Kids these days

Writing from Golf, Illinois

Friday, April 3. 2026 

For those who have been around the block more than a couple of times, golf is hard.

Then there are the four youngsters who will represent the Chicago area in Sunday’s national Drive, Chip and Putt competition at Augusta National Golf Club.

For that Fab Four, golf is simple. They smack drives long and straight. They chip with the touch of a surgeon. They sink putts from all points of the compass.

They’ll learn. For the nonce, golf is blissful, and each of the four has a chance to come home with a trophy to go with the satchel of memories any trip to Augusta, especially one inside the ropes, gathers.

Here are the four, from a total of 1,063 competitors in the Illinois PGA Section, who advanced through three stages of competition, including the Regional Final at Whistling Straits in Haven, Wis.:

• Patricia Kittivat of Schaumburg (Girls 7-9)

• Vihaan Patel of Streamwood (Boys 10-11)

• Lucy Wiertel of Oswego (Girls 10-11)

• Carter Bird of Hinsdale (Boys 14-15)

Carter Bird, Lucy Wiertel, Vihaan Patel and Patricia Kittivat (Tim Cronin / Illinois Golfer)

Of the group, Wiertel has an advantage. This is her second trip. She finished ninth in the Girls 7-9 bracket two years ago.

She looks forward to a better finish this time, and told her cohorts what to expect.

“It’s going to be one of the best experiences you’ll ever be in,” Wiertel said at a gathering of the four qualifiers at the Illinois PGA office last month. “It’s amazing. It will make you smile so big. Just enjoy the moment. Enjoy it with your dad.

“Put your mind on enjoying the moment. Don’t get too caught up on winning it. And definitely try to shake the hand of as many green jackets as you can.”

Wiertel did that in 2024 and struck up an acquaintanceship with one of them.  He became a fan and sent her a gift package later.

“I think it’s more fun to do Drive, Chip and Putt than certain tournaments. In those, sometimes you have to hit out of the rough.”

The others have been counting the days with great anticipation.

“A lot,” said Kittivat, who said she looked to the competition most of all and “meeting new people."

Patel said the best part of his game at the moment is his iron play, which could mean a big day in chipping. But there are only two chips, to go with a pair of drives and two putts, both on the treacherous 18th green.

“I practiced in my garage on the simulator,” Patel said.

“The margin for error is a lot less than in a tournament,” Bird said.

Bird said aside from the Sunday morning competition, he’s excited about watching the Monday practice round. Players and their parents get admission to Monday’s practice, when the majority of the Masters field turns out for at least nine holes. Bird, who also plays hockey and lacrosse, is a fan of Jordan Spieth, a choice by no means random.

“He went to the same high school and was in the same class as my cousin,” Bird said.

Most players pick their mom or dad as their caddie. Bird picked his grandfather, Dr. Tony Bernard, as his caddie, which will fulfill his lifelong dream of stepping foot on Augusta National.

All four have grown up in a golf culture that includes Illinois Junior Golf Association tournament play, as well as U.S. Kids national play in some cases. While only Wiertel has Augusta experience, all have been in various golf rodeos.

But Easter Sunday will be different. The grass really is greener at Augusta National. Golf Channel coverage begins at 7 a.m.

– Tim Cronin

Move afoot to save Calumet Country Club

Writing from Chicago

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

A coalition has been formed to save Calumet Country Club in Hazel Crest as green space and as a golf course, preventing it from industrial development.

The group, Calumet Collaborative, is comprised of disparate parties interested in saving both the golf course, a century-old design of famed architect Donald Ross, and the acreage itself. They banded together in recent days in response to the decision of W&E Ventures, the current property owner, to close the golf course permanently and to seek permission from Hazel Crest to get it rezoned for industrial use to sell it to Ryan Industries.

Calumet Country Club’s board sold the property for $3.1 million in 2020. Since then, it’s been kept open as a public course while the new owners fought first with the village of Homewood, then Hazel Crest, over development of the property into an industrial park. Residents of both communities, as well as adjacent East Hazel Crest, have largely been opposed to the development, which would increase truck traffic in an area that, while adjacent to the Tri-State Tollway, is largely two-lane roads.

The Calumet Collaborative includes backing from the Chicago District Golf Association, South Suburbs for Greenspace, the Donald Ross Society, and a number of individuals, including Michael Grandinetti, who is both a former president of the CDGA and Calumet Country Club, as well as a course architect, a real estate advisor, a course constructor and open-space advocates. It notified Hazel Crest of its desire to keep Calumet as green space, and ideally as a golf course, in a proposal to deliver a feasibility study to prove its value submitted to the village earlier today.

“Successful implementation of our proposal to restore and expand Calumet will deliver excellent open space, recreational, economic development, and quality of life benefits to Hazel Crest and the surrounding communities,” wrote Donald Ross Society president Vaughn Halyard in the proposal’s introduction. 

Wrote South Suburbs for Greenspace director Liz Vermacky in a letter of support, “(T)he highest and best use for The Calumet Country Club is to preserve it as an invaluable green space for the community and an historic course for golfers and residents in Hazel Crest and surrounding communities to enjoy.

“The Southland of Chicago has an overabundance of industrial and warehouse facilities and a dearth of greenspace. The greenspace that comprises the Calumet Country Club is home to old-growth trees as well as many species of native animals and plants. In a corner of Chicagoland with poor air quality, the Calumet Country Club is a breath of fresh air.”

– Tim Cronin

Full disclosure – Cronin, wearing his golf historian hat, is acting as an advisor to this project and is on its board.

Medinah 2026 Presidents Cup tickets on sale

Writing from Chicago

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

If you follow golf in the Chicago area, you have undoubtedly heard about the massive renovation to Medinah Country Club’s No. 3 course.

You know about the new final six holes, replacing to original and often tweaked layout Tom Bendelow created a century ago and which for most of that time turned back the best efforts of golf’s elite with bogeys and worse. You have seen the artist’s conceptions on this and other websites.

But, Medinah being a private club, you haven’t walked it. Now you’ll be able to.

Tickets to the 2026 Presidents Cup, the PGA Tour vs. World (but not Europe) competition that takes place every two years, have gone on sale.

Unlike the king’s ransom needed to buy Ryder Cup tickets for the upcoming soiree at Bethpage Black, Presidents Cup tickets are affordable. Prices start at $50 for Tuesday-Wednesday practice rounds, start at $100 for Thursday’s first day of competition, and go to $155 for Sunday’s finale, not including fees and taxes. That’s in line with the top PGA Tour tournaments.

“Fans will have the chance to see 24 of the PGA Tour’s biggest stars compete for their countries in one of golf’s premier global events, while enjoying experiences that showcase the rich culture and spirit of Chicago,” said Presidents Cup executive director Joie Chitwood III. “We look forward to putting this great city on a global stage for an unforgettable week of competition, camaraderie and celebration.”

There are a pair of upscale zones that are more pricey, the Captains’ Club ($200-$400) and the International Club ($500-$850), for those who want to mingle less with the great unwashed and want fancier food and drink.

Parking arrangements are still being planned, but Tuesday’s release indicated that will be a separate purchase.

The Medinah makeover, approved by the membership, though not unanimously, after Justin Thomas shredded the layout with a 61 en route to winning the 2019 BMW Championship, was created by Geoff Ogilvy’s design firm. The 2005 U.S. Open champion, he’s also the captain of the International team. The new look has already had a 61 scored on it, North Carolina Tar Heel and Medinah member Grant Roscich doing so in a casual round from the member tees a few weeks ago. All that proves is $30 million doesn’t go as far as it used to.

Complete ticket information and an ordering page is at www.PresidentsCup.com.

– Tim Cronin

Medinah 2026 Presidents Cup tickets go on sale

Writing from Chicago

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

If you follow golf in the Chicago area, you have undoubtedly heard about the massive renovation to Medinah Country Club’s No. 3 course.

You know about the new final six holes, replacing to original and often tweaked layout Tom Bendelow created a century ago and which for most of that time turned back the best efforts of golf’s elite with bogeys and worse. You have seen the artist’s conceptions on this and other websites.

But, Medinah being a private club, you haven’t walked it. Now you’ll be able to.

Tickets to the 2026 Presidents Cup, the PGA Tour vs. World (but not Europe) competition that takes place every two years, have gone on sale.

Unlike the king’s ransom needed to buy Ryder Cup tickets for the upcoming soiree at Bethpage Black, Presidents Cup tickets are affordable. Prices start at $50 for Tuesday-Wednesday practice rounds, start at $100 for Thursday’s first day of competition, and go to $155 for Sunday’s finale, not including fees and taxes. That’s in line with the top PGA Tour tournaments.

“Fans will have the chance to see 24 of the PGA Tour’s biggest stars compete for their countries in one of golf’s premier global events, while enjoying experiences that showcase the rich culture and spirit of Chicago,” said Presidents Cup executive director Joie Chitwood III. “We look forward to putting this great city on a global stage for an unforgettable week of competition, camaraderie and celebration.”

There are a pair of upscale zones that are more pricey, the Captains’ Club ($200-$400) and the International Club ($500-$850), for those who want to mingle less with the great unwashed and want fancier food and drink.

Parking arrangements are still being planned, but Tuesday’s release indicated that will be a separate purchase.

The Medinah makeover, approved by the membership, though not unanimously, after Justin Thomas shredded the layout with a 61 en route to winning the 2019 BMW Championship, was created by Geoff Ogilvy’s design firm. The 2005 U.S. Open champion, he’s also the captain of the International team. The new look has already had a 61 scored on it, North Carolina Tar Heel and Medinah member Grant Roscich doing so in a casual round from the member tees a few weeks ago. All that proves is $30 million doesn’t go as far as it used to.

Complete ticket information and an ordering page is at www PresidentsCup.com.

– Tim Cronin

Carroll comes through again

Writing from Chicago

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

The list of champions tells something about the quality of a course.

Beverly Country Club is exemplary in that regard.

Nationally, how about this foursome: Chick Evans, Francis Ouimet, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

Locally, the same applies. Brian Carroll, who Tuesday annexed his second Illinois PGA Championship in succession and third in four years, surged from behind on the back nine to score a one-stroke victory over Jeff Kellen and Mike Troy.

Carroll, from The Hawk Country Club in St. Charles, scored a 5-under-par 66, the best round of the tournament, to finish at 4-under 138 and surge past Kellen, the North Shore Country Club ace who led the field by a stroke and Carroll by four at daybreak, and Troy, a third-generation professional whose 3-under 68 matched the second-best score of the day.

Carroll did so in style, making birdies on Beverly’s formidable last two holes to edge Kellen, who birdied the last, a consolation prize that brought him solo second and $6,800 to Carroll’s bounty of $11,500.

“It’s a great feeling,” Carroll said. “You want to play well in the biggest events. I try to work on my game when I can. I don’t work on it as much as I would like to, like most club pros. We’re busy in the summer months.”

Carroll said when he does have time, he works on his short game. That’s where the money is, and what paid off for him. His 6-iron to three feet to the 196-yard par-3 17th set up the first of the two closing birdies.

“It just stayed dead straight and it probably worked out better because it got a kick off that left slope, landed 25 feet left of the pin, and took the slope up to three feet,” Carroll said.

A brilliant bunker shot from the left greenside bunker on 18 to five feet set up the second birdie, which after Kellen birdied was the winning margin.

“I hit the best drive in two days, maybe all summer, because I had 269 to the stick,” Carroll said. “It’s a good number to hit three-wood and it leaked. It was kind of a normal bunker shot with my 52-degree wedge, the right distance for that club.”

He hit it to five feet and sank that putt for the birdie. And, once Kellen failed to eagle and host pro John Varner failed to make an albatross, Carroll was the repeat winner. He triumphed at Elgin Country Club last year, after breaking into the ranks of section winners in a playoff against 14-time winner Mike Small at Makray Memorial Golf Course three years ago.

Varner started the day two strokes behind and finished four back, in a tie for sixth with Small at even par 142. Kevn Flack (Mauh-Nah-Tee-See) and Paul Schlimm (Chicago Highlands) tied for fourth at 1-under 141. 

Around Beverly

Brian Carroll now has four state majors, the 2023 Illinois Players Championship the other. He needs an Illinois Open and IPGA Match Play for a grand slam. … The top nine finishers qualified for next spring’s PGA club pro championship, with Jim Billiter (Ivanhoe) beating Matt Slowinski (Hinsdale) in a playoff. Carroll, Kellen, Troy, Flack, Schlimm, three-time club pro champ Mike Small, Varner and Matthew Rion (Briarwood) also advanced. … Small was the most recent back-to-back winner, in 2013 and 2014. … The course averaged 77.75 strokes, or nearly seven strokes over par, on Tuesday, with the par-4 second the toughest, playing .65 strokes over par.

– Tim Cronin