Johnson, Villegas hot on cool Thursday

    Writing from Silvis (a.k.a. Birdieville), Illinois
    Thursday, July 11, 2013

    There was something cool about the John Deere Classic on Thursday.
    It was cool, literally, especially in the morning. Whereas TPC Deere Run, and the Quad Cities in general, is usually the summer home of stifling heat and suffocating humidity, on Thursday, the sun was out but the breeze was up, and in the morning shade, long sleeves were the order of the day.
    That was different. What was not different was the scoring. As is the tradition here, the field tore par to shreds. Ninety-one of the 156 players cavorting on Deere Run broke par, and another 16 matched the number of 71. The red-number brigade was led by two faces familiar to victory on courses near the mighty Mississippi: Zach Johnson, who triumphed here last year, and Camilo Villegas, who scored a victory in the 2008 Western Open / BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club, near St. Louis, each scored 7-under-par 64 in the first round.
    At many tournaments, that would mean they had opened daylight on the field. At the Deere, it means a one-stroke lead over a trio of players. Brendon de Jonge, Matt Bettencourt and Daniel Summerhays opened with 6-under 65s. Another quintet of players, including Winfield’s own Kevin Streelman, are at 5-under 66 after one lap of this 7,268-yard course.
    None of this came as a surprise to anyone, least of all Streelman, who has played in three previous Deeres, and finished tied for eighth last year by virtue of a final round 65. He knows it’s imperative to go low.
    “You had to go after it,” Streelman said. “I hit it good and didn’t make any mistakes.”
    Asked if 20-under is again the number that could prove victorious, Streelman alluded an assent in saying, “One five (-under) down. This is fun for the fans, and for us too.”
    There have been some tough scoring weeks for Streelman in recent outings. He won in Tampa and chased the title in the Players Championship, a combination which moved him into the top-50 in the world rankings, plus promoted a recalibration of his goals for the year.
    “Maybe it’s time to shoot for the top 20,” Streelman said.
    Or better. Johnson’s been there and done that, and played like the major champion he is on Thursday, opening on the back nine in 3-under 33 and closing on the front in 4-under 31. All told, there were nine 3s on his card. Bingo, instant 64, for his 17th straight round in the 60s at the Deere.
    “I was striking it well on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday,” Johnson said. “I thought today, ‘Just don’t stop.’ I want to stay in the present.”
    Villegas wants to relive the past. He followed up his win at Bellerive in 2008 with a triumph in the Tour Championship. That 1-2 punch is the highlight of his career, which, aside from a title in Tahoe in 2010, has been in a slide, all the way down to having conditional status on the PGA Tour. But why?
    “I wish I knew,” said Villegas, with two top 10s this season, after matching his best round of the year. “It’s the game of golf. It’s a messed-up game. Sometimes there’s no answer. There are so many things that can go one way or the other.
    “Sometimes you overanalyze this game. It’s not rocket science when you tee it up on the first tee. I’m not a guy with too many thoughts in my head. It’s always baby steps and little thoughts to get there.”
    The last time Villegas fired a 64 was the first round at the Honda Classic. He followed that up with a 77, so don’t fly to Las Vegas to place a bet.
    The thought of Villegas and others is to keep it going, of course, for the Deere is the non-U.S. Open. Deere Run looks difficult to the layman, and may play difficult for the 20-handicapper, but the majority of the pros roll up the driveway and lick their chops.
    Bettencourt did that after his circuitous route to the Quad Cities. He left his home in Greenville, S.C. on Wednesday morning headed for the web.com Tour fiesta in Salt Lake City. As the connecting flight for him and his caddie was pulling away from the gate at Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, his phone rang – and so much for turning his phone off.
    “The flight attendant was cool with it; he’s a golfer,” Bettencourt said.
    It was a PGA Tour official letting him know Neal Lancaster had pulled out and he was in. That made the flight to Salt Lake City a planning session. Two tickets to Chicago and a two-hour wait to board later, he was on the way to O’Hare. A car rental and three-hour drive down Interstate 88 later, he was in town.
    About eight hours after that, he was on the tee and en route to his 65. Who needs a practice round?
    “I was excited,” Bettencourt said. “My caddie hadn’t been here before, but I went through the course on the way here for him, so there were no surprises.”
    His bogey-free 65 couldn’t have been smoother, with 16 greens hit in regulation, no adventures in the sand or elsewhere, and many a putt holed, all that on a course that played faster, thanks to lower humidity than usual and dry weather following a Tuesday morning shower.
    “I had different lines to take and different clubs,” Bettencourt said. “I was hitting three woods on some tees. The ball was bouncing 50 yards down some fairways. It was awesome to see.”
    The key, of course, is repeating the feat. The greats do that with monotonous regularity. Even Bettencourt noted the presence of Johnson and three-time winner Steve Stricker, who opened with a 4-under 67 and is tied for 16th, among the leaders.
    “It’s an up-and-down game,” Bettencourt said. “It’s tough. Only a few guys in the world play good every week. But the highs are high.”

    Around Deere Run

    A deer – the non-motorized kind – gamboled over the fourth fairway in the afternoon. ... John Deere fan Louis Oosthuizen may not be around to inspect tractors over the weekend. Five birdies were not enough to offset a bogey, a double-bogey at the 18th, and a triple-bogey at the par-4 11th, where he hooked his tee shot into a jungle-infested gulch on the left, hit a tree with his second shot, was still in trouble on his third, was bunkered on his fourth, and two-putted for an unseemly 7 after hitting the green. Same hole, same group, and Jonas Blixt made a 6, losing his second ball in the high stuff to the right. Oosthuizen scored 1-over 72 and is tied for 108th, Blixt a 3-over 74 and is tied for 134th. The cut to the low 70 and ties is invariably in the vicinity of 3-under-par. ... The opening 64s were five off the course and championship record of 12-under 59, posted by Paul Goydos in 2010’s first round. ... Among other Illinoisans, Pekin’s D.A. Points also has to step on it; he opened with 1-over 72, but Joe Affrunti started with a 2-under 69 and is tied for 41st, while former Illini standout Luke Guthrie fired a 5-over 76. ... Bobby Gates fired a 5-over 76 and withdrew, citing an injury. He was five over on his last seven holes. ... The winner gets $828,000 of the $4.6 million purse.

    – Tim Cronin

Gentlemen, start your tractors

    Writing from Silvis, Illinois
    Wednesday, July 10, 2013

    Louis Oosthuizen is a tractor person.
    A tractor nut, in fact.
    Even for a farmer, he’s extreme.
    Some guys would buy a Ferrari after winning a major championship.
    Three years ago, after winning the British Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews, he bought a John Deere tractor.
    Two years ago, he followed up the purchase by playing in the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run a week before his defense across the pond.
    Hey, he’s a fifth-generation farmer. What better way to spend a day before a golf tournament than going to Deere headquarters and playing with potential new toys?
    Oosthuizen has been at it again this week, on the eve of the John Deere Classic that starts at 7 a.m. on Thursday. On Tuesday, he was at a Deere factory eyeing new equipment the way most golfers drool over new drivers.
    “I don’t need to be here to look at John Deere products, but yeah, I’m always looking,” Oosthuizen said. “I’m a big fan of their product. I’ve got a few of their equipment and tractors on the farm. You never know, I might ask for something more. Every time I’m here, I see something I like, so it’s dangerous.”
    And the sponsor of the tournament and owner of the course a couple of miles from its world headquarters will be thrilled to know it’s all Deere and nothing but a Deere for Oosthuizen. That’s been the family way since 1947, when his grandfather bought their first Deere tractor for the family farm in South Africa. Louis remembered it as model 3120.
    “You can ask him anything about the John Deere,” his father, Piet Oosthuizen, said on Tuesday. “He’s on the computer every day, knows every spec of this harvester, so he loves it.”
    Louis can’t argue that. But his farm is only about 150 acres, a big small for a harvester.
    “The next time, probably we’ll try to go down the road to Waterloo to see the tractors. I’m more a tractor guy.”
    As long as it’s a Deere, that is.
    “I don’t drive it if it’s not green farm equipment,” Oosthuizen said.
    Imagine if he wins. He could jump in the pond edging the 18th green, swim a few strokes and jump onto the pedestal upon which a riding lawn mower is spotlighted. Would a drenched Oosthuizen sitting on a mower with hands in the air be a great photo or what?

    Numbers game

    Headed by defending champion Zach Johnson – which means little business will get conducted in Cedar Rapids for the next four days – and three-time winner Steve Stricker, the field features eight of the world’s top 50 players, 44 of the top 100 on the money list, 48 of the top 100 in the FedEx Cup point standings, and 26 players who are committed to next week’s British Open in Muirfield, Scotland.
    It’s the sixth year of the special charter the Deere runs in conjunction with the Canadian Open. Players pay $1,500 a seat to go over, and can buy additional seats at $1,500 each for family. That’s boosted the quality of the field. Tournament chairman Clair Peterson saw it as a must to do so after seven players played the Deere and the British in 2007, all few commercial to London, and all lost their luggage at Heathrow Airport.
    Feature pairings on Thursday include:
    Tenth tee, 7:30 a.m.: Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker, Davis Love III
    Tenth tee, 7:40 a.m.: D.A. Points, Keegan Bradley, Charles Howell III
    Tenth tee, 8:10 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Ryo Ishikawa, Luke Guthrie
    First tee, 8:30 a.m.: Camilo Villegas, John Rollins, Todd Hamilton
    First tee, 12:45 p.m.: Ken Duke, Harris English, Kevin Streelman
    First tee, 12:55 p.m.: Jonas Blixt, Nick Watney, Louis Oosthuizen
    Tenth tee, 1:15 p.m.: Rory Sabbatini, Johnathan Byrd, Trevor Immelman
    Additionally, Iowa Hawkeyes standout Steven Ihm, in on a sponsor’s exemption, tees off at 9 a.m. Winner of the Sunnehanna Amateur, Ihm is the first Hawkeye to get an exemption while still in school. The first all-Big Ten player from Iowa in ages, the native of Peosta, a town near Dubuque, will be a senior in the fall.

    – Tim Cronin

Bryant Bolden five for five

    Writing from Glenwood, Illinois
    Tuesday, June 13, 2013

    Winning a golf tournament, no matter the level, is not easy.
    Repeating in the same tournament the following year is that much harder.
    So how about doing so five straight years?
    How hard is that? How good is that?
    Bryant Bolden could hardly put it into words on Tuesday after doing just that.
    Bolden survived a sudden-death playoff with Jake White to collect his fifth Illinois Golfer Challenge Junior Golf Championship winner’s trophy in as many starts. He won the younger boys division in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and scored a victory in the Boys 16-to-18 Division last year, the final year the Challenge was held under the auspicies of the SouthtownStar.
    New sponsor, same old Bolden, but with a twist, that being the playoff. The previous four times, Bolden won out right. A recap of those exploits, with his score, opponent and margin of victory:
    2009: 78, beat Adam Zmikly, Tom Schuman, Austin Konieczka by 4
    2010: 78, beat Luke Ostrom by 4
    2011: 75, beat Tony Kestel by 2
    2012: 77, beat Tom Thanasoras by 3
    Nobody had won the younger division of the Challenge in consecutive years before Bolden did so, and he made it a three-year sweep in 2011. By winning in 2012, he matched Angela Dehning’s four-for-four success on the ladies’ side. (These days, Dehning is an assistant pro at Midlothian Country Club.)
    This year was uncharted territory. White, from Frankfort and a member of the Lincoln-Way East golf team, went out in even par-36 on Glenwoodie Golf Course’s well-kept links. Bolden was out in 3-over 39 and was in a tie for fourth at the turn when scorecards were compared. But even as Mokena’s Matt Contry and Valparaiso’s Brad Bobrowski found obstacles on the back nine, and White, via bogeys on the 10th and 11th and a double-bogey on the par-4 16th, was 4-over before a birdie at the last, Bolden was smooth.
    He’d begun his rally with a birdie at the par-4 ninth. Three pars followed, and then a birdie on the par-5 13th. An uncharacteristic double-bogey on the par-4 15th threatened to derail his round, but a birdie at the par-4 17th, at 321 yards the shortest par 4 on the course – “I almost lipped out” Bolden said of a near-eagle from about 50 yards distant – pulled him back to 3-over, where he stood after parring the home hole.
    White was already in the house with his 75.
    The playoff, while only two holes, twisted in each player’s direction. Bolden was wide right off the tee on the first hole and could only punch short of the green, but White, barely on the green in regulation, left his birdie putt a good 15 feet short.
    “Jake opened the door for me there,” Bolden said. They matched bogeys and moved to the par-4 second hole.
    That’s where White kicked it wide open for Bolden on the par-4 second. In regulation, Bolden had missed the fairway to the right and struggled to a double bogey after a daring second shot kicked back into the pond fronting the green.
    In the playoff, it was White to was jailed to the right and could only punch out. That would have been fine during the round, but Bolden bombed it down the middle of the fairway and had 115 yards left for his second into the northeast wind that had brought fog during the majority of the morning but now gifted the course with a freshening breeze.
    Bolden used the wind as a brake, and the back shelf of the green as a backstop, for his approach shot, which stopped about eight feet from the cup. White was 18 feet to the left and slightly below the hole with his third, and needed to make it to put the pressure on the Central Connecticut-bound player.
    And White made it, center cut, to save par. And Bolden promptly answered, his downhill slider tumbling in perfectly, for the birdie 3, the victory and another Joe Jemsek Trophy to go with the other one, and the three Marshall Dann trophies from the 13-to-15 bracket, in his collection.
    “This gives me good confidence going toward college,” Bolden said.
    And an enviable record for others to aspire to.

    Notable: Darren O’Hanlon of Frankfort was third at 6-over-par 78, with Michael Barber of Beecher fourth at 79. ... Andrew Zarnowski of Chicago Ridge scored 92, but is a winner in another way. A caddie at Beverly Country Club, he’ll be attending Marquette next year on an Evans Scholarship.
    – Tim Cronin

Young and Bolden wins the day

    Writing from Glenwood, Illinois
    Tuesday, June 18, 2013

    Anthony Bolden admits there’s a bit of a sibling golf rivalry in his family.
    After all, older brother Bryant owns an accomplished resume, one burnished by his playoff victory in the Illinois Golfer Challenge Junior Golf Championship’s older boys division on Tuesday. But now Anthony, who took third in the Boys 13-to-15 Division last year, has a first place Challenge trophy of his own.
    Bolden the younger collected the Marshall Dann Trophy by scoring 8-over-par 80 for a two-stroke victory over Grant Miller of Crown Point and Daniel Anfield of Channahon.
    It was a close battle, with four other players within five strokes of the lead, but as so often happens at Glenwoodie, it came down to the last three holes. Bolden played them in even par, including a birdie at the 535-yard par-5 18th. Miller played them in 1-over, with a birdie at the 321-yard par-4 17th offsetting a bogey at the par-4 16th. Anfield was 3-over on the final three holes.
    Anfield, playing in the final threesome along with Bolden, tried to put the pressure on, dropping a 9-iron to within six feet on the par-3 12th and sinking the putt, tying Bolden at 5-over with six holes to play, but a bogey-bogey-double bogey stretch from 14 through 16 hurt his cause. Miller, out earlier, was 7-over through 12 holes.
    Bolden attributed the success to the game’s acid test: “putting,” he said.
    That was evident on his card, which included two birdies and eight pars. Only on the second hole was he above bogey, with a double. And as timely as his second birdie was, his first, on the 149-yard par-3 third, was a tonic. He smacked a 7-iron to within five feet of the cup and converted for a deuce.
    This was his second win of the summer season, following a success at Sycamore Golf Club earlier in the month. And there’s no reason to think it’ll be the last.
    As for the rivalry with Bryant, who is three years Anthony’s senior, Anthony admits big bro is “a measuring stick” but harbors no envy. Instead, he feeds off his brother’s success. And now, it may be vice versa.
    – Tim Cronin

Nicpon smooth in winning McCue

    Writing from Glenwood, Illinois
    Tuesday, June 18, 2013

    Nina Nicpon sees similarities in Glenwoodie Golf Club, host of the Illinois Golfer Challenge Junior Golf Championship, and Palmira, her home course.
    Perhaps that’s why she felt so much at home on Tuesday, en route to winning the Girls 16-to-18 Division of the Challenge.
    Nicpon, from Cedar Lake, scored 21-over-par 93 on her first visit to Glenwoodie for a 24-stroke victory over runner-up Sabina Bruozas of Mokena. Nicpon posted a half-dozen pars and only two “others” – triple bogeys, to be specific – in collecting the Carol McCue Trophy.
    There’s more water at Palmira, which Nicpon’s family owns, but you have to keep it in play at both courses, and she did so.    
    “I wanted to get the ball in the fairway off the tee, and keep it in the fairway,” Nicpon said. She couldn’t recall precisely how many of the 14 she hit, but said it was “most of them,” and most was better than most.
    “As I went on, I got more confident,” Nicpon said.
    One suspects that if Nicpon played Glenwoodie more often, she’d lower her score considerably. A member of the Marian Catholic golf team, Nicpon scored rounds of 75-83 in a tournament at Coyote Run in Flossmoor last week, a course the Spartans call home each autumn.
    As it was, her 93, punctuated by pars on both par-5s on the inward nine, was the class of the field.
    – Tim Cronin