Last week’s erf Open was a rousing success for champion Wyndham Clark, but not for Illinois-connected players.  Only Adrien Dumont deChassart, who attended the University of Illinois, and Dylan Wu, a Northwestern alum, survived the 36-hole cut at Shinnecock Hills and neither was among the top 50 finishers.

Amateur competition within the Chicago area was another story. There were two spectacular performances within the area.

Campbell Ray — from Long Grove and Stevenson High School—won the Illinois girls qualifier for the Junior PGA Championship by a whopping 10 shots.  She shot 69-72 at Kemper Lakes  to earn the state’s lone spot in the Junior PGA Championship July 28-31 in Frisco, Texas.

Not only that, but Ray also committed to North Carolina-Asheville’s Division I program starting in the fall of 2027. Barrington’s Sam Uutala won the boys spot in the Junior PGA nationals.

Meanwhile Andrew Sciortino, an 18-year old from Brentwood, Tenn., captured the 108^th Western Junior title by nine shots at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest.  After posting 67-68 in the 36-hole final day his 7-under-par 277 was the lowest score since the prestigious tournament went to a 72-hole format in 1999.

Sciortino, who will begin his college career at Lipscomb, in Nashville, Tenn., joins a roster of Western Junior champions that includes Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler and Colin Morikawa. Evanston’s Lester Low and Glen Ellyn’s Owen Conjaris were the best of the Chicago players, finishing in a tie for 16^th.

ILLINOIS SR. OPEN – Illinois men’s coach Mike Small won for the fourth time in four years at Hawthorn Woods, shooting a 3-under 141 for 36 holes. Lakewood’s Doug Bauman, who climbed 25 spots on the leaderboard after his second round 68, was second and Park Ridge’s Rick Stewart and John Ehrgott of downstate Edwards, tied for third and shared low amateur honors.

The IPGA Senior Championship starts its two-day run on Monday (JUNE 29) at Flossmoor.

CDGA – The 106^th Chicago District Amateur has two days of match play left at North Shore, in Glenview.  The tourney began on Monday with a 36-hole session to determine 16 qualifiers for the match play portion of the event.

Quarterfinals and semifinal matches will be played today (WEDNESDAY) and the two survivors will battle for the title over 36 holes on Thursday.

JOHN DEERE CLASSIC – Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop is closing in.  The July 2-5 event at TPC Deere Run in downstate Silvis will mark the tourney’s 55^th annual playing. Brian Campbell is its defending champion, though the former Illinois star has missed the cut in his last three starts of this season.

Once again the JDC field is filled with promising young stars. Youngest is 19-year old Blades Brown, who earned special PGA Tour membership after getting four top-25 finishes in seven starts.

Luke Clanton, 24, and Michael Thorbjornsen, 24, tied for second in the JDC in 2024. Michael Brennan, 24, a sponsor exemption, made the cut at this year’s U.S. Open. Neil Shipley, 25, was the low amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open in 2024 and made the cut at Shinnecock Hills. South African Aldrich Potgieter, 21, almost won a PGA Tour event but lost to defending JDC champ Campbell in a playoff at the 2025 Mexico Open.

ILLINOIS OPEN:  Registration has closed for the 77^th annual event scheduled for Aug. 10-12 at Wynstone, in Barrington. The first of seven qualifying seasions in June 29 at Mistwood, in Romeoville, and the Last Chance qualifier is Aug. 5 at Countryside, in Mundelein.

 

 

SAVANNAH, GA. — Spring Forums were a fixture on the yearly calendar for the International Network of Golf starting in 1991. The first three were held in Hilton Head, S.C., and that’s not far from this week’s version in Savannah, Ga.

This Spring Forum is different from all the others, though.  The ING contingent gathered at the Thompson Hotel, beautifully located on the Savannah River. Welcoming events were held there on Monday, June 1, and most of the remaining activities in the three-day event are at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club, the premier private residential club in the southeastern United States.  It has six clubhouses, three restaurants, five swimming pools, three tennis complexes with 31 courts and  a 52,000 square foot wellness center.

And, not surprisingly, the golf facilities are top notch.  There’s a 3,000 square-foot Golf Performance Center and six championship golf courses there;

Needless to say, it’s going to be a lot of fun over the next two days.

Mike Jamison, the executive director of ING, has made the Forums special.  In addition to Georgia, they’ve been staged over the years in North and South Carolina, Michigan, Colorado, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Utah and Mississippi.

Innisbrook Resort, in Florida, was the site for our first appearance in 2011 and we haven’t missed one since. All bring back good memories, and this week’s will, too.

The history of this event is of historical interest, as it’s been held at popular facilities all around the country with date adjustments needed only occasionally.

Jamison made yearly stops from 1991 to 2019. Then the pandemic caused a shutdown for three years. Jamison revived the event with a Fall Forum in 2022 with Sebring, FL., hosting that year as well as in 2024 and 2025.

Valley Forge, in Pennsylvania, was the site in 2023.  The event was back in the spring that year, and now it’s a spring attraction again.

ING brings the golf industry and the sport’s media members together.  The Forums include presentations from golf industry leaders as well as social rounds mixing the participants from all walks of golf life.  Golf has benefitted greatly from these annual gatherings, and that’ll be the case again after the participants scatter when this one is over.

 

Brian Campbell is a month away from defending his title in the John Deere Classic, but a lot has happened to the University of Illinois alum since his playoff win over Emiliano Grillo  last year at TPC Deere Run in downstate Silvis.

The win there was his first on the PGA Tour, at the 2025 Mexico Open, and it also came in a playoff.  Those two victories got Campbell into  two Masters tournaments, and he finished a solid tie for 24^th at that first major championship of 2026. He also made the cut in the year’s second major, the PGA Championship, and is assured a spot in the third — this month’s U.S. Open on New York’s Shinnecock Hills course.

Campbell also got engaged this year and recently moved to Jacksonville, FL., all good things for the 33-year old who starred for the Illini from 2011-15.

Everthing, though, has not been going well for Campbell. He battled injuries that led to him missing four cuts and withdrawing in another tournament during a five-week stretch early in this season.  His strong finish at the Masters ended that down period, and he hasn’t missed a cut since – but the injury hasn’t gone away.

“My shoulder blade is out of place and pushed forward,’’ Campbell said during a visit to the Quad Cities for a discussion on this year’s JDC.  “It puts a lot of stress down my arm, so even gripping the club is an issue that I have to deal with.’’

At least it’s not the problem it once was.

“It’s come such a long way,’’ he said.  “Recently it’s just about getting used to playing.  It’s really hard to fix when I’m playing in tournaments, so the weeks off I have to really do what’s necessary.  The weeks that it feels good I push the pedal down and practice probably too  much.’’

The health problems have been a subject for discussion between Campbell and Mike Small, his coach at Illinois.

“There’s a lot of stuff that we talked about,’’ said Campbell, “but at the end of the day he liked to say `The hay is in the barn.  You put in the work.  Now it’s time to go out there  and be an athlete and play.’’

It’s hard for Campbell to do that at times, but he’s qualified for every one of the PGA Tour’s signature events, where the paychecks are the biggest. The circuit is in the throes of change, though.

“They’re telling us those are going to go away,’’ he said. “No-cut events are going to go away, but it’s a good thing. We want to get back to normal tournament schedules. There’s a lot of changing, and there’s nothing I can touch on because nothing is set in stone, so we really don’t know what to expect. We’re kind of ready for anything. We trust where the tour is going and we’re just looking to be competitors out there at the end of the day.’’

While the talk of change spreads all through men’s golf, it isn’t a major topic for the JDC.

“We had a contract extension that keeps this event right here in the Quad Cities through 2030,’’ said tournament director Andrew Lehman.

This year’s tournament week is June 29 through July 5.  The last four days are for the tournament rounds but there are some notable side attractions.  Illinois men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood will be featured in the pro-am and Carrie Underwood gets the spotlight in the fourth year of the JDC’s Concerts on the Course series on the Fourth of July.

 

 

 

 

Randall Sullivan’s “The First All-Star Game’’ (Atlantic Monthly Press) is aptly named.  It is the story of the first baseball game between the stars of the National and American leagues that was played in 1933 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park.

(As you might guess we’re venturing away from golf again to spotlight some outstanding writing in other areas).

Sullivan focuses on just that first game, which was billed as “The Game of the Century.’’ It was to be a one-time thing as a highlight of the World’s Fair in Chicago but the game – as well as Sullivan’s book – have turned out to be much more than that.

Now known as the Mid-Summer Classic, this year’s 96^th version of the annual game will be played July 14 with the Philadelphia Phillies hosting at Citizens Bank Park.

Sullivan certainly told the story of the first one, created by Arch Ward.  Ward was the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, and had to convince the leaders of both the National and American leagues that such a game was a good idea.  Not everyone thought that way. The U.S. and the sport of baseball were at a crossroads at that time.

Chicago baseball needed an image improvement after one of its two teams, the White Sox, were caught in a gambling scandal involving the fixing of the 1919 World Series. The country was reeling from more than that, with Germany’s Adolph Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini getting their nations poised for what would become World War II.

Thankfully, Sullivan wrote much more than a book about one baseball game.  His turned into an historical account of a critical period in American history, and baseball had some stars – most notably Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig – who gave the sport some needed positive attention.

Sullivan, in his 496-page masterpiece, covered the national news starting with an assasination attempt on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt before weaving in the tales of more than just Ruth and Gehrig on the baseball side.

The book found space for such divergent names as Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Al Capone, Charles Lindbergh, Bonnie & Clyde, Hack Wilson, Lefty Grove, Jimmy Foxx, Bill Dickey, Charley Gehringer, Gabby Hartnett, Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott and Frankie Frisch.  The list could go on and on.

I enjoy baseball, but am not a diehard fan.  Still, this was a hard book to put down. A few tidbits that were particularly interesting:

Connie Mack has always been considered one of the very best managers in baseball.  However, he had a losing record (3,731 wins against 3,948 losses in 53 seasons as a manager.  That record, according to Sullivan, should also include 76 games that ended in ties.

Babe Ruth was at the end of his playing career when he homered in the first All-Star Game, but he was still the sport’s most popular player. Ruth grew up an adopted orphan and was extremely popular with black players who weren’t allowed in the major leagues at that time.  There were plenty of exhibition games involving the top black teams, though, and Ruth was the most frequent participant among major leaguers.  According to Sullivan there was widespread speculation that Ruth was of mixed race.

Gehrig and Ruth with teammates on the Yankees with widely different personalities. According to this book they  didn’t talk to each other for two years after having a feud, but that ended on the day Gehrig was honored in an emotional tribute at Yankee Stadium after his playing career ended following a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Gehrig told the crowd “I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth.’’ Then Ruth, reportedly sobbing, rushed forward to embrace him.

Ruth’s career didn’t end happily, either.  He badly wanted to finish it as manager of the Yankees but it didn’t happen.  Before the 1935 season started Ruth asked Yankee leaders Jacob Ruppert and Ed Barrow if Joe McCarthy would return as manager. They confirmed McCarthy would stay in that role, meaning Ruth wouldn’t get it.  “That’s all I wanted to hear,’’ said Ruth, who stormed out of the meeting and was given his release by the team. He passed away in 1948.

“The First All-Star Game’’ is an extremely well-researched book filled with considerable episodes of that era that had nothing to do with baseball.  A book well worth reading, sports fan or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ORLANDO, FL — The Golf Travel Writers of America underwent a leadership change this year, with George McNeilly taking over as its president.

GTWA is a professional organization for golf travel writers, editors, broadcasters and other media professionals who focus on covering golf destinations and the broader golf travel industry.  Its mission is to uphold high standards of journalism, share industry expertise and deliver reliable, engaging coverage of golf experiences world-wide.

“No press releases or agency content can match the credibility and authenticity of third-party media that have no vested interest in the success or failure of a golf course, resort or sporting event,’’ McNeilly said. “The most important thing is for our members to respect the history and heritage of our organization.’’

GTWA dates back 21 years when it was a labor of love for the creators, Bruce Vittner and John Edwards. They wanted to create a forum for freelance writers. Golf travel writing has changed a bit since the founding in 2005.

“The landscape continues to change rapidly, as most credible storytellers in media centers or on assignment are not full-time employees,’’ said McNeilly.  “I’m not sure those craving amplification for their businesses fully understand the decline in staff and budgets at news organizations and really appreciate the broad reach and dedication of our members.’’

For working media who meet the qualifying criteria, membership provides meaningful benefits, access to a network of experienced peers, opportunities for collaboration, professional development and increased visibility with a dedicated community focused on the craft.  It also connects writers with industry partners, tourism groups and destinations.

“That makes GTWA an ideal place to grow professionally, stay informed and strengthen one’s presence in the golf media landscape,’’ said McNeilly. “Everything starts with a conversation.  We’re moving into a more modern era, and we also want to be seen as the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for those who travel and write about a sport we all deeply care for.’’

This year’s transition began with the crafting of revised bylaws and a simple mission statement: `To inform and engage golf fans and participants with integrity wherever the sport is played, watched, attended, written about or visited.’’

Some members suggested that the organization needed a new name, but the majority quickly rejected the idea.

“We’ll always be doing something that involves writing,’’ said McNeilly.  “The GTWA is even more relevant, as we distribute on emerging platforms to more people than ever.’’

Incoming vice president Alan Darty, publisher of Golf One Media, led a team that has redesigned the association’s website to better serve the needs of a membership that includes broadcasters, podcasters and credible influencers who share the organization’s mission.

“Golftravelwriters.com is a one-stop hub for golf-related businesses to experience the quality work of our members and to connect with them,’’ Darty said.

McNeilly’s own career experiences should greatly benefit the organization.  For the past 14 years he has taught Sports Business at Full Sail University and writes about professional golf and destinations when he’s not in the classroom

Before that he was a senior executive at ESPN for more than a decade after beginning his career as an award-winning multimedia broadcaster, producer and writer with experience from four Olympics, 17 Super Bowls and many of golf’s biggest events.

In addition to McNeilly and Darty the  GTWA executive committee includes Dan Vukelich (secretary), Joy Sarver (treasurer) and this writer, as president emeritus. The organization is now based in Orlando, FL.  For more information visit http://golftravelwriters.com. Membership information is available there.

“We want to be welcoming,’’ said McNeilly. “So many people are multi-medium now. We’ve got to bring that mindset. The word is continuing to spread.  There’s ample opportunities for all contributors to provide value to the audiences and destinations that we’re serving.’’

Thomas Detry was a stalwart on some of coach Mike Small’s powerhouse teams at the University of Illinois, but he was in a more interesting position as a touring pro over the weekend.

Detry figured to be defending championship in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, one of the most popular PGA Tour events, until he made the decision to give up a full time PGA Tour card  to play on the  lucrative Saudi-based LIV Tour.

In that capacity  Detry made his LIV debut in that circuit’s first tournament of 2026, in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. It wasn’t just the money that led to Detry switching circuits.  He likes team golf. LIV has it, the PGA Tour doesn’t. He also got drafted by a good team.

Dustin Johnson, captain of the 4Aces, made Detry his top draft choice. The 4Aces also had Thomas Pieters on its four-man roster and Johnson’s caddie and Detry’s bag-toter knew each other.

“I’ve known Thomas since we were 8 or 9 years old,’’ said Detry. Both grew up in Belgium and played collegiately at Illinois.

“Thomas and I grew up playing golf together,’’ said Detry.  “We hadn’t really seen each other the last four-five years so it was nice to finally be back together.’’

The fourth member of the team was supposed to be Patrick Reed, and Detry made friends with him immediately.

“I congratulated him after he won at Dubai (a recent European Tour event),’’  said Detry.  “I practiced with him and had lunch with him last week.  Then I got the news on social media that he had moved on.  It was a shock.’’

Reed, who bolted the PGA Tour to join LIV  for its first season in 2022, decided to follow another LIV original — Brooks Koepka — back to the more established circuit and he followed up his win at Dubai by capturing last week’s Qatar Masters as well.  Definitely a hot player, but Detry was still happy with his switch after Miguel Tabuena, of the Philippines, replaced Reed in Saudi Arabia.

“I always loved the team atmosphere,’’  said Detry.  “When I played in college I was always playing for something more than myself. Playing with DJ and good friend Thomas was a dream start on a new job.’’

Detry, now 33, played at Illinois from 2012-16 and was the Big Ten medalist as a senior.  He turned pro in 2016 and was ranked No. 22 in the Official World Golf Rankings a year ago.  He also got off to a fast start as a LIV player, gaining a share of the first-round lead in the circuit’s first-ever 72-hole tournament after posting a 65 in Saudia Arabia. He wound up in seventh place, which earned him a $2.2 million paycheck, and the 4Aces finished third in the team competition.  That meant the foursome will divide another $900,000.

Australian Elvis Smylie, also making his LIV debut, was the champion in Saudi Arabia, earning $4 million, and Chris Gotterup replaced Detry as the reigning champion in the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He beat Hideki Matsuyama in a Sunday playoff to pocket a $1,656,000 paycheck.

“I enjoyed the week,’’ said Detry.  “I’ve got a team surrounding me and supporting me now.  It was a different environment than what I’d been used to.  I didn’t really know what to expect, or how I’d react to the music playing.  It didn’t bother me at all.’’

Adjustment is no problem for Detry.  He speaks four languages – Dutch, French, Spanish and English – and will use everyone as he splits time with LIV and the European Tour this season.

 

 

THIS COLUMN WAS NAMED THE WINNER OF THE 2025 INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF GOLF MEDIA AWARDS IN THE FEATURE WRITING CATEGORY. IT APPEARED IN THE JUNE ISSUE OF THE CHICAGO DISTRICT GOLFER IN 2025.

 

 

This month marks the 50^th anniversary of Medinah Country Club’s second U.S. Open. The first was in 1949 when Cary Middlecoff won the title.  The last was in 1990, when Hale Irwin was the champion.

The ’49 tourney was most notable for who didn’t win and who wasn’t there.  Middlecoff won by a stroke over Clayton Heafner and Sam Snead.  It was one of four runner-up finishes in the Open for Snead in the only major championship he didn’t win. Ben Hogan was recovering from a serious auto accident and didn’t play, and it was the last Open for two-time winner Ralph Guldahl, a legendary player in those days.

Then Chicago went 26 years before hosting another U.S. Open.

In 1975 the winner was Lou Graham, who took the title in a playoff with John Mahaffey.  It was my third U.S. Open as golf writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, and I eventually covered 27 of them, but, I’ll never forget my first one at Medinah. It’s etched in my memory book for lots of things besides who won. I’ve been covering golf  for nearly 60 yards, but I doubt it would have been nearly that long had the U.S. Open not been brought back to Medinah 50 years ago.

Back then the U.S. Golf Association didn’t schedule U.S. Open sites 10 or 20 years in advance, as it does today.  Medinah was announced as the ’75 site in 1972, and that changed a lot of things in the way golf was covered by the Chicago media.

Golf didn’t get nearly the attention it received once the word was out that Medinah had landed the big one. In that long dryspell  Chicago beat writers covered only local events plus the Western Open.

In anticipation of the interest the Open at Medinah would stir I was suddenly sent to the Opens at Oakmont in 1973 (where  little-known Johnny Miller shot a final-round 63 to win the title) and Winged Foot in 1974 (where Irwin survived on a course so difficult the tourney was dubbed the “Massacre at Winged Foot’’).

Things were a lot different at Medinah. The young hotshot, Tom Watson had won his first PGA Tour event in the 1974 Western Open at Butler National and started the Medinah Open 67-68 , a tournament record for 36 holes. He fizzled after that, shooting 78-77 on the weekend.

Frank Beard was the 54-hole leader, but he shot 78 on Sunday and tied for third with Hale Irwin, Bob Murphy and Ben Crenshaw. The playoff featured a PGA Tour journeyman, Graham, against a young star who would wind up a journeyman as well in Mahaffey.  The leaderboard had star power, though.

Jack Nicklaus, bidding for his fourth U.S. Open win,  had a chance to tie for the lead with a birdie putt on the 15^th  hole in the final round, but he missed that one and then finished with three bogeys and wound up tied for seventh with Peter Oosterhuis.

Irwin tied for third with Beard; Crenshaw, then a 23-year old hotshot who would go on to win two Masters titles and a Western Open;  and Murphy.  At 288 they were just a shot out of the playoff.

Arnold Palmer tied for ninth – his last top-10 in a U.S. Open — with Watson and Pat Fitzsimons. Future U.S. Open winners Ray Floyd and Andy North were in a tie for 12^th.

With Graham failing to get up-and-down from a bunker on the 72^nd hole, he and Mahaffey finished regulation play at 3-over-par 287 and headed to a Monday playoff. Graham opened a three-stroke lead as 12 holes and went on to capture his only major championship, though he did win six times on the PGA Tour.

Interviewing was more casual back then than it is now.  I approached Mahaffey while he was having breakfast before the Monday playoff, asked how he was feeling and he replied “Not so good.  I have an allergy to grass.’’

I didn’t think he was kidding, and Mahaffey did go on to win the PGA Championship in 1978.

Anyway, Graham shot 71 to Mahaffey’s 73. The winner’s check was only $40,000. U.S. Open winners didn’t hit the $1 million mark until 2002.  Graham was 11 strokes behind Watson at the halfway point, and that led to him making the biggest comeback by a champion.

Though golf’s bigger names didn’t match up to Graham and Mahaffey that week, there were no regrets about the drama the tournament provided and Medinah’s course proved a worthy challenge to the world’s best players.  The Chicago golf crowd was just happy to have a U.S. Open on home soil, and that soil at Medinah would get tested again and again – but on much altered courses.

Medinah members called for renovations of the No. 3 layout for the 1990 U.S. Open and then again for the 1999 and 2006 PGA Championships. An even bigger redo was just completed in preparation for the 2026 President’s Cup coming to the club.

Some footnotes from ‘75:

The low amateur was 22-year old Jerry Pate, who would win his first tournament as a professional at the U.S. Open in Atlanta the following year.

Chicago’s own Lance Ten Broeck, then 19 and headed for the University of Texas, was the only other amateur to survive the 36-hole cut. Pate was six strokes behind Graham and Mahaffey and six ahead of Ten Broeck.

Gary Groh, who won the Hawaiian Open on the PGA Tour before having a long run as the head professional at Bob `O Link, matched Pate’s 293 for the 72 holes.

Hale Irwin won the Western Open at Butler National the following year and captured his third U.S. Open at Medinah in 1990 in an epic playoff.  Irwin and Mike Donald battled through 18 holes before Irwin won on the first extra hole – in effect the first sudden death playoff in U.S. Open history.

Graham, now 87, won his last PGA Tour event in 1979.  He made 450 cuts in 623 starts on the PGA Tour and played on three Ryder Cup teams. After turning 50 he played on PGA Tour Champions through 2001 but never won on the 50-and-over circuit in 239 starts.