The Illinois Golf Hall of Fame inducts new members every two years, and the next class of six inductees joining the select group will be honored at Friday’s ceremonies at The Glen Club, in Glenview.
While Illinois has hardly been rich in PGA Tour players, the 21st induction class has two who made it to golf’s premier circuit. Bob Zender made it after winning the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament in 1971, and he was a regular on the circuit through 1982. David Ogrin arrived in 1983 and played until 2000, then spent parts of two seasons on PGA Tour Champions.
Professional golf was a lot different during their competitive careers. Tournament purses were much smaller when Zender played, but he had 10 top-10 finishes with a tie for third in the Greater Milwaukee Open his best result.
Zender, though, made his mark even before his big splash in PGA Tour qualifying. He was a three-time Illinois State Amateur champion and collegiate All-American while at Purdue. Then he pulled off a three-peat in the Illinois PGA Championship, winning titles in 1976-78. Now 82, Zender also shot a 62 at Chicago’s Ridgemoor Country Club – a mark the stands alongside Ben Hogan as the course record.
Ogrin, now 67 and directing his own golf academy in Texas, made 507 PGA Tour starts and pulled off a most memorable victory. Tiger Woods was trying to earn his PGA Tour card in the final months of the 1996 season to avoid going to Qualifying School. Woods succeeded on that, but he couldn’t handle Ogrin in a final round duel at the Texas Open.
While Ogrin made that one his lone PGA Tour victory, he lost two other tournaments in playoffs and won two other unofficial events. He beat Nick Faldo at the Deposit Guarantee Classic in 1987 and teamed with Ted Schultz to win the Chrysler Classic team event in 1989.
Like Zender, Ogrin was a dominant player in the Illinois ranks before hitting the big time. He won both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open in 1980. He also won the Chicago District Amateur in back-to-back years (1979-80) and the Illinois high school title in 1976 before moving on to Texas A&M.
Ogrin and his sister Alicia were both Illinois State Amateur champions. They developed their golf skills primarily at Bonnie Brook Golf Club after their mother Bertha was elected to the Waukegan Park Board.
“I took full advantage of that privilege,’’ admitted Ogrin. “I’d play 18, 27, 36 holes a day. Then I’d also caddie a lot for my dad (Albin). I started playing when I was 7, and I got in a lot of golf – but not supervised golf.’’
Ogrin and wife Sharon, long-time Texas residents, have three daughters and a son whose name underscores their connection to Chicago. His name is Clark Addison and, yes, David remains a diehard Cubs’ fan.
Friday’s other inductees include Steve Skinner, the chief executive officer of Northbrook-based KemperSports, and Dan Dinelli, a third-generation golf course superintendent who has directed the operation at North Shore Country Club, in Glenview, for 36 years.
Skinner has played a pivotal role in shaping modern facility management with his portfolio including high profile work at such places as Oregon’s Bandon Dunes, Wisconsin’s Sand Valley and Florida’s Streamsong. He’s also a founder of the First Tee of Greater Chicago.
The other inductees are Horace McDougal, a pioneer for racial integration in golf, and Joe Roseman, who built the first lighted par-3 course in the Chicago area in the 1930s.
McDougal played at Northwestern, co-founded the Windy City Golf Association and played in the first Negro National Open in 1926. Roseman was an inventive force in early American golf, making contributions in course design, construction and equipment.