Chicago has never been rich in PGA Tour players over at least the last three decades, but there’ll be a new one on golf’s premier circuit in the 2014-15 season. Elgin’s Carlos Sainz Jr. earned his PGA Tour card by virtue of his play on the Web.com Tour this year. Sainz, 28, barely made it…
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IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Crown sponsorship climaxes big golf week for Chicago
Chicago’s golf season may be in its final days as far as 2014 goes, but you wouldn’t know it by developments over the last few days. On the PGA Tour Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman made a final-round charge in the Shriners Hospital for Children’s Open in Las Vegas on Sunday. Making five birdies in a six-hole…
IT ZIEHMS TO ME: WWGA honors two of its long-time leaders
Long before there was a Ladies Professional Golf Assn. there was the Women’s Western Golf Assn. This organization has spearheaded golf for girls and women since 1901. This week the WWGA honored two of its longstanding leaders. Susan Wagner and Audrey Peterson were presented with Woman of Distinction Awards at the WWGA’s annual meeting at…
Will new PGA Tour member Sainz defend his Chicago Open title?
Sure, there’s plenty of golf to be played in the Chicago area for a few more weeks but the Chicago Open will be it as far as big-time competition goes. It begins with a pro-am on Oct. 3 and the three-day, 54-hole tournament proper tees off on Oct. 5, with everything again going on at…
At 54 Inkster’s a Legend — but she’ll still have LPGA presence
WEST POINT, MS. – Juli Inkster’s biggest year in a stellar golf career came in 1999 when she won the U.S. Women’s Open, the LPGA Championship and three other tournaments while also qualifying for the Hall of Fame. There’s nothing wrong with looking back fondly on a year like that 15 years later, and Inkster…
Bradleys — Pat and Keegan — play big parts in U.S. golf hopes
WEST POINT, MS. – One of America’s premier golf families has a dilemma this week. In what is most likely an historical first, the family’s two most prominent golfijng members will be playing in major international team competitions at the same time. While Keegan Bradley will be trying to help the U.S. team regain the…
International Crown already looking ahead to Rich Harvest in 2016
As exciting as this first International Crown figures to be, the second staging in 2016 could well be even more eye-catching. It’ll be played at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, IL., 46 miles west of Chicago. Rich Harvest is a much different place than Caves Valley. The ultra-private club has only 100 members. The…
Conway Farms gets spruced up for ’15 BMW Championship
It’s back to Chicago for the BMW Championship. The Western Golf Assn. will continue its policy of playing its premier event close to its home base every other year, and Conway Farms will again be the site of tourney after it leaves Cherry Hills. It’ll next be contested from Sept. 14-20 in 2015. Conway Farms,…
Michigan’s True North brings Carlson out of retirement
HARBOR SPRINGS, MI. – Terry Carlson thought his working life was done after being a head golf professional in the Chicago area for 26 years and then getting a big sendoff into retirement at a prestigious club in Arizona. Forty years as a club professional plus one as a player on the Champions Tour seemed…
A Q&A with USGA’s Tom O’Toole
The U.S. Golf Assn. is based in Far Hills, N.J., and its leaders don’t get to Chicago all that much. That’s why Tom O’Toole’s recent stopover offered a good opportunity to find out what’s new with golf’s ruling body in the United States. O’Toole, the USGA president, is from St. Louis. He’s been involved with…