Chris Nieto makes dynamic first impression

Writing from Elgin, Illinois

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Until November 1, Chris Nieto was a member of the Mid-Atlantic PGA Section, so ensconced because he was working at Congressional Country Club.

On November 1, he became the head pro at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park. When a pro moves, so does his section affiliation.

Thursday afternoon, he became the man to beat in the Illinois PGA. In his first Illinois major, Nieto swept through the field to win the Illinois PGA Match Play Championship at Elgin Country Club.

Nieto, 34, trailed in several of his five matches prior to the final, but not when the big trophy was on the line against Brian Carroll of The Hawk. Then, Nieto opened with a birdie to win the first hole, was 2 up after three, remained there at the turn, parred No. 10 for a 3 up advantage, and then withstood Carroll’s best golf of the afternoon to hang on for the 1 up victory.

“This week was a grind, and it didn’t come easy,” Nieto said. “It felt like in a lot of matches I was down a couple at the turn or all square. I knew once I got to the back nine I’d have more fun.”

Not in the final.

“It was uncharted territory,” Nieto said of holding the lead. “Then the wind picked up and golf got a little harder.”

Elgin is a 121-year old Tom Bendelow layout that has been expanded from nine to 18 holes over the years, but feels old-timey. It features rolling fairways, sidehill lies, greens shaped like potato chips, and swirling wind when it blows. Smart golf, rather than power golf, wins the day, and both Nieto and Carroll are smart golfers.

Carroll dropped his tee shot four feet from the cup on the 163-yard par-3 16th for a birdie to narrow Nieto’s lead to a hole, then nearly holed out from an impossible sidehill lie on the 17th for eagle. Instead, they matched birdies and walked to the tee of the 404-yard uphill 18th.

Carroll used a hybrid and drove to the edge of a dropoff, Nieto went down the hill and had a delicate 65-yard pitch, effectively to the roof of a small building. He dropped it about four feet away, and when Carroll missed his curling 18-footer, it was time to shake hands.

“It’s match play, so you never know what’s going to happen,” Nieto said. “He came in firing and I knew I had to make a couple birdies and hold him off at the end.”

For Carroll, it was the fourth runner-up placing in a state major, including the 2019 Match Play and last year’s Players Championship. Thus it was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

“I certainly had better play in the first match today than the second, just did what I had to do in that one,” Carroll said of his defeat of David Krzepicki of Eagle Brook Country Club 6 and 4 in the morning. “Birdied the par-5s, which are reachable out here.”

Carroll was 3-under across 14 holes. But in Nieto, who didn’t have time to play at all in 2021 thanks to his workload as associate head pro at Congressional, he met a solid campaigner.

“Too many poor shots,” Carroll said. “I got myself in tree trouble where I couldn’t attack on shorter holes; had to play defensive instead of giving myself birdie looks.”

Nieto had scored 2-over 74 on the hilly 6,450-yard layout to tie for sixth and thus set his seeding. After that, he chugged along, knocking off Jami Brighty 5 and 4 in the Round of 32, beating the unrelated Jamie Nieto of The Preserve at Oak Meadows 3 and 2 in the Round of 16 – and opening with an eagle to establish who was boss – taking out Hinsdale’s Matt Slowinski in the quarterfinals, and beating Tim Streng of the Wildcat Golf Academy 2 and 1 in Thursday morning’s semifinal.

The match of the week was the quarterfinal between Streng and Mistwood’s Andy Mickelson. The duo combined for 14 birdies and an eagle in 17 holes, Streng winning 2 and 1 with an aggregate 8-under 60 in 17 holes, including the usual concessions, to Mickelson’s 62. Streng’s eagle 2 on the 270-yard par-4 11th gave him a 3 up lead that Mickelson couldn’t erase completely.

– Tim Cronin