Leader Postillion aims to match mom in Illinois Women's Open

    Writing from Romeoville, Illinois
    Thursday, August 1, 2013

    Samantha Postillion has a big fan back in Arizona.
    Her mom, Kerry Postillion, a three-time winner of the Illinois Women’s Open.
    So when Samantha called after Wednesday’s round to let her mom know she’d scored 1-under-par 71 in the first round of this year’s IWO, she got congratulations.
    “She was proud of me for that,” Samantha said.
    She also got an earful. The call was placed three hours after she’d finished at Mistwood Golf Club. Mom was watching the online scoring and eager to hear the details.
    Thursday’s call was likely placed more promptly. Postillion the younger scored another 71, and her 36-hole aggregate of 2-under-par 142 moved her to the top of the leader board, a stroke ahead of amateur Kris Yoo and pros Katie Dick, Caroline Powers and Nicole Jeray with one round remaining.
    “The key was to stay positive,” Postillion said. “I missed a few short putts, but I let my frustration go away and birdied two of the last three holes.”
    The birdies, on the short par-4 16th and the par-3 17th, helped made the difference in moving her ahead of the field. Dick and Jeray played the last three holes in even par, while Yoo, entering her senior year at Wisconsin, also birdied 16 and 17 to cap a 2-under 70, the best round of the day, but was making up ground in doing so.
    Kerry Postillion won the IWO in 1996, 1997 and 1999, when it was run by Chicagoland Golf publisher Phil Kosin. Mistwood, the longtime host, took over the tournament after Kosin died, and added his name to the title.
    Samantha, 21, was there, but doesn’t recall much of her mom’s big run.
    “She was playing her best golf when I was between 2 and 6,” Samantha said.
    Samantha Postillion was in position to win last year, but fell on the first hole of a three-player sudden-death playoff to Samantha Troyanovich of Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich. That, she does remember, and Friday, will have the opportunity to improve on her record.
    “I plan to practice a lot of six-foot putts,” Postillion said. “If I can make those, I can go low.”
    Her birdie on the 16th came after she pulled a wedge 30 feet left of the cup. She drained the putt to move to 1-under, then slammed an 8-iron to within two feet of the cup on the 139-yard 17th to take the lead.
    Powers followed her opening 70 with a 1-over 73, but remains in the chase.
    “I didn’t lose much ground,” Powers said. “I didn’t take advantage of opportunities.”
    Dick, an assistant at Bryn Mawr, cruised around in even par, while Jeray called her round of 1-over 73 “boring. I wasn’t pressing, but I was trying to figure out why I was hitting to the right. I tried to hit hard shots to correct it, and on 17, I finally hit a good shot.”
    Jeray three-putted the par-5 15th after thinning her wedge lay-up, collecting her only bogey in the last 13 holes.
    “It was deflating, because I’d laid up to my wedge distance,” Jeray said. “The pin positions are difficult, so it’s difficult to get wedges close.”
    With only Elise Swartout and Chelsea Harris at even par, a mere seven players are at par or better entering the final round.
    Troyanovich, the defender, added an untidy 78 to her opening 75, and stands at 9-over 153 through two rounds. She made the cut, which included 34 players, on the number. Among those missing the cut: two-time champion Jenna Pearson (12-over 156).

    – Tim Cronin