SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Dustin Johnson knew the questions would be coming. After all, he blew a chance to win the last PGA Championship staged at Whistling Straits and – though that was five years ago – people into golf don’t forget.

Johnson grounded his club in a bunker on the last hole of regulation play in 2010, incurring a two-stroke penalty after charging into contention with birdies on the 16th and 17th holes. Instead of going into a playoff with eventual winner Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson to decide the title, Johnson was being asked how he didn’t know that the tromped down sand he had been standing in was a bunker.

Whistling Straits has about 1,000 bunkers, and spectators can stand in many of them. Johnson hit into one of those but still should have known he couldn’t ground his club.

“I don’t really think about it unless someone asks me the question,’’ said Johnson. “This year I don’t have to worry about it because there’s a grandstand there. Thanks you, PGA. I appreciate that.’’

Johnson was the last player to undergo a formal pre-tournament interview on Wednesday for the 92nd playing of the PGA Championship, and he was among the first to tee off in Thursday’s first round. There was no need to dwell on his bad mistakes afterwards. Johnson shot a 6-under-par 66 to claim the first-round lead by one stroke over Sweden’s David Lingmerth.

The early start benefitted Johnson. Winds kicked up later, making it more difficult for the afternoon players with the exception of Lingmerth. Among the other afternoon starters was the featured pairing of winners in the last four major championships – world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, current No. 2 Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson.

None could get anything going, Spieth and McIlroy shooting 71s and Johnson 75. Neither could Phil Mickelson (72) or Tiger Woods (75). McIlroy, the defending champion, was playing his first tournament round since tearing a ligament in his left ankle playing soccer on July 4.

Johnson, though, was another story. Starting his round at No. 10, Johnson opened birdie-birdie, a 357-yard drive at No. 11 setting up the second one. Then he made eagle at the 569-yard 16th, hitting a 4-iron second shot from 240 yards to 25 feet on the par-5.

That blazing start assured that Johnson would be contending for the third major in a row. He had a putt on the last hole to win the U.S. Open in June at Chambers Bay, in Washington, and ended up taking three putts to hand the title to Spieth. Johnson also led the British Open after two rounds but finished 75-75.

This season, though, has been largely encouraging for Johnson after he took a sixth-month break from golf to tend to personal issues. He seems to have his off-course life in order after becoming a father through his relationship with Paulina Gretzky, daughter of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

“The biggest transformation would be the birth of mine and Paulina’s son,’’ said Johnson. “That was probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Having a son makes everything so much easier. You don’t have to worry about golf as much.’’

Johnson was worried when he arrived here. He remembered the nightmare of five years ago in the waste bunker, but he also wasn’t pleased with his play in the Bridgestone tournament at Firestone, in Ohio, last week. It wasn’t a good tuneup for the season’s fourth and final major.

“I was more worried about getting on the range and figuring out what was going wrong,’’ he said. “I didn’t play well at all at Firestone.’’

Johnson apparently straightened out his game in time for the PGA, which represents another chance for him to win that elusive first major title. Why hasn’t he had a breakthrough in the majors? That’s another question that’s been dogging him for years but he’s not tired of hearing it — yet.

“If you’re asking me the question, it means I’m close and I’m playing well,’’ he said. “It’s hard to win majors. It really is. Even guys who have won will tell you how tough it is. Ask me in five or 10 years, maybe I’ll be tired of it then. But as of right now, I’m not.’’

Now 31, Johnson is playing in his 27th major championship and he’s finished 13th or better in seven of the last 13. Clearly his game is close. David Duval was in his 27th major when he won his first one. Mickeson didn’t win his first major until his 47th start at age 33. Nick Price was 35 and in his 36th start when he won his first major.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Usually the PGA of America, PGA Tour, U.S. Golf Assn. and Ladies PGA announce their tournament sites at least five years in advance and, until Wednesday, Chicago seemed largely out of the mix.

The USGA has no Chicago tournament scheduled after next week’s U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields and the LPGA had only next year’s International Crown team event at Rich Harvest on its schedule. The PGA Tour comes on an every-other-year basis for the BMW Championship.

All that changed with some strange scheduling announced by the PGA of America. Its newest event, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, will be held at Olympia Fields in 2017 and Kemper Lakes, in Hawthorn Woods, in 2018. The clubs are roughly 60 miles apart.

That tournament is part of a new partnership between the PGA of America and LPGA. It was held for the first time this year at Westchester Country Club in New York and it’ll be played at Sahalee, in Washington, in 2016. Inbee Park has won the event the last three years.

The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – long known as the LPGA Championship since its first staging in 1955 — is considered one of the major events for LPGA players. Usually events of such prominence are either held annually at the same site or are moved around the country. Playing back-to-back in the same area is highly unusual.

“I know that those two clubs will do an incredible job hosting the major championship for the women,’’ said Kerry Haigh, chief championships officer for the PGA of America. “This will be a special moment in time for the LPGA and women’s golf in the Chicago area.’’

“There could be some great efficiencies in going to Chicago in back to back years,’’ offered Pete Bevacqua, chief executive officer of the PGA of America. “The clubs obviously have a great relationship working together to make sure that we deliver a wonderful experience in 2017, and that same group of people, plus more, can come out and experience it again in 2018. We can use that really to the advantage of the championship.’’

Suddenly Chicago has become a hotspot for women’s golf, with the International Crown bringing the world’s top players a year ahead of the two individual majors.

The women will also be playing on courses that have already hosted men’s majors. Olympia Fields most recently hosted the men’s U.S. Open in 2003 and Kemper Lakes hosted the PGA Championship in 1989. Both are private clubs, but Kemper was a public venue when the late Payne Stewart won the PGA there.

The biggest women’s event played at Kemper Lakes also came in its public phase. The 92nd U.S. Women’s Amateur was played there in 1992 and future Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam was the runner-up to Vicki Goetze in that one.

Dawson Armstrong and Aaron Wise were unlikely finalists – maybe even Sweet 16 qualifiers – when the Western Amateur teed off at Rich Harvest Farms last week. Then again, nothing much was usual in the 113th playing of the championship put on by the Western Golf Assn.

Armstrong earned the title with a miracle bunker shot on Saturday after eliminating two of the pre-tourney favorites – 2013 champion Jordan Niebrugge and this year’s medalist, Robby Shelton – in match play.

Wise, barely past his freshman year at the University of Oregon, set the course record with a 64 in the stroke play portion of the five-day tournament and had to finish the event carrying his own bag the last six holes. His caddie, 2013 Western Junior champion Colin Morikawa, had to leave after 14 holes of the title match to catch a flight home to California.

“That didn’t make a difference,’’ said Wise, who endured 72 holes of stroke play plus three matches and most of the fourth with Morikawa on his bag.

What did make a difference – and a huge one – was Armstrong’s play in the clutch. A student at little Lipscomb College in Nashville, Tenn., Armstrong was one-down going to the 18th hole of the championship match. He stayed alive when Wise three-putted to lose the hole.

That sent the match to sudden death, and it ended dramatically at the par-5 second hole. Wise was safely on the green in two shots and facing a 25-footer for eagle. Armstrong, for the second time in the match, put his second shot into a greenside bunker. His caddie – for the first time in about five years — was his father Dale, a veteran of golf’s mini-tours who played nine times in the PGA Tour’s Qualifying School.

“When we got to the ball my Dad said that I’d hit a lot of great shots, but none had gone in,’’ said Armstrong. His next one did, the ball diving into the cup after one bounce.

“I knew Aaron would make birdie. I knew it would have to be a lucky shot – and it was,’’ said Armstrong. “As soon as it went in the pain in my stomach went away. My stomach started cramping up on me as soon as we finished the first (playoff) hole.’’

“An incredible shot,’’ admitted Wise. “There wasn’t much I could do about that one. I had a putt for eagle to focus on.’’

He couldn’t connect, however, and that brought an end to the tournament in which neither Niebrugge, the low amateur in this year’s British Open, nor defending champion Beau Hossler were around at the finish. They, along with Wise and Shelton, will be back for the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields in two weeks.

Armstrong wasn’t among the qualifiers for that one, but he was a giant-killer at Rich Harvest. His 2 and 1 win over Shelton in Saturday morning’s semifinals was as big as his upset of Niebrugge in Friday’s quarterfinals. Armstrong also had a big shot against Shelton, a chip-in for birdie at No. 13.

Wise had an easier time in the morning. He was 4-up on a fellow California resident Jake Knapp at the turn before putting him away 4 and 2.

There won’t be any player with local ties in Saturday’s conclusion to the Western Amateur. Charlie Danielson, the University of Illinois stalwart, was eliminated in Friday’s Round of 16 matches at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove.

With Danielson out, the coveted title in the 113th playing of the championship will go to one of four college stars – Alabama’s Robbie Shelton, Lipscomb’s Dawson Armstrong, Oregon’s Aaron Wise or UCLA’s Jake Knapp.

Shelton, medalist in the 72-hole stroke play portion of the competition, meets Dawson and Wise meets Knapp in semifinals matches, which begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The winners meet for the title in the afternoon.

Wise set the course record with an 8-under-par 64 on Wednesday in the second round of stroke play. If Shelton wins the title he’d be the first medalist to also rule in match play since Chris Williams in 2012. Knapp could come in tired. He needed 24 holes to survive his quarterfinal match with Texas’ Gavin Hall and eliminated Danielson in the morning.

Danielson’s ouster ended another Illini bid for the Western crown. Last year the Illini had three players reach the Round of 16 – Danielson, Brian Campbell and Nick Hardy. Both Campbell, who has since turned professional, and Hardy, a soon-to-be sophomore from Northbrook, both made the cut at the U.S. Open in June. Hardy didn’t survive this year’s first cut in the stroke play portion of the Western Am.

That left Danielson, who is about to enter his senior season for coach Mike Small’s Illini powerhouse. He contended for medalist honors in the 72-hole stroke play competition held Tuesday through Thursday until he was thwarted by a bogey on his last hole.

His loss in match play, however, had little to do with his own performance. Knapp was just too good. Danielson didn’t make a bogey, but still lost 3 and 2. Knapp put Danielson behind for good when he made a hole-in-one at the third hole.

“Hats off to Jake Knapp. He played unbelievable,’’ said Danielson. “There wasn’t much I could do. He makes a hole-in-one and then reels off four birdies after that. He kept sticking it and making his putts.’’

Danielson, who is from Osceola, Wis., won’t hurry off, however. He’s also a qualifier for the U.S. Amateur, which begins on Aug.17 at Olympia Fields.

“I might try to get to Whistling Straits (the Wisconsin course that hosts the PGA Championship next week), but mainly I’ll hang out in this area,’’ said Danielson. “The U.S. Amateur is a great chance to play against the best players, just like here.’’

Danielson was hoping for two high finishes in the big Chicago area events to convince U.S. coach Spider Miller that he belongs on the Walker Cup team for upcoming matches against Europe. Miller scouted prospective candidates for his team this week in a visit to Rich Harvest.

“I know I’ve got to play better, but I’ve got one more week,’’ said Danielson. “I’ll just practice and prepare.’’

Danielson, though, has probably played the Western Amateur for the last time. With no Walker Cup in 2016 to use as an incentive to remain an amateur, Danielson plans to turn pro after his senior year at Illinois.

The sense of urgency arrived for the first time at the 113th playing of the Western Amateur on Wednesday, and that was evident with some of the scores posted at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove.

Most of the 156 starters were eliminated after Wednesday’s second round, as only the low 44 and ties advanced to Thursday’s 36-conclusion of the stroke play portion of the championship. Four rounds of match play follow before the champion is crowned on Saturday.

Wednesday’s play was highlighted by a course record 64 by 19-year old Aaron Wise, a sophomore to be at the University of Oregon from Lake Elsinore, Calif. Wise had to go low after shooting 76 in Tuesday’s opening round. He started the second round in a tie for 96th place and ended it in a tie for ninth.

“When you drive in the fairway you can attack these pins,’’ said Wise. “(On Tuesday) I was hacking it out of the trees and pushes. I had a lot of 60- to 100-yard shots where I needed to get up and down for par. That was the difference.’’

Wise, who was hitting the fairways with his tee shots on Wednesday, won the Pacific Coast Amateur on his school’s home course at Eugene Country Club last week. He got off to a fast start Wednesday (four-under-par after five holes) and continued his charge from there, though he did make one bogey along the way.

His 8-under-par effort was three better than the course record at the start of the day. Five players had posted that score since 2007, with Dawson Armstrong of Nashville, Tenn., and Jose Mendez of Costa Rica shooting their 67s on Tuesday.

Before Wise posted his score the course record was lowered to 66 by recently-crowned Illinois Open champion David Cooke of Lisle and Australian Harrison Endycott. Armstrong, though, also shot 66 later in the day and ended as the 36-hole leader at 11-under 133.

Taylor Funk, son of PGA and Champions Tour veteran Fred Funk, and University of Illinois golfer Charlie Danielson hit the halfway point of stroke play two shots behind Armstrong. Funk, who captured the Southern Amateur this summer, was one of five University of Texas players in the starting field at Rich Harvest.

Among the others were defending champion Beau Hossler and Doug Ghim, last year’s stroke play medalist from Arlington Heights. Neither survived the 36-hole cut. The only Chicago area survivor was Roselle’s Dan Stringfellow, a Medinah member who plays collegiately at Auburn.

“It was one of those weeks where I needed to make putts, and they wouldn’t go in,’’ said Ghim. “Now I’ve got a lot of extra time to work on my putting for my next big tournament in two weeks.’’

That would be the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields. Wise is among the many competing at Rich Harvest who have also qualified to play at Olympia Fields.

Madasyn Pettersen, at 15, was the youngest player in the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood, in Romeoville. She was also the best – and by a long shot.

Pettersen, who enters her sophomore year at Auburn High School in Rockford in the fall, finished off the 54-hole competition with a 66 and won the title by five strokes. She posed an 8-under-par 208 total to become the youngest-ever winner of the 21-year old championship.

“I came to be low amateur, but this means a lot,’’ said Pettersen, “mainly because I broke my personal records. I’ve shot 67s and 68s before, and now I finally shot a 66. I finally made five birdies in a row. I had four in a row before.’’

The five straight birds came at the end of her round and left playing partner Chelsea Harris of Normal dazed.

“I got outplayed,’’ said Harris, who was low pro in the event that started with 68 players on Monday. “She’s a great player to make five birdies. She was a machine.’’

Pettersen and Harris, the assistant women’s coach at Illinois State, started the final round in a three-way tie for the lead with Symetra Tour player Ember Schuldt of Sterling. Schuldt’s late charge fizzled when she missed birdie putts from five feet at Nos. 14 and 15. She also missed a good birdie chance at No. 18 after putting her second shot to the par-5 on the back fringe of the green.

That allowed Harris, who ended in a tie for second with University of Wisconsin amateur Brooke Ferrell, to edge Schuldt for the $5,000 check awarded the low pro.

Otherwise, the show belonged to Pettersen who had her 9-year old sister Isabella as her caddie in the final round. Their mother was on Madasyn’s bag for the first two rounds while Isabella was playing in her own tournament.

Madasyn entered the ISO when she was 11 but failed to make the 36-hole cut. She didn’t return until this year and dominated from the outset. She either led or was tied for the lead after all three rounds.

Though the Pettersen-Harris pairing lagged two holes behind the next-to-the-last group, the best golf came from the last finishers. Pettersen’s charge to the title started at No. 14 – a 190-yard par-3 over water that marks the beginning of the Kelpie’s Corner stretch of holes. She hit that green with a 5-iron and made the first of her five straight birdies from 15 feet.

She hit the par-5 15th with an 8-iron from 200 yards and two-putted to keep the birdie streak going and followed with putts of 15 feet at No. 16, 12 feet at No.17 and 15 feet at No. 18.

“I was just focusing on closing it out,’’ said Pettersen, who found her putting magic a few months ago.

“One day this spring I woke up and decided I wanted to putt like Jordan Spieth,’’ she said. “I copied his putting grip, but I kind of do my own thing.’’

Pettersen isn’t sure if she’ll play high school golf again, but she does take off Friday for the PGA Junior Girls Championship in Texas.

David Cooke’s victory in the 66th Illinois Open was a run-away. His five-shot victory at Royal Melbourne, in Long Grove, was the biggest since Gary Hallberg’s triumph in 1977.

Though the tourney lacked suspense, it was loaded with emotion and another historical touch. Cooke was the first amateur to win the title since Brad Benjamin in 2009. Hallberg, who went on to a solid career as a touring pro, was also an amateur when he won at Elgin Country Club 38 years ago.

Cooke’s win, though, was more about family than it was about history. Last Dec. 23 he lost his younger brother Chad, a 20-year old basketball player at Charleston Southern. He passed away from an apparent heart disorder while playing in a pickup basketball game.

“He was a strong encourager of everybody,’’ said David Cookie. “I knew he’d want me to keep playing. I tried to focus on that and think about positives. I have great memories of my little brother. I wish more than anything that we could have him back.’’

Chad was occasionally David’s caddie in tournaments. His older brother Jay, 34, came from South Carolina to work as David’s caddie in the Illinois Open and they were followed by their parents, grandparents and other family members and friends who walked with them in the final round.

“It was an emotional win,’’ said Cooke, who will enter his senior year at North Carolina State in the fall. “It’s been a rough last year, and it meant a lot to me and my older brother that everyone was here.’’

Cooke grew up in Bolingbrook, and his family moved to Lisle several months ago. He had never led a tournament over night until he shared a one-stroke lead with Brad Marek of Arlington Heights heading into Wednesday’s final round of the Illinois Open.

“There were nerves on the first tee,’’ Cooke admitted, but they went away quickly when Cooke hit a pitching wedge from 144 yards to six feet and then rolled in a putt for eagle at No. 1. He made birdies on the next three holes as well and coasted from there.

Cooke had been in the next-to-the-last group in the final round of the Illinois Open in 2012 and 2013 but fizzled down the stretch. He didn’t play in the event last year and basically had only Vince India, a Web.com Tour player from Deerfield, as a challenger in the final round.

“David played great,’’ said India. “I certainly played fine. I shot 5-under, but what are you going to do?’’

Cooke shot 63 on Wednesday and finished at 16-under-par 199 for the 54 holes. India shot 67 but did claim the $12,500 check for being low pro.

“This win was a big motivator for me,’’ said Cooke. “It showed me I could compete with pros. It helps me know that I’m on the right path.’’

Cooke’s round wasn’t the best of the day. Early starter Matt Weber, an Indiana University sophomore from Hinsdale, posted a 62 to tie the course record but he finished in a tie for 13th place.

Monday turned out a big day for the golfers at Conway Farms – but an even bigger one for David Lawrence. The Moline golfer shot a 9-under-par 62 at Royal Melbourne in Long Grove. That’s the lowest round in the 66-year history of the Illinois Open.

Lawrence, who has been playing golf’s mini-tour since attending Eastern Illinois, wasn’t the whole show on the first day of the 54-hole competition. Three players shot 66, among them Conway Farms head professional Matt Slowinski. His hot round came on the same day that Zach Johnson won the British Open in Scotland. Johnson also has ties to the Lake Forest club, having won the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship there in 2013.

Johnson’s victory at St. Andrews was good news for Slowinski, with the BMW Championship returning to Conway Farms in September.

“I’m glad he won it. It’ll be good for our event as well,’’ said Slowinski, who had a strange round, despite the good result.

“You never feel good hitting a provisional on the first hole,’’ he said, “but I wound up making a 15-footer for bogey and got the momentum going from there.’’

The momentum reached a crescendo on his last shot, when Slowinski holed a gap wedge from 125 yards for eagle to finish off his round. That left him in a three-way tie for second with amateur Nick Hardy of Northbrook and Deerfield’s Vince India, who has spent the last two seasons on the Web.com Tour.

With 258 starters – 151 of them amateurs, this is the biggest-ever Illinois Open. The Illinois PGA changed the format this year, boosting the field from last year’s 156 and going to two sites for the 54-hole finals. Half the field played at Royal Melbourne, in Long Grove, and the other half at Hawthorn Woods Country Club.

“I like (the new format),’’ said Slowinski. “It’s good to see more people in the field, and it’ll make the event better.’’

Slowinski opened his title bid at Royal Melbourne and plays at Hawthorn Woods on Tuesday. That was encouraging for him because his best Illinois Open was a tie for fourth when the event was contested at that course from 2008-11. Hardy and India also posted their low scores at Royal Melbourne.

Hardy is in the midst of a torrid schedule. He finished third in the Illinois State Amateur last week at Panther Creek, in Springfield. After the Illinois Open he has the Western Amateur at Rich Harvest, in Sugar Grove, and the U.S. Amateur, at Olympia Fields, on his August schedule.

The field will be cut to the low 70 and ties (up from the 50 and ties from previous years) after Tuesday’s rounds at both courses. The final 18 will be at Royal Melbourne on Wednesday.

SPRINGFIELD, IL. – A year ago Naperville’s Ray Knoll and Northbrook’s Nick Hardy battled through four playoff holes before Knoll won the Illinois State Amateur title. Knoll couldn’t repeat this year, and Hardy didn’t win, either, but nobody played better than those two during this year’s final round at Panther Creek Country Club on Thursday. They were spectacular.

Tee-K Kelly, a Medinah member from Wheaton, won his second Illinois Am title in a three-hole aggregate score playoff with 18-year old Conor Dore of Chicago, but that result was somewhat overshadowed by the record rounds posted by college stars Knoll (Iowa) and Hardy (Illinois).

Hardy matched the course record of 6-under-par 65 but wound up third. For the final 18 holes Knoll was even better. He posted what’s believed to be the lowest round in the 85-year history of the Illinois Am – an 8-under 63 – and it included what’s believed to be the first albatross in the event’s history as well. Chicago District Golf Assn. officials couldn’t confirm the apparent milestones because much of the tournament data was lost in weather-related damage several years ago.

Knoll, who enters his junior year at Iowa in the fall, saw his title defense evaporate after shooting a 75 in the morning 18 holes of the 36-hole final day. Making six birdies in the first 11 holes in the afternoon, all from the four to 10-foot range, Knoll climbed the leaderboard but saved his best for No. 15, a 576-yard par-5.

“Going to the last round I knew I didn’t have a chance to win, but I was playing good and just tried to be aggressive,’’ he said. So, at No. 15 he blasted a “perfect’’ drive, then studied the possibility of going for the green with his second.

“I didn’t know what my yardage was because my rangefinder died when I was on the 10th hole,’’ he said. “I stepped it off from the 200-yard marker and found the yardage was 267 yards plus three more to the pin. I hit a high draw with my 3-wood and swung a little harder because that distance was a little out of my range.’’

Well, actually it wasn’t. His ball landed on the front of the green, bounced once and rolled into the hole. It was his second albatross, the first coming on a 6-iron shot from 191 yards while playing an informal round with his father at Hickory Ridge in Carbondale.

This one elevated Knoll to under-par status for the tournament and into a tie for sixth place. He wasn’t close to the front-runners — Dore, who enters his freshman year at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in the fall, and Kelly, who won the title for the first time in 2013. They finished the regulation 72 holes at 9-under-par 275.

Dore, who ruled the Chicago Public League for three years while at Whitney Young, made three costly bogeys down the stretch – the first at No. 17 in regulation and the last two in the final two holes of the playoff. That made Kelly, a senior-to-be at Ohio State, the champion off his three pars in the extra session.

SILVIS, IL. – Bring on the British Open. Jordan Spieth is more than ready to claim the third leg of what could be the first modern day golf Grand Slam.

The 21-year old Masters and U.S. Open champion won the John Deere Classic for the second time without his best stuff on Sunday, then boarded a jet with a batch of other players for this week’s third major championship of the year at storied St. Andrews in Scotland.

Spieth started the final round of the JDC with a two-stroke lead but trailed by four with six holes to go. Tom Gillis, a 46-year old journeyman without a win in 171 starts on the PGA Tour, got hot early and posted a 7-under-par 64. That made him the clubhouse leader at 20-under 264 for the regulation 72 holes.

Gillis, who played four groups in front of Spieth, made a costly bogey at the 16th and Spieth made three birdies to force a playoff. The extra session went two holes, Spieth winning with a par after Gillis hit a tee shot into the right rough and his second into a pond on the left side of the fairway.

Spieth started the tournament with a par-71 round, showing rust after a two-week layoff. He was hot in rounds two and three, shooting 64 and 61, then cooled off again on Sunday.

“I didn’t have my best for the first 12 holes or so, but it’s very satisfying to have stretches like that and still come out with the win,’’ he said. “This gives me a lot of momentum to draw on.’’

Sunday wasn’t just a duel between Gillis and Spieth. Danny Lee, winner of the Greenbrier Classic – last week’s PGA Tour stop, and hometown favorite Zach Johnson also were in the hunt. Unusual circumstances derailed both.

Lee went brain-dead at the fourth hole. With the course soggy from heavy rains on Saturday, the lift, clean and place rule was invoked. That wasn’t the case on Sunday. Lee picked up his ball “without just thinking.’’ His caddie gave him the bad news – a one-stroke penalty that eventually kept him out of the playoff.

Johnson might have been in the playoff as well. He was lining up a birdie putt on the No. 16 green when what sounded like a gunshot forced him to jump back. It apparently came from a pontoon boat on the nearby Rock River and security officers quickly rushed to the scene.

“I don’t know if it was a backfire from a boat or a firecracker or what,’’ said Johnson, who was clearly shaken by the incident but didn’t blame his finish on it. He left his 35-foot birdie putt two feet short but salvaged par and wound up tied for third with Lee, one stroke out of the playoff.

Gillis was on the brink of being the latest first-time champion at the JDC – there have been seven just since 2000. He carried a No. 643 world ranking into the week and was No. 194 in the FedEx Cup standings and No. 199 on the PGA Tour’s season money list. In finishing second he earned a seat on the jet to the British Open.

“The week was a success overall,’’ he said. “I haven’t shown a whole lot of form coming back from shoulder surgery. I missed four months this year, and you start to wonder how much more is there. After what I saw this week I’d say maybe I’ve got some time left.’’

Spieth has much more of it, of course. He left for St. Andrews as the sixth player to have won the first two majors championship of the year. The only Grand Slam in golf history was by Bobby Jones in 1930, but his four wins were in different tournaments – the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur replacing the Masters and PGA Championship, which are included now. Jones’ other wins were in the U.S. Open and British Open.

“I’ve heard St. Andrews is playing softer than usual, which is kind of nice for having come from here,’’ said Spieth. He has been at St. Andrews only once, for two days over three years ago. He loved the setting, but was widely criticized the last three weeks for not skipping the JDC to allow for more preparation in Europe with such a big title on the line.

“I really didn’t care about that,’’ he said. “I came here for a reason, and we accomplished that reason. Certainly we have some momentum going into next week.’’