Miller leaving Illinois PGA for Southwest PGA

    Writing from Chicago
    Friday, March 20, 2015

    A few weeks ago, Michael Miller noted that there hadn’t been any changes in the Illinois PGA office in eight years, and suddenly, he needed to fill two positions in his role as the section’s executive director.
    Those spots have been filled, but another seat will soon be vacant.
    His.
    Miller is leaving to take over the executive director’s role with the PGA’s Southwest Section, which covers the state of Arizona and Clark County (Las Vegas) in Nevada, it was announced late Friday. He’s expected to start there on May 1.
    Miller, 52, of McHenry, guided the Illinois Section for 20 years, and overall worked in the office for 27 years across a pair of stints.
    Illinois PGA president Jim Opp said in a written statement he was sorry to see Miller leave.
    “This was a very, very difficult decision for him,” said Opp, the head pro at Bonnie Dundee Golf Club in Carpentersville. “His service and commitment to the Illinois Section has been a large part of his life and career. However, after fully considering all aspects of this new opportunity and challenge it was a decision he felt was best for he and his family. I know Michael and his wife Lisa are excited about this next chapter in their lives.”
    Miller was the third executive director since the position was created when the section opened an office in the late 1970s. He was preceded by Ken Boyce, who hired him as his assistant, and Vance Redfern. When Redfern left for San Diego State in 1995, Miller took over and guided an expansion of services and staff size.
    Opp and the rest of the section’s board of directors will be in charge of hiring Miller’s successor, calling it “a fairly long process. We are not in a hurry.”

    – Tim Cronin

Aronimink approves hosting 2018 BMW

Writing from Chicago

Wednesday, March 4, 2018

As expected, Aronimink Golf Club, located in the posh Philadelphia suburb of Newtown Square, will host the 2018 BMW Championship. The deal, approved by the club’s membership today, locks in the next two out-of-town sites for the tournament. The 2016 BMW is a return visit to Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., near Indianapolis.

The deal is part of the Western Golf Association’s push to expand and improve the Evans Scholars program, the caddies-to-college scholarship fund that has seen 10,000 students graduate since the first scholars entered school in 1930.

The WGA began partnering with the Golf Association of Philadelphia, which runs the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust, in 2003, with one Platt-Evans designee, Christian Smith of Llanerch Country Club, enrolled at Miami in Oxford, Ohio. The long-term plan is to build an Evans Scholars dorm at Penn State. The WGA already works with the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, so adding the GAP for up to two Platt-Evans scholarships a year, at the start, was a natural.

Founded in 1896 and at its present site since 1926, Aronimink is one of the oldest clubs in the east. The Donald Ross-designed course has been in and out of the hosting business, most recently with Tiger Woods’ AT&T National in 2010 and 2011, won by Justin Rose and Nick Watney, respectively.

It first gained the public spotlight in 1962, when it hosted the PGA Championship, won by Gary Player. A U.S. Amateur (1977) and Senior PGA (2003) has also played through, and the club is angling to score another PGA Championship.

The Western Open has been been played east of the Midwest before, though barely. The 1948 Western was played at Brookfield Country Club in Buffalo, N.Y., while the 1959 edition was at the Pittsburgh Field Club. Crossing Pennsylvania is a first.

The 2017 tournament will be in the Chicago area at a site unknown.

The decision to offer Aronimink the 2018 BMW was first reported by www.csnphilly.com.

– Tim Cronin

Illinois Open expands to two courses

Writing from Rosemont, Illinois

Friday, February 27, 2015

It took about eight months, but the plan to expand the field in the Illinois Open is coming to fruition. This year's state championship will be played at Royal Melbourne Country Club and Hawthorn Woods Country Club, Illinois PGA executive director Michael Miller announced at the Chicago Golf Show.

Using two courses will allow 258 players to start, rather than the standard 156, with the top 70 and those tied moving to the final round in the 54-hole tournament. It's been top 50 and ties in recent years, with 57 making the cut last year at the Glen Club.

"Both of these changes are first in the history of the event," Miller said. "We feel confident the field expansion will lead to increased qualifier registration and allow us to grow the championship to the next level."

Which is to say, a $100,000 purse. That's been a long-term goal, and was reached from 1998 to 2003, when Mike Small snagged the first of his four titles, but the purse has dropped to between $75,000 and $85,000 subsequently. Last year, the pro purse was $57,337, with the rest of the purse devoted to gift certificates for the amateurs – and there were 25 of them – making the final round.

The first two rounds will be played at the two KemperSports-operated clubs, with half the field playing one or the other on Mon., July 20, then going to the other course on Tuesday. On Wed., July 22, the final round tees off at Royal Melbourne.

The two layouts are only a few miles apart, with Royal Melbourne in Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods in, of all places, Hawthorn Woods.

Royal Melbourne, which hosted a pair of Illinois PGA Championships early in the century, is a 1992 Greg Norman design. Hawthorn Woods, a product of the Arnold Palmer Design Co., opened in 2006 and hosted the Illinois Open from 2008-11.

The first of seven qualifiers open to Illinois residents is June 4 at Royal Hawk Country Club in St. Charles.

– Tim Cronin

2018 BMW to Philadephia's Aronimink

Writing from Chicago

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Out-of-the-box thinking has made the BMW Championship a bigger money maker for the Western Golf Association than it ever was as the Western Open.

Playing in Denver? Nobody in the Chicago area except a few people at WGA headquarters in Golf saw that coming, but last year’s tournament at Cherry Hills Country Club raised about $3.3 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation.

Try this out: The old Western is moving east. Assuming the club’s membership approves, the 2018 BMW will be played at Aronimink Country Club in Newtown Square, Pa., in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Multiple news organizations in Philadelphia began reporting the news late Wednesday night.

A March 4 vote is expected to pass overwhelmingly.

Founded in 1896 and at its present site since 1926, Aronimink is one of the oldest clubs in the east. The Donald Ross-designed course has been in and out of the hosting business, most recently with Tiger Woods’ AT&T National in 2010 and 2011, won by Justin Rose and Nick Watney, respectively.

It first gained the public spotlight in 1962, when it hosted the PGA Championship, won by Gary Player. A U.S. Amateur (1977) and Senior PGA (2003) has also played through, and the club is angling to score another PGA Championship.

The Western Open has been been played east of the Midwest before, though barely. The 1948 Western was played at Brookfield Country Club in Buffalo, N.Y., while the 1959 edition was at the Pittsburgh Field Club. Crossing Pennsylvania is a first.

This year’s BMW, the third round of the PGA Tour’s playoff, is set for a return visit to Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, with the 2016 edition going back to Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis. The 2017 playing will be in the Chicago area at a site unknown.

The decision to offer Aronimink the 2018 BMW was first reported by www.csnphilly.com.

– Tim Cronin

Fourth year a charm for Tinley Park Golf Expo

    Writing from Tinley Park, Illinois
    Wednesday, February 4, 2015

    Ignore the snow on the ground. The first sign of golf is upon us. Spring is sure to follow.
    In 2012, the inaugural Tinley Park Golf Expo filled one side of the town’s convention center, and there were people lined up to get in when the doors opened. Not bad for openers.
    The Expo grew in 2013 and again last year.
    This year, the fourth edition of the Expo will fill everything but one of the center’s banquet rooms, with a record 117 exhibitors.
    “And next year we may use the north banquet hall,” co-owner Gregg Tengerstrom, the longtime head professional at nearby Silver Lake Country Club, reports. “That’s another 7,000 square feet.”
    That’s a good thing. For all those who say golf is a fading sport, what Tengerstrom and Joe Copeland have cooked up for the three-day run that commences at noon on Friday puts the lie to the assessment.
    There will be courses, tournaments – including this year’s U.S. Amateur, played at nearby Olympia Fields Country Club, with the Havemeyer Trophy on display – club manufacturers and sellers on the floor. Something for everybody is Tengerstrom’s goal.
    “We try and make sure we have activities,” said Tengerstrom, hoping for 10,000 attendees. “The difference in this show is the friendly atmosphere, the free parking, the free Wi-Fi.”
    Courses on hand include Balmoral Woods, Briar Ridge, Broken Arrow, Cog Hill, Foss Park, Gleneagles, Glenwoodie, Green Garden, Lincoln Oaks, Lincolnshire, Lost Marsh, Joliet Country Club, Mistwood, Old Oak, Ravisloe, Silver Lake and White Mountain, as well as a large number of out-of-town resorts. At the first Expo, Joliet was the only private club on hand. Now, Briar Ridge and Lincolnshire have joined, showing how hard it is for many private clubs to attract members today.
    Manufacturers include Mizuno, Ping, TaylorMade and Tour Edge.
    There are two places to swing clubs: the manufacturer’s area, where the above brands can be tried out, and the lesson area – Tengerstrom has that staffed with pros from the Swan Lake Resort and the area courses run by Billy Casper Golf. And for the kids, the First Tee of Greater Chicago has a skills challenge area and kids-only miniature golf course.
    Indeed, something for everybody.
    Admission is $5 on Friday (noon-9 p.m.) and $10 on Saturday (9 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m.-4 p.m.).
    The Tinley Park Convention Center is at 183rd St. and Harlem Ave., just north of Interstate 80, in Tinley Park.
    – Tim Cronin