Pros, honoring Steve Dunning, bounce back in Radix

Writing from River Grove, Illinois

Thursday, June 13, 2024

Losing two years in a row to their amateur buddies didn’t sit well with the pros of the PGA’s Illinois Section. That was clear from the start in the 62nd renewal of the Radix Cup, the annual competition between the best of each side at Oak Park County Club.

Each of the six two-man pro teams won the front nine, picking up a point in the three-point Nassau format, and went on to a 16-2 victory, the largest in Radix Cup history.

“We ham ’n egged it pretty well,” said Brian Carroll, professional at The Hawk in Crystal Lake. He was speaking of his association with Kevin Flack of Rockford’s Mauh-Nah-Tee-See club – they applied a 3-0 thumping of Chadd Slutzky of Royal Fox and John Ramsey of Glenview Park – but might as well have been speaking of the dozen pros as a whole.

Four of the six twosomes swept their match. The others applying the 3-0 vise: Andy Mickelson (Mistwood GC) and Jeff Kellen (North Shore CC), Chris Green (Glen View C) and Tim Streng (Wildcat Golf Academy), and Kyle Donovan (Oak Park CC) and Chris French (Aldeen GC).

On a steamy day when pesky cicadas caused many a player to flinch before taking a swing, Carroll downplayed his contributions, which included a 7-foot birdie putt at the last to seal the outcome of the first match, but the numbers were overwhelming. Not only did the pros sweep the front side, at one point it was 11-0. Only a late rally prevented a shutout.

The outcome was hardly inevitable. The many of the amateurs were returnees from the squads that won the last two years. In the four years since the cancellation of the 2020 playing because of COVID-19, each side has won twice.

The Radix, though, has never been just about the competition, competitive though it is. Honoring Radix, one of golf’s biggest boosters, since North Shore pro Bill Ogden and Oak Park pro Errie Ball conceived it in 1962, the camaraderie between the two sides is also a feature, from the lunch before play to the partaking of a libation after the final putt drops.

This year, there was another element. The flag at Oak Park was at half staff, honoring Steve Dunning, professional at the club from 1982 through 2009, who died on Saturday. A gentleman of the first order and a consummate pro, Dunning was 77.

“Steve was great to me when I was first getting started here,” said Carson Solien, the current head pro at Oak Park, told CDGA.org. “We’ll miss him. He was an integral part of Oak Park and a great guy.”

Dunning played in the Radix Cup eight times, with a record of 3-4-1. In his final appearance, in 2006, he and Jason Lee dropped a match to Mike Henry and Tom Miler. Henry played in Thursday’s match alongside Derek Meinhart of Mattoon G&CC, and managed a draw against veteran pros Roy Biancalana (The Hawk CC) and Travis Johns (Medinah CC). And there too was a Dunning connection. Henry’s family grew up at Oak Park.

“Steve was the head pro for as long as I can remember,” Henry told the CDGA. “What a gentleman. It was awesome to play with him and I know our entire family spoke very highly of him.”

In that, there was unanimity.

– Tim Cronin

Scully makes plea-bargain deal in Streamsong thefts

Writing from Chicago

Monday, May 6, 2024

Mike Scully, the football player-turned-golf professional from Illinois, made a plea-bargain deal with the state of Florida to defer prosecution in his triple-felony case revolving around the theft of over $100,000 in merchandise from the Streamsong Golf Resort in Florida. If he follows the strict terms of the agreement, he’ll not have to serve jail time.

An attorney for Scully and Florida assistant state attorney Brian Carnish made the deal on April 25 in a “notice of nolle prosequi / no bill,” noting that Scully has “complied with the terms and agreements of the Deferred Prosecution Program.”

Carnish moved for and the judge granted termination and dismissal of the three felony charges: grand theft of more than $20,000 in merchandise, scheme to defraud for more than $50,000, and dealing in stolen property.

Specifics in Scully’s case were not immediately available, but typically in a plea-bargain agreement for a first offender in Florida, the charged party must pay restitution for the full amount – in this case from nearly $100,000 to $143,536, depending on which court document is used, pay a fine, not commit further crimes for at least a year, and participate in community service.

The deal means Scully, whose resume includes a stint at Medinah Country Club that ended just after the 2012 Ryder Cup, avoids a guilty plea or verdict, which would render him ineligible for continuing membership in the PGA of America.

Scully, 58, had been arrested on Nov. 22, about four months after he left Streamsong for Kinsale Golf Club, a private club under construction in North Naples, Fla. Kinsale fired him days later. Between Medinah and Streamsong, the Prospect High and Illinois graduate, a member of the Fighting Illini’s 1983 Rose Bowl team, held leading positions at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Reynold Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga.

– Tim Cronin

For Bolingbrook, now comes the hard part

Writing from Bolingbrook, Illinois

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Mary Alexander-Basta is the mayor of Bolingbrook. She is not a golfer.

“I do a good job waving from the golf cart,” Alexander-Basta said Tuesday after confirming the village made a deal with LIV Golf to host the upstart circuit’s individual championship from Sept. 13-15 at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

She did not attend either playing of LIV’s Chicago stop at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove the past two Septembers. She hasn’t watched a LIV tournament on television. She said neither she nor other village officials reached out to Rich Harvest’s management for advice or counsel on how to go about staging the tournament.

“We have what it takes; we’ll figure it out,” Alexander-Basta said. “We lead. We don’t follow. We’re Bolingbrook.”

Such hubris may work when dealing with the routine business of a municipality, but staging a big-time golf tournament – which, protestations from PGA Tour loyalists aside, LIV Golf weekends are – is another level of complication above anything the course has staged since it opened in 2002.

But Bolingbrook has an ace in the hole in KemperSports, which has run the golf course for the village for the beginning. Other Kemper properties have hosted tournament up to the U.S. Open, so LIV’s logistical people will have someone experienced to work with.

“They’re perfectionists at it,” Alexander-Basta said of the LIV logistics department. “We have all the pieces (for village planning), we just have to put them together.”

Specifics were not as numerous as hors d’oeuvres were at the announcement, though it was mentioned that it’s expected 50,000 people would attend over three days and that 7,700 room-nights would be booked for the week of the tournament. The average LIV week is said to have a $32 million economic benefit in the community.

LIV Golf approached Bolingbrook around the start of the year, the mayor explained. A party of LIV brass visited the course in mid-winter and decided the 7,104-yard par-72 course would be a good place for the circuit’s penultimate tournament of the season, the individual championship.

Alexander-Basta would not reveal the fee Bolingbrook will receive for hosting LIV, though she characterized it covering “A to Z.” Basta said the fee is tiered, and that she wasn’t sure of the total.

“We have different fee structures in terms of club usage, food and beverage usage,” Alexander-Basta said. “I can’t put a dollar amount on it. I wouldn’t want to speculate about it.

“The one thing I’m very excited about is the give-back to our non-profits that LIV will be giving back. That’s something I’m very excited about, and probably the highlight of all this, other than having top-name golfers on our course.”

Alexander-Basta said that portion of the deal was not yet finalized.

“We’re still talking about it,” Alexander-Basta said. “I don’t want to recite numbers in our contracts I don’t have memorized.”

The deal was hammered out over several weeks, with attorney Burt Odelson, a veteran of decades working for southwest and south suburban municipalities, handling the village’s side.

LIV was said to pay Rich Harvest Farms $3 million to host in 2022, and again in 2023, when Bryson DeChambeau won. Cameron Smith took the 2022 title.

Tickets go on sale May 8.

Bolingbrook is public, as opposed to ultra-private Rich Harvest. It’s the third public course to host LIV in the United States. Orange County National, a 45-hole facility in Winter Garden, Fla., near Orlando, and Pumpkin Ridge, a 36-hole facility near Portland, Ore., are the others.

As for the Saudi Arabia connection – the country’s Public Investment Fund is the backer of LIV Golf – and the attendant human rights issues with that country, Alexander-Basta said she’s not worried.

“Absolutely not,” she said.

Illinois Golfer reported LIV and Bolingbrook had reached an agreement on April 11, confirming an X/Twitter report on April 4.

– Tim Cronin

Here comes the golf show

Writing from Chicago

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Thanks to this delightful false spring we have been enjoying, more than a few rounds of golf have already been played in these parts this week. Even a few courses in Wisconsin have noted their tundra is no longer frozen and are open for customers.

That said, the proverbial first robin of spring for golfers is the presence of the golf shows. There was one conducted in near-privacy at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Feb. 2-4, but attendance and the number of exhibitors was said to be sparse, a comedown for a show that commenced with great promise a few years ago.

Friday brings the long-standing Chicago Golf Show in the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. The 39th edition runs from noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $7 for adults on Friday and $12 on the weekend. Youths from 12-15 pay $4 and kids 11 and under are gratis. Parking is $15.

Illinois Junior Golf Association members can also get in free if they’ve registered for 2024.

According to publicist and Chicago District Golfer editor Barry Cronin, there will be about 300 exhibitor booths occupied, which is the largest number in years. Everything from second-hand clubs for sale to far-off travel destinations, and many courses from the area, will be on hand.

The Chicago District Golf Association is the presenting sponsor for the third year, and is stepping up its commitment with an 11,000-square foot area including a pair of longest putt competitions, a store selling CDGA-logoed gear, a media studio – location for Saturday’s radio broadcast on WMVP-AM (1000) from 9-11 a.m. with Tyler Aki and the CDGA’s Mike Gilligan – and more. If you’re a CDGA members you can renew your membership, which includes your handicap index, on site.

There’s also a “Break The Glass Challenge” in the demo area with prizes for those who break the glass.

The demo area is also where professionals from the Illinois PGA will give free mini lessons to showgoers. This is worth the price of admission in itself. Nearby is the First Tee area with putting and chipping contests for kids.

“There’s no doubt the Chicago Golf Shop is the unofficial kick-off to the Chicago golf season,” IPGA executive director Carrie Williams said.

There will be a number of guests demonstrating how to hit the ball on the stage, including  Kevin Weeks and Todd Sones on Friday, Todd Russell, former Bears kicker Robbie Gould and Mistwood’s John Platt and Nicole Jeray on Saturday, and Vince India on Sunday. India is currently serving a six-month suspension from the Korn Ferry Tour for gambling. Invariably, you look up that story and it appears on a website with ads for gambling.

On top of everything else, GolfVisions, which operates several courses in the Chicago area, will be giving out free rounds of golf.

Around The Greens

Dennis Johnsen says this year in golf, his 50th, will be his last behind the counter and on a lesson tee. The pro at Pine Meadow Golf Club, one of the sport’s better guys, is retiring at the end of the season at age (and even-par) 72. … Jamie Nieto has moved to Royal Fox Country Club from the Preserve at Oak Meadows. It’s his first venture into private clubs… Casey Brozek is the new director of golf at Medinah Country Club, returning to the area from Naples, Fla. He replaces Marty DeAngelo, who left for a position in Florida. … Curtis Malm is out as general manager at White Eagle Golf Club after getting the club boffo notices for hosting the Illinois Open and Women’s Western Junior. … Ian Brown is out as director of golf at Butterfield Country Club in Oak Brook.

The Court Scorecard 

Mike Scully has gotten a second continuance in his triple-felony case in Florida. The arraignment for the charges of stealing and selling over, $100,000 in merchandise from Streamsong Golf Club in 2022-23 has been reset for May 14 in Polk County’s Bartow, Fla., courthouse. In what may be a hopeful sign for the former Medinah Country Club head pro, the order for the bond he was originally required to post has been discharged. Speculation has it that the continuances stem from a potential plea-bargain, though it’s unusual for such a proceeding to commence before an arraignment. 

– Tim Cronin

Scully arraignment reset for Jan. 23

Writing from Chicago

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

The arraignment for Mike Scully, the Illinois native and former Medinah pro charged late last year with three felony counts of stealing and reselling merchandise from Streamsong Golf Resort in Florida, was pushed back on Tuesday to Jan. 23, according to the Polk County, Fla., court website.

No explanation was given for the delay. Usually, an arraignment is a perfunctory affair, where the charges are detailed and the defendant then submits a plea, after which either a trial date is set or one of both parties asks for time to prepare their case.

Scully, who was head professional at Medinah for about a decade, was arrested on Nov. 22 and charged with three felony counts of grand theft, scheming to defraud and selling merchandise worth nearly $100,000 belonging to Streamsong. He had left Streamsong last July to become the general manager of the under-construction Kinsale Golf Club in North Naples, Fla., which fired him after he was arrested.

– Tim Cronin