Small seeks new swing; Donovan seeks title

Writing from Barrington, Illinois

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Hang around a practice range at a golf tournament for even a short while, and the realization strikes that no matter how successful, golfers are perfectionists.

Take Mike Small, for instance. He scored 2-under 69 Tuesday in the second round of the 101st Illinois PGA Championship for 3-under 139 through 36 holes. When he signed his scorecard, he was among the leaders – two strokes behind only first-time player Kyle Donovan of Oak Park and sharing second with Jeff Kellen of Butler National and Curtis Malm of White Eagle, going into Wednesday’s final round at Makray Memorial Golf Club.

Small wasn’t satisfied. After a quick lunch, it was back to the range to work on the swing he’s been trying to revamp since the spring.

Small’s 56, the coach of the ultra-successful Illinois men’s golf team, has won the Illinois PGA a record 13 times, has a record 17 state majors to his credit overall, and he’s changing his swing?

“I haven’t hit it good in a couple of years,” Small explained. “I’ve had too much face rotation (of the clubhead). I’ve made three or four bogeys in two days with wedges. The divot’s going right and the ball’s going left. It’s kind of a do-it-yourself right now. I’m not practicing enough to waste somebody else’s time to help me get better. I’ll hit a bucket of balls a day and try to figure it out.

“Usually you have good days and bad days. This year, I’ve had good holes and bad holes, good shots and bad shots.”

He’s been working on reworking what has worked so well in the past since the spring and his appearance in the Senior PGA Championship, for which he has long been eligible, but which he made his first appearance in because Illinois didn’t advance to the NCAA Championship on the same dates. There, the combination of good and bad shots triggered the idea to find a more consistent way of striking the ball.

“I’m playing pretty good, really,” Small said. “It’s hard to make putts out here if you get outside of 10-15 feet. It’s so sloped, it’s hard.”

Small scattered five birdies and three bogeys across his card.

“I’ve taken advantage of the par-5s and the short par-4s for two days,” Small said. “I don’t think I’ve birdied a hole with more than a sand wedge in my hand. But then I had a three-putt and two bogeys with wedges. It doesn’t make any sense, but that’s my game nowadays.”

It’s one thing to install a new swing and another to get the body’s muscle-memory to forget the old one. That, Small’s working on.

“At this stage of my life, I just want to play good golf,” Small said. “Playing bad golf’s no fun.”

Kellen’s similar to Small in that he’s seeking improvement and already plays superb golf. He opened with 3-under 68, and while even par 71 was just Tuesday score, his length makes him a threat. He drove the green on the 310-yard third hole Monday and sank the 5-foot putt for an eagle, and Tuesday drove to 15 feet and two-putted for par. Rather than his swing, Kellen is working on his body.

“I’ve done a lot to the core of my body,” Kellen said. “I work on my mobility an extra 20 minutes a day.”

Malm played his last 13 holes in 5-under, including an eagle at the par-5 18th, sinking a 25-footer that, in his words, “started to the right of the pin and broke a ton.” It was the only eagle of the day on the 550-yard hole.

Malm has won the Illinois Junior – though at Edgebrook in Sandwich, not at Makray, the annual host now – the Illinois Open, and the Illinois Match Play. Winning this after a pair of seconds and a pair of thirds would complete a personal grand slam.

“This is about the only thing I haven’t won in Illinois back to junior golf,” Malm said. “But you can’t think about that. I just want to have a good round of golf and see what happens. Just hit the ball, find it, and hit it again.”

Donovan, the 27-year-old leader, is the only contender who has played Makray in competition – in the Illinois Junior, where he finished 18th. After a 68-69 start for 5-under 137, he seeks his first win as a professional. He won a handful of times at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis.

“I played great yesterday and today was the polar opposite,” Donovan said. “I hit it all over the place. But I committed to a good swing on the 18th tee.”

Which helped set up his birdie putt, which he called “a testy 3-footer” after a chip from just off the green.

Donovan, if he wins, will the the first player to win the Illinois PGA in his first attempt since Small did so in 2001 – when Donovan was a tyke of 5.

Around Makray: The cut fell at 16-over 158 and included 65 players. … Wednesday tee times begin at 8 a.m. … The field averaged 77.50 strokes on the par-71 course. … Chris French of Aldeen in Rockford holed out for eagle on the ninth and 15th holes en route to a 1-under 70 for 6-under 148.

– Tim Cronin