Writing from Elgin, Illinois
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Brian Carroll went into the final round of the 103rd Illinois PGA Championship knowing he couldn’t rest on the laurels of two good rounds, not even the 7-under-par 65 he authored at hilly Elgin Country Club on Tuesday. A two-stroke lead in the section championship can disappear in one hole.
“Going into the day I said it would be great to open with an eagle to set the tone for the day,” Carroll said. “It’s a reachable (480-yard) par-5. But I hit maybe one of the worst drives I’ve hit for the three days.”
A good second to just in front of the green allowed Carroll, head pro at The Hawk in St. Charles, to make it happen. His 30-yard pitch-in extended his lead to three strokes, Andy Mickelson of Mistwood having birdied as well. Carroll would lead by three at the turn, withstood the challenge of Briarwood’s Matthew Rion, who closed the gap to a stroke, and won the title with a final round of 4-under-par 68 for 15-under 201, two strokes ahead of Rion and five ahead of Mickelson and Butler National’s Andy Svoboda.
Rion had run down an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th to get to 13-under, a stroke behind Carroll, who was in the trailing threesome. Carroll saw Rion’s putt fall.
“You can’t control what they’re gonna do,” Carroll said. “All you can do it hit the best shots you can. Starting with a lead, you just try to add to it so if somebody has a great round they’re unable to catch you.”
Carroll accomplished that with his short iron on the 163-yard 16th. It finished about 15 feet from the cup on the same line as Rion, and he nailed it for the deuce that eventually secured the title plus the $10,500 first prize from the purse of $77,500. It’s his second Illinois PGA crown in three years and eighth top 10 in succession, including a runner-up via a playoff loss in 2018.
“I thought 17-under was the number,” Carroll said. “Even if somebody plays a great round, they’re not going to get there.”
That would have broken Mike Small’s record of 16-under, set at Stonewall Orchard in 2014. But 15-under was good enough.
“It was certainly all could have asked for,” Carroll said. “If you’d told me going into the week I was going to shoot 15-under, I’d have sat in the clubhouse and watched.”
Carroll, Rion, Mickelson, Kevin Flack (Maun-Nee-Tee-See), Frank Hohenadel (Mistwood), Chris Green (Glen Voew), Steve Orrick (Bloomington), Matt Slowinski (Hinsdale) and host pro Jonathan Duppner (Elgin) all qualified for the PGA’s national club pro championship. Small, Svoboda, and Jeff Kellen (North Shore) were already eligible.
Flack finished fifth at 6-under 210. Small, the 14-time Illinois PGA champion, rebounded from a 4-over 76 on Tuesday with a 2-under 70 to tie Hohenadel, who aced the ninth hole on Tuesday, for sixth at 3-under 213.
Next year the section championship reverts to a 36-hole format, abandoning the three-day, 54-hole joust used, except for poor weather years, since 1973, and occasionally before that back to 1935.
“Usually over three days, if I play my game of limiting mistakes, I’m going to be close, have a chance toward the end,” Carroll said.
Wednesday was the perfect template for his game.
– Tim Cronin