WGA will look “long and hard” at BMW in Chicago in 2028

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Sunday, August 20, 2023

The next four playings of the BMW Championship, a.k.a. the Western Open in dramatic lore, are scheduled to be played outside the Chicago area, the home of the Western Golf Association.

That will raise as-yet untold millions for the caddies-to-college Evans Scholars Foundation, help the WGA broaden their caddie programs to more universities, and likely held BMW sell more cars.

But it does nothing for the Chicago golf fan that has loyally supported the WGA, through the Western Open and other ways, for decades, and especially since 1962, when the then-vagabond Western Open came to Chicago to stay. Or so it seemed.

Since 2008, when it visited Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Mo., just outside St. Louis, the BMW has been played in the Chicago area nine times and elsewhere seven times. The upcoming run of Castle Pines in 2024, Caves Valley in 2025, Bellerive in 2026 and Liberty National in 2027 will run the ratio to nine here and 11 elsewhere. The every-other-year pledge to play in Chicagoland has vanished.

So what of 2028? What about a return to Olympia Fields, a hit with both the players and the spectators?

“It would make sense to look long and hard at Chicago in ’28,” said John Kaczkowski, the WGA’s president and CEO, Sunday at the lunch hour. “This has been great so far, fantastic. Great crowds. I haven’t heard one negative comment from players.”

Olympia members would likely welcome a return visit in five years. At least one Olympia employee thinks it’s a done deal, which is not the case.

“We haven’t had formal discussions with these guys, but I think our intent is to,” Kaczkowski said. “And we’ll have discussions with Medinah, but they’ve got to be a willing participant, Olympia, Medinah, Conway (Farms).”

Those are the three private clubs hosting the BMW since it last played at Cog Hill in 2011.

“They’ve shown they can host this tournament.”

Olympia Fields has been paid a flat site fee this year, with the WGA reaping the rewards of the ticket sales and many luxury suites. For instance, the largest-in-golf three-story structure behind the 17th tee and 18th green holds about 1,800 people, and probably returned about $1 million to the WGA after construction expenses.

Conway Farms hosted three times from 2013 to 2017, and Medinah, its No. 3 course currently behind rebuilt in advance of the 2026 Presidents Cup, hosted throngs in 2019. Cog Hill, of course, hosted the Western / BMW 20 times in 21 years from 1991 to 2011.

“With the Presidents Cup at Medinah in 2026, it just kind of made sense for us to not be in the marketplace prior to that, but I would say it’s coming back shortly thereafter,” Kaczkowski said.

But a former president of BMW North America soured on the south suburbs in general and Cog Hill in particular, as did some players after the course was remodeled by Rees Jones. Medinah probably wouldn’t want to host a tournament two years after the Presidents Cup. Conway Farms might be the best possibility outside of Olympia Fields.

“From our perspective, rotating the BMW Championship in and out of Chicago has worked tremendously well,” Kaczkowski said, recalling that the average net income for a Western or BMW was averaged $2 million in its final years there. But the excursion to Bellerive in 2008, while Cog Hill was being renovated, opened eyes. It raised over $3 million, which translated into more scholarships.

“Financially, we raise a lot more money for the Evans Scholars Foundation when we’re out of town. We build a network of supporters and potential supporters by going to places like Wilmington (Del., last year’s BMW site) and Caves Valley in Baltimore. Plus it gives a lot of visibility to the Evans Scholars Foundation.

“For those reasons, it’s worked out great. From the Chicago golf fans’ perspective, it hasn’t maybe worked out that well.”

Kaczkowski noted that the WGA’s Korn Ferry Tournament isn’t on a par with the BMW Championship, but added the prime time to add a tournament on the PGA Tour schedule in Chicago, from mid-June through mid-September, has no dates available.

“Unless you want an opposite field event versus a major, and I don’t think the fans of Chicago would respond to that,” Kaczkowski said.

• Max Homa was understandably livid after a fan barked “pull it” as he was putting on the 17th green Saturday, just after the guy had cheered fellow competitor Chris Kirk for missing his putt on the same green.

“Probably drunk, I hope for his case,” Homa said late Saturday. “Or else he’s just the biggest loser there is, but he was cheering and yelling at Chris for missing his putt short.”

Homa said the spectator and his pal evidently had betted on the outcome of the putts via one of the online betting outlets on their phone.

“He kept yelling that … one of them had $3 for me to make mine,” Homa said. “I love that people can gamble on golf, but that is the one thing I’m worried about. I don’t know what he had to lose.”

• Through three rounds, the North Course has held up despite the two inches of rain (1.71 inches Monday and .29 inches Thursday morning) prior to the first shot struck in anger. No water has been put on the course since, and the rough, at least inside the ropes, has grown to over five inches.

The three-round scoring average of 69.588 compares with the dry-condition average of 72.314 through three rounds in 2020, when the rough was similarly high, and there were no spectators to mat down the rough outside the ropes. For that matter, there were no ropes. 

– Tim Cronin

The best climb Olympia's leader board

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Saturday, August 19, 2023

After the second 62 of the week – this one by Sam Burns – after slides down the leader board by Chris Kirk and Rickie Fowler, after a barrage of birdies by the leaders, there’s a conclusion to be drawn after three rounds of the BMW Championship.

Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course brings out the best from the best.

Here are the leaders going into Sunday’s final round, where the winner will be showered with $3.6 million from the $20 million purse:

Sharing first, at 11-under 199, Matt Fitzpatrick, the Northwestern product who won the U.S. Open at The Country Club last year, and Scottie Scheffler, who won the Masters last year and is the top-ranked player in the world at the moment.

Solo third, at 10-under 200, Brian Harman, who won the British Open at Royal Liverpool last month.

Any of that trio will fit in nicely with the list of champions of the first 119 playings of the Western Open, which has been known as the BMW Championship since 2007 and, following a 46-year run of exclusive play in Chicago, has bounced around the country more often than not. You know the usual suspects: Nicklaus, Palmer, Woods, Hogan, Hagen, Snead and Nelson, both Byron and Larry. That crowd.

The 32,000 fans who poured into Olympia on Saturday were treated to fireworks from the  current trio of swells and many others. Burns’ bogey-free 62, constructed of an octet of birdies in a 14-mph south-southwest wind, tied Max Homa’s record of Friday and set the early tone, which later players tried to emulate. The next-best round was Scheffler’s 64, including an inward 4-under 31, which vaulted him into a tie for the lead.

“When you get a wind this heavy and it starts swirling, there’s a lot of holes where it can change your shot, close to 20 yards,” Scheffler said. “No. 6 comes to mind. Rickie (Fowler) and I both hit 8-irons there – I may hit mine a touch further than he hits his – and his ball flew almost to the back of the green and my ball flew pin high. There’s a big difference in the gusts.”

Fitzpatrick might have owned the lead it by himself but for a clueless marshal who nearly stepped on his ball in the five-inch rough on the 18th hole as Fitzpatrick stood there. If looks could kill, Fitzpatrick would be in the Olympia Fields pokey. The grass around the ball was ruffled, as was Fitzpatrick’s demeanor. He ended up with a bogey.

“(He) definitely brushed it because you could see the grass was completely moved,” Fitzpatrick said. “It was definitely further down than when I got there. It just came out heavy. If it sat up a little bit higher, it comes out a little better on the green – a little less stressful bogey than what I had.”

Fitzpatrick’s tremendous pitch back to the third green from near the fourth tee after a flyer out of the rough was the shot of the day, and allowed him to save par. It was a 42-yard pitch to 11 feet.

“I was just trying to get it up by the green, to be honest,” Fitzpatrick said. “It wasn’t a great place to be.”

Only a bogey on the ninth hole prevented Harman, the 2014 John Deere Classic champion, from reaching 11-under as well. He scattered four birdies across his scorecard for a 3-under 67.

“I was fortunate to get out of there with 3-under,” Harman said after hitting five fairways. “I’ve got to drive it a little bit better if I’m going to have a chance tomorrow.”

If the theory than anyone within five strokes of the leader has a chance, a dozen people could lift the J.K. Wadley Trophy come 5 p.m. Sunday. Max Homa, whose day was ruined with a triple-bogey 7 on the seventh hole, struggled to a 71 but is a 9-under 201 and two back. Victor Hovland and fan favorite Rory McIlroy are at 8-under 202. Burns’ 62 set him at 203 with Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele and Denny McCarthy, the latter on the Tour Championship qualifying bubble at nightfall. Corey Conners and Sungjae Im are at 6-under 204.

But more likely, it’ll be one of the top half-dozen players who will triumph. Not since 2000, when Robert Allenby, tied for seventh entering the final round, came through – in a playoff over Nick Price – has someone that far back climbed over the leaders to win.

Around Olympia Fields

Scheffler and Fitzpatrick are in the last pairing at 12:50 p.m., with Harman and Homa starting at 12:39 p.m. The 12:28 p.m. duo of Hovland and McIlroy is another attractive pair. Taylor Moore starts the parade at 8:20 a.m. as a single and may be finished by 11 a.m. … Fitzpatrick’s younger brother Alex is second in the Handa World Invitational on the DP World (European) Tour, but six back of the leader. … The ancillary contest each year at this tournament is who edges into the top 30 in the season standings and thus advances to East Lake for the Tour Championship, where the gross national product of Borneo awaits the winner. Right now, Denny McCarthy is 30th, and tied for seventh in the BMW. If he stays there, he’s in. If not, No. 31 Jordan Spieth or someone farther back can pass him with a good final round. Spieth is tied for 30th in the BMW, seven strokes behind McCarthy. There are more permutations to who occupies the final places than there are stars in the night sky. … Zach Johnson is also watching closely, as this week and next gives him the final evidence for his six Ryder Cup captain’s selections. … The scoring average of 69.714 on Saturday brought the three-round average of 69.587. Four birdies on the 18th holes brought the week’s total there to eight, but it’s still the hardest hole, .306 strokes over par. … Byeong Hun An’s 377-yard drive on the 17th Saturday is the longest of the week. … A well-placed source said Friday’s gallery was about 26,000 and Thursday’s a few thousand below that. Call it 22,000. Adding in Saturday’s 32,000, the three-day total is 80,000, with a day to go. Good crowds were also on hand Tuesday and Wednesday for the practice and pro-am day.

– Tim Cronin

62! Homa sets course record at Olympia Fields

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Friday, August 18, 2023

Max Homa and course records on classic American layouts seem to go together.

In 2013, then a student at California, Homa scored a record 61 on Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course during the Pacific 12 Championship. That earned him a passel of “atta boys” from his teammates.

Friday, now a seasoned professional for just short of a decade, Homa took on Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course in the second round of the BMW Championship – and won.

Speckling 10 birdies over his card like a spray-painter, and surviving two bogeys, Homa scored 8-under-par 62 to break the mark of 63 established by Vijay Singh in the second round of the 2003 U.S. Open and subsequently matched by Rickie Fowler and Thomas Detry in the 2007 and 2015 Fighting Illini Invitationals, respectively.

Homa, who hit 10 fairways and 16 greens in regulation to get to 10-under 130 and a two-stroke lead, knew what he was doing as he did it, which makes it that much more impressive.

“The (video) board said Chris Kirk is challenging the course record of 63 – I just randomly saw that, and then I had to think about it,” Homa said.

Kirk settled for 4-under 66 and is second to Homa at 8-under 132 after 36 holes. Matt Fitzpatrick and Brian Harman are tied for third at 7-under 133,

Homa, out in 3-under 32, birdied six of the holes on the inward nine. He stood 10-under after a 6-foot birdie on the par-5 15th, but bogeyed the par-3 16th after missing the green and failing to save par. But he found the 17th green even after missing the fairway and drained a 21-footer for a bounce-back birdie to a 62 a possibility again. A routine par on 18, if two-putting from 51 feet can be considered routine, made it reality.

“I felt I was able to attack all day,” Homa said. “Obviously the greens are still really soft, so being in the fairway as often as I was, I was able to be aggressive when I wanted to. If I didn’t, I could just play to the middle of the green.

“It was a major bonus to make as many putts as I did, but it was all really good. Here, when you’re in the fairway, it becomes significantly easier, more so than other golf courses.”

That’s a tribute to, among others, course architect Willie Park Jr., who designed the course a century ago, to those who have since tweaked it while retaining the original layout, and to superintendent Sam MacKenzie and his crew, who have followed the Tour’s plan of five-inch rough to the letter.

“I do think that it asks a lot,” Homa said of the North Course, noting that hitting fairways are a must. “The greens are really tricky. You have some odd putts, you need to lag putt well, and you’re going to have some awkward little ones. The greens kind of remind me a little bit like Augusta where you can have some putts on some decent slopes.

“It’s pretty thorough throughout the golf course, what it asks of you.”

It was also a tribute to Homa for staying in the moment.

“After 14 or 15, I was just thinking to myself, ‘Ive birdied most of the holes on the back nine.’ That was quite a nice feeling. Sometimes you’re just zoning, but I knew I was making a lot.

“I heard the standard bearer say something about how he’s getting tired because he had to change the numbers on our thing so much because Pat (Patrick Cantlay) was making a lot too. It was just a crazy day.”

Homa was three strokes behind overnight leaders Rory McIlory and Brian Harman at daybreak and now is three ahead of Harman and five ahead of McIlroy, who shot 68 and 70 respectively. But Kirk is closest of all after his second straight four-under 66.

Kirk said he wouldn’t mind another pair of 66s on the weekend, which is understandable, as it would put him at 16-under and probably in the winner’s circle. But even he recognized that Friday’s 66 left a lot of pizza in the box. He had nine made putts of two feet or less. Drop a few more from farther out and the course record of 63 would have been in danger three hours before Homa wiped it out.

For Kirk, Friday’s problem was the green speeds on the drying-out North course were quicker than Thursday’s, when the round was played immediately after a deluge, and he couldn’t quite adjust.

“It’s not the easiest thing in the world,” Kirk said. “Some days it just feels very natural. You don’t even have to think about how hard you’re hitting your putts – uphill, downhill – you just kind of dial it in.

“Today, I don’t think I three-putted any, but it just was not quite there. With green that have a lot of slope on them like these do, matching that live and speed is tough.”

Kirk changed from an Odyssey No. 5 to a Versa No. 7 putter going into the week, but the odyssey to perfection continues.

“Just a little something different to look at,” Kirk said.

Fitzpatrick’s 3-under 67 was marred by a bogey at the last when he had to lay up out of the heavy rough. Harman had matching 34s en route to his 68.

If not for Homa, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele would have had the rounds of the day, 5-under 65s. Rose’s was the more intriguing, opening with four straight birdies and then a 1-under roller-coaster after that, closing with six 3s in his last seven holes, and nine 3s in all.

Cantlay, the two-time defending champion, is at 4-under 136 in his quest to match Ralph Guldahl as the only three-peat winner of the Western Open, retitled the BMW in 2007. Guldahl managed the feat in 1936-37-38. That was back when a 62 was the stuff of miniature golf.

Around Olympia Fields

Unlike Thursday’s round, which was played under lift, clean and place regulations, the ball was played down on Friday. … Attendance improved and the general parking area at Lincoln Mall sold out on Friday. There were probably about 35,000 people on the grounds. … Homa’s 130 is his best start on the American tour. He’d opened with 132 three times before, most recently at Riviera this year, where he finished second. … His 62 was the 16th score of 62 or better in Western / BMW history, a table topped by Jim Furyk’s 59 at Conway Farms in 2013. … Hideki Matsuyama withdrew before the round, citing a bad back. He shot 71 on Thursday. … The field averaged 69.327 strokes. The 18th hole was the most difficult for the second day, averaging 4.367 strokes and yielding only three birdies (Harris English, Justin Rose and Taylor Moore). Si Woo Kim made the only birdie on 18 Thursday, and double-bogeyed it Friday.

– Tim Cronin

McIlroy, Harman pace BMW

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Thursday, August 17, 2023

There are 65s and then there are 65s. The first round of the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club provided textbook reasons on how different one can be from another.

Brian Harman’s 5-under-par 65 on Thursday included a pair of chip-ins, seven fairways hit, and 26 putts. A bit of excitement, a lot of routine, especially for a current British Open champion.

Rory McIlroy’s 65 included one chip-in, three fairways hit, a hit-and-hope 7-iron out of heavy rough and through trees on the par-4 17th that set up the chip-in, and sundry other adventures.

Together, Harman and McIlroy share the lead at Olympia Fields through 18 holes. They managed their scores on a day when an hour-long downpour delayed play for two hours and prompted the institution of lift, clean and place in fairways. That helped Harman more than McIlroy, who visited the four-inch-plus rough with the regularity of a 20-handicapper and still played bogey-free golf.

“With the course being so soft, it’s almost an advantage to be playing out of the rough going into some of these greens because you know the ball is not going to spin,” McIlroy rationalized after hitting only three fairways. “I’m not saying I was trying to aim for the rough. I was just being super aggressive because I knew in the back of my mind I wasn’t really being penalized for it.

“I rode my luck a little bit. Going into the next three days, I’d love to hit more fairways,” McIlroy said. “The golf course is certainly not playing the way it played in 2020.”

Then, dry conditions and firm turf made for a 72-hole score of 4-under-par 276 for winner Jon Rahm and and playoff loser Dustin Johnson, while McIlroy tied for 12th at 3-over 283. Hideki Matsuyama led after one round at 3-under 67 in 2020. This year’s winner will likely be 12-under or lower.

The heart of McIlroy’s round was a mid-round string of five straight 3s, with birdies on the seventh, ninth and 10th holes, with putts of about 13, 14 and 10 feet, respectively. Those were the three longest made putts of his round. Otherwise, it was a scramble-fest. As on the 17th.

“The window (from the left rough with trees fronting him and the need to fade the shot) was okay. There were a couple branches above the window I was looking at. If it hits those, it’s just going to drop down near that left front bunker.”

Where, he figured, there was a decent chance to save par. So he rolled the dice.

“It’s only Thursday,” McIlroy said. “I’ll take it on and see what happens.”

The ball landed in the left rough, 40 feet from the hole, and from there he chipped in, a bonus birdie for his 65.

Harman, whose 2014 victory in the John Deere Classic makes him eligible for the Illinois Slam – sweeping the Deere and BMW / Western Open in a career – ran down a 42-footer for a deuce on the par-3 16th, but aside from sinking a 15-footer for birdie on the seventh hole, had a ho-hum day on the greens. He couldn’t get 2020 out of his head.

“Last time we were here, the greens were really, really fast,” Harman said. “It’s been a little bot of an adjustment trying to get a feel for them.”

That duo is a stroke ahead of Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sahith Theegala (whose 167-yard hole-out for eagle was the shot of the day), Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler and Chris Kirk, whose 4-under 66s looked quite good on a day when conditions and the ability to put the ball in one’s hand might have expected the course record of 63 to be equaled, if not surpassed. But Olympia’s North Course, as it did in 2020, stood tall. The course average of 69.720 showed as much.

“I think it’s a great layout, a great design,” said Fitzpatrick, who was 6-under across nine holes mid-round. “It’s a tough golf course. The rough is up (so) if you miss the fairway, there’s a premium on that. If the weather stays like this, windy, dry, hot I think it’ll probably get back to where it was in 2020. Hopefully it gets that way.”

Fowler threatened until plunking his tee shot in Butterfield Creek on the par-4 17th. That led to a bogey and tossing away a stretch of excellence that featured three back-nine birdies and brought him a brief share of the lead. Then he nearly sank a 58-footer for birdie at the last, but settled for par and 66.

Jon Rahm, the winner here in 2020, got to 3-under under a bogey at 17 dropped him to 2-under. He parred 18 and signed for a 68.

Around Olympia Fields

The Western Golf Association no longer announces attendance, but from the moment the spectator gates opened at 10 a.m. – three hours later than planned thanks to the storm – there was a steady stream of fans eager to see the first BMW played in the Chicago area since 2019 at Medinah Country Club. Including those in the luxury suites, the gallery was likely upwards of 30,000. … With the bad weather gone for the rest of the week, round 2 will start on time at 8:26 a.m. … High men for the day were Seamus Power and Kurt Kitayama with 6-over 76s. … Don’t expect anything from wire-service reports in Chicago-area papers. The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Southtown and Daily Herald are not represented, though the Herald has a space reserved in the media center. They’re taking the fine coverage of Associated Press reporter Doug Ferguson. There was a time when the Tribune would have a half-dozen reporters and photographers on hand and the Sun-Times and Southtown were close behind. To quote Scarlett O’Hara, the scratch player from Tara Country Club, that day is gone with the wind.

– Tim Cronin

Small again, after all

Writing from Beach Park, Illinois

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

When you need a golf shot to be made in the state of Illinois, when the pressure is on, when there’s a title on the line, and you’re not sure of your skills or fortitude, there’s someone you should call.

Mike Small.

The Illinois men’s golf coach has been the go-to player in the state since the turn of the century, when he won the 2001 Illinois PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf Course. He was 35 years old, as new to the section as he was new to his job after trying to make the PGA Tour full time. A growing family and the realization that tour life wasn’t for him convinced the Danville native to take the job at his alma mater.

Since then, Illinois has won 13 Big Ten titles, advanced to the NCAA Championship 14 times in the last 15 playings, and piled up every national honor but an NCAA title while sending a busload of players to the pros. Small has built a golf factory in Champaign.

As a player, he’s been a legend in his spare time. Three national club pro titles. Four Illinois Opens. And now, after what he calls “one of the best shots I’ve hit in years,” a 14th Illinois PGA Championship at ThunderHawk Golf Club and 19th state major. Both are records by a light year. His 3-under 69 for 9-under 135 put him over the finish line for the title and $10,000 first-place bounty without need of a playoff.

The innocent bystanders who were the victims this time were Jeff Kellen of Butler National and Andy Mickelson of Mistwood.

Kellen, playing in the penultimate threesome, scored 4-under 68 for 8-under 136, and waited to see what Small and Mickelson did on the home hole, a 600-yard par-5. Mickelson hit his approach to 15 feet and made par for 136 and joint second. Then Small stepped up, 108 yards from the cup. With a 17-mph wind behind him, it played a couple of yards shorter.

“I hit a little three-quarter, less than full, gap wedge,” Small said. “I took the spin off it. It turned out good. When I saw it in the air, I thought it was going to be pretty good. I was just hoping it didn’t spin back.”

Small is modest. It turned out staggeringly good, stopping 12 inches from the cup. A gimme for the championship. The many club pros watching behind the green, fellows who have been beaten by Small more often than not over the past 23 years, could only shake their head. Small had done it again.

“You want to have a putt at it,” Small said, who couldn’t recall hitting a shot that close from that far out on the final hole.

Mickelson was in the hunt all afternoon, making birdies on his first two holes, getting to 9-under through 11 holes with only Kellen, who went five-under in a four-hole stretch around the turn, ahead of him. Back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15, the latter thanks to a tee shot on a par-3 that he couldn’t fathom coming up short of the green, set him back.

“It makes no sense,” Mickelson said. “The wind was like nothing. The yardage was right. I still do not understand how it didn’t get there.”

A clutch 15-foot birdie on No. 17 moved the Mistwood master back to 8-under and tied with Small and Kellen. Then came the last, and Small worked his magic again.

“He’s just freakin’ good, man,” Mickelson said. “I love playing with Mike because he never backs down.”

Small birdied the second and third holes – the latter a 30-footer to get to 8-under, when went on a roller-coaster of three birdies and four bogeys in the next nine holes, including a pair of the latter on Nos. 9 and 10 that he rued. The latter put him four strokes in arrears of Kellen.

“From the eighth to the 12th I hit some really poor shots,” Small said. “I was trying to find a rhythm. I found it the last three-four holes there.”

After 13 holes, Kellen was 10-under, Mickelson 9-under, Small 7-under. But Kellen bogeyed the 14th and 15th, falling to 8-under, where he stayed, and Mickelson joined him. Small’s birdie on the par-5 16th brought him back to 8-under and in position to pounce.

“I didn’t know if Jeff was going to make a birdie or not, and when I heard he didn’t, the green light went on,” Small said.

Like a beacon, and like a superhero, Small answered the call. 

Around ThunderHawk

Small added the Illinois PGA title to the Illinois PGA Senior title he won earlier this year, the second time he’s doubled his pleasure. He also did so in 2020, following Gary Groh, who did so in 2002. … Except in 2018, when the tournament was extended to Thursday by poor weather and Small withdrew because it was the first day of practice at Illinois, Small has never finished worse than a tie for seventh in the section championship. … The total purse was $74,000. … Nobody else in PGA of America history has won more than 12 section championships. … Qualifiers for next year’s national club pro championship, aside from Small and Chris French of Aldeen, who were already in the field: Kellen, Mickelson, Kyle Donovan (Oak Park), Matthew Rion (Briarwood), Jim Billiter (Ivanhoe), Chris Green (Glen View), Brian Carroll (The Hawk), John Varner (Beverly) and Steve Orrick (Bloomington).

– Tim Cronin