30 at Olympia Fields Country Club – can be viewed only on television.

Spectators will also be scarce at the WGA’s two upcoming amateur championships. Each of the 120 participants in the 120th Women’s Western Amateur, which begins on Monday (JULY 20), will be allowed to bring only one spectator onto the grounds at Prestwick Country Club in south suburban Frankfort. The tourney runs through Saturday, July 25.

The men’s Western Amateur, first held in 1899, tees off the following week at Crooked Stick, in Carmel, Ind. Each player there is allowed one caddie and one guest.

The PGA Tour hasn’t allowed spectators since resuming its schedule on June 11 following a three-month shutdown. The policy was to end at this week’s Memorial tournament in Ohio but the circuit changed its policy on that last week.

“Our BMW Championship team has been working tirelessly over the past several months to develop a comprehensive plan for a limited number of spectators, following guidance from the PGA Tour and county and state officials,’’ said Vince Pellegrino, the WGA’s senior vice president for tournaments. “However, we understand the challenges and concerns that Covid-19 has created and recognize the decision to proceed without spectators is in the best interests of everyone involved.’’

PRESTWICK PREVIEW: Sarah Shipley, a University of Kentucky senior, won’t defend her Women’s Western title. She’s has accepted an invitation into a Symetra Tour event in Battle Creek, Mich., instead.

The Women’s Western field will be headed by last year’s other finalist, Antonia Matte of Chile. Five Northwestern players – Brooke Riley, Kelly Su, Kelly Sim, Rachel DeAngulo and Charlotte Hillary – will be in the field as will Illinois senior Tristyn Nowlin, a tourney finalist in 2018.

Prestwick, designed by the late Chicago architect Larry Packard, is hosting the Western Amateur for the first time but was the site of the Western Junior in 1972 when Nancy Lopez won as a 15-year old. Lopez went on to win that event the next three years and then took the Western Amateur title in 1976 before enjoying a legendary career on the LPGA Tour.

Other former Women’s Western champions include Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, Beth Daniel, Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn. This year’s format calls for 36 holes of stroke play qualifying before the field will be cut to 32 players for three days of match play competition. The champion will be crown on Saturday, July 25.

NU ALUM WINS: David Lipsky, who finished his collegiate career at Northwestern in 2011 and had previously won two pro events in Europe and one in Asia, notched his first victory on the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour at the TPC San Antonio Challenge in Texas on Sunday.

Lipsky, who won by four shots, went to the same high school in La Canada, Calif., as Collin Morakawa, Sunday’s winner at the PGA’s Workday Charity Open in Ohio. Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman tied for seventh in the Workday event, his fourth top-10 finish of the season and second in a row.

Both the PGA and Korn Ferry circuits will stay in the same towns for tournaments this week. Streelman is in the field at the Memorial, played on the same course as the Workday was, and Lipsky is again in San Antonio but the Oaks Course will be used this week instead of the Canyons.

BITS AND PIECES: Kemper Lakes has named Matt Simon as its new head professional. He replaces Jim Billiter, who took a position at Glen View Club, in Glenview. Billiter was the Illinois PGA Player of the Year in 2017. Simon had been on the staff at Biltmore, in North Barrington.

Kyle English, who tied for first in the Illinois PGA’s first tournament of the season last week, won the IPGA Assistants title on Monday. English, from Crestwicke in Bloomington, shot a 6-under-par 66 at Cress Creek, in Naperville, to win by one over Jeff Kellen, of Butler National.

The area’s first charity event of the season is Monday (JULY 20). It’s the fourth annual TimeSavers/Salute Outing to benefit military families and will be held at Rolling Green, in Arlington Heights.

Rob Wuethrich, a senior at Illinois Wesleyan, has been named the Jack Nicklaus National Division III Player of the Year.

Northwestern, Iowa and Indiana just upgraded their golf facilities. Now Illinois is doing the same.

The school announced that the Atkins family has donated about 300 acres in Urbana, which includes the Stone Creek Golf Course, to the University. Stone Creek opened in 2000 and was closed in January. It’s expected to re-open for public play in 2021.

“Our teams have always felt welcome at Stone Creek, and it’s been a privilege to call it our home course for close to 20 years,’’ said Illinois men’s coach Mike Small. “Now, with this gifting, we can continue to improve and update the facility with the intent to rival the top college courses in the nation.’’

Stone Creek will be renamed the Atkins Golf Club at the University of Illinois. The Atkins family already has its name on tennis and baseball facilities at the school. The family’s latest donation is valued at $15 million.

Small, along with women’s coach Renee Slone, have struggled along with other college coaches since the pandemic wiped our their spring seasons. Both will have players involved in the first two big national amateur events coming up this month.

Slone has three players in the field for the Women’s Western Amateur, which tees off on July 20 at Prestwick, in Frankfort. Small has five players in the field for the men’s Western Amateur the following week at Crooked Stick, in Indiana, and he could have more. Two other Illinois players are on the waiting list to get in.

The men’s event is again loaded with four college stars. Florida’s Ricky Castillo, is the No. 2-ranked amateur in the world. Georgia’s Davis Thompson is No. 4, Florida State’s John Pak No. 5 and Texas’ Cole Hammer No. 7. Hammer won the Western Amateur in 2018.

COG HILL SETBACK: For 20 years Cog Hill, in Lemont, hosted the PGA Tour. Once the BMW Championship departed in 2011 the Jemsek family — owners of the 72-hole complex — have been looking for a big event to takes its place.

They thought they had one this year when the World Long Drive Championship was scheduled there from Sept. 3-9. Those hopes dwindled this week when The Golf Channel, the owner of the World Long Drive, announced that all five of the qualifying tournaments were canceled and the finals at Cog Hill were “suspended.’’

“We’re hoping for 2021,’’ said Troy Newport, the Cog Hill general manager.

SCHACHNER’S HOT START: Michael Schachner, named the assistant men’s coach at DePaul earlier this year after spending several years playing on a variety of professional tours, had seven birdies and an eagle en route to shooting a 4-under-par 68 in the Illinois PGA’s first tournament of the season on Monday.

Kyle English, of Crestwicke in Bloomington, matched Schachner’s score at The Hawk Country Club in St. Charles. Schachner and English were one stroke better than host pro Brian Carroll. Illinois’ Small finished solo fifth.

BITS AND PIECES: The PGA Tour begins a two-week run at Muirfield Village in Ohio this week but there’s been one change in plans. Next week’s Memorial tournament was to be the first tournament since the resumption of tournament play on June 11 to be played with spectators. Now that’ll be without spectators as well.

Northbrook’s Nick Hardy is skipping this week’s TPC San Antonio Challenge on the Korn Ferry Tour after notching three top-10 finishes in four starts since the PGA’s satellite circuit restarted its season.

Jerry Rich, owner of Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, has promoted Vicky McGowan to director of golf. McGowan has been on the staff there for 10 years.

Reagan Davis, who spent six years as director of golf at Eagle Ridge Resort in Galena, just took a similar positions at World Golf Village, in St. Augustine, FL. World Golf Village is the home of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

David Cooke, a two-time Illinois Open champion and the winner in 2019, set the Naperville Country Club course record last week with a 64.

Dave Lockhart’s Golf360 television programs have resumed for another season. They’ll be aired at various times on NBC SportsChicago.

How’s this for a refreshing change of pace?

In a year where pandemic concerns forced the cancelations of tons of golf tournaments and the postponements of many others the Illinois PGA is actually adding an event to its greatly revised schedule.

The IPGA tournament season was to start in April, but the first event won’t be held until next Monday (JULY 6), with the first of five stroke play events. This one is at The Hawk Country Club in St. Charles.

New to the just-released revised schedule is a two-day team event at Metamora Fields. For now the event is being called The Fall Bestball. The IPGA tournament committee is still working on entry and format details for the event.

Also included in the revised schedule is a new site for the Illinois PGA Match Play Championship. It has been the first of the section’s four major events and was traditionally held at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove, in May. Now it will be held Sept. 15-18 and Elgin Country Club will replace Kemper Lakes as the site.

Three of the four majors, including the Match Play, were re-structured. In the case of the Match Play the first round will revert to a stroke play qualifier for seeding into the event with the low 64 advancing to the second round..

The Aug. 3-5 Illinois Open, first of the majors, had its field for the finals previously cut from 264 to 156 and only one site, White Eagle in Naperville, will be used instead of the two used of recent years.

Last of the majors, The Players, had been held at either Eagle Ridge in Galena or Metamora Fields in recent years. Now it’ll be played at Conway Farms, in Lake Forest, from Oct. 5-6, and only the top 35 players on the season point standings will be eligible. The Illinois PGA Championship, Aug. 24-26 on Medinah’s No. 1 course, is the only one of the majors with the same format and place from the original schedule.

Streelman bounces back

Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman finished one shot behind champion Dustin Johnson in the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship on Sunday and credited his time on two Wheaton courses — Cantigny and Arrowhead – for his runner-up finish at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut. He said the two Wheaton courses were similar to the tour site where he last won in 2014.

“Coming off (three straight) missed cuts, I’m very happy with this,’’ said Streelman, “but being away from my family for three weeks is difficult. That was probably one of the hardest runs for me. The quarantine life out here – you just go back to the hotel, sit there by yourself and try to stay healthy. It gets lonely.’’

The PGA Tour isn’t allowing players’ families to travel to tournaments. Streelman’s wife and two children live in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Korn Ferry climbers

Northwestern alum Dylan Wu tied for fifth in the Utah Championship and moved into the No. 3 sport on the Korn Ferry Tour’s season standings. The Top 25 at the end of the 2021 season automatically advance to the PGA Tour.

Northbrook’s Nick Hardy, who tied for 27th in Utah, is No. 19 and Deerfield’s Vince India, bouncing back from a final round collapse the week before, tied for 18th and improved to No. 35 in the standings. The Korn Ferry circuit is in Colorado this week.

JDC champ tests positive

Dylan Frittelli, the reigning champion of the John Deere Classic, tested positive for the coronavirus after missing the cut in the Travelers Championship.

“I am experiencing no issues and feel great physically,’’ said Frittelli. “I was surprised and disappointed to learn of the positive test.’’

Because of the JDC’s cancelation, Frittelli’s JDC title defense was postponed until 2021. The tourney announced this week that it will be held July 5-11, the same dates on the PGA Tour calendar that is has held in recent years.

Last week gave us a glimpse of what golfers might be missing thanks to the PGA Tour’s revamped schedule. It would have marked the 30th anniversary of — at least arguably – of the greatest U.S. Open among the 13 played on Chicago courses. Hale Irwin, who got into the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah via special exemption from the U.S. Golf Association, went on to become the first golfer to win the championship in a sudden death playoff. The drama was unforgettable.

Irwin, who won the first of his three U.S. Opens at New York’s Winged Foot, will have to wait to get his just historical due. It’ll come when the Open is played in September.

Fast forward to this week the PGA Tour stops in Hartford, Ct., for the Travelers Championship. It’s the first tournament on the revised schedule, created since the pandemic hit, that will be played in its original spot on the calendar. It’s had its share of drama, too – more, in fact, than most tour stops.

Hartford has produced some of the most spectacular scoring in PGA Tour history, and Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman is part of it. In 2014 Streelman won for the last time on the PGA Tour – and he did it with one of the most impressive performances ever. Streelman birdied the last seven holes en route to a 28 on the back nine, and that led to a one-stroke win over Sergio Garcia and K.J. Choi in the Travelers.

Streelman is in the Travelers field again, and in need for a solid showing. He missed the 36-hole cut in both tournament played since the circuit resumed play after a three-month break caused by pandemic concerns. He’s on a string of three straight missed cuts going back before the stoppage in play but did have a runner-up finish at Pebble Beach back in February.

Milestone scoring isn’t unusual at Hartford. Prior to Streelman’s sizzling finish six years ago the TPC River Highlands course was the site of the lowest round ever shot by an amateur on the PGA Tour – a 60 by Patrick Cantlay in 2011.

After Streelman had his big day Hartford was in the spotlight again for Jim Furyk’s 58 – the lowest 18-hole round in PGA Tour history — in 2016. Whether there’s more magic in Hartford, in another tournament played without spectators, remains to be seen and a proper look back at Irwin’s illustrious career may have been missed last week but it’ll come eventually.

The U.S. Open was to be played June 18-21 at Winged Foot course, and last Sunday would have marked 30 years since Irwin beat Mike Donald in the historic playoff at Medinah. That was Irwin’s third win in the U.S. Open, a victory that helped lead to his earning the label of golf’s “Mr. Chicago.’’ He also won the Western Open at Butler National in 1975 and captured the Ameritech Senior Open, a Champions Tour event played on Chicago courses, in 1995, 1998 and 1999.

“I don’t know what it was – the people, the courses, the culture – but Chicago always felt warm and fuzzy to me,’’ said Irwin during a stop last week in St. Louis. He has a home there, but spends most of his time at another residence in the Phoenix area.

While Streelman is struggling to find his game since the pandemic started Irwin isn’t sure he’ll even play again. Now 75, Irwin appeared in three Champions Tour events before the pandemic hit and his play wasn’t impressive.

“The reality is, if you’re spending more than you’re making, that’s a bad formula,’’ he said. “Four-five years ago I took retirement, which means you can start dipping into (his PGA) retirement fund. That also means you can play only 11 events. My game isn’t what it once was. Whether I’ll play again I just don’t know.’’

Irwin’s feats at least will be recognized eventually. He’s working with former USGA staffer Pete Kowalski on a project called Keeler1930. Scheduled to launch later this year, it will provide personal looks at various golf legends of the past.

The Illinois PGA had planned to open its tournament season in March, but it still has yet to hold a competitive event. Twelve have been canceled and another nine postponed, and the state’s club professionals won’t have a competitive event until July 6.

Give the IPGA credit, though. The Section has – barring sudden changes in anticipated governmental restrictions imposed by pandemic concerns – salvaged its biggest annual events.

This is in sharp contrast to the Chicago District Golf Association, which had to scrap its two oldest and most prestigious events – the Illinois State Amateur and Chicago District Amateur – when those same governmental restrictions made their annual stagings unrealistic.

The IPGA took a different approach, particularly regarding its Match Play, Illinois Open, Section Championship and Players Championship. The first was postponed and has been rescheduled, the second restructured and downsized and the fourth received a major format change. All, though, are expected to be played before this season is over following a series of organizational meetings involving section members and staffers and host club personnel.

“It was important for us to keep our majors this year,’’ said IPGA executive director Carrie Williams. “It was a super collaborative effort working with our professionals and their facilities. We appreciate the flexibility they showed in working with us to schedule these events.’’

Brad Slocum, assistant executive director of operations, oversees the IPGA tournaments. He’s expected to announce the full schedule for the section’s four majors this week. Only a site for the IPGA Match Play Championship is in doubt. It had May dates at Kemper Lakes, in Kildeer, but the pandemic ruled out playing at that time.

Kemper, one of Chicago’s main tournament venues, hosted the IPGA Section Championship for 24 straight years before becoming the home venue for the Match Play. This year, amidst all the rescheduling of tournament and social events, the site is not available Sept. 14-17, the rescheduled dates for the tournament. Williams expects the Match Play will return to Kemper in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Open – the section’s biggest event — retained its Aug. 3-5 dates at White Eagle in Naperville but the field for the finals was reduced from 264 to 156 players and the state-wide qualify tournaments cut from eight to four. Two sites had been used for the finals in recent years. This time, though, White Eagle will host all 54 holes and the alternate site, Stonebridge in Aurora, will wait its turn in future years.

The Illinois PGA Championship won’t change at all. It remains Aug. 24-26 on Medinah’s No. 1 course but a major change is planned for the fourth and final of the section majors. The Players Championship, generally played at Eagle Ridge Resort in Galena in recent years, will be played at an always tournament-ready layout – Conway Farms in Lake Forest – on Oct. 5-6.

The 36-hole season-ending event will become a 35-player invitational this year for the top players on the section’s Bernardi point standings. That’ll provide a more dramatic conclusion to the IPGA season than was created in the past.

Despite all the scheduling adjustments made by other pro tours and golf organizations, the IPGA’s Open series will go on virtually as originally planned. The Illinois Open will wrap up on the originally announced dates at White Eagle. The Super Senior Open remains on tap for Sept. 1-2 at Pine Meadow in Mundelein and the IPGA Senior Open is still at Royal Fox, in St. Charles, from Sept. 28-29.

The other section majors at the Assistants Championship, July 13 at Cress Creek in Naperville, the Senior Championship Aug. 10-11 at Merit Club in Libertyvile, the Senior Match Play Sept. 21-23 at Biltmore, in Barrington; and the Senior Players Oct. 12-13 at Twin Orchard, in Long Grove.

First of the Illinois Open qualifiers is July 14 at Flossmoor Country Club.

All was not salvaged on the IPGA calendar, however. Two team events, the Radix Cup and Thompson Cup, were canceled. So was the Drive, Chip & Putt and PGA Junior League playoffs. Still on the docket among the non-tournament attractions are the Birdies for Charity event Sept 8 at River Forest Country Club, in Elmhurst; and the Ryne Sandberg IPGA Foundation Pro-Am Oct. 1 at Onwentsia in Lake Forest.

The men’s pro golf tours resume tournament play on Thursday (JUNE 11), ending three months of inactivity because of Covid-19 pandemic concerns.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and the next four players in the world rankings will be in the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Texas. The strong 148-player field there will also include Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman and Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim, a struggling PGA Tour rookie who starred collegiately at the University of Texas.

The PGA’s alternate circuit, the Korn Ferry Tour, will re-open where the PGA Tour played its last round on March 12 – at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, FL. This time, though, the competition will be on Sawgrass’ Dye Valley Course instead of the more famous Stadium Course.

A new event, the tourney at Sawgrass will be called the Korn Ferry Challenge and it’ll precede another new event – the following week’s King & Bear Classic at World Golf Village – which is just a few miles away. Those events are where the bulk of the players with Illinois connections will be competing.

The Korn Ferry has two players ranked in its Top 25 – Northwestern alum Dylan Wu (5) and Illinois alum Nick Hardy (23). In previous years the top 25 at season’s end would be awarded PGA Tour cards for the following season. Not so now.

“I can’t get my PGA card until the end of 2021,’’ said Hardy. “The season will be around 50 events by the time it ends next year.’’

Because of all the cancelations and postponements the top 25 won’t be determined in 2020. The events over a two-year span will determine who moves up to the big tour.

Hardy, though, is in good shape with play resuming – even though he didn’t spend the pandemic layoff in an ideal golf atmosphere. He experienced golf much the way all Chicago golf enthusiasts did.

“I came back to Illinois from Arizona the first week of April, during the early beginning of this whole (pandemic) thing,’’ he said. “Illinois restrictions were pretty strict – no golf,’’ he said. “So I went to Indiana 12-15 times in April and played with my buddies (a mix of college players and club pros).’’

He found a course there – Palmyra Golf Club in St. John – via Google and that kept him sharp until May 1 when he resumed practicing at Merit Club in Libertyville. Hardy has no regrets about taking the imposed tournament layoff away from warmer golf destinations.

“It was nice to be home with my family at that time,’’ he said. “All my family is in Illinois, so I spent the quarantine time with them.’’

Hardy departed for Florida on Sunday (JUNE 7) to get familiar with his tournament courses of the next two weeks and was mentally prepared for a major change in tournament atmosphere. As is the case with the PGA Tour event no spectators will be allowed at TPC Sawgrass and media will be basically tour personnel and The Golf Channel staffers. Family members and friends of the players can’t even come to the courses and there won’t be any live TV coverage there.

“It’ll be odd, pretty quiet,’’ said Hardy. “The Korn Ferry doesn’t have the number of spectators the PGA Tour gets anyway, but I’ve played in a lot of tournaments where there weren’t many spectators.’’

In addition to Wu the Korn Ferry event will have six other Illinois players resuming their bids for coveted PGA playing privileges. Luke Guthrie, another Illinois alum, isn’t in the top 25 but — at No. 51 – he’s in position to qualify for the Korn Ferry Playoffs. The top 75 make it.

Five others have to improve to get there. Another Illinois alum, Scott Langley, is No. 85. Lake Forest’s Brad Hopfinger is tied for 86th, Glen Ellyn’s Andy Pope 111th, former PGA Tour winner Mark Hensby tied for 118th and Deerfield’s Vince India 134th. Hopfinger, Hensby and India are among the 10 players who own titles in both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open.

The Korn Ferry Tour held a new tournament, the Evans Scholars Invitational, at The Glen Club, in Glenview, last year and the event was to return there in May. It was postponed as part of the concerns over the pandemic and rescheduled for Sept. 9-13.

The Glen Club was not available during those dates, and this week the Western Golf Association named the new site. The ESI will be played at Chicago Highlands, a private club in Westchester. An Arthur Hills design that opened in 2010, the tournament will mark Highlands’ first pro tour event.

Though some restrictions were lifted for Illinois golfers on Friday, the season remains a trying one for the state’s golf organizers. Tournament scheduling remains a fluid thing due to concerns over the COVID-19 Pandemic.

First it was the Chicago District Golf Association canceling the Illinois State Amateur and the CDGA Amateur – its two oldest and most prestigious championships – and joining the Illinois PGA in dropping the Radix Cup matches.

Then came Mistwood Golf Club, in Romeoville, calling off the Illinois Women’s Open and, on Thursday, the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic was canceled.  It was scheduled to celebrate its 50^th anniversary at TPC Deere Run in downstate Silvis.

Now it’s the Illinois Open in the spotlight – but at least it’s not because of a cancelation.  The Illinois PGA announced a major restructuring of the 71^st staging of the championship.

The Illinois Open normally draws about 700 entries from all parts of the state and they’re whittled to 264 for the 54-hole finals through eight state-wide qualifying rounds. Now the tourney – the biggest event for Illinois residents — has been downsized.

White Eagle Club, in Naperville, remains as the host of the Aug. 3-5 finals, but there will be only 156 finalists instead of 264.  There won’t be the usual alternate site for the finals.  Stonebridge, in Aurora, was to co-host for the first two days.

“We are hopeful to bring the event back to Stonebridge in the near future,’’ said Carrie Williams, executive director of the Illinois PGA.  “We are confident this revised format will provide a competitive test for players and continue the tradition of crowning a champion of Illinois Golf.’’

Qualifying rounds will also be reduced.  Four have been canceled and the remaining four will be July 14 at Flossmoor Country Club, July 16 at Deerpath in Lake Forest, July 22 at The Hawk in St. Charles and July 29 at Willow Crest in Oak Brook Hills. The survivors will join the players exempt off past performance in the finals.  Players who registered for earlier qualifiers have until July 8 to transfer to another qualifying event.

The Illinois PGA is already assured of a lean tournament season.  Normally its season starts in May, but now the first of the stroke play events is July 6.  The CDGA schedule is also filled with cancelations, and its next event is on July 8.

Two bigger Chicago area events remain on the Western Golf Association schedule – the Women’s Western Amateur at Prestwick in Frankfort from July 20-25 and the BMW Championship, a FedEx Cup Playoff event for PGA Tour players, is Aug. 25-30 at Olympia Fields Country Club.  The WGA also has the Evans Scholars Invitational, a stop on the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour, rescheduled from May to Sept. 9-13 but no site for that event has been announced.