Illinois Open shootout looms at Flossmoor

Writing from Flossmoor, Illinois

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

A dartboard might be the best way to predict the winner of the 74th Illinois Open, which finishes Wednesday after a tumultuous second round at Flossmoor Golf Club on Tuesday.

The protagonists vying for the trophy and the $20,000 first prize are a mixture of players from near and far:

• Vince India, a Chicagoan on the Korn Ferry Tour who won the Illinois Open in 2018 and says he’s searching for his swing even after a 4-under 68 to share the lead at 6-under 138 through 36 holes;

• Luke Gannon, from downstate Monticello, who scored 67 for 138 on Tuesday, finished second to Tim “Tee-K” Kelly at Stonebridge Country Club two years ago, and whose stumble down the stretch last year still gnaws at him;

• Dylan Meyer, a Hoosier from Evansville who also stands at 138 and is threatening to win in his first appearance under the recent rule change allowing non-Illinoisans who went to an Illinois college to play;

• Mike Small, who coached Meyer at Illinois, the likely best 57-year-old golfer on the planet, whose 70 for 5-under 139 places him tied for fourth; 

• Quinn Clifford, an Illinois Wesleyan student who wasn’t recruited by Meyer, probably because he switched from basketball to golf after his sophomore year at Brother Rice, but has proven his worth after rounds of 69 and 70 to lead the amateur brigade;

• Kyle English of Bloomington, bidding to become the first club professional to capture the state championship of Illinois golf since Todd Tremaglio in 1990;

• and Anthony Albano Jr., an erstwhile Illinois Wesleyan grad who has finished eighth and tied for seventh the last two years while kicking around mini-tours, the last of the quartet at 139 thanks to one-putting the last seven holes.

Another seven players are within four strokes of India, Gannon and Meyer. That gaggle includes David Perkins of East Peoria, the defender at 2-under 142 after back-to-back 71s.

For all of the above, the goal is to win. For India, who’ll fly to the Korn Ferry tournament in Utah late on Wednesday, there’s more at stake.

“My golf swing’s in a pretty awful spot,” India said. “My confidence is fairly low. I feel I just need to keep playing in things. If I find something this week, that would be great. If that means I have to beat up on some local pros, that’s totally fine. Sometimes that’s what you have to do.”

India birdied three of the last four holes, including the par-5 18th, to climb into a share for the lead.

“I was in some pretty tricky situations (earlier) where I should have made a bogey and walked away with par,” India said. “I had some good looks coming in.”

Gannon’s trying to play conservatively where necessary and go for the flag when he can. So far, so good.

“I hit the driver better than yesterday,” Gannon said. “Trying to leave myself below the hole was also a key. Even in the bunker or rough in the right spot you can get up and down.

“Same strategy (tomorrow). Go out and make birdies. No one’s going to hand it to you.”

Meyer opened with a 50-foot eagle putt that featured about four feet of break, gave those strokes back – including a bogey at the 280-yard par-4 fourth, then played the back nine in 1-under including a birdie at the last. He hopes those book-ends are joined by more birdies on Wednesday.

“I didn’t trust my instinct of just hitting a 4-iron on the fourth and giving myself 70-80 yards to the pin,” Meyer said. “A bogey on a 280-yard hole doesn’t necessarily feel good. Put me in a funk for the majority of the day.”

The 28-year-old had a fine start to his pro career, including a win in a mini-tour start and a tie for 20th at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Then …

“Things on tour seemed pretty easy,” Meyer said. “I got my Korn Ferry status and I just didn’t play well. I took everything I had for granted and didn’t work as hard as I needed to. Professional golf at the highest level is totally different from the highest level of amateur golf.

“I had a nice self-talk with myself this past winter. I wanted to go play the minor-league golf tour in south Florida, get my game in shape and confidence back before doing Mondays (qualifiers). It went well there, so I figured I might as well keep going.”

His game is coming back. Meyer’s in a stretch of four tournaments in three weeks. He tied for fifth in the Waterloo Open, took seventh in the Cedar Rapids Open, and this weekend will play in the Iowa Open.

Meyer and Small went out to dinner Tuesday night, a case of protege and mentor conferring before competing. Small’s door is always open to his former players.

“I need to call him more than I have,” Meyer said.

Small will try to become the Illinois Open’s oldest winner by eight years on Wednesday. Gary Groh was 49 when he won in 1994, but Groh didn’t fiddle with his swing the way Small does.

“I use myself as a test dummy for my players,” Small said, adding he’s hit it better in the first two days than he has in years. He recovered from a double-bogey on his second hole and a bogey on the third hole, making seven birdies on his last 15 holes to come home in 2-under 70 for 139.

Clifford, three strokes ahead of fellow amateurs Tyler Isenhart and John Wild, went out on the back nine in 4-under 32, and only a pair of bogeys coming in kept him out of the lead.

“I stuck with my game plan,” the 20-year-old Chicagoan and regular at Beverly Country Club said. “Aim at the middle of the green. I had a lot of 20-footers. I aimed at one pin, on No. 4,  and made bogey.”

English said he wasn’t surprised a club pro hasn’t won in 33 years, given the quality of the tour pros in the field, and was pleased to be a stroke off the lead.

“I was fighting it today, but I’ve played here a half-dozen times,” English said of his comfort level.

Albano’s putter caught fire down the stretch, lifting him to a 3-under 69 to slide in as the fourth 139. He’s eager to make happen what he hasn’t been able to yet.

“This is right where I want to be and kind of where I expect to be out here,” Albano said. “If you start thinking ahead you might get a little tight, and you have to be loose out here because the greens and these shots are tough. I plan on using the experiences from the last two years tomorrow. I’ve also been playing on the Dakotas Tour and I’ve been playing well there. I’ve been in the final groups a handful of times out there as well so I been getting experience in this position.” 

Around Flossmoor

Fifteen players are under par and another seven are at even-par 144. The cut fell at 4-over 148 and includes 52 players, with 2021 winner Tim “Tee-K” Kelly and two-time winner Roy Biancalana, 63, making it on the number. … The field averaged 75.77 strokes on the 7,010-yard setup. The par-4 fourth, set up to be drivable at 280 yards, averaged 3.96 strokes with five double-bogeys and a pair of scores above that.

– Tim Cronin

Baumgarten, Meyer lead Illinois Open parade

Writing from Flossmoor, Illinois

Monday, July 31, 2023

Often in the Illinois Open, the early birds get the birdies. For the most part, such was the case Monday at Flossmoor Golf Club, where the challenging course, softened by overnight dew, was more forgiving to those in the morning wave of the 74th iteration than competitors in the afternoon.

The first-round leaders, Bryan Baumgarten of Chicago and Dylan Meyer of Evansville, Ind., started the route to their matching 5-under-par 67s at 8:20 and 8:40 a.m. respectively. Jimmy Morton of Sugar Grove and amateur Danny Fisher of Lake Forest, joint third entering Tuesday’s second round, carved out 3-under 69s beginning at 7:50 and 8:10 a.m. Two more followed in the afternoon, one by Mike Small, who coached Baumgarten and Meyer while they were at Illinois, joining Morton and Fisher at 3-under with an eagle 3 on the par-5 18th via an approach striped to within two feet of the cup. Quinn Clifford, benefiting from a hole-in-one, had the other 69.

Former Illinois Open winners Vince India, now on the Korn Ferry Tour, and White Eagle Golf Club general manager Curtis Malm are among those tied for seventh at 2-under 70. Anthony Albono Jr. and amateur Nikko Ganas also scored 70s.

This largesse reverses itself in the second round, when the Monday morning crowd commences hostilities after lunch while the Monday afternoon gaggle, led by Small, awakes with the rooster on a short turnaround. It evens out, but for now, Baumgarten and Meyer, who were teammates at Illinois before turning pro, have taken full advantage.

Baumgarten, for instance, made eight birdies, including four of the last six holes on the back nine, which he played first. He was 5-under through his first 10 holes, bogeyed Nos. 2 and 3, then added a pair of birdies on the way home.

“The course was in great condition so if you play good proper golf, you can figure your way around the golf course,” Baumgarten said. “That’s what I did today and it kind of worked out for me. I made a couple of putts today, and when I hit a good shot, I was able to capitalize. I think the greens are great out here so when you hit a good putt you have a good chance of making it.

Baumgarten has been under the radar, playing only twice in world-ranking level tournaments this year, with a best finish of a tie for 59th in the Blot Open de Bretagne in France.

Under a rule introduced last year, non-residents of Illinois can play if they went to college in the state. That’s how Meyer, who grew up in Evansville, Ind., made his way into the field, along with five others from across the border.

Meyer’s best PGA Tour finish is a tie for seventh in the 2018 Sanderson Farms Championship, though his tie for 20th in the 2018 U.S. Open resonates more deeply. In each, he won about $120,000, but pickings have been slip the last couple of years.

“I’ve been hitting well the last couple of weeks, and it was just a matter of time before the putter started catching up with my ball striking,” Meyer said. “I think it’s great that they allow people that played college golf in Illinois play in the State Open. I was very happy when I found out about that.”

Small wasn’t surprised that some of his notables were atop the pylon.

“When Dylan graduated, he was the No. 2 amateur in the world,” Small said. “He had some success early and now he’s fighting his way back. Bryan, he’s a good player. I tell my players when they come in the peak for golfers is their mid-30s, so keep working at it.”

Around Flossmoor 

Quinn Clifford aced the 103-yard 13th hole, using a 56-degree wedge. … Amateur Lester Low, a 13-year-old from Evanston, scored 5-over 77 but eagled the 625-yard par-5 ninth hole, holing out from 150 yards. It was the only eagle on the hole from the 168-man field.

– Tim Cronin

Flossmoor bounces back, hosts Illinois Open

Writing from Flossmoor, Illinois

Monday, July 31, 2023

It was four years ago, and Flossmoor Country Club was on its last legs. Members were leaving, bills were starting to pile up, and the odds that the club where golf was first played in 1900 would shut its doors for good at the end of 2019.

Enter George Goich, who with the rest of his family grew up as members at nearby Olympia Fields Country Club. Goich, a golf professional by then headquartered in New England, inquired about purchasing the club on Western Avenue. His brother David, a former Olympia Fields club president, and an acquaintance were brought in as partners.

Things were so dire, they began paying utility bills to keep the lights and heat on before the deal was completed early in 2020.

Exit Flossmoor Country Club. Enter Flossmoor Golf Club, concentrating on the game and not the frills surrounding it. Tennis is no more. Evening dining is out. The pool is now run separately. It’s golf first and foremost.

A club comprised greatly of town residents that was down to 89 members now boasts about 270, just short of Goich’s self-imposed limit of 300.

“I thought that Beverly had a great model, one of being golf-centric, and that it would work further south,” Goich said last week.

He thought correctly. This week, Flossmoor shows itself off by hosting the 74th Illinois Open, running today through Wednesday.

“This is the biggest showpiece we’re allowed to do here,” said Goich, understanding that the parking lot holds only so many cars.

The 168-man field will tackle a course primed to test the best in the state, and a bit beyond its borders. The distance of 7,136 yards will be maxed out, the par of 72 a sturdy test, especially since it hasn’t rained since Thursday night. Goich boasted the greens have been pushed to a speed of 14.5 on the Stimpmeter recently, and would like to see that again.

“We have an incredible canvas at Flossmoor,” said Brad Slocum, who oversees tournaments for the Illinois PGA. “If it stays dry, by Wednesday this course could be a monster.”

Slocum and executive director Carrie Williams emphasize they don’t want carnage, but instead a test befitting championship golf. Flossmoor is a course that has brought the best player to the top of the pile before. In Illinois Opens alone, Bob Harris (1955) and Lance Ten Broeck (1984) triumphed there, along with Jock Hutchison in the 1920 PGA Championship and Chick Evans in the 1909 Western Amateur.

“It tests every part of your game relentlessly,” said Brian Payne, a Flossmoor member who won the Illinois Open in 2002 and is the house threat this week.

Depending on the setup, there are a pair of drivable par 4s – the fourth and 14th – and a 626-yard par 5 that, if the wind is from the south, will be a driver-3-wood-4-iron combination for much of the field.

“There are 18 distinct, memorable golf holes here,” Slocum said.

To which Goich added, “If you play it when it’s firm and fast, there’s a double-bogey lurking on every shot. It’s a very difficult golf course from the sides of the holes. You have to pay attention.”

The nine past champions in the field include defender David Perkins, Mike Small, Ray Biancalana, Korn Ferry Tour regulars Tim “Tee-K” Kelly and Vince India, and Curtis Malm. While Small, the University of Illinois head men’s coach, is in the same classification, no club professional has won the Illinois Open since Chicago Golf Club assistant Todd Tramaglio at Orchard Valley in 1998.

The purse is expected to be at or over $100,000, as it has been the last several years, with about 20 percent dropped in the winner’s pocket.

– Tim Cronin

Crowe flies high as Fishburn sinks in NV5

Writing from Glenview, Illinois

Sunday, July 30, 2023

Trace Crowe wears a rubber bracelet on his left wrist. “No complaining,” it reads.

“I still complain,” Crowe quipped after winning the fifth NV5 Invitational at The Glen Club on Sunday evening.

With a trophy for his first career victory and $180,000 in his pocket, nearly sextupling his season earnings on the Korn Ferry Tour and almost doubling his career PGA Tour/Korn Ferry earnings, the 26-year-old Auburn graduate is a good bet to carry on the tradition of the NV5 champion not coming back the following year to defend.

It’s too early to say that Crowe, who beat Patrick Fishburn with a par on the second hole of sudden death after they tied at 25-under 259, will become the next Scottie Scheffler. Nobody knew Scheffler would be the first Scheffler when he won in a playoff in 2019.

Crowe, the leader by two strokes at daybreak, was dead in the water soon after starting, having triple-bogeyed the second hole. He looked at his bracelet then but ignored the suggestion. That happens when you pull your drive into the right round, airmail the green and fail to find your ball.

On the Korn Ferry Tour, full of eager players who will step over a dead body to get to the PGA Tour, he was suddenly in third place, two strokes in arrears.

The good news for Crowe was all the time left, and despite the bundle of birdies bagged on a daily basis on the KFT, strange things can happen.

In the next four hours, plenty did, beginning with Ryan McCormick, who needed a particular model of Titleist’s Pro V1 ball on Friday to continue play, and who got a couple from Crowe when the word spread. McCormick, who started the week with an 11-under 60, finished with 65 for 260.

Playing alongside McCormick, Crowe recovered to birdie seven holes in a stretch of 12 after losing his ball for a closing 5-under 66 for 25-under 259.

“I just hung in there and hung in there and started making birdies,” Crowe said.

In normal tournaments, that would be good enough to win, but the NV5, the WGA’s entry on the PGA Tour’s development series, is not a normal tournament.

Crowe’s par 5 at the last via laying up was only good enough to secure a tie, for immediately ahead of him, Fishburn, who had led in the middle stages of the round, regained a share of the lead by sinking a 45-foot downhill putt at the 18th for an eagle, a 64 and a 259. The several hundred on hand went wild, thinking they saw the winning shot.

Not quite. Not after Crowe matched his total to force extra holes.

They matched birdies on the 18th in the playoff, Crowe sinking a 30-footer that he thought surprised Fishburn, then went back to the tee to give it another go.

This time, Fishburn seemed to have the advantage even after driving into a bunker between the pond and the green. Crowe had sailed his tee shot to the right rough and remained there on his approach. He had to keep laying up because he took his 3-wood out of play after the second round in favor of a 6-wood and 2-iron.

“The wind made it a bad number,” Crowe said. “I was 10 yards shorter than I thought I was going to be each time."

Trophy to Fishburn, right? Lucky there wasn’t an engraver on site, for Crowe pitched smartly to 20 feet with his third shot, then saw the unthinkable. Fishburn, his head lifting up and his body turning too quickly, left his bunker shot in the sand. It nearly rolled back to his feet.

“I got lucky,” Crowe said. “There was a lot of sand under it.”

Fishburn chopped out his fourth shot 16 feet past the hole, and after Crowe left his birdie putt within a foot, tried to match Crowe’s sure par. He could not, rolling it past the hole. Crowe tapped in for par and his first career victory, leaving Fishburn winless on the circuit.

For Crowe, it means vaulting to 36th on the KFT standings, a far cry from the 139th-place spot he started the week in. The top 30 advance to the PGA Tour, and Crowe now is locked into the KFT playoffs, where he can continue to climb.

“It’s a crazy feeling,” Crowe said of winning. “It’s been a long, tough, interesting season. I’m blown away about how good everyone is. I feel I played unreal the last couple days.”

Around The Glen Club

Illinois grad Adrien Dumont de Chassart finished 10th with a closing 68 for 18-under 266. … Vince India finished at 16-under 268 after a closing 4-under 67. … Mark Wilson also finished with 67 for 14-under 270. … It’s the second playoff in a row at the NV5, Harry Hall beating Nick Hardy on the third sudden-death hole last year. Scheffler knocked off Marcelo Rozo in a playoff in the inaugural. … The par-71 course averaged 68.156 strokes for the week, only four holes finishing over par. Sunday’s average was 68.342 strokes. 

– Tim Cronin

Crowe's nest is The Glen Club

Writing from Glenview, Illinois

Saturday, July 29, 2023

Trace Crowe is a 26-year-old South Carolinian who went to Auburn, stands 797th in the world ranking, has yet to win a professional tournament of national scope, and has made about $225,000 in 31 starts on the PGA Tour – where he’s made two of three cuts – and the Korn Ferry Tour.

Start No. 32 might be his breakthrough. Crowe has stitched together rounds of 66, 64 and 63 at The Glen Club, including a closing 29 on Saturday, to earn the lead in the fifth NV5 Invitational with a round to play. Even at 20-under-par 193, his lead is only a stroke, with Ryan McCormick a stroke behind and Patrick Fishburn and Chris Gotterup two back. A rampaging horde of birdie-seekers follow.

One of those, Ben Kholes, is trying to win his third Korn Ferry tournament of the season. That would give him immediate promotion to the PGA Tour, where the money is about 10 times larger week-to-week. So Crowe’s sleep might be fitful.

Crowe has only three bogeys this week, against an eagle – Saturday on the par-5 first – and 21 birdies, 15 of which have been poured in on the back nine. Saturday, he needed only 22 putts.

To humans, The Glen Club is a difficult test. To these guys, it’s a big green dartboard. Overnight rains have softened the Tom Fazio layout, but still, 20-under through 54 holes seems like a typographical error until you realize how long the younger set hits it, and how precise their approaches are.

“I started struggling with my swing a little bit, but I was making everything on the green,” Crowe said. “I was just like if we can just manage this and get in the clubhouse, then go work on it after, that would be good. We got it, just made a lot of putts coming in.”

Crowe’s season has been curious. He squeezed into the Wells Fargo on the PGA Tour and finished 27th, winning $134,125 – that went with a tie for 63rd in the Honda Classic – but he’s missed seven of 11 cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour. Last week, he finished 44th and made $4,521.43. A big finish this week, even if it doesn’t include a trophy, would be huge.

“Just a revolving mystery, this game,” Crowe said. “It feels great just finally be in this position, to have a chance to win on Sunday. I'm excited, this is what you work for.”

As does everyone else in the field, including McCormick, who opened with an 11-under 60 on Thursday and nearly ended up out of the tournament on Friday. He somehow started the second round with a different version of the Titleist Pro V1 than he had played last year. The PGA Tour uses the one-ball rule, which means in a given round, you have to play the same model of ball. There are several different Pro V1s, and his 2023 model is different from the 2022 he teed off with.

“I was in the hotel putting around (Friday morning) and just threw it in my bag, didn't think of it,” McCormick explained. “I got up on 11 green and noticed it was different. So I played it on 10 and 11 and realized that I didn't have any other balls, because like the one-ball rule, can't play any other (type of) ball, so I had one ball to play.”

Literally, that one ball, the only one of that model he had.

“It was like insane,” McCormick said.

The insanity was only beginning.

“Hit it in the fescue on 12 and I'm honestly thinking (I’m) DQ’d,” McCormick said. “Like if I don't find this ball, like I'm going home.”

It was found, and eventually, a rules official was able to supply a handful more, including a couple cadged from Crowe, who was several groups away.

“Just tried to not lose it for like – I mean, it was insane. I mean, that aside, I'm just happy to be playing, it's nice. It was stressful.”

McCormick followed Friday’s insane 69 with a 6-under 65 on Saturday, and is in the final twosome of Crowe at 1:15 p.m. Sunday. Kohles starts at 12:31. Local notables include Vince India 12-under 201) at 10:05 a.m. and Daniel Hudson (13-under 200) at 11:15 a.m.

Live from Glenview

The unique aspect of the NV5 is the television broadcast on barstool.tv, the website of chats and podcasts that has dabbled in live sports in recent years. Perhaps it’s fitting that Barstool breaks into golf here, as the first broadcast of golf in television history was just a few miles away, the 1946 Tam O’Shanter carnival from Niles covered on WBKB-TV with one camera on the clubhouse roof using a telephoto lens borrowed from RCA.

Visually, the telecast resembles one from the early years of Golf Channel, or the early 1970s on network TV, albeit in high definition. PGA Tour Productions is supplying the pictures, enough cameras to document but missing the special aspects – close-ups on every tee, drone shots, etc. – that the biggest-budget productions have.

Still, you can see the ball, plenty of holes are covered, and the commentary by the Barstool crew has been expectedly irreverent while covering the tournament well. There have been plenty of player interviews, and some verbal surprises. Within 30 seconds of tuning in Thursday someone was talking about his bladder. Not even Gary McCord did that before he was banned from Augusta National over his “bikini wax” comment.

On Friday, when Tom Whitney missed a 4-inch putt on the back nine, the gaggle was in disbelief. “Jesus!” one of them yelped – sorry, we as yet can’t precisely identify who’s who in their seven-man crew. Another, perhaps Sam “Riggs” Bozoian, called it the shortest missed putt in history, clearly not knowledgable enough to recall the 1983 British Open, when Hale Irwin fanned on a putt at the lip of the cup in the third round. That whiff subsequently meant Irwin would miss tying winner Tom Watson by a stroke.

At one point Thursday, there were around 150 people watching through one of the outlets Barstool was employing. Ideally more are watching on the weekend, for the Korn Ferry Tour’s coverage on Golf Channel has diminished this year even as the quality of the golf has improved.

The Tour believes this could be a path to more coverage, and to a younger audience. In his memo on more pressing topics this week, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan wrote to the players, “We hope to come out of this test with a multi-event model that will provide fans with more opportunities to see live competition coverage of the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024 and beyond. Please tune in for a bit this week and let us know your thoughts.”

– Tim Cronin