Yes, there will be a Chicago area contingent in the year’s last major. Luke Donald, Steve Stricker and Kevin Streelman will tee it up Thursday in the 96th PGA Championship at Valhalla, in Louisville, Ky. But there’ll be some notable absentees, too. Mark Wilson and D.A. Points, both going through sub-par seasons, have the week…
Daily Herald Columns
Endurance will be the key to winning Western Amateur at Beverly
No tournament in golf, amateur or professional, requires as much to win as the Western Amateur. The Western Golf Assn. is conducting its annual golf marathon for the 112th time this week at Chicago’s Beverly Country Club, and Wednesday is an especially big day because it includes the largest cut of the event – from…
IWO celebrates its 20th anniversary with a sold-out pro-am at Mistwood
The 65th Illinois Open ends on Wednesday. Then it’s the women’s turn. The 20th anniversary staging of the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open will tee off on Monday at Mistwood in Romeoville. Like the men’s tournament, the IWO is a 54-hole competition that concludes on a Wednesday, July 20. The men’s had state-wide qualifying rounds…
Strong JDC showing suggests a Zach attack is possible in British Open
Twenty-five players who competed in the John Deere Classic were on the tournament’s jet to the British Open on Sunday night. Zach Johnson figures to have the best chance of that group when the third major championship of the season tees off on Thursday at Royal Liverpool. Johnson was the runner-up in the Quad Cities’…
Can Niebrugge match Spieth’s feat at JDC?
There’s an interesting combination in the field for this week’s John Deere Classic, the only PGA Tour event played in Illinois in 2014. Steve Stricker, who considers himself semi-retired because he plays only a limited tournament schedule, has long been a JDC mainstay. He became the 44-year old tourney’s only three-peat winner when he ruled…
JDC playoff win provided a career breakthrough for Spieth
The only PGA Tour event in Illinois is coming up next week, and that means the return of Jordan Spieth. His victory in the John Deere Classic last year was one of the best feel-good stories in golf last year. Spieth was just 19 when he survived a five-hole playoff with 2012 champion Zach Johnson…
Newly-opened Medinah No. 1 might be more popular than No. 3 layout
Medinah Country Club has seen it all in its 90 years of existence – three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, three Western Opens, the last Ryder Cup in September of 2012. Virtually all the big events were held on Medinah’s No. 3 course, and that eventually became a problem. The demands for member and guest…
Couples is out, but Montgomerie is in for Encompass tourney
This week’s second Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club has two major differences from the first staging as far as the 81-player field is concerned. Fred Couples, last year’s runner-up, won’t be there when play begins on Friday at the Glenview course but Colin Montgomerie will. Though Couples is one of the most popular…
Family matters have affected Streelman’s U.S. Open preparations
Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman remains one of golf’s most promising up-and-coming players, but he’s not going into this week’s U.S. Open with any momentum. Chicago’s only homegrown PGA Tour player missed the cut in his last three tournaments. “It’s been a strange year golf-wise,’’ said Streelman, “but it’s been a wonderful year off the course thanks…
Four top college stars will get PGA Tour experience at JDC
Illinois’ only PGA Tour event of 2014 has thrived by appealing to young players, and director Clair Peterson saw no reason to change that approach when he announced his sponsor exemptions for the John Deere Classic this week. Peterson invited four of the very best college stars to battle the PGA Tour players in the…