February is again show-time for Chicago golfers. The third annual Tinley Park Golf Expo begins a three-day run on Friday (FEB 7) at the Tinley Park Convention Center and the 31st Chicago Golf Show takes over the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont on Feb. 21 for a similar three-day run. In the meantime, though, there…
Daily Herald Columns
New putters highlighted this PGA Merchandise Show
ORLANDO, FL. – The 61st PGA Merchandise Show was just all the previous 60 such stagings. All the latest and greatest products for golfers were on display at the Orange County Convention Center. This year, though, there seemed to be an abundance of unusual new putters. The one that got the most attention was Veritas…
Fitzpatrick’s stay at NU didn’t last long
Northwestern men’s golf coach Pat Goss labeled Matt Fitzpatrick as “our most high-profile recruit since Luke Donald.’’ Unfortunately for NU, Fitzpatrick’s stay in Evanston didn’t last long. Fitzpatrick, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, withdrew from the school on Thursday to pursue more playing opportunities as an amateur in…
Chicago Open is revived again, this time at Cantigny
There’s just one major tournament left in the Chicago area golf season, and it’s both an old and new one. The Chicago Open, which tees off at Cantigny in Wheaton on Monday, has been played 23 times but the stagings have been spread out with a variety of competition levels. The first was in 1914…
Streelman uses Bears, Urlacher to get ready for BMW Championship
It was back to work this week for Kevin Streelman, Chicago’s lone homegrown PGA Tour player and one of the elite 70 players in the field at the BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest. Last week’s break in the FedEx Cup Playoffs gave Streelman a chance to get away from the rigors of…
Expanding tournament schedule to include BMW could pay dividends for Stricker
The 70-man field for next week’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest is finally official. It will include four players with Illinois connections, including Conway member Luke Donald. Donald’s play has dropped off since he was the world’s No. 1-ranked player in 2011, but he will go into the BMW Championship ranked No….
Streelman, Points in good shape but Wilson is out of BMW Championship
Streelman, Points in good shape but Wilson out of BMW Championship Now there’s just one FedEx Cup Playoff tourney left before the PGA Tour makes its first return to the Chicago area since 2011. The Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston has a Friday-Monday run this week, and the low 70 in the standings after that…
Malm’s 63 at Elgin bodes well for his chances in IPGA tourney
Clearly Curtis Malm is the player to watch in next week’s 91st Illinois PGA Championship on Olympia Fields Country Club’s South course. Malm, first assistant professional at St. Charles Country Club and the IPGA’s player-of-the-year in 2012, fired a 9-under par course record 63 at Elgin Country Club on Monday in the section’s fifth stroke…
Playing in BMW Championship isn’t a done deal for Donald, Wilson
Luke Donald and Mark Wilson, Chicago-based PGA Tour players and members of the Western Golf Assn. board of directors, put on an exhibition this week to promote next month’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest. The nine-hole closed-to-the-public event, which included new Northwestern basketball coach Chris Collins and Bulls’ guard Kirk Heinrich, raised…
Illini coach Small will try to revive his game at the PGA Championship
Playing in the PGA Championship isn’t anything new to Mike Small, the University of Illinois men’s coach who qualified for this week’s final major championship of 2013 for the ninth time. Small, who got into the tourney by finishing in a tie for fourth at the Professional Players National Championship in June, has made the…