McIlroy, Harman pace BMW

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Thursday, August 17, 2023

There are 65s and then there are 65s. The first round of the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club provided textbook reasons on how different one can be from another.

Brian Harman’s 5-under-par 65 on Thursday included a pair of chip-ins, seven fairways hit, and 26 putts. A bit of excitement, a lot of routine, especially for a current British Open champion.

Rory McIlroy’s 65 included one chip-in, three fairways hit, a hit-and-hope 7-iron out of heavy rough and through trees on the par-4 17th that set up the chip-in, and sundry other adventures.

Together, Harman and McIlroy share the lead at Olympia Fields through 18 holes. They managed their scores on a day when an hour-long downpour delayed play for two hours and prompted the institution of lift, clean and place in fairways. That helped Harman more than McIlroy, who visited the four-inch-plus rough with the regularity of a 20-handicapper and still played bogey-free golf.

“With the course being so soft, it’s almost an advantage to be playing out of the rough going into some of these greens because you know the ball is not going to spin,” McIlroy rationalized after hitting only three fairways. “I’m not saying I was trying to aim for the rough. I was just being super aggressive because I knew in the back of my mind I wasn’t really being penalized for it.

“I rode my luck a little bit. Going into the next three days, I’d love to hit more fairways,” McIlroy said. “The golf course is certainly not playing the way it played in 2020.”

Then, dry conditions and firm turf made for a 72-hole score of 4-under-par 276 for winner Jon Rahm and and playoff loser Dustin Johnson, while McIlroy tied for 12th at 3-over 283. Hideki Matsuyama led after one round at 3-under 67 in 2020. This year’s winner will likely be 12-under or lower.

The heart of McIlroy’s round was a mid-round string of five straight 3s, with birdies on the seventh, ninth and 10th holes, with putts of about 13, 14 and 10 feet, respectively. Those were the three longest made putts of his round. Otherwise, it was a scramble-fest. As on the 17th.

“The window (from the left rough with trees fronting him and the need to fade the shot) was okay. There were a couple branches above the window I was looking at. If it hits those, it’s just going to drop down near that left front bunker.”

Where, he figured, there was a decent chance to save par. So he rolled the dice.

“It’s only Thursday,” McIlroy said. “I’ll take it on and see what happens.”

The ball landed in the left rough, 40 feet from the hole, and from there he chipped in, a bonus birdie for his 65.

Harman, whose 2014 victory in the John Deere Classic makes him eligible for the Illinois Slam – sweeping the Deere and BMW / Western Open in a career – ran down a 42-footer for a deuce on the par-3 16th, but aside from sinking a 15-footer for birdie on the seventh hole, had a ho-hum day on the greens. He couldn’t get 2020 out of his head.

“Last time we were here, the greens were really, really fast,” Harman said. “It’s been a little bot of an adjustment trying to get a feel for them.”

That duo is a stroke ahead of Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sahith Theegala (whose 167-yard hole-out for eagle was the shot of the day), Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler and Chris Kirk, whose 4-under 66s looked quite good on a day when conditions and the ability to put the ball in one’s hand might have expected the course record of 63 to be equaled, if not surpassed. But Olympia’s North Course, as it did in 2020, stood tall. The course average of 69.720 showed as much.

“I think it’s a great layout, a great design,” said Fitzpatrick, who was 6-under across nine holes mid-round. “It’s a tough golf course. The rough is up (so) if you miss the fairway, there’s a premium on that. If the weather stays like this, windy, dry, hot I think it’ll probably get back to where it was in 2020. Hopefully it gets that way.”

Fowler threatened until plunking his tee shot in Butterfield Creek on the par-4 17th. That led to a bogey and tossing away a stretch of excellence that featured three back-nine birdies and brought him a brief share of the lead. Then he nearly sank a 58-footer for birdie at the last, but settled for par and 66.

Jon Rahm, the winner here in 2020, got to 3-under under a bogey at 17 dropped him to 2-under. He parred 18 and signed for a 68.

Around Olympia Fields

The Western Golf Association no longer announces attendance, but from the moment the spectator gates opened at 10 a.m. – three hours later than planned thanks to the storm – there was a steady stream of fans eager to see the first BMW played in the Chicago area since 2019 at Medinah Country Club. Including those in the luxury suites, the gallery was likely upwards of 30,000. … With the bad weather gone for the rest of the week, round 2 will start on time at 8:26 a.m. … High men for the day were Seamus Power and Kurt Kitayama with 6-over 76s. … Don’t expect anything from wire-service reports in Chicago-area papers. The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Southtown and Daily Herald are not represented, though the Herald has a space reserved in the media center. They’re taking the fine coverage of Associated Press reporter Doug Ferguson. There was a time when the Tribune would have a half-dozen reporters and photographers on hand and the Sun-Times and Southtown were close behind. To quote Scarlett O’Hara, the scratch player from Tara Country Club, that day is gone with the wind.

– Tim Cronin

Small again, after all

Writing from Beach Park, Illinois

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

When you need a golf shot to be made in the state of Illinois, when the pressure is on, when there’s a title on the line, and you’re not sure of your skills or fortitude, there’s someone you should call.

Mike Small.

The Illinois men’s golf coach has been the go-to player in the state since the turn of the century, when he won the 2001 Illinois PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf Course. He was 35 years old, as new to the section as he was new to his job after trying to make the PGA Tour full time. A growing family and the realization that tour life wasn’t for him convinced the Danville native to take the job at his alma mater.

Since then, Illinois has won 13 Big Ten titles, advanced to the NCAA Championship 14 times in the last 15 playings, and piled up every national honor but an NCAA title while sending a busload of players to the pros. Small has built a golf factory in Champaign.

As a player, he’s been a legend in his spare time. Three national club pro titles. Four Illinois Opens. And now, after what he calls “one of the best shots I’ve hit in years,” a 14th Illinois PGA Championship at ThunderHawk Golf Club and 19th state major. Both are records by a light year. His 3-under 69 for 9-under 135 put him over the finish line for the title and $10,000 first-place bounty without need of a playoff.

The innocent bystanders who were the victims this time were Jeff Kellen of Butler National and Andy Mickelson of Mistwood.

Kellen, playing in the penultimate threesome, scored 4-under 68 for 8-under 136, and waited to see what Small and Mickelson did on the home hole, a 600-yard par-5. Mickelson hit his approach to 15 feet and made par for 136 and joint second. Then Small stepped up, 108 yards from the cup. With a 17-mph wind behind him, it played a couple of yards shorter.

“I hit a little three-quarter, less than full, gap wedge,” Small said. “I took the spin off it. It turned out good. When I saw it in the air, I thought it was going to be pretty good. I was just hoping it didn’t spin back.”

Small is modest. It turned out staggeringly good, stopping 12 inches from the cup. A gimme for the championship. The many club pros watching behind the green, fellows who have been beaten by Small more often than not over the past 23 years, could only shake their head. Small had done it again.

“You want to have a putt at it,” Small said, who couldn’t recall hitting a shot that close from that far out on the final hole.

Mickelson was in the hunt all afternoon, making birdies on his first two holes, getting to 9-under through 11 holes with only Kellen, who went five-under in a four-hole stretch around the turn, ahead of him. Back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15, the latter thanks to a tee shot on a par-3 that he couldn’t fathom coming up short of the green, set him back.

“It makes no sense,” Mickelson said. “The wind was like nothing. The yardage was right. I still do not understand how it didn’t get there.”

A clutch 15-foot birdie on No. 17 moved the Mistwood master back to 8-under and tied with Small and Kellen. Then came the last, and Small worked his magic again.

“He’s just freakin’ good, man,” Mickelson said. “I love playing with Mike because he never backs down.”

Small birdied the second and third holes – the latter a 30-footer to get to 8-under, when went on a roller-coaster of three birdies and four bogeys in the next nine holes, including a pair of the latter on Nos. 9 and 10 that he rued. The latter put him four strokes in arrears of Kellen.

“From the eighth to the 12th I hit some really poor shots,” Small said. “I was trying to find a rhythm. I found it the last three-four holes there.”

After 13 holes, Kellen was 10-under, Mickelson 9-under, Small 7-under. But Kellen bogeyed the 14th and 15th, falling to 8-under, where he stayed, and Mickelson joined him. Small’s birdie on the par-5 16th brought him back to 8-under and in position to pounce.

“I didn’t know if Jeff was going to make a birdie or not, and when I heard he didn’t, the green light went on,” Small said.

Like a beacon, and like a superhero, Small answered the call. 

Around ThunderHawk

Small added the Illinois PGA title to the Illinois PGA Senior title he won earlier this year, the second time he’s doubled his pleasure. He also did so in 2020, following Gary Groh, who did so in 2002. … Except in 2018, when the tournament was extended to Thursday by poor weather and Small withdrew because it was the first day of practice at Illinois, Small has never finished worse than a tie for seventh in the section championship. … The total purse was $74,000. … Nobody else in PGA of America history has won more than 12 section championships. … Qualifiers for next year’s national club pro championship, aside from Small and Chris French of Aldeen, who were already in the field: Kellen, Mickelson, Kyle Donovan (Oak Park), Matthew Rion (Briarwood), Jim Billiter (Ivanhoe), Chris Green (Glen View), Brian Carroll (The Hawk), John Varner (Beverly) and Steve Orrick (Bloomington).

– Tim Cronin

Rahm raring to go at Olympia

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Three years ago, Jon Rahm made the most insane putt in the history of Olympia Fields Country Club – Jerry Barber included – to win the BMW Championship. It was a 66-foot, 4-inch thrill ride coursing from the back left of the North Course’s 18th green to the front right, a drop of about five feet with about 18 feet of break.

On a green stimping at about 13 feet, it rolled and dipped and turned and scooted and rolled some more and finally fell into the cup.

To silence, except for the reaction of Rahm, his caddie, and a handful of officials who were spectators to the amazing scene.

Remember COVID-19 and the absence of spectators anywhere for most of a year?

“It would have been my No. 1 moment in golf with a gallery reacting,” Rahm said Tuesday morning. “It was a bit lackluster without. There was no reaction except mine. But it’s still definitely top three.”

While Rahm didn’t mention them, the others are undoubtedly winning the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and the Masters. Those stick in your head. So does the 2019 BMW for all the reverse reasons: The solitude of playing golf at a country club with fewer people than would be at Olympia, a beehive of activity, on a normal day. The need for masks indoors, COVID tests again and again, and all the other things that turned the world, golf included, inside down until the vaccines arrived.

This year will be different. Even Tuesday morning, for the first practice sessions for the 120th playing of the Western Golf Association’s signature pro championship – the Western Open retitled and this year, with 50 players, fewer than have played in it since 47 started at Interlachen in Minneapolis in 1914 – there were galleries galore on the spacious and perfectly-manicured grounds.

Olympia Fields is alive this week as it hasn’t been since the 2003 U.S. Open. Millions have been spent to build luxury suites for the swells who will attend across six days, including a three-story behemoth that is said to have generated more revenue than all the 2003 U.S. Open hospitality areas. Millions of that revenue will be earned for the benefit of the Evans Scholars Foundation, the caddies-to-college venture proposed by Chick Evans a century ago and which saw its first two scholars enter Northwestern in 1930.Twenty million will be spread among the two score and 10 players who will compete for four days beginning Thursday.

And Rahm, the leader in the PGA Tour’s race to the pot of gold to be awarded next week at East Lake, is in excellent form. As is Olympia, though soaked after about 1.7 inches of rain during Monday’s downpour. That’s contrast to 2020, when dry conditions allowed for firm and fast fairways and greens. Thanks to uncut rough, it was more of a U.S. Open setup than the USGA provided for most of the 2023 Open. With no more rain expected, this will start with dart-throwing and go from there.

“It’ll play a lot different,” Rahm said. “I’d played two amateur events here before 2020, the U.S. Amateur that Bryson (DeChambeau) won and the (Fighting Illini) college tournament, and it’s always been a favorite of mine. Every player I’ve talked to says it’s a golf course they’ve enjoyed. It’s a great layout, a great test, especially the last time getting to see is basically as a U.S. Open setup. We don’t usually get this time of year, events where 4-under goes into a playoff. That was unbelievable to see.”

As will this week be.

Around Olympia Fields

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Western Golf Association announced the 2027 BMW would be played at Liberty National Golf Club, across New York Harbor from Manhattan Island. That means the earliest return to Chicago for what once was Chicago's annual PGA Tour stop is 2028. Next year's edition is at Castle Pines in Colorado, the 2025 affair is at Caves Valley in Owings Mills, Md., and 2026 is at Bellerive Country Club outside of St. Louis. There was a time when the WGA said the BMW would be played in the Chicago area every other year. ... Wednesday’s pro-am features 24 teams and 48 of the 50 pros in the field. Pros play nine holes. Notables going off No. 1 include Scottie Scheffler (8 a.m.), Lucas Glover (8:12 a.m.), Rahm (10:12 a.m.), Justin Rose (12:17 p.m.) and John Deere Classic winner Sepp Straka (12:42 p.m.). Stars playing the back nine and starting on No. 10 include Rory McIlroy (8 a.m.), Jason Day (9 a.m.), Xander Schauffele (9:12 a.m.), Jordan Spieth (9:24 a.m.), 2007 Fighting Illini Invitational winner Rickie Fowler (9:36 a.m.), Brian Harman (9:48 a.m.), two-time defending BMW champion Patrick Cantlay (10:12 a.m.), and J.T. Poston (11:27 a.m.). … With only 50 players, all play is off the first tee beginning Thursday at 8:26 a.m., when Poston and Brandon Todd start it off. Rahm and Scheffler are paired at 12:38 p.m. … Golf Channel coverage begins at 1 p.m. Thursday and Friday, but the ESPN Plus PGA Tour Live feeds begin at 8:15 a.m., prior to the first group teeing off. CBS handles the weekend afternoon duties.

– Tim Cronin

Carroll's lead washed out in deluge

Writing from Beach Park, Illinois

Monday, August 14, 2023

Four years ago, the above headline was used to report the first-round washout of the 98th Illinois PGA Championship at Ruth Lake Golf Club. Brian Carroll was in the clubhouse with a morning 66 only to see a mid-day thunderstorm halt and eventually cancel the day’s play. His score, and all of the others, was wiped out.

Monday, Carroll was leading the 102nd Illinois PGA Championship at ThunderHawk Golf Course, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. creation nestled within a Lake County Forest Preserve. He was 3-under through 11 holes and leading five players by a stroke. At 11:17 a.m., with rain pelting down, the horn blew suspending play. Wave after wave of rain came through, and eventually lightning joined the party. At 2 p.m., Illinois PGA officials bowed to the inevitable and canceled the day’s play, wiping out the scores.

While the weather station at nearby Waukegan Airport tallied only .70 inches of rain through the cancellation announcement, the dark clouds hanging over ThunderHawk said otherwise. The puddling on the greens and the new stream washing over the 18th fairway were indicative of the inability to continue, even before the lightning played through.

The revised 36-hole section championship will be restarted on Tuesday morning, weather permitting.

For the record, Carroll, representing The Hawk in St. Charles, led Kyle Donovan (Oak Park), Andrew Adamsick (Conway Farms), Matt Rion (Briarwood), Nick Papadakes (Onwentsia) and Garrett Chaussard (Skokie) by a stroke. None of the leaders had completed more than 12 holes.

The afternoon half of the field was more than an hour from starting. Under Illinois PGA rules – which are similar to rules used by the PGA Tour prior to the 1970s, when it was run by the PGA of America – if half the field can’t finish in a particular day, the round is wiped out and started over.

In this case, because the Illinois PGA only has use of the course through Wednesday, the original 54-hole format is reduced to 36 holes with no cut.

– Tim Cronin

Kiwi Kobori captures Western Amateur

Writing from Glenview, Illinois

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Kazuma Kobori is a 5-foot-7 dynamo from Rangiora, New Zealand, who will be better known in North America within a few years.

He doesn’t hit it long, but he can putt, and even in this era of extreme length, a great putter is a match for anyone.

Kobori proved that on Saturday, scoring a 1 up victory over Christiaan Maas of Pretoria, South Africa to capture the 121st Western Amateur. His 15-foot birdie putt at the last locked up the title in the first all-Southern Hemisphere championship match in Western Am history.

It also made Kobori the first player to win a Western Am after capturing a professional tournament since Phil Mickelson, whose Western Am crown came eight months after he won the 1991 Tucson Open as an amateur. The Japanese-born Kobori, 21, has won two events open to pros, including the New Zealand PGA.

Joining a list of champions featuring Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, along with Mickelson, Ben Crenshaw, Chick Evans and Francis Ouimet, well, that’s another level.

“To win one is something I never imagined,” Kobori said. “It feels incredible.”

Kobori also locked up the Elite Amateur Series title with the victory, and that brings him an exemption into the 2023 U.S. Amateur, a Korn Ferry Tour start in 2024 and an exemption into final qualifying for the 2024 U.S. Open. He’ll also get an exemption into the WGA-sanctioned NV5 Championship next year at The Glen Club for a second Korn Ferry start.

For a while in the championship match, it appeared neither Kobori nor Maas really wanted to grab hold of the George Thorne Trophy. The grind of the format – the title match is their eighth round of competition in five days, plus a pair of practice and co-am rounds – mitigates against really crisp play at the end.

First, Maas hooked an approach into the hedge well left of the par-4 second green. That he escaped with a miraculous par from out of the front green side bunker following chopping our from the hedge is to his credit. 

“He’s left of left, finds it, and then I had a weird feeling he was going to hole the bunker shot,” Kobori said.

But Maas bogeyed the next two holes to give Kobori a 2 up lead. Then Kobori watched Maas go around the turn at North Shore Country Club 3-3-3, winning the ninth and 10th holes to take the lead. Kobori needed to answer.

“I was playing well, but Christiaan was playing well and I knew it was a matter of time,” Kobari said. “He putted unreal.”

Kobari’s answer came on the 12th hole, a short birdie putt to square the match and regain the tee. Kobori wasn’t completely in control – both he and Maas plunked their approaches in the pond on the par-5 15th – but he made the most of it on 17, with a sturdy par 4 while Maas hit his tee shot behind a tree and failed to get up and down from behind the green.

Kobari’s 15-foot birdie putt at the last finished the match. Inches farther away from the cup than Maas, he rolled it perfectly, the ball falling into the cup with its last turn as 300 spectators, many of them North Shore members, watched.

“I just told myself that Christiaan hits unbelievable golf shots,” Kobari said. “If he does that and he beats me, I can live with that as long as I play my game and give it my all.”

For Maas, who at 21st was the highest-world ranked amateur remaining after Friday’s Sweet Sixteen and quarterfinal carnage (Kobori was 49th), it was a case of the swing betraying him at the worst moments.

“It’s kind of sad,” Maas said. “I know there’s a lot of shots out there I should have (made). I three-putted 12 from the fringe, I should have made an 8-footer on 14, and he hits it in the water on 15 and I follow him, flaring it. He kind of gave it to me. I should have been 2 up.”

Instead, the match remained all square. Then came the 17th, where Kobori found the fairway and Maas found a spot behind a giant oak tree to the left of the fairway leading to the bogey that effectively sealed his fate.

“I didn’t feel comfortable over that tee shot the whole week,” Maas said.

Kobori, of course, has the goal of making it to the PGA Tour. He says he drives about 280 yards, which is about 20 yards under the circuit’s average and would place him almost at the bottom of the list, at 190th. Only David Lingmerth and Brian Stuard average less than that.

Kobori was mentored around North Shore by Jack Hammond, a 42-year-old member who caddied at the club as a kid and picked up his bag as well as hosting him. That knowledge was critical at times.

“I’m so happy he jumped on,” Kobori said. “He provided a lot of insight.”

The morning semifinals didn’t get past the 16th green. Maas led Drew Goodman of Norman, Oklahoma and the Sooners all the way, but only by 2-up at the turn, and only 1 up after Maas bogeyed the 10th hole. But Goodman’s putter betrayed him and Maas used birdies on 14 and 15 to go dormie 3, winning 3 and 2.

Kobori made even quicker work of Matthew McClean of Belfast, Northern Ireland, racing to a 5-up lead at the turn even after losing the first hole. Kobori won the par-5 12th with a birdie to go 6 up and eliminated the optometrist on the par-3 13th by matching McClean’s par for a 6 and 5 outcome.

– Tim Cronin 

Semifinals

Kobori d. McClean 6 & 5

Maas d. Goodman 3 & 2

Championship

Kobori d. Maas 1 up