Stairway to the stars comes to The Glen Club

Writing from Glenview, Illinois

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

If you want to gauge the growth of professional golf in America, look no further than the Korn Ferry Tour.

Born as the Ben Hogan Tour in 1990 – the Hawk, asked his advice for the first players, said, “Watch out for busses” – it’s bloomed from a series of 30 $100,000 tournaments with $20,000 first prizes to this year’s 26 tournaments with purses of $1 million, winners collecting $180,000 each, with the playoffs at $1.5 million a shot.

In other words, today’s KFT is 1990’s PGA Tour in financial terms, only with the stars of the future rather than the stars of today.

One of those future stars is Harry Hall, who won last year’s NV5 Invitational at The Glen Club over the Memorial Day weekend. It’s back at The Glen Club this weekend, a four-round show commencing at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, in the middle of summer, but Hall is not. His success in the WGA-sponsored NV5 and at other KFT tournaments last season earned him a promotion to the PGA Tour, where he’s made over a million bucks so far this year.

Hall knocked off local favorite Nick Hardy of Northbrook last year by scoring five birdies in his last seven holes to tie Hardy and then bagging a trifecta of birds in a sudden-death playoff. But feel no pain for Hardy, for he also made the big tour and already has a win in his pocket, having teamed with Davis Riley to win the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

“It just goes to show the quality of the players who play in the tournament,” Hall said. “To win is a big boost of confidence to get to the next level. Hopefully I can continue to do that; I’ll always cherish that victory.’

“I was so grateful to be in contention (last year), because coming in I was 94th on the points list. We were halfway through the season and I hadn’t really had the success I thought I was going to have.”

Then he hit the jackpot, ensured his spot in the Korn Ferry Playoffs, and from there made the PGA Tour. So far this season, he’s made $1.4 million with three top-10 finishes and ranks 83rd in the point standings. That’s not enough to make the revamped playoffs – the first tournament has only 70 players this year, compared to last year’s 125 – so he’ll have to step on it to have a shot at the pot o’ gold in the Tour Championship.

Winning on the Tom Fazio-designed layout last year gave him that chance to succeed, as it did Scottie Scheffler, the current world No. 1, in 2019, in the inaugural then-titled Evans Scholars Invitational, Curtis Thompson in 2020 and Cameron Young in 2021. The 156 players in this year’s field want to duplicate that, from Ben Kohles, currently No. 1 in the KFT standings and one of 11 winners from this season teeing it up, to Monday’s eight qualifiers, each of whom had to shoot at least 7-under at either Stonewall Orchard or White Deer Run to earn a ticket for the weekend.

Players to watch include a gaggle of notable locally-connected players:

• Adrien Dumont de Chassart, the recent Illinois graduate who won his KFT debut in South Carolina the week before the U.S. Open;

• Ricky Castillo, a frequent contender in the Western Amateur who matched Dumont de Chassart by winning his KFT debut the week after, and who will be grouped with him at 12:12 p.m. Thursday;

• Brad Hopfinger, who captured the 2014 Illinois Open at The Glen Club and has been a KFT regular since 2015;

• Patrick Flavin, the 2017 Illinois Open winner at The Glen Club and a KFT member since 2020;

• and Mark Wilson, a five-time PGA Tour winner who has called Elmhurst home in the past and realistically, at 48, is tuning up for the Champions Tour.

The tournament will be telecast for the first time, and by an untraditional outlet. Barstool.tv, an Internet operation, will provide four-day coverage from 2:30-5:30 p.m. CT with a technical crew supplied by the PGA Tour and with a crew of commentators headed by Sam Riggs Bozoian, who goes by his middle name, and Jake Marsh. It’s the first time Barstool has televised live golf, though their Fore Play podcast covers the game.

– Tim Cronin

Koo comes through, wins Women's Western Am

Writing from Naperville, Illinois

Saturday, July 22, 2023

At Wednesday’s dinner honoring the 32 match-play qualifiers for the 123rd Women’s Western Amateur, each competitor received a few tokens of the accomplishment, including a bracelet with the phrase, “Make History,” on it.

Most of the players put the bracelet on immediately.

Jasmine Koo not only did that, but took it to heart.

The 17-year-old from Cerritos, Calif., had already qualified third, with a total of 7-under-par 137, an impressive pace at White Eagle Golf Club.

Then she put her foot down. Three days and five matches later, Koo was also wearing the gold medal symbolic of the oldest continuously-played championship in American women’s golf, her 4 and 2 victory over Sadie Englemann of Austin, Tex., the capper on a spectacular week of precision play.

Koo missed only one green and made six birdies in those 16 holes, running her total to 34 for the week across seven rounds and 116 holes. She had only seven bogeys in that span, and none in her final two matches. The total of 27-under for the week might be a Women’s Western Amateur record.

“It’s a lot of pressure,” Koo said of the grind. “Match play got me to thinking, hit the best shot possible.”

She hit shot after shot, and made putt after putt.

“I always putt better on pure greens,” Kool said, complementing superintendent Jim Canning’s staff. “I just really felt comfortable on these greens.”

Englemann, entering her senior year at Stanford with U.S. Women’s Open and Augusta National Women’s Amateur appearances and an NCAA team title to her credit, did nothing wrong in Saturday morning’s final, except she only made two birdies in a match where only birdies won holes and bogeys were nowhere to be seen. With Koo making birdies the way McDonalds makes burgers, two was not enough.

“I played to the best of my ability and she just had a better day than me,” Englemann said. “I’m pretty proud of how I played. Getting to the final is an achievement for me, because I’ve struggled in match play in the past. I’ve worked pretty hard on getting the strategy down. This shows me I can play it.”

Koo, the youngest winner since Chakansim “Fai” Khamborn triumphed as a 15-year-old in 2015, was all square with Englemann through six holes, Koo making a birdie on the par-5 second and Englemann answering with a birdie 3 on the next hole. Then Koo, miffed at a missed birdie putt on the incorrigible sixth green, went 3-3-3-3 on the seventh through 10th holes, with hole-winning birdies on Nos. 7, 9 and 10, to take a 3-up lead.

“I got kind of angry with myself that I missed that,” Koo said of the putt on the sixth.

Englemann birdied the 12th hole, but that was it. Koo closed with birdies on the 15th and 16th holes from five and 15 feet, respectively, to take the title.

“On 16, I hit a 3-hybrid,” Koo recalled of the 161-yard tee shot. “That was just a really good shot to top everything off to finish the match. I was like, ‘I want to win in style.’

“Walking down 16, I was (thinking), I didn’t win yet, I didn’t win yet. Then it dropped, and ‘Oh, I won!’ ”

(Later on Saturday, Koo's older brother Joshua scored a 1-up victory over Ben Bordiga of Shoreline, Wash., in the championship match of the Pacific Northwest Amateur at Chambers Bay near Seattle.)

Engelmann entered the week 68th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Koo 178th, her three junior wins over the last year earning fewer points than Englemann’s achievements. By winning the Women’s Western Am, Koo will move up in the rankings.

The poise she displayed will stand her well, including this fall, when she’ll play her senior season for the Dons of Cerritos High in the 605 League, and ideally, all the way to the state finals at Poppy Hills. Then it will be off to Southern California in the fall of 2024, when the Trojans and UCLA join the Big Ten.

“This prepares me,” Koo said. “I can win events in college. I wasn’t really the favorite coming in. Just being able to play my game and enjoy the course, that helped me play better.”

Koo will surely be back next year to defend her crown, and Englemann said she may return as well. Players often turn professional after their senior-year NCAA appearance, but getting so close and not getting to pose with the trophy might just stick in her craw. But Koo already knows the last back-to-back winner was Meredith Duncan, in 2000 and 2001, and the look in her eye indicated she wants to join the list.

Around White Eagle

The Women’s Western Amateur will be part of the Ladies Elite Amateur series, which commences in 2024, an official confirmed. The men’s version, which began last year, climaxes with the Western Amateur. … Next year’s Women’s Western Amateur will be played at the Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest.

– Tim Cronin

Park earns Women's Western medalist title

Writing from Naperville, Illinois

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Catherine Park is as happy-go-lucky as they come. She laughs easily and often.

Don’t, however, confuse the demeanor of the Santa Ana, Calif., resident with how she plays. When Park sticks a tee in the ground, she’s all business.

So far, her business adds up to success in the 123rd Women’s Western Amateur at White Eagle Golf Club. Wednesday’s 2-under 70 brought her to 10-under 134 for the 36-hole qualifying session and earned her the medalist’s title in advance of Thursday’s commencement of match play.

“Putting was the key,” Park, who is entering her sophomore year at Southern California, said with the authority of a veteran. “It’s knowing the greens and knowing where to attack.”

For Park, who earned the medal by two strokes over Bentley Cotton of Austin, Tex., and the Texas Longhorns, that meant 14 birdies in 36 holes. And now it means changing the plan of attack from stroke play to match play. Or does it?

“I still play the course,” Park said.

Cotton matched Park’s 70 on Wednesday, while Jasmine Koo, an incoming freshman at USC, finished third after an even-par 72 for 7-under 137.

Defending champion Taglao Jerravivitaporn of Thailand made match play at even-par 144. Marissa Wenzler, the 2021 champion, scored 3-over 147 and missed the cut by a stroke.

Grace Curran of New Lenox and Minnesota is the low Illinois resident at 2-under 142. Sarah Arnold of Geneva was the other Illinoian to advance, scoring 1-over 145 through 36 holes.

Around White Eagle

The field averaged 75.21 strokes on the 6,325-yard par-72 layout across 36 holes. … Two matches Thursday and two more Friday means the final is slated for Saturday morning.

– Tim Cronin

White Eagle a walk in the park for Park

Writing from Naperville, Illinois

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Three times, the bright lights of the LPGA played through White Eagle Golf Club in the early 1990s. In all those rounds, the best anyone could do on a testing par-72 course playing at about 6,250 yards was 7-under-par 65.

Marta Figueros-Dotti was the first, in the second round of the 1992 Sun-Times Challenge. Stephanie Maynor matched that in the third round. In 1994, Katie Peterson-Parker posted a 65 in the first round and Robin Walton made it four 65s in the final round.

Tuesday morning, with calm conditions and 120 highly-ranked amateurs on site for the 123rd Women’s Western Amateur, a fifth 65 was recorded in the opening round of stroke-play qualifying. White Eagle was set at 6,325 yards on this occasion, and Jasmine Koo, an incoming freshman at USC from Cerritos, Calif., scooted around bogey-free, including going out in 5-under 31 on the back nine, to match the LPGA foursome from a generation ago. Her stock – 188th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking – figures to go up once fast she plays are regular non-junior schedule.

About a dozen minutes later, Koo’s 65 was an afterthought. In the threesome immediately behind her, Catherine Park of Santa Ana., Calif., was stitching together an 8-under 64. She also opened with a 31 on the back, then played the front in 3-under 33 for a course record that might stand until, oh, maybe Wednesday afternoon, when those two and the rest of the field have at it again.

Park, who will be a sophomore a USC this fall, clearly wanted to keep the mantle of low Trojan, never mind her bogey on her seventh hole, the par-3 16th. Otherwise, she was perfect, with nine birdies on the other 17 holes of the Arnold Palmer-designed layout.

“I didn't expect to be a course record holder, but I have no complaints after a day like today,” said Park, who finished a stroke behind winner Rose Zhang in the NCAA championship.

The pin positions set up perfectly in Park’s mind.

““I'm like a cutter,” Park explained. “So I really, it's beneficial because like the holes are kind of, in my opinion, set for the cutter. It pleases my eyes. There's like no issue with me ever backing off a shot.”

For Koo, it was more of an adventure.

“Well, front nine and back nine was like two completely different games,” Koo said. “Front nine, I just, you know, I just stuck five shots (to set up birdies) and then back nine, I was really scrambling. I got a little tired but then my putting was really good. So everything just came together; almost like a perfect round, I guess.

“I’ll beat it tomorrow.”

Bentley Cotton of Austin, Texas and the Texas Longhorns was third at 6-under 66, while Kelli Ann Strand of Challis, Idaho and the Nebraska Cornhuskers scored 5-under 67.

The low 32 players after Wednesday’s second round advance to match play. For the moment, notables including defending champion Taglao Jerravivitaporn of Thailand (2-under 70) and local favorite Grace Curran of New Lenox (70) are safe, but the 14 players tied for 28th at 1-over 73, including Geneva’s Sarah Arnold, the Western Kentucky standout, will want to step it up. And the group tied for 42nd at 2-over 74, including Marissa Wenzler of Dayton, Ohio, the 2021 champion, will really want to floor it.

Around White Eagle 

The par-3 12th hole was the place to be on Tuesday morning, when Natasha Kiel of New Hope, Pa., and Momo Sugiyama of Carrara, Australia scored holes-in-one. Sugiyama, using a 9-iron, is tied for eighth after a 2-under 70, while Kiel, who wielded an 8-iron, is back in the pack after a 7-over 79. … Nineteen players broke par, with 27 of the 120 at par or better.

– Tim Cronin

Risvaer romps to Western Junior title

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Writing from Midlothian, Illinois

Hans Risvaer came into the 105th Western Junior Championship with no expectations, and then exceeded them.

Risaver, an 18-year-old from Miami, played Midlothian Country Club to near-perfection on Thursday, with rounds of 66 and 69 to run away with the Western Junior. His four-round total of 10-under 270 earned him a seven-stroke victory over fellow Floridian Noah Kent and Jacob Modleski of Noblesville, Ind.

“Today was the toughest day,” Risaver said. “The last 18 the wind picked up tremendously. Birdie-bogey on the front nine, and on the back, I made some good putts and made some good par saves. I kinda kept the momentum going.”

Risaver led Cooper Claycomb of Bowling Green, Ky., by a stroke entering the 36-hole final day, but extended his lead quickly as Claycomb faltered with a morning 73. Only 10 other sub-70 rounds were recorded in the morning, and none surpassed Risaver’s 66, which featured six birdies. And allowed him to lead Modleski by six strokes at lunch.

Often, that’s a recipe for losing one’s concentration, but Risaver birdied the par-4 first hole, and despite an even-par 35 on the front, would not be challenged. By the middle of the afternoon round, he was more worried that his father Oybind, who caddied for him, would make it around, but there was no problem with his endurance either.

While Risaver considered his second shot on the par-5 seventh hole in the morning, an excursion from the rough with a 3-wood over some trees that landed on the green and set up a two-putt birdie, as his signature moment, he left no doubt that he deserved joining Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa and Hunter Mahan, among the winners since the WGA switched the championship to stroke play in 1999,  with a 40-foot birdie putt on the 16th green.

“That was a little bonus,” Risaver said. “It was a left-to-right slider. I just picked by spot and put some good speed on it and watched it trickle in.”

To the center of the cup, that is.

“The course was playing tough,” Risaver said. “Hitting into some of the greens was like hitting into cement. You had to play towards the middle of the green and give yourself a putt.”

Aside from glory and a spot on a glittering list of winners, the victory earned Risaver a spot in this summer’s Western Amateur at North Shore Country Club, which will play about 400 yards longer than Midlothian’s 6,911, as far as it can be stretched without putting a tee on 147th Street. (By comparison to Risaver’s 270, Billy Casper scored 8-under 276 in 1969 and 12-under 272 in 1973 on what was a 6,654-yard par-71 course.)

“This is amazing,” Risaver said. “The WGA is an amazing organization.”

Because Risaver is entering Central Florida University this fall, he’s a one-and-done participant in the Western Junior. But what a one.

– Tim Cronin