Welcome golfers, but not fans

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Don’t look now, but the BMW Championship is being played at Olympia Fields Country Club beginning today.

Really, don’t look. At least in person. There’s no admittance for spectators this week, courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic. The PGA Tour wants nobody about the premises except players, caddies, a handful of volunteers and a scant number of reporters for print and TV.

You? No. You’re on the outside looking in. There’s Golf Channel and NBC for you.

This is how it’s been since the professional circuit resumed action after taking the spring off when the pandemic hit in mid-March – and after considering plans to play the last three rounds of the Players Championship without fans.

This is how it will be until there’s a vaccine, one would imagine. If the virus is still about, it’s hard to change the reaction to is – unless you’re a governor of a southern state and throws caution to the wind.

Thus, when Richy Werenski goes off No. 1 and Alex Noren does the same off No. 10 at 11:30 a.m., they’ll do so with no gallery, and only the PGA Tour’s online TV service watching.

This isn’t what the good folks at Olympia Fields expected when they renewed acquaintances with the Western Golf Association. A longtime devoted supporter of the WGA’s Evans Scholars Foundation, Olympia last hosted the Western Open – this is the 14th under the BMW moniker – in 1971. Bruce Crampton won that. Jack Nicklaus won the one before, in 1968. Walter Hagen picked up the title at Olympia in 1925. Machine Gun McGurn was picked up by the police for being McGurn and in the Western Open field in 1933. He missed the cut.

The Olympians were expecting 35,000 fans a day, a profitable cut of the concessions and corporate sales, to go with the 20 hours of network TV coverage and a burnished reputation.

Instead, the gallery ropes were put up for no logical reason at all. Olympia still gets a healthy site fee, but it’s who will be missing this week that hurts.

And we don’t mean Webb Simpson, who figured out he doesn’t have to play this week to play next week in the Tour Championship. Remember, the BMW is the effective semifinal of the PGA Tour season, which ends next week at East Lake in Atlanta, where FedEx will carpet-bomb the fairways with cash.

Unlike every professional tournament since the 1997 U.S. Senior Open, Olympia’s testing North Course will play to the rotation architect Willie Park Jr. intended when he designed it in 1923. That means the iconic 14th hole will be just that, and so on.

Among the more interesting groupings is the 1:09 p.m. group off No. 1: newly minted PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa, Harris English, and bomber Bryson DeChambeau, whose 2015 U.S. Amateur title on Olympia North thrust him to stardom.

The 12:03 p.m. group off No. 10 isn’t bad either: Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger. Right behind that trio is the 12:14 p.m. group: Carlos Ortiz, Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson.

It should be fun. This is the first tournament for the regular PGA Tour crowd at Olympia since the 2003 U.S. Open, where all manner of low scores were recorded in the first two days, including a 63 by Vijay Singh, and then the wind blew and the rough grew. Four players, led by Jim Furyk, finished under par. The PGA Tour likes birdies, so the numbers will be low – remember last year’s dissection of Medinah No. 3? – but if Johnson or someone else shoots 30-under, as occurred last week at TPC Boston, a certain clock tower might fall over.

– Tim Cronin

Small brings it home again

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Mike Small almost went full CaddyShack on Wednesday at Medinah Country Club.

He didn’t say, “Be the ball,” but “Be in the present” was close enough, and it worked.

Keeping his mind on business throughout the final round of the 99th Illinois PGA Championship, Small fired a 3-under-par 68 on Medinah No. 1 and scored a four-stroke victory over Mistwood pros Frank Hohenadel and Andy Mickelson.

Small’s total of 200 was 13 under par for three rounds on No. 1, and that’s fitting. It was Small’s record-extending 13th Illinois PGA title.

“It doesn’t get old and it doesn’t get easier,” Small said. “It’s been a while since I’ve won. It feels good to contend.”

Small led Mickelson and Hohenadel by a stroke entering the final round, birdied the first two holes – the first hole even after plunking his tee shot into a fairway bunker – and was never headed. The Mistwood duo scored matching par 71s, but treading water wasn’t going to cut it with Small going under par for a third straight round.

“I didn’t hit it good, but I competed and a putted really good today,” Small said.

He also stayed in the moment, unlike, by his admission, last year’s final round at Ruth Lake, where he squandered a five-stroke lead on the back nine and opened the door for Medinah director of instruction Travis Johns to win. That was a lesson learned.

“I didn’t look at the scoreboard until the 18th tee, so I didn’t know (the status),” Small said. “I didn’t get wrapped up in the score. … I knew they were close. … I was nervous. I was indecisive a couple times, then reminded myself to stay in the moment and be decisive.”

He was. His only bogey was on the fifth hole. Small added birdies on the 10th and 13th holes to the opening brace and otherwise kept it in play, forcing his challengers to take chances.

Mickelson was two strokes back until a trio of birdies beginning at the 13th hole ended his hopes. He birdied the 17th and 18th to draw even with Hohenadel, who bogeyed the 17th.

“He just played a normal round of golf, and Frank and I had our hiccups,” Mickelson said. “At the most critical time, I had bogeys in the wrong spots. Mike did exactly when he needed to do, came out strong early. That puts you in a spot where you’re playing catch-up.”

Mickelson’s birdie on No. 7 tied him with Small, but a three-putt bogey on No. 9 dropped him back a stroke, and Small’s birdie on No. 10 made it two strokes.

Hohenadel’s birdie on No. 11 pulled him within two, but Small answered with a birdie on No. 13 and that was that.

“Mike played solid, did his thing, and I didn’t take advantage of my opportunities,” Hohenadel said. “I wasn’t aggressive on my putts.”

Johns was fourth at 6-under 207, with Roy Biancalana of Blackberry Oaks fifth at 3-under 210. Chris Green of Glen View Club had the round of the day, a 4-under 67, to finish sixth at 1-under 212. Nobody else was under or at par.

Around Medinah

Course No. 1 averaged 76.07 strokes on Wednesday, with only one birdie recorded on both the sixth (George Goich) and seventh (Andy Mickelson) holes. … Small collected $9,000 from the purse of $75,000. … The annual section championship also served as the qualifier for the national club pro, formally the PGA National Professional Championship. Small, Mickelson, Hohenadel, Johns, Biancalana, Green, Curtis Malm, Jim Billiter, Brian Carroll and section newcomer George Goich of Flossmoor advanced to Port St. Lucie, Fla.

– Tim Cronin

It's Small vs. Mistwood duo for Illinois PGA crown

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Mike Small has trouble keeping up with his accomplishments.

It’s a great problem to have, especially when they keep piling up.

Tuesday, for instance. The Illinois men’s coach fired an 8-under-par 63 on Medinah No. 1, taking the lead in the 99th Illinois PGA Championship with a 36-hole aggregate of 10-under-par 132.

That’s a competitive course record by three strokes – and matches the 63 punched in by member Tim “Tee-K” Kelly in a casual round on No. 1 a few years ago.

It’s also the third 63 Small has authored in Illinois PGAs. He’d scored a 9-under 63 at Stonewall Orchard in 2007 and an 8-under 63 on Olympia Fields’ South Course in 2010.

“I thought I had more than that,” Small said.

No, but nobody else has more than one.

Small needed every one of his six birdies – plus an eagle – to take the lead. The Mistwood duo of Andy Mickelson and Frank Hohenadel are a stroke back at 9-under 133. Hodenadel scored 66, Mickelson 67, and they’ll join Small in Wednesday’s final threesome.

The winner will likely come out of that trio. Jim Billiter, the 2015 winner – and the previous record holder on the revamped No. 1 – is at 5-under 137 after a 3-under 68, while Medinah’s Travis Johns dropped to 4-under after a 1-over 72 and is joined at 138 by Roy Biancalana.

Nobody else was close to Small’s 63 on Tuesday. Out in the day’s third group, he took advantage of negligible wind and eagled the first hole via a 230-yard 2-iron to six feet, then birdied the next two holes, the start of an opening nine that featured only eight putts. That’s eight one-putts and a chip-in to save par on No. 9.

Small said the four par saves on the front were the key to the round. As important was hitting every green on the inward half.

“I got off to a good start,” Small said. “Finishing strong yesterday put me in a good frame of mind today. I could have really gone low on the back nine.”

Three birdies and six pars, with 15 putts for a total of 24 for the round.

It could have been better, of course. With golfers, it can always be better. Small noted lipping out a birdie putt on the 15th hole, coming close on the 11th and 18th, and failing to hit the par-5 17th green in two. Instead, he had a 50-yard bunker shot, but managed to scramble for par.

“But I’m happy,” Small said. “I needed that. Best round of the year? Yeah.

“I tried to get out of my way today,” the 12-time Illinois PGA winner and Illinois Golf Hall of Fame member added. “I get in my way a lot. I’ll coach myself up and I’ll hit bad shots. It’s gotten worse over the years.”

In other words, he does to himself what he preaches to hit players not to do.

“Right, but I do what I do all the time,” Small said. “I evaluate all day long, and I shouldn’t evaluate.”

A dozen titles does not diminish the thirst for a 13th, especially after having to withdraw after being close to the lead two years ago, and squandering a five stroke lead in the middle of the final round last year.

“It’s weird,” Small said. “I’ve won this thing 12 times, and I blow a lead once, and it’s like it’s a big deal. I should just forget about it. Last year was weird. I’ve never done that, not even in the club pro.”

Hohenadel won the Illinois PGA on No. 1 in 2011, when the fairways were grassless and the course was a a year from renovation. He went wire-to-wire. This time, he’ll need to come from behind, but is at a place that inspires him.

“There’s something about these grounds, all the great events played here,” Hohenadel said. “It’s going to be fun. Usually, I’m looking at the cutline to qualify for the national club pro. Now, I can go for it.”

Hohenadel scored five birdies, offset by a long bogey, in stitching together his 66, and played the back nine in 3-under 32. Unlike the old layout, he was able to swing away.

“You can do whatever you want off the tee,” Hohenadel said. “The old layout, you were hitting driving irons 250 (yards). It’s a ton of fun. I like the changes. It fits my game better.”

Mickelson, with four birdies on a six-hole stretch on the back nine, was looking at a 66 as well until three-putting the rolling 18th green to drop his only stroke of the day.

“I hit it pin high, but on the wrong side,” Mickelson said. “Until then, I was piling on (birdie) looks of 10- to 12-feet on the back nine.”

Regardless, he said he’ll sleep well going into the final round.

“The hardest night’s sleep is last night, wondering if you can put another good round on the board,” Mickelson said.

Going 66-67 seems to fill that bill.

Like Small, who won the Illinois PGA on No. 1 in 2008, and Hohenadel, Mickelson also carries good Medinah memories. He took Kyle English to the 37th hole in the CDGA Amateur championship match on No. 3 in 2011 before falling. But he was undefeated on No. 1.

Around Medinah

Since Tom Doak’s renovation of No. 1 in 2012-13, the course record had been the 66 scored by Jim Billiter in the second round of the 2015 Illinois PGA. Small obliterated that. Billiter went on to beat Matt Slowinski by two strokes. … Brian Dalton aced the 311-yard par-4 third hole. It’s the first ace and albatross for the Stonewall Orchard pro. He and 61 others made the cup, which fell at 9-over 151.

– Tim Cronin

Medinah, Mistwood pros dominate Illinois PGA's first round

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Monday, August 24, 2020

Brandon Moore has a fan club at Medinah Country Club.

It’s his fellow professionals.

Monday, Moore gave them something to shout about, firing a 5-under-par 66 to grab a share of the lead in the 99th Illinois PGA Championship.

A 28-year-old who got his start in golf in Medinah’s bag room in 2014 and is now the club’s co-head pro, Moore worked his magic on the back nine of the club’s No. 1 course, which was his opening nine for the first round. He birdied the 10th hole from a greenside bunker, slammed in a 142-yard pitching wedge out of the rough for an eagle 2 on the par-4 14th, and chipped in for birdie on the par-3 18th.

“I was able to hit some good shots,” Moore deadpanned. “I was hitting the driver good, just kept giving myself opportunities.”

When he needed to use a putter, good things happened, as in a birdie on the par-4 16th.

The 5-under 30 opening nine was a tough act to follow. He played the course’s front nine in even-par 36. Nobody was able to top that, but fellow Medinah pro Travis Johns and Mistwood’s Andy Mickelson matched him at the top of the pile, compiling bogey-free rounds.

“That might be the greatest thing ever,” Johns said of Moore’s opening round. “That is so awesome that he’s 5-under. The kid never gets to play golf. That’s pretty impressive. I hope he has two more days. All the members love him.”

Johns had seven 3s on his card, which never hurts. Three of them were for birdie.

“I think I got what I wanted out of the round,” Johns said. “The putting was good. There were a couple of really loose shots, but thankfully they were on the correct side. It was there for the taking today, a little bit.”

Mickelson called his effort the best of his year, and he’s had a better than average year.

“My short game has been pretty good, and my putting’s been pretty good, and I’m starting to have spurts where I’ve hit it well,” Mickelson said. “Today, it was gettable. I played 16 great holes and kinda held on the last two. I shot what I should have shot, more or less.”

His day’s highlights included a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 1, his 10th hole of the day.

The three 66ers are one stroke ahead of Mistwood’s Frank Hohenadel, who scattered seven birdies across his scorecard but settled for 4-under 67. Skokie’s Garrett Chaussard is two in arrears after a 3-under 68.

That whole crowd played in the morning, before the day’s heat really took effect, and when the greens were receptive. Conditions in the afternoon were more testing, and Illinois coach Mike Small, a 12-time Illinois PGA winner, took advantage to post 2-under 69. Only he, White Eagle’s Curtis Malm and Glen View Club’s Jim Billiter (both also at 69) were under par in the afternoon.

Around Medinah

Overall, 11 players were under par and five more were at level 71, with the average score 76.83. … Every hole played over par, with the par-4 fourth a whopping 0.63 strokes over par. … The winner of this 54-hole battle will collect $9,000 from the purse of $75,000. … Illinois PGA staffer Dana Gattone, a Medinah member, won the women’s club championship over the weekend – by 38 strokes.

– Tim Cronin

Johns the man to beat in Illinois PGA

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Sunday, August 23, 2020

Since he arrived in the Chicago area, Medinah Country Club director of instruction Travis Johns has compiled a more consistent record in Illinois majors than any other player in the state.

The Australian native has 34 top 20 finishes over the last decade. Twenty-five of those are top 10 placings. Seventeen of those are top five finishes. Twelve of those are in the top three. Six times, he’s been the runner-up. Three times, he’s emerged triumphant: the 2010 Illinois Match Play, the 2014 Players Championship and the 2019 Illinois PGA Championship. Only Illinois coach Mike Small, with four Illinois PGA titles in the last decade, has won more state majors in that time.

All of which is news to Johns.

“I didn’t know that,” he said, eyebrows raised, when looking at a chart of his accomplishments. “I don’t know that there’s one thing that accounts for it.”

Johns, 42, is very much rooted in today, not yesterday. Perhaps that’s why he’s so focused.

“Maybe I concentrate a bit in those events,” Johns said Thursday, taking a break between teaching on the busy Medinah range.

This sterling resume is recounted because Johns, believed to be the second left-hander to win, Frank Hohenadel being the likely first, will attempt a defense of his Illinois PGA title beginning Monday, when the 102nd edition of the championship – or 99th, if one dismisses the three Middle States Championships before the section’s name-change – is played on Medinah’s testing No. 1 course.

The field of 129 features seven past champions and includes all 10 of Medinah’s PGA-affiliated staffers. Asked if he’d rather repeat or just beat the rest of his colleagues at the big west side club, Johns smiled and said, “I’m pulling for every single one of them. I hope they do, really, really well. If I was to lose to someone, I hope I lose to one of them.”

Of course Johns wants to beat them. His thirst for competition is what lured him to the U.S. as an amateur in the summer of 1999, when he played on the amateur circuit, including the Western Amateur at Point O’Woods, near Benton Harbor, Mich., where he met the woman he would marry.

That assured a stay in the States, and after about a decade in Dallas, Johns and his bride relocated to the Chicago area. He was simultaneously the instruction guru at Glencoe and Twin Lakes, spending the morning at the former and the afternoon at the latter, before a position at Medinah opened up. Four months after arriving, he was elevated to director of instruction.

“I was here by myself (on the range). It was 12-13 hours every day, crazy,” Johns said. “Now we’ve got four instructors (and a new teaching and practice center) as well.”

Regarding the Illinois PGA, Johns noted the rotation that includes Medinah No. 1 every three years, and Stonewall Orchard the same, as helpful. Olympia Fields’ South Course used to be part of that rota as well.

“After a while, you should, even if you don’t jibe with the courses, get a little used to them,” Johns said. “And the Match Play is always at Kemper (Lakes). There’s some familiarity, I would say. You would argue that against the majors on the Tour. They’ll only come back maybe every eight years. Then look at the Masters. Remember Dan Forsman? He would always play well at the Masters. He hit it high and was top 20 a lot. Familiarity.”

This will be the fifth visit of the Illinois PGA to Medinah No. 1 across 13 years. Small won here in 2008, Frank Hohenadel in 2011, and Jim Billiter in 2015. They’re all in the field. Adam Schumacher, who won in 2017, has moved to Point O’Woods and competes in Michigan PGA tournaments now.

Small was leading last year at Ruth Lake, a record-extending 13th IPGA title in sight, when Johns overhauled him on the back nine. Small was leading until a watery double-bogey on a par-3 and Johns’ steady play turned the tables.

Small, the men’s coach at Illinois, has played more this year than usual since there’s been nobody to coach with the pandemic raging, and leads the Illinois Section point standings. He’s always a threat, as is second-ranked Andy Mickelson of Mistwood, third-ranked Andrew Godfrey of White Pines – just transferred from Mistwood, and Jeff Kellen, an assistant at Butler National who ranks fourth in the points, just ahead of Johns.

Defender or not, Johns doesn’t necessarily fancy his chances.

“I haven’t done any practice,” he said. With a nod out the window to the range, he added, “I’ve been standing out here 12 hours a day, today 13. There were 16 people on the range at 7:20 this morning, and the range doesn’t open until 7:30. It’s just been real busy.”

He was teaching last year as well, and look what happened. Obviously, Johns can switch it on.

“Sometimes, and sometimes not,” he said. “When I feel like I’m putting all right, I know I’ve got a shot.”

Recently, he had a putter modified to feel like his favorite putter of all, one he used a decade and more ago and was unaccountably lost.

“I had this putter,” Johns said wistfully. “I won five of 10 events. The next year, I lost it. It just went missing. Nobody wants a left-handed putter. I left it somewhere.

“This (new) one, it feels pretty good.”

Let that be a warning to the field.

– Tim Cronin