Steelman medalist in wild Western Amateur

Writing from Highland Park, Illinois

Thursday, August 4, 2022

In a few years, what Ross Steelman accomplished on Thursday would be accompanied by a trophy ceremony and an oversized check late on a Sunday afternoon. Streelman beat a field of 155 other players to the finish line in the 120th Western Amateur – sorry, no check – with a 72-hole score of 14-under-par 270 at Exmoor Country Club, including Thursday’s 36-hole grind that produced rounds of 66 and 68.

But while leading the stroke-play portion of the Western Am gets you a trophy and a handshake, Steelman is only halfway home. After winning in the equivalent of a PGA Tour weekend – and many of these players will be playing for cash within a few years, if not weeks – the competition is only beginning.

The Western Am has the most formidable schedule in golf. On Friday morning, Steelman and 15 other worthies commence match-play eliminations. The Sweet Sixteen round in the morning, quarterfinals on Friday afternoon, the semifinals on Saturday morning, and finally two players will remain on Saturday afternoon to scrap for the grand title.

“It’s a tough three days,” Steelman said. “I’m really happy to medal. I played really solidly and am happy to come out on top against the best 156 amateurs in the world.

“It’s a long week. I like match play a lot. You can make a 12 and it doesn’t hurt you. It’s a different pace.”

Among those advancing was defending champion Michael Thorbjornsen of Wellesley, Mass., who scored 7-under 277, and Ricky Castillo of Yorba Linda, Calif., making his fourth straight Sweet Sixteen appearance after posting 8-under 276. Castillo made it to the semifinals in 2019 and 2020 but was knocked out by Thorbjornsen in last year’s quarterfinals.

Tommy Kuhl of downstate Morton and Illinois’ golf team, the runner-up in the Illinois Amateur, tied for fourth at 9-under 275, and says he can flip the switch from stroke play to match play.

“ I’ve got to be ready for tomorrow,” Kuhl said. “It doesn’t really matter (who the opponent is). I’ve just got to go out and do my thing.

“My game feels the best it ever has. I’m playing more confidently than I have all summer and even last year. Been struggling with my ball-striking. Usually that’s my strength. This week I just decided to trust it, and I’m hitting it so good off the tee.”

The playoff for the final two spots began with seven players who deadlocked at 6-under 278 and still featured a quartet, Austin Greaser, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Gordon Sargent and Ian Siebers, after three sudden-death holes. Greaser advanced on the fourth hole, and some 30 minutes after the 8:04 p.m. sunset, Dumont de Chassart advanced on the seventh extra hole via a 20-foot birdie putt.

His survival places three Fighting Illini players in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2014 at Beverly Country Club. He would join Kuhl and transfer Matthis Besard, like Dumont de Chassart from Belgium.

Cohen Trolio, John Butler and Patrick Welch were eliminated on the first two holes.

Sweet Sixteen Pairings

8 a.m. – Ross Steelman vs. Adrien Dumont de Chassart

8:12 a.m. – Tommy Kuhl vs. Travis Vick

8:24 a.m. – Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira vs. Yuxin Lin

8:36 a.m. – Cole Sherwood vs. Michael Thorbjornsen

8:48 a.m. – Matthis Besard vs. Austin Greaser

9 a.m. – Kelly Chinn vs. Ricky Castillo

9:12 a.m. – William Mouw vs. Spencer Tibbits

9:24 a.m. – Derek Hitchner vs. Connor McKinney

Around Exmoor

Among those missing the cut of 6-under 278: 2019 champion Garrett Rank, the NHL referee and Illinois Amateur champion Mac McClear of Hinsdale. In McClear’s case, the next stop is the U.S. Amateur. … The elite quality of the field is shown by the four-round scoring average of 72.46 on the par 71 layout. Fourteen holes played over par, but all three par-5s were under par, defenseless again the length of the modern player. … A majority of players and caddies word blue ribbons on their hats or caddie bibs as a show of support for the Highland Park community, wracked by the shooting at the Fourth of July parade a month ago.

– Tim Cronin

Perkins holds off Chopra for Illinois Open title

Writing from Naperville, Illinois

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

When David Perkins got to his ball in the rough behind the par-5 17th hole at windblown White Eagle Golf Club, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

“The lie wasn’t horrible, but grass was going three different ways,” Perkins said.

At that second, Perkins led the 73rd Illinois Open by a stroke over a crowd, including Daniel Hudson and Ethan Farnam, who had finished. He needed to get down in no worse than par.

Earlier, he’d been faced with a similar lie behind the 11th green, and had salvaged par with a deft chip from a tossed salad of a lie to within a foot on a green sloping away from him. Now he had to do so again, and on his first shot following a delay for a quick-moving lightning storm which had doused the course. He was 30 yards from the cup.

Perkins played the shot deftly, to within a few feet, and sank the putt for a crucial birdie en route to his first victory as a professional.

“I was so short-sided … the rain could have helped me up, could have been a blessing,” Perkins said. “I had (the wedge) pretty wide open, and at the last second, I closed it up a bit for safety. It came out perfect. It was an awkward lie. I was a guess. I knew if I left it short, I’m going to make this tournament really close, and if I didn’t, I’m going to make par at the worst. That shot was huge.”

His par on the 18th earned him a 2-under-par 70, a total of 6-under 210, a stroke ahead of runner-up Varun Chopra of Champaign, who birdied the last two holes for 70 and 211.

It also earned Perkins $23,168. The East Peorian is the first downstate player to win the Illinois Open since Brad Benjamin of Rockford captured the 2009 edition.

“Technically, it doesn’t get you any (tour) status, but confidence, belief, those aspects of being a professional – that’s what it’s about,” Perkins said. “It gives me confidence going into Q school, no matter what level, Korn Ferry, PGA, whatever I’m doing.”

Perkins’ scholarly chipping showed that great touch combined with steely nerve can win the day.

“It just played hard every day, so it was keeping myself in it, knowing if I kept missing in the right spots and hitting golf shots, I could be in it,” Perkins said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be hitting every green.”

When he didn’t, he generally made the play that saved par on a tough test.

Low amateur Marcus Smith Jr. of Rockford was also in the mix, tied with Perkins at 5-under after the 13th, where Perkins’ poor tee shot led to a bogey while Smith, fighting through a sore finger on his right hand, drilled his approach within eight feet and sank the birdie putt for the tie.

“I could see (the leader board), but that’s one thing I’ve been trying to work on, seeing the score and not letting it effect me, because at the end of the day, I can’t do anything about his score,” Smith said. “But I definitely took a look at it."

Smith’s 1-under 71 featured five birdies and two double-bogeys, one of which was on the par-4 16th, which put Perkins in front for good. Eliminate one of the doubles and he and Perkins are in a playoff.

“Like I said from the beginning, it was mental-mental-mental,” Smith said. “Staying positive, because I knew it was going to get difficult. It’s the final round and you want to put some pressure on the leader, but at the same time, you want to be smart.

“I couldn’t be happier about the way I played. It’s a tough loss, because I was right there, but that’s three rounds under par, and my sixth round in as many days (including the Rockford city championship) and all six are par or better. So I’ve had a good week.”

While the final group was jousting with each other, Hudson, a 27-year-old Chicagoan, was racing into a tie for third with a course-record-tying 7-under 65. His bogey-free circuit brought the erstwhile Kansas Jayhawk to 4-under 212, matching Ethan Farnam and Smith, improving his position 23 places from Tuesday.

Hudson, a frequent player of always-windy Chicago Highlands when he’s not on the mini-tours, opened on White Eagle’s back nine in 3-under 33. Then, “I wanted to see how low I could go,” he said of his final nine. “I didn’t make a putt the first two days. When I made by first two birdies early in the round, I got my confidence back.”

Birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6 followed, and got him to one off the lead when Perkins, Gannon and Smith shared it. Then Perkins birdied No. 17 to knock the 4-unders from contention.

Around White Eagle

There isn’t a senior division, but Roy Biancalana, 62, tied for seventh place at 2-under 214, a remarkable performance. Biancalana was first in Illinois Open contention in 1985, when he tied for second behind Gary Pinns. Biancalana won the title in 1987, won again in 2001 after leaving golf to become a minister, and tied for 14th last year, after coming back from a stint as a life coach. An example of what perseverance, weight training and winter workouts will do to keep one’s self sharp, he earned $3,725. … Perkins’ victory was his second in a state major. He also won the 2019 CDGA Championship, an amateur match-play affair. … The record purse totaled $120,122, with more than 90 percent coming from entry fees. … The field averaged 74.15 strokes in the final round. … Drew Shepherd, a first-round co-leader, closed with a flourish, eagling the par-4 18th for 1-under 71 and 1-under 215. … Next year’s Illinois Open is at Flossmoor Golf Club.

– Tim Cronin

Perkins paces Illinois Open entering final round

Writing from Naperville, Illinois

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

There was a time when the Illinois Open leader board would be crowded with club pros, both head and assistant, plus an amateur or two.

The amateurs are there, but the club pros, the veterans who give lessons and work behind the counter more hours than they envisioned growing up, aren’t on the first page of the standings any more.

They’ve been replaced by the up-and-comers, the college students who hope for tour glory some day and those recently graduated who are chasing it.

Wednesday’s final threesome for the 73rd Illinois Open is the prototype for the current era. David Perkins and Varun Chopra, both in the larval stages of their professional careers, and college amateur Marcus Smith Jr., will tee it up at White Eagle Golf Club, each hoping to lift the old trophy at the end of the day.

Perkins, a former CDGA Amateur winner from East Peoria who is fresh out of Illinois State, is at 4-under 140 after a 3-under 69 in the heat of the afternoon. Chopra, a Champaign native who played for Illinois, and then a year at Northwestern while pursuing a graduate degree in sports administration, also scored 69 for 3-under 141. Each is also looking to snag the first prize of at least $20,000 from the record purse of $125,000. Smith, the Rockford standout headed to Howard University for his junior year in the fall, added a 1-under 71 to his opening 70 for 141. As an amateur, he would gladly settle for holding the trophy.

All three players are from well outside the immediate Chicago area, as is Luke Gannon of Mahomet, one of two players at 2-under 142 following a 4-under 68. Of the top five, only Anthony Albano Jr. of Park Ridge, who matched Gannon’s 68, is a Chicagoland resident.

Brad Benjamin of Rockford was the last downstate winner, at Hawthorn Woods Country Club in 2009.

Perkins said the conditions were among the most difficult he’s dealt with.

“I like it when it’s hard; it eliminates some of the field,” Perkins said. “I have no experience with PGA Tour or championship golf, but it’s got all those attributes.”

Nonetheless, Perkins birdied five holes, including the inward par-5s, Nos. 14 and 17, coming in, and had only two bogeys compared to Monday’s four blemishes.

“I made good shots coming in to make pars,” Perkins said.

Chopra’s 69 featured a quartet of birdies across six holes on the back nine, including a 15-footer for a 3 on the par-4 15th. Even a bogey at the last occasioned by a watery tee shot didn’t dampen his mood.

“I played pretty good; I haven’t played great yet,” Chopra said. “I had a good stretch there.”

Chopra is working through a swing change but tries not to think about it on the course.

“You play golf, try to be creative,” Chopra said of his mindset.

Smith, following his opening 70 with a 1-under 71 to reach 141, closed his round with a splendid par save on the ninth hole. Bunkered off the tee, he opened up a 9-iron and slammed the ball to the back of the uphill green, from where he two-putted for a par 4. He had faced a similar lie in a bunker on No. 4, played a similar shot, and filed the experience away.

This is Smith’s second tournament at White Eagle this season. Clearly, he’s using the experience gained in the Mid-American Conference championship, where he finished tied for 26th at 13-over 229, to good effect.

“That helped me a lot,” Smith said. “I learned a lot about the course: Where to hit it and where the misses are. Where can I miss it and still be in good position. Knowing that gives me a lot of confidence on the tee, because if it doesn’t go exactly how I want it, I can have a spot to miss it and still be fine.

“And the conditions were a lot tougher during the MAC. It windy and it was cold, so the ball didn’t go as far.”

Gannon, whose second place finish last year makes him the highest returning player with winner Tim “Tee-K” Kelly on the Korn Ferry Tour, birdied three of the last five holes to race home with his 68. But he didn’t think it spectacular.

“A lot of good two-putts,” Gannon said. “The pins are definitely tucked.”

Gannon got experience with that in June, when he played in the U.S. Open at The Country Club, where he had one nine of 1-under but missed the cut.

Pierre Grieve of Lake Forest is among the elites tied for sixth at 1-under 143, and took that position with a 2-under 70. His round was marked by a 150-yard 8-iron to three feet for a kick-in birdie on the eighth hole and a two-putt birdie after driving the green on the 330-yard 10th hole.

“It was a pretty stress-free round; a lot of 3-irons off the tee,” said Grieve, entering his sophomore year at Louisville, and who, in trying to qualify for the Western Amateur, didn’t play a practice round at White Eagle.

Around White Eagle

The cut came at 6-over 150, advancing 56 players to Wednesday’s final round, including Tim Puetz of Deer Park Golf Club in Peru, who was in the next-to-last group and birdied his last hole, the par-4 ninth, to squeeze in. … Final round tee times have been moved up to dodge potential threatening weather in the late afternoon. Players will commence in threesomes beginning at 8 a.m. off both tees. … Monday’s unrecognized highlight was the ace authored by Reece Bartlet of Warrenville on the 150-yard fifth hole. The first round scoring average on the par 72 course was 78.15 strokes, with the field improving to 75.82 strokes in the second round.

– Tim Cronin

Three co-lead Illinois Open; four a stroke back

Writing from Naperville, Illinois

Monday, August 1, 2022

Two words from David Perkins summed up what playing in the first round of the 73rd Illinois Open was like for the 156 contestants: “A grind.”

And Perkins was under par, his 1-under 71 at White Eagle Golf Club a stroke off the lead shared by Jimmy Morton of Sugar Grove, Drew Shepherd of Chicago and amateur Marcus Smith Jr. of Rockford after one round of the 54-hole test. Plus, Perkins played in the morning, when the wind was a mere zephyr on his first nine holes. Then it came up, and so did the scores.

“The pins were insanely tough all day,” Perkins said. “You had to make as many pars as you could. The tough set-up eliminates a lot of the field. There are no stupid pins, but if you hit it on the wrong side of the green on a par-4, you’re going to make a five.”

Perkins, who recently turned professional, tied for third in the 2018 Illinois Open, and won the CDGA Championship that year in a match that went five extra holes. Now, as a fledgling professional, he faces the grind of tour life as well – or more accurately, the grind of trying to get on a tour.

In that, he has company in the field. The majority of the leaders and lurkers, Morton and Shepherd included, are chasing the dream.

Morton, who starred at Illinois Wesleyan and at Marmion before that, birdied two of the three par-5s while playing smart golf en route to his co-leading 2-under 70.

“You had to pick and choose what holes to be aggressive on,” Morton said.

Shepherd, 4-under at one point (as was Michael Schachner before fading back to even-par 72) scattered six birdies across his card but also had four bogeys.

“I definitely putted it well,” Shepherd said. “I gave myself a lot of looks.”

His best birdie came via a splendid approach from the fairway bunker on the par-4 ninth hole, an uphill second shot to a green with the cup cut nine paces from the front edge. More shots like that over the next 36 holes and he could be holding a trophy on Wednesday afternoon.

Among the leaders, Smith and Roy Biancalana, who birdied three of his last six holes for 1-under 71, were the only players to play in the afternoon, when the westerly wind blew a bit more than the advertised 14 mph.

“It was a tough day,” said Smith, who finished fifth in the recent APGA tournament at TPC Deere Run. “Tomorrow morning, that’ll be a little nicer.”

Smith played an all-world up-and-down for birdie at the par-5 17th, chipping to kick-in range from a spot others would have made bogey. That got him to 3-under, but a 45-foot three-putt at the last brought him back with Morton and Shepherd.

Smith spent his first two college years at Eastern Michigan, but is transferring to Howard University in Washington, D.C. in the fall.

Ethan Farnam, who recently turned pro, is another of the 1-under quartet, scrambling to his 71 with five birdies, four bogeys, and a pair of 15-foot par-saving comeback putts.

Farnam, a back-to-back Illinois Amateur winner, counted the par-5 sixth as his best hole, with a driver, 2-iron to within 50 yards of the green, and then a pitch to gimme range for birdie. But not everything was a cakewalk.

“The pins were hard in a way,” Farnam said. “And if you curve your tee shots, you had to deal with the wind.”

Then there was Scott Ten Broeck, a 42-year-old career amateur who plays out of Beverly Country Club. He played station-to-station golf to stitch together his 71.

“If was definitely a day to lay back, keep it in play, get it on the green, and I was able to do that,” said Ten Broeck, the last alternate into the field.

“I got the call (Sunday), so I was kinda freewheeling it,” Ten Broeck said.

Around White Eagle

Bryce Emory, who won at White Eagle in 2020, is tied for 55th after a 4-over 76. … The cut after Tuesday’s second round will be to the low 50 players and ties. … Billy Gneiser chipped in on the par-4 ninth for a birdie (and 8-over 80), then waved to the fans and the TV camera covering the hole for the NCTV17 production, which is available at www.ipga.com/event-information/ from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. on Tuesday and beginning at noon on Wednesday.

– Tim Cronin

Tougher Illinois Open returns to White Eagle

Sunday, July 31, 2022

It was before the Illinois Open three years ago that the Illinois PGA’s Opens Committee decided, so to speak, “No more Mr. Nice Guy.”

They wanted a more challenging set-up for the Illinois Open, since 1950 the de facto state championship for golf in Illinois. The 2019 Illinois Open, played at The Glen Club and Ridgemoor Country Club, the latter which John Updike might have described as a lovely little bandbox of a golf course, was the test bed for tightening the vise.

You couldn’t tell by the winning score – 13-under 210 compared to 14-under 205 at The Glen Club and Ravinia Green the year before – but the courses were more testing. The rough was higher. The pin placements were more exacting.

“We think it’s very important in identifying our Illinois Open champion,” IPGA assistant executive director Brad Slocum said. “We want to make it as tough a test as we can make it without being unfair.”

In 2020 at White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville, the site of this year’s 73rd renewal, the vise was tightened more. On the final day, it was too tight on the par-5 14th hole, the cup cut barely three paces from a slope that gobbled up golf balls and spit them back into a depression on the fairway. Even Bryce Emory, the winner, complained about it.

Ideally, that debacle isn’t repeated. But, notwithstanding an EF-0 tornado that took out 55 trees across the middle of the course, plus the scoreboard by the clubhouse and a big tent a week ago Saturday at dawn, this year White Eagle could be tougher.

Graduated rough – a collar by the fairway, followed by 2-to-3 inch rough, followed farther from the fairway by whatever length it’s grown to since the last cut last week – might keep driver in a few players’ bags in favor of a 3-wood or hybrid on some holes. And with the sloping greens on the Ed Seay-Arnold Palmer designed course stimping to 12 to 13, proper placement of the second shot will be as important as being in the right spot on the fairway off the tree.

“With Brad’s pin placements, it’ll be a real test,” director of golf Curtis Malm said. “But in 2020, I watched Bryce play nine of the 18 holes on the final day, and he had no problem with it.”

Emory, who continues to shoot for a Korn Ferry Tour card, is in this year’s field, but defending champion Tim “Tee-K” Kelly is not, having made it to the KFT circuit in last season’s qualifying tournament. Indeed, the Illinois Open, as IPGA executive director Carrie Williams freely admits, is something of a springboard for young talent chasing their dream, with five of the last seven winners having status on some tour. In recent years, Patrick Flavin and Vince India have won the Illinois Open, while Nick Hardy took second, and all, like Kelly, have or are on the verge of having either Korn Ferry or PGA tour cards today.

That gives Emory hope it can happen to him as well. All he can do is continue to play well and hope the birdies arrive at the right time. Starting, say, on the back nine on Wednesday.

Around White Eagle

White Eagle members seem to be gung-ho for the Open, as they were in 2020. “We had so many people watching in 2020 that we couldn’t use the pictures (because of COVID restrictions on gatherings),” Williams said. “I never saw so many people at an Illinois Open.” … In a first, all three rounds of the Illinois Open will be televised live beyond the bounds of the golf course. Six hours of daily coverage on Naperville Community Television and the Illinois PGA website will be provided by Scientel Solutions, a data communications firm whose owner is a White Eagle member. Alex Campbell and Lauren Withrow will call the action, with cameras placed at several holes around the course. They’re on from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, and from noon to 6 p.m. or conclusion on Wednesday. … The purse is expected to be in the vicinity of $100,000. Last year, it was $107,612, with $25,080 going to Kelly. … White Eagle will host a first-stage Korn Ferry qualifying tournament in September, plus next year’s Women’s Western Amateur.

– Tim Cronin