Sainz alive! Carlos comes through

    Writing from Chicago
    Wednesday, October 9, 2013

    Carlos Sainz Jr. came so close at the Illinois Open to hoisting the trophy, he could taste it.
    The taste was bitter. He lost a three-way three-hole playoff in July at the Glen Club when Joe Kinney scored 12 over the first, 17th and 18th holes to amateur Dustin Korte’s 14 and his 17.
    In contrast, Wednesday at Cantigny Golf in Wheaton tasted so good. Sainz won the reborn Chicago Open, and no playoff was needed.
    With birdies on five of the first seven holes, Sainz took command and hung on to score a two-stroke victory over 36-hole leader Matt Thompson to grab a firm hold on the Ken Venturi Trophy and the $7,000 first prize from the purse of about $50,000.
    The 27-year-old Elgin resident, less than a decade removed from working in the Cantigny pro shop during his summers back from college, had won on the Canadian PGA circuit this season, but there’s something special about winning close to home. And winning there helped his effort here.
    “I won on a bigger level this year, which was big for me, because I’d never done that,” Sainz said. “I’ve been improving little by little every year, and this year with the help of sponsors and being able to play full time it has really catapulted me into being a better player.”
    He proved that from the start on Wednesday, opening with birdies on the first two holes, adding another bird on the fourth, then two more on the sixth and seventh to go out in 5-under 31. He was 5-under for the round and 7-under for the championship until his only bogey of the day, at the par-4 15th.
    Sainz finished with a 4-under-par 68 for 6-under-par 210, with Thompson’s even-par 72 landing him at 4-under 212. Jordan Mitchell of Atlanta scored 71 for 2-under 214.
    Thompson, with six birdies in his Tuesday 67, played Wednesday’s first three holes in 1-over, and was 4-under for the tournament. He stayed there through the front nine, never getting untracked. While Jake Scott, a charger from Mooresville, N.C., opened by going 4-under through the first four holes – highlighted by holing out from the fairway on the par -4 fourth – he parred the next 10 holes and scored 5-under 67, the day’s best round. It earned him a tie for fourth with Brandon Holtz and Michael Schachner at 1-under 215.
    Illinois men’s golf coach Mike Small, who finished at 1-over 217, might have had the day’s most curious round. He parred the first eight holes, bogeyed the ninth, double-bogeyed the 10th, then reeled off six birdies in the next seven holes – two stretches of three interspersed with a par – and finished with a bogey at the last. It added up to a wacky 70.
    Fittingly, Sainz played much of his junior golf under the flag of the Illinois Junior Golf Association, which brought the Chicago Open back to life.
    “To be able to crown a former IJGA competitor helps us highlight the mission of the IJGA and helps underscore the purpose of our reviving this great championship,” IJGA executive director Carrie Williams said. “We are looking forward to having an even better event next year.”
    Under discussion is a plan to move the tournament into September next year, to take advantage of changes in the PGA Tour’s qualifying schedule for its developmental web.com Tour. This year’s tournament was expected to lead into that, but the PGA Tour rescheduled some of its qualifiers when it realigned its season and created the web.com qualifying series.

    – Tim Cronin