Team USA remained in last place in four-team Pool B at the UL International Crown on Friday, but there’s still hope for the home team in this global team event that determines its champion on Sunday.

Thursday’s first round of matches was a disaster, the U.S. going 0-2 against England. Friday’s second round showing against Thailand was much better. The American team of Lexi Thompson and Cristie Kerr had no trouble with Ariya Jutanugarn and Porani Chutichai, winning 4 and 3 to secure the first U.S. points of the competition.

The other U.S. team, Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller, played well, too. They took the lead on the third hole and never trailed against Pornanong Phatlum and Jutanugarn’s sister Moriya, but Phatlum’s long birdie putt on the 17th green enabled Thailand to halve the match.

“We had a rough day, and we just got beat,’’ Thompson said of the bad start on Thursday. “We just had to come back with a positive attitude and focus on good things.’’

With two points awarded for a win and one from a tie, the U.S. has three points going in Saturday’s matches. England leads the pool with five and Thailand and Japan have four each. In the final round of best ball competition the U.S. faces Japan and England takes on Thailand.

“We knew we couldn’t lose today,’’ said Kerr, “and getting three out of four points was huge. We did what we had to do.’’

“We’ve still got some work to do tomorrow, but as a team we’re moving in the right direction,’’ said Lewis. “We’ve got to get four points, and we’ll be right where we need to be.’’

The top two teams in each pool advance to Sunday’s concluding singles matches and the third place team in each of the two pools will go to a playoff for the fifth and final spot in singles. Team USA lost in the Saturday playoff two years ago when the Crown was played for the first time in Maryland.

Team USA was the top-seeded team in the first Crown and is seeded second to Korea in this one. Korea had its troubles the first two days as well, splitting both of its matches each day. Korea, with its four players all ranked in the top 12 in the world, trails surprising Chinese Taipei by two points in Group A heading into Saturday. Taipei has six points, Korea four and Australia and China three each.

The pairings in Group A for Saturday are Korea vs. Australia and Taipei vs. China.

While the U.S. matches drew the biggest galleries on Friday, the plight of Team England was captivating as well. England didn’t qualify for the first UL International Crown and was handicapped on Friday when Charley Hull couldn’t play.

Hull became ill after leading England’s sweep of the U.S. on Thursday. In a statement released by her team Hull said she sought medical attention after an asthma attack turned into a fever before Friday’s matches. Her absence meant that her partner, Melissa Reid, had to go it alone against the strong Japan team of Haru Nomura and Mika Miyazato.

Reid battled valiantly, taking Nomura and Miyazato to the final hole before the Japan duo could claim a 1-up victory.

“I’m extremely proud of myself,’’ said Reid. “I knew it was going to be difficult playing on my own against two of the best players in the world. For me it turned out a huge positive. To get anywhere near the 18th was going to be a huge achievement, and I’m just really, really pleased I gave the team a huge chance of even a point.’’

While Reid didn’t get the point, her teammates Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Holly Clyburn managed to halve their match with Ai Suzuki and Ayaka Watanabe. The point gained in that one kept England on top of Group B. Hull’s status for Saturday’s matches is uncertain.

No golfer in the 86-year history of the Illinois State Amateur came close to doing what Northbrook’s Nick Hardy did this week at St. Charles Country Club.

A 64-65 finish during Thursday’s concluding double round enabled Hardy to post a 260 total for the event’s 72 holes. The tournament record had been 270 by Bob Zender at Kankakee Country Club in 1971. That was the last of Zender’s three titles, and he went on to become a regular on the PGA Tour.

The best under-par score for a champion had been 13-under by Jerry Haas in 1984 at Mt. Hawley, in Peoria. Hardy was a shocking 28 under.

Only the margin of victory recorded eluded the University of Illinois junior-to-be. Rob Grube won by 11 shots at Edgewood Valley in LaGrange in 2006. Hardy was 10 better than runner-up Tee-K Kelly of Wheaton.

“I just had it going,’’ said Hardy. “It was nice to finally get the monkey off my back and get it done in this tournament.’’

Hardy lost the 2014 title to Ray Knoll, a University of Iowa golfer from Naperville, in a playoff at Cantigny, in Wheaton. Last year Hardy was one shot out of a playoff at Panther Creek, in Springfield. Kelly won that one and had hoped to claim his third State Am in four years at St. Charles.

Only Zender and another PGA Tour veteran, D.A. Points, had three wins in the State Am after it went to a stroke play format in 1963. Kelly, who concluded his collegiate career at Ohio State in June, had hoped to join Zender and Points. In the end a 71 on Tuesday killed his chances, but he was pleased with his 66-65-68 showing after that on the 6,926-yard par-72 layout.

“If someone had told me before the tournament that I’d shoot 18 under par I’d be pretty pleased,’’ said Kelly. “This is just how it goes sometimes. Somebody just brings his stuff, and you can’t beat it.’’

Kelly finished what is likely his last State Am in style. He put an 8-iron second shot from 179 yards to two feet on the par-5 finishing hole and rolled in the eagle putt to finish solo second. Moments later Hardy had a 20-footer for eagle to match Grube’s record for margin of victory, but his putt lipped out.

The low scoring wasn’t just by Hardy and Kelly. Twenty-one of the 37 finalists finished under par for the 72 holes in one of the lowest-scoring State Ams ever.

“It was a perfect storm,’’ said Kelly. “It was perfect scoring conditions. It was hot, so the ball was going far, and there wasn’t much wind all week, the fairways were in perfect shape and the greens were a little soft. Six or seven people played some of their best golf.’’

Hardy agreed.

“St. Charles is not an easy course, but a lot of players played well,’’ he said. “I had my best stuff. It was probably my best tournament, from top to bottom and then getting it done.’’

Hardy and Kelly will be back in St. Charles next week for the Illinois Open and they’ll also be in the field for the Western Amateur, to be played Aug. 1-6 at Knollwood, in Lake Forest.

The Illinois Open will be played at two St. Charles clubs, Royal Fox and Royal Hawk, from Monday through Wednesday.

The 22nd Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open shaped up as a two-player duel between a pair of Big Ten players before Wednesday’s final round even began.

Illinois’ Stephanie Miller and Wisconsin’ Brooke Ferrell owned a three-shot lead on the rest of the field entering the last 18 at Mistwood, in Romeoville, and they matched shots playing together through the first 14 holes of the final round with no other player mounting a challenge.

And then they reached the tee at the par-5 fifteenth hole. For all intents the competition ended there. Ferrell, trailing by just one shot, hit her first drive into water on the left. Her second went out of bounds right and Ferrell staggered in with a four-over-par nine on the hole. Miller had it easy the rest of the way.

“You learn so much more from your failures than you do from success,’’ said Ferrell. “Stephanie played so well, but I’ll learn a ton from this.’’

Miller knows about failure, too. In 2012, as a junior-to-be at Stevenson High School, she led the IWO after two rounds before stumbling badly in the final 18. Not so this time, as the Illini senior-to-be posted her third straight 69 for a 54-hole scorer of 207 and a three-stroke win over Kelly Grassel, another amateur from Chesterton, Ind.

“It wasn’t like the year I had in high school, when I played like a high schooler,’’ beamed Miller. “This gave me a good boost of confidence because there were a lot of girls I play with in college.’’

Miller, who lives in Elgin, enjoyed three straight days of sub-par golf for the first time after shaking off any rustiness caused by a nine-day break from golf to go on a family vacation to Alaska.

Ferrell, who shot 74, was a stroke behind Grassel in a tie for third with Northwestern’s Hannah Kim and two clear of the low professional among the 63 starters, Symetra Tour player Ember Schuldt of Sterling. Schuldt is an Illinois alum, so the tourney turned out a huge success for the Illini. Schuldt picked up $5,000 but the tourney was still dominated by amateurs.

Miller, who won medalist honors in the Illinois high school tournament twice before heading to Illinois, put herself in position to win with three straight birdies on holes 5-7.

After that both Miller and Ferrell endured long waits between shots as the twosome immediately in front fell two holes behind the third from the last twosome. Miller survived the delays by talking with both her father, who doubled as her caddie, and Ferrell.

“It was hard, but not the reason I lost,’’ said Ferrell. “I had the same issue the past two days. It’s one of those things that’s almost taken over the game now. The LPGA is struggling with it a lot, too, but no one ever gets penalized for it.’’

The Chicago area was at the forefront of women’s golf long before the creation of the Ladies Professional Golf Association in 1950. The arrival of the UL International Crown this month at the Merit Club is just the latest of the big women’s
events staged in this neck of the woods.

Granted, the UL International Crown will be the most unique. Its format – 32 players representing eight countries competing to decide the best women’s golf-playing nation in the world – assures that.

The Crown is something new and different. The competition has been played only once before, two years ago at Caves Valley in Maryland with Spain winning. The LPGA needed friendly, enthusiastic environments to introduce its most innovative competition and bringing it to the Chicago area this year and Korea in 2018 fit that requirement to a tee. The Chicago area knows about women’s golf because it has been welcoming such big competitions for well over 100 years.

One of the very first great American players was a Chicago woman, Bessie Anthony. She won the first three national championship put on by the top organization of that era – the Women’s Western Golf Association – in 1901, 1902 and 1903. All three were played on Chicago area courses as was the 1903 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Anthony won that one, too, at Chicago Golf Club.

Another Chicago woman. Elaine Rosenthal, won the Women’s Western Amateur three times between 1915 and 1925 and that tournament – one of the two biggest for women until the LPGA was founded – was played at Chicago courses 12 times in the next 24 years leading into the LPGA’s debut season.

The first U.S. Women’s Open champion in 1946 was Patty Berg, who represented St. Andrews Golf Club in West Chicago for over 50 years. She was also one of the 13 founders of the LPGA.

The first LPGA season consisted of only six tournaments and one, called the Chicago Weathervane, was played at Skycrest Country Club (now Twin Orchard in Long Grove) with Louise Suggs winning.

The U.S. Women’s Open would come to the Chicago area three more times – victories by Sandra Hayne in 1974 and Pat Bradley in 1981 at LaGrange Country Club and by Australian Karrie Webb in 2000 at the Merit Club. That was the first big event at the private facility and the only one until the UL International Crown tees off.

Carol Mann, a World Golf Hall of Famer who grew up in Olympia Fields, also was a U.S. Women’s Open champion in 1965 – a year after she won the Women’s Western Open, a tournament that’s no longer held. The Women’s Western Open was considered a major championship during its run from 1930 to 1967 and was played on Chicago courses 13 times.

The LPGA has made other inroads in the Chicago area for 54-hole tournaments. Betty Burfeindt won the Child & Family Services Open at Midlane, in Wadsworth, in 1973. The LPGA returned for a three-year run of events with the Chicago Sun-Times as title sponsor from 1991 to 1993. Martha Nause won the first with a spectacular birdie-birdie-eagle finish at Oak Brook Golf Club, holing out from the fairway on her last shot. Dottie Mochrie (now Pepper) and Cindy Schreyer were the other champions of that event.

From 2002 to 2004 the Kellogg Keebler Classic was played at Stonebridge Country Club in Aurora and it had some high profile champions – Webb in 2002 and Annika Sorenstam the other two years.

The last time the LPGA came to town was in 2009 for the very well received Solheim Cup – a team event in which the U.S. defeated Europe at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. This UL International Crown was also to be played at Rich Harvest, but officials at both the LPGA and the club mutually agreed to a parting of the ways last year and Merit Club owner Bert Getz stepped in to bring the LPGA stars back to his course.

Drew Blass, the Crown director, also was on staff for the Solheim Cup at Rich Harvest.

“I love both places,’’ said Blass. “Every golf club has its positives. Rich Harvest Farms has a lot of great things – all the parking is on site and there’s more acres available — but Merit Club is closer and tighter, so spectators can see more matches. I love the Merit Club. It has the ability to host multiple championships, and I love it that we’re the one to open the gates again. This is a gem that needs to get its name back on the map.’’

Rich Harvest owner Jerry Rich has not commented on the decision to move the event which he helped found away from his club – the most active facility for tournament play in the Chicago area in recent years.

“This (playing at the Merit Club) is better off for everybody,’’ said Blass. “Rich Harvest Farms has the NCAA Championship next year, and they’ve been having a lot of (big tournaments). We were just another event for them.’’

The Merit Club, though, is a good fit for both the exciting new event and the club, which includes legendary Chicago athletes Michael Jordan and Brian Urlacher among its members. One of Merit Club’s assistant professionals, Jim Billiter, is also among the elite playing members of the Illinois PGA. He won two of the section’s four major tournaments — the IPGA Match Play and IPGA Championship – in 2015.

The eight teams that will play in next months’ UL International Crown at the Merit Club were determine via the world ranks a month ago. On Monday the four players who will compete for each team were unveiled.

Players had until Sunday’s conclusion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Seattle to get their rankings high enough to earn spots on their national teams. There was only minor shuffling after the KPMG event. Amy Yang moved into the fourth spot for Republic of Korea and Porani Chutichai became Thailand’s fourth member.

On the team side Australia passed Chinese Taipei to claim the No. 4 seed for the Crown, which is designed to determine the best women’s golfing nation.

Korea seems a shoo-in, with its four players all ranked in the top eight in the world, but that’s not how Ariya Jutanugarn, the top player for No. 6 seed Thailand sees it. Last week in a Seattle press conference she declared that Thailand will claim the Crown and she repeated her prediction at Monday’s roster announcement at Top Golf in Wood Dale.

“Why? Because we have a great team,’’ said Jutanugarn, one of four players on hand for the announcement. She was joined by her sister Moriya, who is also on the Thailand team; England’s Melissa Reid and China’s Shanshan Feng.

Jutanugarn’s prediction drew a rousing cheer from 20 representatives of the Thailand Consulate of Chicago, who made their presence heard loud and clear throughout the announcement.

Ariya Jutanugarn, the longest hitter on the LPGA Tour, has climbed into the game’s elite with a No. 7 world ranking. She won three straight tournaments before finishing third at Seattle on Sunday The two who beat her – world No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Canada’s Brooke Henderson, who beat Ko in a playoff for the KPMG title – won’t be in the Crown because their countries didn’t qualify.

Neither did Spain, which won the Crown during the event’s first playing two years ago at Caves Valley in Maryland. Sweden, which was also among the eight teams at Caves Valley, also didn’t qualify this time. Instead England and China will play in the event for the first time at Merit Club.

“I’d like to thank my teammates for getting us in,’’ said Shanshan Feng, the world’s 12th-ranked player. “My ranking hasn’t changed but we five others, all around 20, who are looking forward to change. We have never played in a team event.’’

The U.S. team will be the No. 2 seed once the matches begin. The U.S. roster will have one change for the Crown debut in 2014. Gerina Piller is among the four and Paula Creamer is out. Piller joins Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis and Cristie Kerr on the U.S. side.

With Ko and Henderson ineligible the top-ranked player in the Crown will be Korea’s Inbee Park of Korea, who is No. 3. Thompson is No. 4.

Sunday’s final round of the $600,000 Rust-Oleum Championship figured to be a two-man battle. No one was within six strokes of front-runners Josh Teater and Dan Woltman at the start of play and Max Homa was even further back than that.

Homa, though, didn’t see such a result as a foregone conclusion. He started the final round seven strokes behind Teater and played five groups in front of the final twosome.

“But I only had to pass seven people,’’ said Homa and – with some help from Teater – Homa was able to do just that. His final round 67 at Ivanhoe Club led to a one-stroke win with Teater and John Mallinger sharing runner-up honors.

The final leaderboard for the only PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament in the Chicago area this year had Homa at 13-under-par 275. Teater (75 on Sunday) and Mallinger (69) were one stroke back and Woltman (73) two back and alone in fourth place.

Homa’s plan to secure the $108,000 first prize was to go low on the front nine, the harder side to put up a splashy number. He succeeded, chipping in for birdie at No. 9 to complete a 4-under 32. That brought him within a shot of the lead and put the pressure on Teater and Woltman.

Teater, the leader after the second and third rounds, had a three-stroke lead on Monday qualifier Woltman to start the day and it was gone after seven holes. Woltman pulled even when Teater made his second bogey at No. 7. Teater regained the lead with a 10-foot birdie putt at No. 9 and then the shootout was on with Homa very much in the picture as well.

Those three took turns sharing the lead until Homa holed a 40-foot putt for his second birdie in a row at No. 15. Teater was still his main challenger at that point but Woltman – despite back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 11 and 12 – and Mallinger, who went eight holes without a par (one eagle, three birdies, four bogeys from Nos. 8-15), stayed in the mix.

“My goal was to make (Teater) play hard those last three holes,’’ said Homa, who gave his rivals some hope when he hit his tee shot far right at the par-3 17th and made bogey. That put Homa and Teater together at the top of the leaderboard.

Teater got through Nos. 16 and 17 with pars and was in great position off the tee on the finishing hole to make a birdie for an outright win without the need for a playoff.

“I wasn’t great all day, and I just wanted to have a chance,’’ said Teater, meaning a birdie putt, but he didn’t get it. His 8-iron approach from 160 yards sailed long right and Teater couldn’t get up and down for par.

“The ball was a little below my feet (on his second shot) and I started it further right than I wanted,‘’ said Teater. “I had the right distance. It was a learning experience.’’

Sunday’s round ended the Web.com Tour’s first Chicago visit since a seven-year run at The Glen Club came to an end in 2008. Three players will local ties qualified for all 72 holes. Illinois alum Brian Campbell, a Web.com rookie, shot 70 and finished in a tie for ninth. Deerfield’s Vince India carded a 75 and was in a tie for 33rd and India’s former Iowa teammate Brian Bullington struggled in with an 80 to finish in a tie for 56th.

Homa, 25, was the NCAA champion on a California team that was the best in collegiate golf in 2013. He won on the Web.com Tour the following year, in the BMW Charity Pro-Am, and was a consistent player all of this campaign. He’s missed only one cut in nine starts but Sunday marked only his second victory on the circuit.

The $600,000 Rust-Oleum Championship is Josh Teater’s to lose on Sunday. There’s no doubt about that. But he’d better look out for his surprise playing partner.

Dan Woltman earned his spot in the final pairing at Ivanhoe Club after shooting 67 in Saturday’s third round. He stands three strokes behind Teater’s front-running 204, which is 15 under par for the 54 holes. No one else is within six shots of the leader.

Woltman, though, isn’t your ordinary challenger. He got into the 156-man starting field through Monday qualifying and Sunday will complete his first 72-hole tournament of the year. In fact, he’s played in only two events prior to this week and Saturday he didn’t even have his regular caddie for the entire round.

Wife Merissa, who quit her job to be Woltman’s full-time bag-toter this year, had a leg problem after six holes and had to relinquish caddie duties to Woltman’s father. How the caddie situation will factor into Sunday’s round remains to be seen but Woltman isn’t focusing on possible negatives.

“I’m excited to have a chance going into Sunday,’’ he said. “I’ve been playing well lately, and this is just another tournament. I’m confident in my golf game now and looking forward to the challenge.’’

“I’ve never been in his position, as a Monday qualifier, but I’ve chased it,’’ said the much more experienced Teater. “It should be fun.’’

Teater, who shot 68 in the third round, was a regular on the PGA Tour from 2010 to 2014. He got there in large part because of his victory in the Utah Championship, another Web.com Tour event, in 2009.

Spectacular shots for eagles marked his last two rounds at Ivanhoe. He put a hybrid from 220 yards to eight inches on No. 15 in the second round and holed out from 146 yards with an 8-iron at No. 12 in the third. Teater led after 54 holes in his Utah win as well, and that got him into 156 PGA Tour events in the next six years.

His play dropped off the last two, however, and he returned to the developmental circuit full-time this year in hopes of using it as a path back to the premier circuit. A victory on Sunday would go a long way to helping him achieve that and – oh, yes – a $108,000 first place check is also on the line.

Woltman, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin, played on the Web.com Tour in 2011. Wrist surgery kept him out in 2012 and 2013, however, and he returned to tournament play last year on the European Tour.

“There was an awful lot of travel. I was overseas 30 weeks,’’ he said. “I learned that there’s no place like home. We lived in Atlanta the last five years and moved back to Wisconsin two months ago.’’

He does his practicing at University Ridge, near the Wisconsin campus where he played collegiately, and Old Hickory, in his hometown of Beaver Dam. Two weeks ago, after making some swing changes, he won a tournament on the North Star Golf Tour in Minnesota, shooting his lowest score ever for 54 holes – 197.

That, coupled with his success in Monday’s qualifying round for the Rust-Oleum Championship, gave his confidence a big boost.

“If Sunday goes well I could be playing every week out here (on the Web.com Tour),’’ he said. “I’ve got Challenge status in Europe but I want to be on the PGA Tour full time, and this is the path to the PGA Tour.

Other than Woltman, Teater didn’t have many challenges on Saturday. The three local players to make the cut fell down the leaderboard. Frankfort’s Brian Bullington shot 71 and is tied for 12th. His former Iowa teammate, Deerfield’s Vince India, posted a 71 and is tied for 21st with, among others, former Illinois star Brian Campbell.

Josh Teater was a PGA Tour member from 2010 until 2014, then things changed,

After making 144 PGA starts and posting 11 top-10 finishes, he could get into only 11 tournaments on the PGA Tour last year. He wound up playing in 10 on the developmental Web.com Tour to supplement his schedule and that didn’t work so well either. In his half season on the Web.com circuit he made just one 36-hole cut.

“My focus was on the PGA Tour, and I came out here (theWeb.com) not as prepared as I probably should have been,’’ he said. “I was thinking I should have been on the PGA Tour.’’

So, this year has been different – and not exactly by Teater’s choice, but he’s trying to make the best of it.

“It’s a blessing to know I’m not getting into any PGA tournaments,’’ he said Friday after charging into the lead in the Web.com’s Rust-Oleum Championship at Ivanhoe Club. “I have no status there. This is my home, where my focus is now. Last year I was always on the bubble, wondering where should I play?’’

Getting into Web.com events hasn’t been a problem for the 37-year old Kentuckian, but he didn’t exactly light up the circuit until he got to Ivanhoe. Last week’s tie for 11th finish in the Dominican Republic was Teater’s best in 10 tournaments and the Rust-Oleum promises to be even better based on his play over the first 36 holes. He got off to a 66-67 start and his 133 – 11 under par – is one better than Spain’s Gonzalo Fdez-Castano. Austin Cook, the leader after Round 1, shot 71 to drop into a tie for fourth – three strokes off the lead.

Clearly Teater is getting more comfortable on the developmental tour, which now provides a path directly to the PGA Tour. A top 25 finish on the money list will move Teater back to the premier circuit in 2017.

“This whole season I’ve got to put my foot down or I’ll get run over,’’ he said. “In one way it’s a blessing to get out here, meet some new guys and get tested by the young ones.’’

One great shot gave Teater the momentum he needed on Friday. Starting the day one shot behind leader Austin Cook, Teater came charging on his second nine in Round 2. The big shot came with a hybrid from 220 yards at No. 14. His ball stopped eight inches from the cup on the par-5, leaving him a tap-in for eagle.

Buoyed by that good fortune, Teater made birdie at Not. 15 to tie Fdez-Castano for the lead and then claimed solo possession of the top spot with a six-foot birdie on the par-3 17th.

Friday was cut day and only one of the four sponsor’s exemptions will play on the weekend. Deerfield’s Vince India, who played on the Web.com Tour last year but didn’t retain his card, is in a tie for 21st place – seven shots behind Teater.

Brian Bullington, a Frankfort resident who – like India – play collegiately at Iowa, and Brian Campbell, the former Illinois star now in his rookie pro season, are tied for 12th. They’re five strokes off the pace.

Austin Cook may have come the farthest in the shortest amount of time to play in the Rust-Oleum Championship, but it paid off in Thursday’s first round.

Cook completed in the Web.com Tour’s stop in the Dominican Republic on Sunday. Then came a three-plus hour flight to Memphis with a longer-than-expected layover in Atlanta. Then Cook and wife Chris took to driving, first to their home in Jonesboro, Ark., and on to Ivanhoe Club.

Chris shared the driving and then was Cook’s caddie on Thursday when he shot a 7-under-par 65 to claim the lead in the $600,000 tournament that ends on Sunday. It was only the second time they’ve had the player-caddie relationship going but it won’t be the last.

“In two rounds with her I’m 11-under-par,’’ said Cook, who called on Chris for the first time at Dallas last year when his regular caddie overslept.

The Cooks arrived in time to participate in the Chicago District Golf Association’s Play with the Pro Day at Hawthorn Woods on Wednesday and Austin had his only tuneup at Ivanhoe in Wednesday’s pro-am. That didn’t hold him back in Thursday’s first round, however.

He made a big climb up the leaderboard with an 18-foot eagle putt at No 15 and claimed solo possession of the lead with a 15-foot birdie putt on the finishing hole. That putt left Sebastian Munoz, in the first group to tee off, and late starter Josh Teater relegated to second-place status. Both shot 66s.

Munoz’ early start meant he didn’t experience much of the rain that hampered play most of the day. It didn’t fall on Munoz until after he’d played 11 holes. The wind picked up at that time as well, making scoring conditions difficult for the rest of the field.

“You’ve got to take advantage of that, plus the greens were pure and putter great,’’ said Munoz. He withstood a challenge from Daniel Mazziotta who was 8-under through 17 holes before making a quadruple bogey nine on his last hole.

Teater, who had missed nine cuts in his previous 10 tournaments, joined Munoz at the top of the leaderboard later in the day and they stayed there until Cook’s strong finish.

Cook had six top-25 finishes in seven starts on the PGA Tour last year but his play tailed off in the playoffs and at the fall qualifying school.

“I definitely felt a lot of pressure,’’ he admitted, “and I let it get to my head. At the beginning of this year I’d get mad. I’ve been working on not doing that.’’

Munoz was playing great early in the season when Cook was struggling. Munoz became the first player from Colombia ever to win on the Web.com circuit in February after getting into a tournament in his hometown of Bogota on a sponsor’s exemption. That accomplishment gave him his playing privileges and he’s now in the top 25 on the money list. If he stays there he’ll advance to the PGA Tour next season.

Strong finishes in the next four tournaments could also give Munoz, a former North Texas State golfer, a spot for Colomia in the Olympic games in Brazil in August.

“My first goal is to finish as high as I can in the money order to get into the top 25,’’ he said, “but I really want to go to the Olympics. That would mean a lot. This week could be very big for me. I’m trying not to think about it. I just want to play my best.’’

Shot of the day on Thursday was a hole-in-one by Bryan Bigley at No. 17, a hole that was playing at 207 yards.

Unfortunately Illinois female golfers don’t have the same, more-than-ample, competitive opportunities that their male counterparts enjoy. This June, though, offers the first of the annual highlights for the women’s season in the state.

The Illinois Women’s Amateur will be played for the 83rd time at Forest Hills Country Club in Rockford from June 14-17.

You’ve got to hand it to the Illinois Women’s Golf Association. That not-for-profit organization run by 22 volunteers conducts not only this championship but also the Illinois Junior Girls Championship, which be played for the 37th time at the University of Illinois’ Orange Course in Savoy from Aug. 2-3 and the Illinois Senior Women’s Amateur, which will be played for the 47th time at Champaign Country Club from Sept. 13-15.

There isn’t a whole lot of other playing opportunities for the women and girls. Biggest of them all is the 22nd annual Illinois Women’s Open, to be played at permanent site Mistwood in Romeoville from July 18-20, and the 85th annual Chicago Women’s District Golf Association Championship at Flossmoor Country Club from Aug. 9-11.

In addition to its three tournaments the IWGA has raised $1.1 million over the years to support not only its programs but those at Illinois state schools as well. The IWGA also has its own Hall of Fame, the latest inductee being Marilyn Dechert of Decatur last fall. She was a long-time coach at Millikin College.

The IWGA does the best job of any of the Illinois golf associations in spreading its tournaments around the state. That’s probably because its leadership is largely from away from the Chicago area. President Pam Henning is from Moline, secretary Pat Burgy from Rockford and treasurer Terri Moore from Galesburg.

Henning announced the addition of two new board members for this year, one of which – Monica Coleman of Long Grove – is from the Chicago area. The other new board member is Leslie Frankfort of Rockford.

The last time the Illinois Women’s Amateur was played in the Chicago area was in 2013, when Bing Singhsumalee was the champion at Cantigny in Wheaton. Singhsumalee was the tourney’s youngest champion, winning at 16 years old while she was still attending Waubonsie Valley High School in Naperville. She just completed a very successful freshman year at the University of Illinois, finishing tied for fourth in the Big Ten Conference Championship.

Going back in time, the IWGA was founded in 1933 under the leadership of Mary Wheeler. Its first tournament was the Illinois Women’s Amateur in 1934 at Evanston Golf Club with Dorothy Porter of Springfield the champion.

The tourney format is different from the other big state events. The field – limited to 100, all with a handicap index no higher than 22.0 – will have an 18-hole stroke play qualifying round to kick off the competition. Then the low 80 competitors will be broken down into flights for three days of match play competition. The championship flight gets the top 32 players from the qualifying round.

Over the years the Illinois Women’s Amateur has had some great champions, most notably Lois Drafke of LaGrange who won her first title in 1953 and her last 20 years later. Drafke won the tournament nine times. Shirley Dommers, of Belvidere, was the champion in 1957, 1961, 1968, 1969 and 1974. She’ll be honored at this year’s tournament with a new award for low junior medalist having been created in her name.

As for this year’s field, entries don’t close until June 6 but there is going to be one very notable absentee. Madasyn Pettersen, who lives in Rockford, won’t be there. Burgy, who doubles as tournament chairman for this year’s Illinois Women’s Amateur, said last year’s sensation of Illinois women’s golf will be playing in a big American Junior Golf Assn. event. The Rolex Junior Girls Championship will be played at Country Club of Rochester in New York from June 13-17.

Pettersen will be missed, as she shocked the Illinois Women’s Open with a five-stroke victory last year as a 15-year old and then won an Illinois high school title while playing for Rockford Guilford. She was the youngest-ever IWO champion.

Whether she will defend her IWO crown in July is uncertain, but Pettersen’s victory last year is hard to forget. Despite her youth she birdied the last five holes to shoot a final-round 66 and posted an 8-under-par 208 for the tourney’s 54 holes.

Only one player has wins in both the IWO and Illinois Women’s Amateur. Kerry Postillion, from Burr Ridge, won the Amateur in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2007 and the Open in 1996, 1997 and 1999. All her IWO wins came as an amateur and her daughter Samantha contended in more recent playings of the tournament.

As good as Pettersen was in last year’s IWO, she couldn’t have won the 2015 Illinois Women’s Amateur. It was scheduled to be played at Illini Country Club in Springfield but heavy rains led to the tourney’s cancellation. It was only the second time in 82 years that the IWGA had a tournament ended by weather. The first Illinois Women’s Senior Championship, scheduled for 1970 at Pekin Country Club, was also rained out.

That tourney obviously didn’t have a defending champion, and neither will this year’s Illinois Women’s Amateur.

“Mother Nature is our defending champion,’’ said Burgy, who hopes for better luck weather-wise. Entries had topped 50 at the time of this printing and Burgy expected to have 70 by June. She held out hope for a record field.

“Cantigny had the record, with close to 100,’’ she said. “In Rockford we have a beautiful golf course and we’ll get a lot of Chicago people because it’s close to Chicago.’’

Forest Hills, which will be hosting for the first time, was established in 1921. Its course is built on 160 rolling acres and has 59 bunkers, over 1,800 trees and over three acres of ponds. Known for its consistently fine conditioning, it’s been a member of the National Audubon Society for Golf Courses since 1997.