John Deere Classic canceled; its 50th anniversary is moved to 2021 Illinois won’t have its longest-standing PGA Tour stop this year. The John Deere Classic was cancelled on Thursday. The JDC, the only PGA Tour event held annually in the state, was to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a July 6-12 playing of the $6.2…
Daily Herald Columns
USGA should award Pope a spot in this year’s U.S. Open
Glen Ellyn’s Andy Pope has played his way into four of the last five U.S. Opens. That’s an extraordinary feat, given that around 10,000 golfers file entries each year and only 156 make it to the 72-hole finals. This year, though, Pope can’t play his way in. Instead he’s relegated to campaigning for a spot…
Golf starts the return of live TV sports events — and I can’t wait
It won’t be long now. Live televised sports competition is about to return, and golf is leading the way. While tentative tournament schedules were drawn up months ago, now there’s something concrete and – as a purely personal perk – the first two big events will be conducted almost in my Florida backyard. A four-player…
JDC’s 50th anniversary staging maintains its spot on revised PGA Tour schedule
While the PGA Tour schedule remained in a state of flux on Thursday, there were some noteworthy developments. Two involved Illinois tournaments. The Evans Scholars Invitational, scheduled as the next event on the PGA’s alternate Korn Ferry Tour, won’t make its scheduled May 20-24 playing at The Glen Club, in Glenview. It’s not being cancelled,…
Streelman hopes for another strong showing at The Players
Golf ‘s major championship season – for all intents — tees off on Thursday, and Chicago’s best tour player will be there. Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman is in the field at The Players Championship, long designated as the men’s “fifth major.’’ The Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open remain the official ones, but The…
Chicago Golf Show has more exhibitors than ever before
Carrie Williams, the executive director of the Illinois PGA, calls the Chicago Golf Show “the unofficial start of the Chicago golf season.’’ Maybe it should be designated as the official start, based on the wide range of participants in the three-day event that tees off on Friday at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. This…
Cog Hill is back on the calendar as the site for a big-time event
Chicago’s biggest public golf facility will soon by back in the national – if not the world – spotlight. Cog Hill, in Lemont, was named Tuesday as the site of the 45th annual World Long Drive Championship. It’ll be held Sept 3-9 with national television coverage on The Golf Channel. The event will be held…
Seven didn’t turn out a lucky number for Small, Wu
This was a weird first tournament week of the season for two of Chicago’s most prominent golfers. Both Mike Small and Dylan Wu blew seven-stroke leads in their 2020 tournament debuts but still finished as runner-ups in their events. Small, the University of Illinois men’s coach who owns 12 wins in the Illinois PGA Championship…
World Handicap System will have a unifying effect for golfers
No, Tiger Woods didn’t win his record PGA Tour record 83rd tournament this week to break a tie with Sam Snead. In fact, Woods didn’t even play in the Sentry Tournament of Champions – the PGA Tour’s first event of 2020 that concluded on Sunday with Justin Thomas’ playoff win in Hawaii. What did happen…
Hardy, Pope, India are ready to go on Korn Ferry Tour
It was unusual for the Chicago area to get six players into last week’s final stage of qualifying for the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour. It was even more unusual that three of them – Nick Hardy, Andy Pope and Vince India – finished in the top 40 of the 154-man field and earned immediate playing…