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

Austin Greaser wins Western Amateur

Writing from Highland Park, Illinois

Saturday, July 6, 2022

As Austin Greaser tells it, he was 45 minutes from going down the highway on Thursday night, Exmoor Country Club in his rear-view mirror, before the misfortune of two other players created a 7-for-2 playoff for the Sweet Sixteen of the 120th Western Amateur.

Greaser was the first of the two survivors to match play, and Saturday ended up the last man standing. A 21-year-old native of Vandalia, Ohio and senior at North Carolina, Greaser won the championship with a dramatic back-nine rally featuring some of the sharpest golf the venerable competition has seen in years.

Greaser, 2 down to Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira of Argentina and the Arkansas Razorbacks after three holes, 1 down at the turn and 2 down again after 11 holes, won four straight holes with birdies, then withstood a final rally by the plucky Argentinian to score a 1 up victory.

“I hit some really nice shots and got some putts to go, and guess that was the deciding factor,” Greaser said.

It was, after one more twist. Greaser gave Fernandez de Oliveira an opening by parring the 17th hole when Fernandez de Oliveira drilled an approach to four feet and made birdie to close the gap to 1 down. Each hit the fairway on the 18th, then Fernandez de Oliveira dropped his approach 12 feet from a bunker-guarded cup, and Greaser bounced his approach into the rough behind the green.

He had hit the previous 16 greens in regulation and had putted from the right fringe on the first hole. By his standards, this was a wild shot. Now he had to get up-and-down for par and hope Fernandez de Oliveira missed his birdie chance to force extra holes.

Greaser’s flop shot stopped about four feet from the cup. Fernandez de Oliveira stepped up and gave it a good look but ran his putt three feet by. Greaser sank the par putt, punctuating it with a mini fist-pump with his left hand. Minutes later, that hand had the George Thorne Trophy in its grasp.

Greaser was non-plussed by Fernandez de Oliveira holing out from a bunker to win the third hole and go 2 up in the match.

“Not to brag, but I holed out from bunkers twice against Michael Thorbjornsen in last year’s semifinals,” he said, not needing to say that Thorbjornsen won that match and went on to win the title at Glen View Club.

“Like I told everybody, I just kept trying to execute my game plan,” Greaser added.

Clearly, Greaser did not arrive at Exmoor fresh off the pickle boat. Along with last year’s Western Am experience, he was runner-up in last year’s U.S. Amateur. That got him into the Masters and U.S. Open, and he made the cut in the latter. Plus, he won the individual title in the NCAA Regional North Carolina played in.

Now, he’s won one of the biggest titles in world amateur golf.

“I almost teared up on the green,” Greaser said. “You lose in this and you’re hungry to go back in and play an hour later. Winning it makes he want to go win more.

“I’m proud to be part of the history of one of the great tournaments as the champion. It means the world to me.”

Reminded of some of the winners of the Western Amateur, including fellow Ohioan Jack Nicklaus, Greaser said, “For me to kiss the same trophy is unbelievable.”

Greaser’s day started with a bang-up finish to his semifinal match against William Mouw. Greaser led 1 up at the turn, watched Mouw square the match with a birdie at the par-5 12th, then played his last three holes birdie-eagle-birdie to close Mouw out, 3 and 2.

“I felt like I hit it well, got kinda cold in the middle of the round, cold meaning pars, then caught a heater at the end. This afternoon, being 1 down going into the back nine with Mateo, I knew it was out there,” Greaser said of his birdie potential on Exmoor’s inward half.

Fernandez de Oliveira had no defense for Greaser’s blitz: a 35-footer from the back of the green for a deuce on the 12th; a 6-footer for birdie on the par-4 13th; a conceded 10-footer for a deuce on the 14th after Fernandez de Oliveira botched his second shot; and a 40-foot two-putt for birdie on the par-5 15th.

The quartet of birds moved Greaser from 2 down to 2 up. After the duo matched par at the 16th, Greaser was dormie 2. Fernandez de Oliveira had to win the last two holes to stay alive.

He won the 17th, but Greaser’s resolute par at the last settled the issue.

“I played very good in the morning,” Fernandez de Oliveira said of his 2 and 1 victory over Travis Vick. “I was lucky enough to get that bunker shot on 17 to close it out (over Vick), and I gave myself a chance in the final.

“I gave it a run,” Fernandez de Oliveira said of the final. “I gave it a good run. He hit the shots he needed to hit at the right time on the back nine. After going to 16, I didn’t think I had a real good chance, but I was lucky enough to make a putt (on 17) and get to 18 and try to tie it. Austin’s a great player, a great guy, and he got it done.”

The players traded 10 birdies across the 18 holes, with only a pair of bogeys, both by Fernandez de Oliveira. Greaser went around Exmoor in 5-under 66, Fernandez de Oliveira in 3-under 68, with the usual concessions.

Semifinal Matches

Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira d. Travis Vick, 2 & 1

Austin Greaser d. William Mouw, 3 & 2

Championship Match

Greaser d. Fernandez de Oliveira, 1 up

Around Exmoor

Greaser’s belt broke when he lashed his approach shot out of the rough on the 17th hole of the title match. … Both Greaser and Fernandez de Oliveira are headed to the U.S. Amateur. … Greaser played 68 match-play holes and 140 overall in five days, while Fernandez de Oliveira played 66 and 138, respectively. … About 400 spectators, many of them Exmoor members, watched the final match in person. More had the opportunity to watch online through the Western Amateur website from the start and on the Golf Channel website after a snafu was rectified in a production much-improved from the original at Sunset Ridge in 2019, and above last year’s as well.

– Tim Cronin

Vick new favorite after upsets at Western Amateur

Writing from Highland Park, Illinois

Friday, August 5, 2022

Match play golf plays no favorites. Make too many mistakes, or run into a hot player, and you’re going home.

The 120th Western Amateur’s defending champion and its medalist found that out Friday at Exmoor Country Club. Michael Thorbjornsen, the winner last year at Glen View Club, was bounced in the morning, and medalist Ross Steelman was summarily dismissed in the afternoon quarterfinals after holding a 4-up lead at the turn.

“I was literally booking my plane ticket after nine,” said Travis Vick, Steelman’s conquerer by a 2 and 1 margin.

Vick, a senior at Texas, was all over the map on the front nine, including playing a shot from between the Oakhouse, used for curling and tennis, and some tennis courts back to the ninth green. But on the back nine, he found fairways and greens and Steelman found trouble, including drowning his tee shot on the par-3 12th.

Vick ended up making five birdies in eight holes on the back nine, squaring the match on the 14th hole and winning with a birdie on the par-4 17th. The surprise wasn’t that the low amateur in this year’s U.S. Open and a second-team NCAA All-America won, but how.

The Houston native will play Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira of Argentina, an Arkansas Razorback, in Saturday’s first semifinal. Fernandez de Oliveira beat Cole Sherwood, 2 and 1, after routing Yuxin Lin, the Florida Gator hailing from Beijing, China, 6 and 4, in the morning.

Austin Greaser of Vandalia, Ohio, advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year with a 1 up quarterfinal victory over Kelly Chin of Great Falls, Va. Put another way, North Carolina beat Duke. Greaser plays William Mouw of Chino, Calif., a 1 up winner over  Pepperdine teammate Derek Hitchner.

Mouw broke away with a 15-foot eagle putt on the 15th and a two-putt par from the same distance on No. 16, then hung up with a 55-foot two-putt at the last, the second from about seven feet, after Hitchner birdied the 17th.

“I was going to do whatever it took to win,” Mouw said. “I know what Derek’s capable of doing. I knew it was going to take some really good golf to come down and win it. I’ll take that last putt.”

The morning Sweet Sixteen, aside from seeing Thorbjornsen ousted, 4 and 3, by Cole Sherwood, also featured the three members of Illinois’ golf team dealt losses.

Tommy Kuhl of downstate Morton lasted the longest, falling 2 up to Vick in a match where Vick birdied seven of the first 11 holes, then saw Kuhl penalized and lost the hole because his ball moved on the collar of the 12th green when he put his putter down. Kuhl then rallied to close a 4-down gap to 1-down on the 18th tee, but an errant drive at the last cost him.

“It was a tough draw, and that’s all part of it,” Kuhl said. “He has quote the resume, and he played well today. I’m just glad I fought hard and had a chance.

“I was not too happy after (the penalty). Just tried to make some birdies and I did.”

The highlight of that run was his third shot on the par-5 15th, a gouged wedge from a horrible lie to two feet for a birdie to win the hole, cutting Vick’s lead to 2 up. Kuhl won the 16th as well, but halved the 17th and lost the last.

Still, he found something in the effort that can carry him to the U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay later this month.

“It was a fun week; glad to be here,” Kuhl said.

Steelman knocked out Illini Adrien Dumont de Chassart, 5 and 4, and Austin Greaser beat incoming Illini transfer Matthus Besard, 3 and 2, to complete the wipeout of the Champaign-based contingent.

Sweet Sixteen Results

Ross Steelman d. Adrien Dumont de Chassart, 5 & 4

Travis Vick d. Tommy Kuhl, 2 up

Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira d. Yuxin Lin, 6 & 4

Cole Sherwood d. Michael Thorbjornsen, 4 & 3

Austin Greaser d. Matthus Besard, 3 & 2

Kelly Chinn d. Ricky Castillo, 6 & 5

William Mouw d. Spencer Tibbetts, 3 & 2

Derek Hitchner d. Connor Mckinney, 21 holes

Quarterfinal Results

Vick d. Steelman, 2 & 1

Fernandez de Oliveira d. Sherwood, 3 & 1

Greaser d. Chinn, 1 up

Mouw d. Hitchner, 1 up

Saturday Semifinals

8 a.m. – Vick vs. Fernandez de Oliveira

8:12 a.m. – Greaser vs. Mouw

Around Exmoor

Golf Channel’s TV stream, available at the Western Amateur and Golf Channel websites, starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Friday, neither the morning nor afternoon telecast carried through to the conclusion of the last match. … Admission is free. Friday’s gallery probably numbered at least 800, with people coming and going all day. 

– Tim Cronin

Steelman medalist in wild Western Amateur

Writing from Highland Park, Illinois

Thursday, August 4, 2022

In a few years, what Ross Steelman accomplished on Thursday would be accompanied by a trophy ceremony and an oversized check late on a Sunday afternoon. Streelman beat a field of 155 other players to the finish line in the 120th Western Amateur – sorry, no check – with a 72-hole score of 14-under-par 270 at Exmoor Country Club, including Thursday’s 36-hole grind that produced rounds of 66 and 68.

But while leading the stroke-play portion of the Western Am gets you a trophy and a handshake, Steelman is only halfway home. After winning in the equivalent of a PGA Tour weekend – and many of these players will be playing for cash within a few years, if not weeks – the competition is only beginning.

The Western Am has the most formidable schedule in golf. On Friday morning, Steelman and 15 other worthies commence match-play eliminations. The Sweet Sixteen round in the morning, quarterfinals on Friday afternoon, the semifinals on Saturday morning, and finally two players will remain on Saturday afternoon to scrap for the grand title.

“It’s a tough three days,” Steelman said. “I’m really happy to medal. I played really solidly and am happy to come out on top against the best 156 amateurs in the world.

“It’s a long week. I like match play a lot. You can make a 12 and it doesn’t hurt you. It’s a different pace.”

Among those advancing was defending champion Michael Thorbjornsen of Wellesley, Mass., who scored 7-under 277, and Ricky Castillo of Yorba Linda, Calif., making his fourth straight Sweet Sixteen appearance after posting 8-under 276. Castillo made it to the semifinals in 2019 and 2020 but was knocked out by Thorbjornsen in last year’s quarterfinals.

Tommy Kuhl of downstate Morton and Illinois’ golf team, the runner-up in the Illinois Amateur, tied for fourth at 9-under 275, and says he can flip the switch from stroke play to match play.

“ I’ve got to be ready for tomorrow,” Kuhl said. “It doesn’t really matter (who the opponent is). I’ve just got to go out and do my thing.

“My game feels the best it ever has. I’m playing more confidently than I have all summer and even last year. Been struggling with my ball-striking. Usually that’s my strength. This week I just decided to trust it, and I’m hitting it so good off the tee.”

The playoff for the final two spots began with seven players who deadlocked at 6-under 278 and still featured a quartet, Austin Greaser, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Gordon Sargent and Ian Siebers, after three sudden-death holes. Greaser advanced on the fourth hole, and some 30 minutes after the 8:04 p.m. sunset, Dumont de Chassart advanced on the seventh extra hole via a 20-foot birdie putt.

His survival places three Fighting Illini players in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2014 at Beverly Country Club. He would join Kuhl and transfer Matthis Besard, like Dumont de Chassart from Belgium.

Cohen Trolio, John Butler and Patrick Welch were eliminated on the first two holes.

Sweet Sixteen Pairings

8 a.m. – Ross Steelman vs. Adrien Dumont de Chassart

8:12 a.m. – Tommy Kuhl vs. Travis Vick

8:24 a.m. – Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira vs. Yuxin Lin

8:36 a.m. – Cole Sherwood vs. Michael Thorbjornsen

8:48 a.m. – Matthis Besard vs. Austin Greaser

9 a.m. – Kelly Chinn vs. Ricky Castillo

9:12 a.m. – William Mouw vs. Spencer Tibbits

9:24 a.m. – Derek Hitchner vs. Connor McKinney

Around Exmoor

Among those missing the cut of 6-under 278: 2019 champion Garrett Rank, the NHL referee and Illinois Amateur champion Mac McClear of Hinsdale. In McClear’s case, the next stop is the U.S. Amateur. … The elite quality of the field is shown by the four-round scoring average of 72.46 on the par 71 layout. Fourteen holes played over par, but all three par-5s were under par, defenseless again the length of the modern player. … A majority of players and caddies word blue ribbons on their hats or caddie bibs as a show of support for the Highland Park community, wracked by the shooting at the Fourth of July parade a month ago.

– Tim Cronin

Perkins holds off Chopra for Illinois Open title

Writing from Naperville, Illinois

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

When David Perkins got to his ball in the rough behind the par-5 17th hole at windblown White Eagle Golf Club, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

“The lie wasn’t horrible, but grass was going three different ways,” Perkins said.

At that second, Perkins led the 73rd Illinois Open by a stroke over a crowd, including Daniel Hudson and Ethan Farnam, who had finished. He needed to get down in no worse than par.

Earlier, he’d been faced with a similar lie behind the 11th green, and had salvaged par with a deft chip from a tossed salad of a lie to within a foot on a green sloping away from him. Now he had to do so again, and on his first shot following a delay for a quick-moving lightning storm which had doused the course. He was 30 yards from the cup.

Perkins played the shot deftly, to within a few feet, and sank the putt for a crucial birdie en route to his first victory as a professional.

“I was so short-sided … the rain could have helped me up, could have been a blessing,” Perkins said. “I had (the wedge) pretty wide open, and at the last second, I closed it up a bit for safety. It came out perfect. It was an awkward lie. I was a guess. I knew if I left it short, I’m going to make this tournament really close, and if I didn’t, I’m going to make par at the worst. That shot was huge.”

His par on the 18th earned him a 2-under-par 70, a total of 6-under 210, a stroke ahead of runner-up Varun Chopra of Champaign, who birdied the last two holes for 70 and 211.

It also earned Perkins $23,168. The East Peorian is the first downstate player to win the Illinois Open since Brad Benjamin of Rockford captured the 2009 edition.

“Technically, it doesn’t get you any (tour) status, but confidence, belief, those aspects of being a professional – that’s what it’s about,” Perkins said. “It gives me confidence going into Q school, no matter what level, Korn Ferry, PGA, whatever I’m doing.”

Perkins’ scholarly chipping showed that great touch combined with steely nerve can win the day.

“It just played hard every day, so it was keeping myself in it, knowing if I kept missing in the right spots and hitting golf shots, I could be in it,” Perkins said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be hitting every green.”

When he didn’t, he generally made the play that saved par on a tough test.

Low amateur Marcus Smith Jr. of Rockford was also in the mix, tied with Perkins at 5-under after the 13th, where Perkins’ poor tee shot led to a bogey while Smith, fighting through a sore finger on his right hand, drilled his approach within eight feet and sank the birdie putt for the tie.

“I could see (the leader board), but that’s one thing I’ve been trying to work on, seeing the score and not letting it effect me, because at the end of the day, I can’t do anything about his score,” Smith said. “But I definitely took a look at it."

Smith’s 1-under 71 featured five birdies and two double-bogeys, one of which was on the par-4 16th, which put Perkins in front for good. Eliminate one of the doubles and he and Perkins are in a playoff.

“Like I said from the beginning, it was mental-mental-mental,” Smith said. “Staying positive, because I knew it was going to get difficult. It’s the final round and you want to put some pressure on the leader, but at the same time, you want to be smart.

“I couldn’t be happier about the way I played. It’s a tough loss, because I was right there, but that’s three rounds under par, and my sixth round in as many days (including the Rockford city championship) and all six are par or better. So I’ve had a good week.”

While the final group was jousting with each other, Hudson, a 27-year-old Chicagoan, was racing into a tie for third with a course-record-tying 7-under 65. His bogey-free circuit brought the erstwhile Kansas Jayhawk to 4-under 212, matching Ethan Farnam and Smith, improving his position 23 places from Tuesday.

Hudson, a frequent player of always-windy Chicago Highlands when he’s not on the mini-tours, opened on White Eagle’s back nine in 3-under 33. Then, “I wanted to see how low I could go,” he said of his final nine. “I didn’t make a putt the first two days. When I made by first two birdies early in the round, I got my confidence back.”

Birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6 followed, and got him to one off the lead when Perkins, Gannon and Smith shared it. Then Perkins birdied No. 17 to knock the 4-unders from contention.

Around White Eagle

There isn’t a senior division, but Roy Biancalana, 62, tied for seventh place at 2-under 214, a remarkable performance. Biancalana was first in Illinois Open contention in 1985, when he tied for second behind Gary Pinns. Biancalana won the title in 1987, won again in 2001 after leaving golf to become a minister, and tied for 14th last year, after coming back from a stint as a life coach. An example of what perseverance, weight training and winter workouts will do to keep one’s self sharp, he earned $3,725. … Perkins’ victory was his second in a state major. He also won the 2019 CDGA Championship, an amateur match-play affair. … The record purse totaled $120,122, with more than 90 percent coming from entry fees. … The field averaged 74.15 strokes in the final round. … Drew Shepherd, a first-round co-leader, closed with a flourish, eagling the par-4 18th for 1-under 71 and 1-under 215. … Next year’s Illinois Open is at Flossmoor Golf Club.

– Tim Cronin