If Ryder Cup experience means anything the U.S. team will be in big trouble when the biennial matches come to Medinah Country Club for their 39th staging beginning Sept. 25. Europe’s 12-man squad is loaded with veterans, to say nothing of talent. The European team, which has won four of the last five Ryder Cup…
Daily Herald Columns
Hohenadel wants to prove IPGA title wasn’t a fluke
What a difference a year makes. Last year the biggest tournament at Medinah Country Club was the Illinois PGA Championship, which decides the best player among the state’s club professionals. Next month, of course, Medinah hosts the 39th Ryder Cup matches and the player who shocked the Chicago golf scene with his win last year…
Only Stricker is sure bet for a U.S. Ryder Cup captain’s pick
The first phase to determine who will be playing in next month’s Ryder Cup matches at Medinah is over. Point standings, accumulated over two years, determined the eight automatic berths on the U.S. team after Sunday’s PGA Championship was completed and those earning berths were Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson,…
Small, Guthrie elevate the profile of Illini golf program
This would figure to be a big week for Mike Small, the Illinois men’s coach. He’ll make his 11th appearance in a major championship when he tees off at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C., in the PGA Championship on Thursday. This is the last of golf’s four majors this season and the final…
Rodgers wants to add Western Amateur to his WGA titles
Four of the world’s top six amateurs will be battling for the title in the 110th Western Amateur at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park this week. Among them is Patrick Rodgers, who won the Western Golf Association’s Junior tournament in 2011. “The Western Am and the U.S. Amateur are the two biggest in amateur…
Pearson goes for third title on more challenging course in Illinois Women’s Open
Wheaton’s Jenna Pearson can become only the second player to win the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open three times when the 18th annual tournament begins today at Mistwood in Romeoville. “I’m definitely hoping to be in that category,’’ said Pearson, who plays on the LPGA’s Symetra (formerly Futures) Tour. She captured the IWO as an…
U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN: Pak’s win in ’98 triggered big changes for LPGA
KOHLER, Wis. – Blackwolf Run was where women’s golf took a dramatic turn back in 1998. That’s where Se Ri Pak, a South Korean player, captured one of the most dramatic U.S. Women’s Opens ever. Her win in the biggest tournament in women’s golf triggered a huge influx of players from her country onto the…
U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN: Neff, Armstrong get into starting field
The 67th U.S. Women’s Open, which tees of Thursday at Blackwolf Run, in Kohler, Wis., has two late qualifiers with Chicago connections. Aimee Neff, winner of the Illinois Women’s Open in 2008 and 2009, and amateur Ashley Armstrong, a Notre Dame sophomore-to-be who won the 2011 Western Junior title, were promoted to the starting field…
JDC is in the spotlight thanks to Stricker’s four-peat bid
By far the biggest month of the golf season in the Midwest begins in just a few days. July offers the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin and the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities , followed by the two state opens for Illinois golfers and the start of the Western Amateur…
Illinois Open site change delights defending champion Arouca
For over three decades Illinois club professionals dominated their amateur counterparts. Those days are apparently over. Last week the Chicago District Golf Association’s amateur stars beat the Illinois PGA’s best 11 ½-6 ½ in the 51st Radix Cup matches at Oak Park Country Club. That was the CDGA’s fourth win in five years in the…