SILVIS, IL. – Could Sunday bring a changing of the guard at the John Deere Classic? Saturday’s developments at TPC Deere Run certainly suggested that’s a strong possibility.

Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker, the poster boys for the PGA Tour stop over the last four years, fell off the pace in the third round as up-and-comers Daniel Summerhays and David Hearn moved to the top of the leaderboard.

Summerhays posted the day’s best score, a 9-under-par 62, and hit the 54-hole stop at 19-under 194. Hearn, like Summerhays a non-winner on the PGA circuit, carded a 64 and is two strokes back.

Defending champion Johnson is hardly out of it after posting a 67, but he’s three behind Summerhays and won’t be in the final twosome the last round.

“I’ve got the advantage on them from the experience standpoint, but not the scoring standpoint,’’ said Johnson, an Iowa native who has long been on the tournament’s board of directors. “Both are great players. I hope they’re intimidated by me, but I doubt it. I’m not a very intimidating figure. My guess is they’ll come out firing. I can’t image they wouldn’t.’’

As for three-time winner Stricker, he couldn’t make a birdie in the first nine Saturday – a rarity on a course that yields plenty of them – and is nine shots back after carding a 69

“Playing the front nine and watching everybody just lap me, that was tough to see,’’ said Stricker, who went 11 holes without a bird but still holds out hope for Sunday. “I’ll just have to put up a low number, and they’re out there.’’

Summerhays and Hearn both started birdie-birdie on Saturday and kept up the hot pace. Summerhays made nine birdies. He isn’t qualified for next week’s British Open, but he’ll be on Sunday night’s jet to Scotland if he wins the tournament.

That’d mean a radical change in travel for the Brigham Young University graduate who delayed his golf career to serve a two-year Mormon Mission in Chile in 2003-05. He’s been traveling to tournaments in a motor home the past four years with his wife and three young sons, the oldest of whom is 5.

Summerhays comes from a golfing family. He’s the nephew of Bruce Summerhays, a Champions Tour player, and his brother Boyd plays on the Canadian PGA Tour. Summerhays is also the cousin of former LPGA player Carrie Roberts, who is now the women’s golf coach at BYU.

Prior to turning pro Summerhays became the first amateur to win a tournament on the Nationwide (now Buy.com) Tour. He hopes the JDC will be his first on the PGA circuit, and pictures of past champions on the clubhouse wall are serving as inspiration.

“This tournament has been a good launching pad for a lot of players,’’ said Summerhays, who enjoys interacting with the galleries and did plenty of it during his hot round on Saturday.

“When I’m playing well my mentality is to make as many birdies as you can,’’ he said. That mindset is a necessity at one of the PGA Tour’s lowest-scoring tournaments. Eight of the players in the top 10 shot 66 or better in the third round.

Winfield’s Kevin Streelman and Crystal Lake’s Joe Affrunti, the Chicago players who made the cut, couldn’t do it and dropped down the standings. Affrunti nearly holed out at the par-3 17th, putting his tee shot one foot from the cup, but he posted a 69 and dropped 12 places into a tie for 38th place.

Streelman struggled home with a 71 and dropped 19 spots, to a tie for 24th.

SILVIS, IL. – Zach Johnson is not only on the board of directors for the John Deere Classic, he’s also the defending champion.

Those roles might seem a burden for the PGA Tour’s leading member from nearby Iowa, but so far Johnson’s kept his focus. He tacked a second round 66 to the 64 he posted in the first and his 12-under-par 130 has the 2007 Masters champion at the top of the leaderboard entering Saturday’s third round at TPC Deere Run.

There’s only one problem. Plenty of other players have gone low in this annual birdie-fest, too. Johnson shared the first round lead with Camilo Villegas and was tied for the top spot with Lucas Glover and Patrick Reed at the $4.8 million tourney’s halfway point on Friday.

Johnson’s presence, though, looms large with the huge galleries that turned out for the first two rounds. His driving wasn’t as good on Friday as it was on Thursday, but – in a critical part of his round – Johnson made par saves on holes 5-7 and then chipped in at No. 8.

“My short game was tremendous. I putted great,’’ said Johnson. “I know I can play well around here. I like the fact that I don’t have to be perfect.’’

Johnson has 18 straight rounds in the 60s at TPC Deere Run and Friday’s was his ninth bogey-free card, a record for the tourney that was first played in 1971 and has been a low-scoring affair ever since even when course changes were made.

Chev Reavie, who is three strokes off the lead, shot 61 on Friday. Glover had 62 and Reed 63.

“Having me at the top of the leaderboard is pretty irrelevant to them,’’ said Johnson who had a tie for second in 2009 and a tie for third in 2011 – years in which Steve Stricker was accomplishing a three-peat. Johnson ended Stricker’s run while beating Troy Matteson in a two-hole sudden death playoff for the title last year.

Stricker, playing with Johnson the first two rounds, uncharacteristically three-putted the last hole from 13 feet on Friday, the bogey dropping him three off the lead instead of the one it would have been had he rolled in his birdie putt. Still, with 36 holes to play, Stricker’s not out of it but he won’t be paired with Johnson for the first weekend round.

“He’s playing great,’’ said Stricker. “He’s obviously has a great feeling for this course, much like I do. It’s been fun playing with him and fun to feed off his energy and the crowd.’’

Also looming as a contender is Winfield’s Kevin Streelman, who shot his second straight 66 on Friday and is two off the lead. Four players scored better, but Streelman’s ball-striking has been almost flawless. He hit 14 of 14 fairways on Friday and 31 of 36 greens in regulation in the first two rounds.

Streelman spent several days with Cog Hill putting guru Kevin Weeks and claimed one of Weeks’s putters for the JDC. He’s in position to win for the second time this season if his two 5-under rounds carry over to the weekend.

“It’s where we need to be,’’ said Streelman. “I wanted to average 5-under each round. That would give us a chance at the end on Sunday.’’

ILL. WOMEN’S AMATEUR: Youngest champion in 80 years is just 16

The Illinois Women’s Golf Assn. has conducted a state amateur championship for 80 years, and this year’s version produced its youngest-ever champion.

Bing Singhsumalee, 16, won the tourney in spectacular fashion, chipping in for birdie on the first hole of a sudden death playoff to defeat Lauren English, a University of Iowa junior from Bloomington, in the title match at Cantigny, in Wheaton.

Singhsumalee, a junior at Waubonsie Valley High School, chipped in from 30 feet on the 362-yard No. 1 of Cantigny’s Woodside nine. Her approach on the par-4 had come up short while English put her second on the green. English missed her birdie putt after Singhsumalee holed out, ending the match.

Singhsumalee took up golf at age 4 at Cantigny’s Youth Links and played there as well as on the 27-hole main layout regularly. The Naperville resident now lists Bolingbrook as her home course, however.

“It’s really fun playing with people older than me,’’ said Singhsumalee. “It’s definitely a new experience, because I’m so used to playing against players 17 or 18.’’

She was 1-up in the title match going to the last hole of regulation play – No. 9 on Cantigny’s Lakeside nine – but English stayed alive by rolling in a 12-foot downhill par putt after both players missed the green with their approaches at the par-4.

English was trying to join brother Kyle as a champion in a top Illinois amateur event. Kyle won the Chicago District Amateur at Medinah in 2011. Their parents, Mark and Mary, are both golf professionals. The Illinois Women’s Amateur will be played at Crestwicke in Bloomington in 2014. That’s English’ home course, and Kyle is now an assistant pro there.

Singhsumalee, shared medalist honors with 2012 champion Elizabeth Szokol, a Northwestern sophomore from Winnetka. Both shot 73s in the 80-player qualifying round.

Szokol was eliminated by Ember Schuldt, a University of Illinois player from Sterling, 3 and 2 in the quarterfinals and English ousted Schuldt 3 and 1 in the semifinals. In that match English made birdies on both back nine par-3s and ended the match with an 8-iron on the par-3 17th that stopped 18 inches from the cup. Singhsumalee earned her berth in the title match by beating 2011 champion Nora Lucas of Chicago 2 and 1.

Cantigny, which has hosted the men’s Illinois State Amateur three times, was hosting the women’s version for the first time and that helped Singhsumalee.

“I feel it was an advantage because I know the feel of the layout and speed of the greens,’’ she said.

Craig Stadler’s first Champions Tour win in eight years seemed a foregone conclusion for awhile on Sunday. After all, he had a five-shot lead after playing his first six holes at North Shore Country Club in Glenview.

That lead wasn’t so safe, though.

A combination of Fred Couples’ birdies and Stadler’s own shaky play turned the Encompass Championship into a gritty battle down the stretch, and Stadler’s win wasn’t assured until he rolled in a breaking 12-foot par putt on the 18th green to complete a sand save.

“I finally made one that counted,’’ said a relieved Stadler, who hadn’t even contended in a tournament since 2007. He underwent hip replacement surgery in 2010 and also had problems with his back and foot, but health concerns were only part of his problem.

Stadler’s game, once good enough to win the 1982 Masters, soured until he paid a visit to California-based swing guru Billy Harmon when he was on the brink of quitting. Harmon revived Stadler’s career by changing his setup, his alignment and his grip. In other words, it was a complete makeover that isn’t done yet.

“It’s been all new stuff now,’’ said Stadler, who turned 60 earlier this month. “It’s been about a six-week process of totally changing my whole golf game, revamping everything. I’m not sure this is the fruition of it yet, because I putted just phenomenally well until the back nine today. If I keep putting well it doesn’t matter how I hit the ball.’’

For a week at least, that mindset worked.

Stadler dominated Chicago’s first Champions Tour event since 2002. He was in a three-way tie for the first round lead, was two strokes ahead after two rounds and was at the top of the leaderboard throughout the final 18.

He made birdies on his first two holes on Sunday and added two more at Nos. 5 and 6. Then he had some shaky moments before he posting a 71 and a winning 13-under-par 203 total for the 54 holes. Couples applied the most pressure, making birdies on his first three holes and getting to 7-under for the day on the 14th.

David Frost, Bernhard Langer, Mark O’Meara and Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman – one of Stadler’s playing partners in the final threesome – all had chances to catch Stadler but none did. That quartet ended in a tie for third, one stroke behind Couples.

Couples had the best chance to catch Stadler. He arrived at the 18th tee one behind Stadler, who had made bogeys at Nos. 12, 14 and 15 and was struggling four groups back. Couples put his tee shot in the fairway but his 9-iron second at the par-4 wound up in a green-side bunker.

“A pretty simple shot,’’ said Couples. “I call it a shank. It wasn’t very good.’’

His bunker shot wasn’t very good, either. “I just hit it too soft,’’ said Couples, who couldn’t save par and settled for a 66 – best score of the day.

Even then Couples still had a chance, and headed for the practice range to warm up in the eventuality of a playoff. That looked like a distinct possibility when Stadler’s second at the 18th also found a bunker. He got out, to 12 feet, and faced a left-to-right downhill putt with a six-seven inch break.

“It looked really familiar to the putt I made a billion years ago (actually 1992) at Akron,’’ said Stadler. “I talked to myself — `you made that one, make this one, what the heck.’’’

The putt went in for the ninth Champions Tour win of Stadler’s career and first since his marriage to wife Jan three years ago. “Her whole family’s here, probably 10 of them, so it was very special,’’ Stadler said.

From a previous marriage Stadler has two sons – Kevin, who plays on the PGA Tour, and Chris, who played football at Lake Forest College. Sunday’s win earned Stadler $270,000 from a $1.8 million purse.

“Craig made a few bogeys down the stretch, but clearly he was the class of the field,’’ said Sluman. “He played great, hit hit some wonderful shots, putted great. That putt on 18 was really, really important to him, and the crowd was pulling for him. I couldn’t be happier for him.’’

ENCOMPASS CHAMPIONSHIP: Stadler’s a surprise leader entering final round

Who would have expected Craig Stadler to be the 36-hole leader of the Encompass Championship?

Well, certainly not Craig Stadler.

The veteran long ago nicknamed the Walrus hasn’t won a tournament since 2004 and hasn’t even been in contention in one since 2007. Three months ago he was on the brink of ending his long career as a touring pro. On Sunday, though, he will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the $1.8 million Encompass Championship – the new Champions Tour event being conducted at North Shore Country Club in Glenview.

Finishing with darkness setting in on Friday, Stadler overcame a 3-hour 28-minute rain delay to post a 67, good enough for a share of the first round lead. He followed that with a scorching 65 on Saturday, a round in which he holed a 40-foot bunker shot en route to a 32 on the back nine.

Another usual back-in-the-pack player, Bob Tway, matched Stadler’s 65 and Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman strung four birdies on the back nine en route to shooting a 66. They are two strokes shy of Stadler’s 12-under-par 132 total going into the final 18.

Stadler, the 1982 Masters champion, appears a man on a mission.

“(Golf) hasn’t been fun in a long time,’’ he said. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but it’s fun to make putts – and I’ve made a boatload of putts.’’

So what caused the sudden transformation? Sessions with swing guru Billy Harmon certainly helped. A desperate Stadler went to see him in Palm Springs, Calif.

“I walked out on the back range and Billy’s standing there,’’ recounted Stadler. “He said, `What are we doing?’ I said `You’ve got two days to either fix it or I’m done, very simple. He looked at me and said `Let’s go!’’’

And off they went. Stadler doesn’t think his game has been completely fixed yet, but quitting isn’t a consideration any more.

“Shooting in the 60s is a lot better than shooting 78s and 82s and 76s and 79s, which is what I’ve been shooting off and on for the last four-five years,’’ he said. “It got to the point, one, it was no fun, and two, it was getting to be embarrassing.’’

Tway’s 65 was a bit more spectacular than Stadler’s – at least at the end. He shot 6-under 30 on the back side and on the last eight holes he went eagle-par-par-birdie-birdie-birdie-par-birdie. The sizzling stretch ended when a 30-foot putt dropped.

Like Stadler, Tway – best known for holing a bunker shot on the last hole to take the 1986 PGA title from Greg Norman – was having his own frustrations before arriving at North Shore. They mirrored what Stadler has been going through.

“My game has not been what it should be,’’ he said. “Today was better. There has been some frustration, but I’m a whole lot more mellow now than I was when I was on the other (PGA) Tour.’’

Both Stadler and Tway won a major title in their PGA Tour days and both have sons named Kevin who are touring pros. Kevin Stadler in on the PGA Tour and Kevin Tway, the 2005 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, is playing on the Web.com circuit.

Stadler and Tway both are big fans of North Shore, an old-style course that some of the current Champions Tour players last tested in the 1983 U.S. Amateur.

“That shows how old we are, but we love it,’’ said Tway. “When everyone found out we were going to get to come here we were all excited. The course is in unbelievable shape.’’

“It’s probably got the best fairways I’ve seen ever,’’ said Stadler. “I played here a couple times when I was in college way back when. I absolutely love it.’’

Sluman, a leader in getting the Champions Tour back for the first time since 2002, made eight birdies while playing in the last group of the day with retired Bear Brian Urlacher. Urlacher chipped in twice, which was more eye-catching that Sluman’s steadiness.

“Just a good solid round, and I kept myself out of trouble,’’ said Sluman. “We just felt it was long overdue to get an event back in Chicago. We’re excited to be here.’’

The duel for the $270,00 first prize, to be awarded after Sunday’s final round, figures to be a tight one but the tournament within the tournament — the two-man pro-am team event that ended on Saturday – certainly wasn’t. The duo of pro Steve Pate and amateur Lee Tenzer posted a 25-under-par score for 36 holes and won by five shots.

A 3-hour 28-minute rain delay disrupted the return of the Champions Tour to Chicago on Friday, but it didn’t interrupt the season-long duel of the circuit’s two top players.

Bernhard Langer, the season money leader and No. 2 in the season-long battle for the coveted Charles Schwab Cup, posted a 5-under-par 67 at North Shore Country Club in Glenview to share the first-round lead with Duffy Waldorf and Craig Stadler.

Meanwhile, David Frost, the Schwab Cup leader and No. 2 on the money list — $50,084 behind Langer though playing one less event, is just one stroke back at 68. He’s in a tie for third with, among others, long-time Burr Ridge resident Jeff Sluman and Gary Hallberg, who grew up in Barrington.

Frost was in the clubhouse before storms and lightning halted play at 12:22 p.m. Waldorf had one hole to go and Langer two. Waldorf returned to the course and made bogey on his final hole to be the first in at 5-under.

“Obviously I would have liked to have finished (before the delay),’’ said Waldorf. “It would have been a big difference. Usually when you’re playing well you definitely want to keep playing. When we warmed up the wind was blowing like 25 miles an hour on the range, and we’re thinking, `What’s going to happen?’’’

Langer wasn’t as concerned.

“Even though it was a fairly long break, the good thing is we knew we were only going to play two more holes, so it was only three full swings,’’ said Langer. He parred in to match Waldorf. Stadler took an opposite route to the top of the leaderboard. He played most of his holes after the delay and finished just before darkness halted play.

Sluman, paired with Brian Urlacher in the two-man team event that concludes with Saturday’s (TODAY) second round, was on the 14th tee when play was stopped because of the bad weather. He and Urlacher spent a good portion of the delay talking to the media, during which Urlacher said he had no plans after his retirement from the Bears but had no intention of playing again.

Urlacher said he’s been playing plenty of golf since his retirement announcement. It showed when he rolled in a 40-foot par putt on the second hole, but he four-putted two holes later.

“I still get into trouble a lot, but I enjoy (golf),’’ he said. “I have more time to practice now, so I should get better.’’

“He’s got a lot of ability because he can turn his body really quick and he has great hands,’’ said Sluman. “If he keeps playing, he’ll be a mid to low 70s shooter.’’

Sluman parred on his first hole after the delay and made birdie on the second, but he couldn’t get another one and settled for a spot one stroke off the lead.

Because of the lengthy delay some players couldn’t complete the first round. Those who didn’t will finish it prior to the start of Round 2.

“The course took the water very well,’’ said Langer after eight-tenths of an inch of rain softened the course. “I was surprised because it drained so well.’’

The team event ends on Saturday. Only the 81 professionals will play on Sunday when the $1.8 purse is distributed. The champion will receive $270,000.

No golfer ever has had the success that Hale Irwin has enjoyed on Chicago courses. Not Fred Couples, not Mark O’Meara, not Bernhard Langer, not Tom Lehman, not even Illinois Golf Hall of Famer Jay Haas or Nick Price – the last winner of back-to-back Western Opens at Cog Hill back in the early 1990s.

All of them will be trying to put a damper on Irwin’s extraordinary four decades of success here starting Friday when the 54-hole Encompass Championship tees off at North Shore Country Club in Glenview.

Irwin won at Butler National (1975 Western Open), Medinah (1990 U.S. Open), Stonebridge (1997 Ameritech Senior Open) and Kemper Lakes (1998 and 1990 Ameritech Senior Opens). Like the three ASOs, the Encompass is part of the Champions Tour and the $1.8 million event is the circuit’s first in the Chicago area since 2002.

The 50-and-over circuit’s return was due in part to campaigning by a group of players that included Irwin, who met with North Shore’s members as part of the negotiation process.

“I’ve always loved Chicago. It’s a great sports town, and we’ve had great success here with golf tournaments,’’ said Irwin. “Coming to North Shore, all the players are very impressed with the golf course…..This tournament is going to rank in the top five or 10 right now and, with a successful week of golf, it’s going to rise very rapidly to the top of the heap, one of the best we have out here.’’

Irwin’s no kid anymore, not even by Champions Tour standards. Once the circuit’s dominant player, he’s 68 now with a family that includes three grandchildren. He belongs to clubs in St. Louis and Arizona but uses them basically for practicing. Other than his tour appearances, Irwin’s golf is not the high priority it once was.

“I do spend a little time on keeping my game relatively current,’’ he said. “I don’t let it go completely.’’

But, the likely winners of this first Encompass Championship in Chicago (it made its debut last year in Tampa, Fla.), would seem to be David Frost or Langer, the circuit’s only two-time champions this season. John Cook, third behind those two on the circuit’s Charles Schwab Cup point standings, should also contend.

Couples and Kenny Perry, who split time between the Champions and PGA tours, are also in the mix along with Jeff Sluman, who has long called Burr Ridge his home base.

All 81 starters will be paired with an amateur for two days of team competition – a tournament within the tournament. There’ll also be a celebrity component, though one of the originally announced celebs – Scottie Pippen – withdrew on Thursday.

Pro-celebrity pairings, announced Thursday, have Larry Mize with Bears’ coach Marc Trestman, Couples with Toni Kukoc, Sluman with Brian Urlacher, Craig Stadler with Joe Theismann, Chien Soon Lu with Jay Hilgenberg, D.A. Weibring with Robbie Gould, Mark Brooks with Jack O’Callahan, Bobby Wadkins with wounded warrior Chad Watson and Don Pooley with Pat Foley.

Couples thought he might be paired with Michael Jordan.

“He’s out of town,’’ said Couples. “I asked Bo Jackson, but he’s got his charity event on Saturday. Michael gave me couple suggestions and Jeff Sluman put me in touch with Toni, so I’m excited. I’ve never met him, but I’ve seen him play basketball.’’

Kukoc took up golf as his NBA career was winding down and will be – at 6-11 and a left-handed golfer – a striking figure on the course. He also can play. Last year he was the club champion at Twin Orchard in Long Grove.

As far as the pro ranks go, the only notable late withdrawal was Fuzzy Zoeller and the only notable non-entry was Tom Watson. Otherwise the Encompass field is loaded with the sport’s stars of the past. Play begins at 7:15 a.m. with the last group going off at 1:34 p.m.

ST. LOUIS – Who would have expected this?

Three of the top stars in American golf were in position to win the 74th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club on Sunday. None did.

The first major title of the year on the Champions Tour instead went to Kohki Idoki, a 5-foot 5-inch 136-pound Japanese golfer whose professional record was as unimpressive as England’s Roger Chapman, who came out of similar oblivion to win both the Senior PGA and U.S. Senior Open last year.

Idoki, 51, won two Japan PGA Tour events, in 1990 and 1993, and took his first win on his country’s Senior Tour last year. Those credentials barely got him into the Senior PGA field for the first time, and his play was too good for perennial contenders Kenny Perry, Jay Haas and Mark O’Meara. All had shortcomings of one sort or another.

O’Meara simply started too far back. His closing 65 on Sunday matched Idoki for low round of the tournament, but he came up three strokes short of Idoki’s 11-under-par 273 total for 72 holes and finished solo fourth.

Battle-hardened veterans Perry and Haas just couldn’t cope with back nine pressure. Haas, playing on a course he knew better than any player in the field, made three bogeys in a six-hole stretch on the back nine. That killed his hopes to win the title a third time, but 54-hole leader Perry had an even bigger collapse.

He started the final round with a two-shot lead on playing partner Haas and was up three on the field with six holes to go. That margin disappeared in a hurry. When Perry made double bogey at the par-3 13th and Idoki made birdie at the 14th they were tied at the top of the leaderboard.

“Kenny and I got wrapped up in each other for awhile,’’ said Haas, “but after the 13th hole we realized it wasn’t just the two of us.’’

Idoki’s 15-foot birdie putt at No. 17 gave him the lead for good and Perry’s hopes of catching him ended when he made bogey at the par-3 16th and then put his tee shot deep in the woods at the par-5 17th. Both Perry and Haas made birdies at No. 18 to edge O’Meara out of a share of second but those birds were too little, too late.

The story was Idoki who won $378,000 in his first trip to the United States but couldn’t talk about it much. Neither he nor his translator could barely speak English. Playing in the U.S. was as big a mystery to the constantly smiling Idoki as he was to the American players.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him hit a shot,’’ said Haas. `I don’t know anything about him.’’

Through his translator Idoki said he took up golf when he was 9 years old at a course in Osaka. Another Japan golfer in the Bellerive field, Joe Ozaki, has been his mentor in recent years.

“I prefer to just stay in Japan,’’ said Idoki, through his translator. “It’s one of the greatest things to become a PGA champion. I cannot think of anything more. I was surprised with the huge galleries on the course. I was very excited.’’

Idoki’s participation is uncertain, but most of the Senior PGA field is expected to compete in the Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club in Glenview from June 17-23. It’ll mark the circuit’s first Chicago visit since 2002.

ST. LOUIS – It’s not unusual for the PGA to pair friends in the first two rounds of its tournaments. That’s why Kenny Perry and Russ Cochran played together in the first two rounds of the 74th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club.

The results, though, don’t always come out they did on Thursday and Friday. Perry and Cochran both shot 69 on Thursday and 66 Friday. They stand at 7-under-par 135 at the top of the leaderboard heading into today’s third round of the season’s first major on the Champions Tour, so they’ll be playing together again.

Cochran and Perry went to high school together in Paducah, Ky., They played the PGA Tour together, and now – in their fifties – they remain friendly competitors.

“It’s near when childhood friends pick up again on the Champions Tour,’’ said Perry. “We’re very comfortable together. We’ve had a lot of laughs and good times.’

“A great couple days,’’ chimed in Cochran. “Plus, my son (Ryan) was my caddie and one of my best friends, Freddie Sanders, caddied for Kenny.’’

Both players won on the PGA Tour in Illinois. Cochran, winner of the 1991 Western Open at Cog Hill, is 54 and two years older than Perry, winner of the 2008 John Deere Classic.

Perry plays right-handed and has had a slightly better professional career. He shifts between the PGA and Champions, and was in the field at the premier circuit’s Byron Nelson Classic last week. Cochran plays left-handed. Together they put on an annual outing for the course they grew up on, Paxton Park in Paducah.

Paducah is a three-hour drive from Bellerive, and Perry and Cochran had considerable friends and family members in their gallery as they opened a two-stroke lead on third place Kiyoshi Murota of Japan. First-round co-leaders Jay Haas, who grew up in nearby Belleville, IL., and Duffy Waldorf are three back along with Loren Roberts.

Haas, selected for induction into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame earlier this week, has played Bellerive more than any of the 156 starters. His first-round 66 was a career best on the layout, which was the site of the 1992 PGA Championship and 2004 U.S. Senior Open.

“I was in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier here when I was about 16,’’ he said. “I’ve probably played 30 rounds here. I don’t know if that gives me an advantage. Maybe it let’s me know where to miss it on certain holes.’’

Curtis Malm won both player-of-the-year awards handed out by the Illinois PGA last year, and – judging by what happened in the first of the section’s four major championships of 2013 – there’s no reason to think he won’t pull off another sweep this season.

Malm became the first player in 25 years to win back-to-back titles in the IPGA Match Play Championship when he defeated Doug Bauman 3 and 1 in Thursday’s title match at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove.

In his fifth year as an assistant professional at St. Charles Country Club, Malm became the first repeat winner of the 62-year old tourney since Aurora’s Bob Ackerman triumphed in 1987 and 1988.

“The format and golf course are absolutely perfect for me,’’ said Malm, who turned pro a day after winning the 2000 Illinois Open. He doesn’t think he’s as good a player now as he was then.

“I might be smarter,’’ he said. “Back then I never had a negative thought. You just played golf, and I was playing pretty much lights-out. Now my game may be more diverse.’’

After coming up one stroke short of qualifying for U.S. Open sectional play on Monday Malm stormed past six opponents over the next three days. His first four matches didn’t last beyond the 15th hole.

All three matches played at Kemper on Thursday concluded on the 17th green. Malm beat Matt Slowinski, assistant at Glen Oak in Glen Ellyn, in the morning semifinals while Bauman ousted Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb. All four semifinalists were former winners of the tournament, and both matches were decided by 2 and 1 scores.

Bauman, a three-time winner, finished as the runner-up for the sixth time. In his 25th year as the head man at Biltmore in Barrington, Bauman started the final with three straight birdies. Malm, however, was able to overcome his opponent’s 3-3-2 start.

“The putt he made (for birdie) at the No. 2 and his bunker shot (that set up a win) at No. 4 were huge,’’ said Bauman. “I tried to put the pressure on him, but he didn’t flinch.’’

Bauman, 56, is 21 years older than Malm,. Though consistently outdriven by his opponent, Bauman’s 235-yard 5-wood to 18 feet at the par-5 11th was the shot of the match. It set up an eagle that put him just 1-down, but he left a shot in a bunker at No. 13 and missed a three-footer for par that would have won No. 14. Those letdowns enabled Malm to stay in command, and Bauman’s tee shot at the par-3 17th went wide right, leading to a bogey that ended 2-hour 41-minute duel.