Small, Malm in a familiar place

    Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois
    Monday, August 26, 2013

    Mike Small’s been atop the leaderboard more, but not lately. Winner of three PGA national club pro titles and 14 Illinois majors, including nine Illinois PGA championships, he hasn’t been able to hold a trophy in his hands since 2010.
    That may be about to change. Small fired a 2-under-par 69 on a balmy Monday on the South Course at Olympia Fields Country Club, where Illinois PGA title No. 9 – and the eighth in succession – was accomplished three years ago.
    It wasn’t a perfect round by any means – his 63 in the second round three years ago fit that definition – but it was what any player whose game has been, by their standards, erratic, would accept.
    “It is coming together?” the coach of Illinois’ powerhouse men’s team repeated. “You always think it is.”
    Small might not be all together yet. He rued hitting one tee shot 50 yards to the left and seeing it splash, which led to a bogey on the par-4 14th, and hitting another 50 yards to the right, that on the par-5 18th, which led to a finishing 6.
    But he birdied three of the first four holes and was 4-under after the 10th, which leads to the deduction that he played more like the Small of old than an old Small.
    “I’m trying to find a Band-Aid,” Small said. “I’m one day away from playing great. Only thing is, I don’t know what day that is.”
    The result of the adventure, which in the end Small credited to putting better, is a share of the lead one-third of the way through the 54-hole competition. Two others also scored 69, with Curtis Malm of St. Charles Country Club and Chicago Golf Club assistant Ryan Sharp doing so by going low on the back nine. Malm’s breakdown was 37-32, Sharp’s 36-33. And unlike Small, who has played here and coaches his Fighting Illini squad here annually, it was the first time either player had set foot on the plush grounds of the big south suburban club.
    “I did what I wanted to do on Day 1,” Malm said. “See the golf course, put myself in position.”
    From here, he could go to town. He blistered Elgin Country Club with a 63 last week, and while Small did that at Olympia when he last copped the James Kemper Cup, Malm doesn’t see a crazy low score, based on his first impression.
    “The golf course is good enough that par should be a good score,” Malm said.
    Sharp, new to the front rank in a state major, made 10 straight pars, then kicked into second gear with a pair of birdies. After a bogey at the 13th, which tied for the fourth-toughest hole in the opening lap, he parred around until a birdie on the penultimate hole. And it could have been better.
    “I left a couple birdie putts out there,” Sharp said. “Tee to green, it’s an awesome golf course. Other than my 5-iron, I hit every club in my bag.”
    Sharp knows a first-rank course when he sees one. Aside from his assistant work at Chicago Golf, he plays a big role with the junior program at Augusta National Golf Club in the winter.
    The tri-leaders are being shadowed by a large contingent of players. Kishwaukee Country Club head pro David Pagelow is alone in fourth after his 1-under 70, while Bryn Mawr’s Scott Baines is the lone player at even-par 71. Eight players are at 1-over 72, including defending champion Steve Orrick of Decatur, south side favorite Marty Schiene of Odyssey Country Club, and veteran Mike Harrigan, whose closest brush with winning this title came in 1979, when he led through 53 holes the first time the Illinois PGA was played at Kemper Lakes in Hawthorn Woods, only to drown his title hopes with a 9 at the par-4 18th.
    The cut comes Tuesday, with the title decided on Wednesday.
    – Tim Cronin