The Grill Room – LIV still on the outside looking in

Writing from Bolingbrook, Illinois

Sunday, August 10, 2025

This is the fourth year of LIV Golf, which today wraps up its fourth visit to the Chicago area, the first two years at Rich Harvest Farms, and the more recent two years at Bolingbrook Golf Club, a course as public as Rich Harvest is private.

Galleries have been reasonably large all four years – Saturday last year set what LIV said was a record for a round of their rodeo in the U.S., with 15,000 on hand, and that was surpassed yesterday by a throng of some 18,000 – and the crowds have seen some fine play. The three victors here – Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm – all have undeniable pedigree in the game at large. All three have at least a decade more of being a threat in major championships.

That pedigree is something LIV still lacks. The supposed agreement to somehow meld the PGA Tour and LIV into one happy professional golf family only ended up ending legal hostilities, and the invoices from the law firms that come with it. That benefited the PGA Tour, which, unlike the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV operation, doesn’t have oil wells to draw on for excess expenses. (And the animus toward those who bolted continues, if the report of a five-year suspension of Hudson Swafford from PGA Tour play is any indication.)

What LIV doesn’t have in the golf universe is a sense of importance. Never mind the glitz associated with a LIV weekend – the skydivers, the techno music, the Saturday night concert (something adopted by the John Deere Classic, as traditional a tournament as there is, on weekends the past three years), and the Formula One TV leaderboard that proves we all need better eyesight or bigger televisions. All that, if changed or abandoned, wouldn’t make a difference in what LIV golf really is.

It is golf’s version of the Savannah Bananas. That concoction of baseball, created nine years ago by Jesse Cole, a fan of Bill Veeck, has swept the nation in popularity the last three years. Fans love the dancing, the music, the wacky rules changes – a fan catching a foul ball counts as an out – and the atmosphere. But the Bananas and their companion teams in the Banana Ball Championship League, the Firefighters, the Party Animals and the Texas Tailgaters, know where they stand in the firmament of baseball. They are the convivial sideshow, introducing new fans to the game as much as entertaining old fans.

Nobody sees the Bananas as a threat to the majors, or even the minors.

LIV has the same fun vibe in person, fans having a good time even in sweltering heat, but from the start, the PGA Tour has seen LIV as a threat. While the Tour made many missteps, starting with commissioner Jay Monahan’s refusal to talk to the Saudis, an error which has cost the Tour dearly, LIV’s signing a galaxy of stars certainly hurt the established circuit in the short run.

LIV’s misstep was in believing all the notables would add up to instant credibility. It has not. The stubborn reluctance to tweak its rules enough to gain a seat at the world ranking table has meant LIV’s results are essentially irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Joaquin Neimann has won five times this season and is undeniably one of the world’s best players, but that’s gotten him bupkis in the point system.

Just why the world golf ranking bosses – now led by CBS commentator Trevor Immelman, a former Masters and Western Open winner – is so dead-set against team play being a component of LIV tournaments is baffling, but that’s a major sticking point. And the LIV leadership, right up to the Saudi crown princes, thinks team golf is the greatest thing since the drill bit, so the stalemate is likely to continue. (One idea being whispered in LIV circles is dumping the silly team names – we’re looking at you, Majesticks – and lining up players by country or region, and playing a tournament in each country/region annually for a world team championship.)

The current stalemate leaves someone like Neimann in limbo, 103rd in the world rankings when he should be in the top 25 – despite finding more high grass Friday than a herd of elephants – and potentially adrift when it comes to next year’s majors unless he tries to qualify for the Opens. (That ranking will get worse when his fifth and first in a pair of 2023 Australian PGA tournaments goes off the board late this year.)

DeChambeau, 16th in the world, has a remarkable seven top-10 finishes in his last nine non-LIV starts, eight of them majors, including the 2024 U.S. Open win at Pinehurst, so he’s safe for the nonce.

Tyrrell Hatton is 27th at the moment, the next-highest LIVer, but Rahm is 75th and dropping like a rock. He was as high as third before leaving for LIV, but even a pair of top-10 finishes in the PGA and U.S. Open got him no higher than 59th. At least he has a green jacket and the permanent invitation that comes with it.

Until LIV and the Tour make a deal on team play, and on how LIV can co-exist with Tour play in the U.S., and presumably the lifting of sanctions on players like Swafford, the LIVers will be where legendary Beverly Country Club caddie master Eddie Barr said you don’t want to be in golf. They will be on the outside looking in.

– Tim Cronin

Of leaders and real leaders

Writing from Bolingbrook, Illinois

Saturday, August 9, 2025

There’s an old saying in golf that in the early rounds, those in the lead are sometimes only there thanks to math, and that those in control of the proceedings, sometimes several strokes back, are the real leaders.

That brings us to the leader board at breezy Bolingbrook Golf Club, where LIV Golf Chicago as completed two of three rounds. Atop the pile through 36 holes is Dean Burmester, whose total of 9-under-par 133 is built upon rounds of 68 and 65, the latter crafted on Saturday of five birdies and an eagle, offset by a lone bogey.

Burmester is 36-year-old South African who played several years on the European Tour and for a brief time on the PGA Tour before jumping to LIV for a small bucket of cash. 

Nearly as well placed is Josele Ballester, the Spaniard who recently turned pro and remains better known for urinating into Rae’s Creek during the opening round of this year’s Masters. He has since apologized for the breach of toonimint ethics, and, as best is known, has thankfully availed himself of the facilities so far at Bolingbrook, which is dotted with tempting lakes.

Ballester, who got off to a shaky start in LIV but finished tied for seven in the most recent tournament in the U.K., stands at 7-under-par 135 after rounds of 69 and 66.

There’s someone else at 135: Jon Rahm, of whom you may have heard. He is among the world’s elite players, the defending champion at Bolingbrook and the premier gate attraction, along with Bryson DeChambeau, this weekend.

It’s not only fair to say Rahm is the real leader, the concept just about shouts at those who consult the scoring. Rahm has Masters and U.S. Open titles. Burmester has watched the Masters on television. Ballester found the creek but missed the cut at Augusta National.

That trio will be in the final grouping tomorrow morning – play begins at 9:05 a.m., courtesy of our television peers at Fox – but Rahm is the one to watch in the group.

DeChambeau is the other one to watch, and he’s immediately behind at at 6-under 136 following a second straight 3-under 68.

Rahm built his 4-under 67 on a foundation of 5-under across four holes – an eagle on the par-5 12th followed by three straight birdies after a so-so start. Burmaster used the same formula to kickstart his 6-under 66.

“I made an incredible swing on 12 on that second shot with a 4-iron,” Rahm said. “That was about as good as I can hit a golf shot. Making that eagle is what kind of propelled me, changed the momentum the rest of the round and gave myself a really god chance on those final nine holes.

“Happy to give myself another chance going into tomorrow.”

Rahm has mostly been out of the rough and in the fairways thus far, much as he was last year. He certainly seems to be a horse for this course.

Burmester had trailed Ballester by two strokes at the turn, but his eagle-birdie binge jumped him into the lead and he kept it. It was his second eagle on No. 12, a straightaway 621-yard hole reachable in two by big hitters, in as many days.

“It’s exactly what I needed,” Burmester said. “Eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie and just hang on coming in.”

It’s worked so far.

Ballester said he want back to basics after finishing tied for 50th and 48th in his first two LIV starts. Saturday’s round was his sixth straight under par.

“I’ve been working really hard over the last month,” Ballester said. “It’s been great to see it paying off a little bit.”

Spoken like a leader.

Around Bolingbrook

Anthony Kim, who opened with an 11-over 82, bounced back with a 3-under 68 on Saturday, one of his best rounds since rejoining competitive golf. It’s his seventh under-par rounds in 35 starts this season. … There’s a three-way tie for the team lead between the Crushers, captained by DeChambeau, the Fireballs, featuring Ballester, and Stinger, whom Bermester toils for. They’re all 10-under. Rahm’s Legion XIII is sixth at 1-under. … The 91-degree temperatures are slightly mitigated by clouds, but the steady 21-mph south wind had the feeling of a blast furnace. … The gallery of about 18,000 set a new LIV record for an American gallery. Friday’s appeared to be around 9,000. … Sunday TV: 9-11 a.m. on FS2, switching to WPWR-TV 50 at 11 a.m., as WFLD is occupied with the Bears’ preseason pillow fight with Miami.

– Tim Cronin

Johnson, Garcia come back to life

Writing from Bolingbrook, Illinois

Friday, August 8, 2025

Remember Dustin Johnson? How about Sergio Garcia?

Those erstwhile stars now ply their trade on the LIV golf circuit, which has rumbled into the Chicago area – Bolingbrook Golf Club, to be specific – this week for the fourth time in as many years. Friday, both players brought back memories of their best days on the PGA Tour, each scoring 4-under-par 67 to share the lead after the first of three rounds on the sturdy municipal layout.

Johnson, who captured the 2010 BMW Championship / Western Open at Cog Hill and last won at LIV’s Las Vegas stop 18 months ago, scattered six birdies across his card, offset by a pair of bogeys, to get to a share of the lead late in the round. The 41-year-old sees room for improvement in his game.

“I hit a lot of really good iron shots and drove it halfway decent,” Johnson said. “It’s close. It only takes a couple of shots here or there.”

Garcia, the world traveler from Spain first seen chasing after Tiger Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, most recently triumphing in Hong Kong in March and lately falling out of form, survived a scare on the par-4 15th, his 16th hole, shanking a wedge but saving bogey after a run of four straight birdies and eight birds overall.

“A tricky day out there,” Garcia said. “It was good to be able to hit the right numbers (on approaches) most of the day. I’m happy with my round.”

Speaking of memory lane, remember Phil Mickelson?

The lefty? The phenom who took forever to win a major, then won his sixth, the 2021 PGA, after he’d turned 50?

That Phil Mickelson? The one who then jump-started golf’s civil war by signing with LIV for a king’s ransom and opening the door to similar riches for many of his peers? And who, four years in, hasn’t won on the rebel circuit?

Yep, that Phil Mickelson. Well, the 55-year-old led for a long time Friday thanks to a string of four straight birdies before back-to-back bogeys on the 17th and 18th, his 16th and 17th holes, derailed his chance to lead outright or share it. But at 3-under 68, it’s his best start since a 4-under 67 at LIV’s stop at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course in Virginia Beach. He sees the end of the season – there’s one individual tournament after this one, then the team championship, the same week as the PGA Tour Championship at East Lake – as an opportunity to salvage his year.

“This is a hard golf course, and with the (16 mph) wind, it can be challenging,” Mickelson said. “I was fortunate to make some birdies. It’s got a mixture of fun birdie holes and really difficult pars.” 

Mickelson is among a sixsome of players at 3-under, a gaggle including Bryon DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Terrell Hatton. All could have had better rounds but for a miscue. Hatton, by his reactions on the green, thought he should have scored 57 or so. Every missed putt was greeted with a look of shock.

The average age of the eight players at 67 and 68 is 38.25. Experience pays in LIV golf.

Then there was Joaquin Niemann, who was allergic to fairways in the opening round. A five-time winner this year, Niemann was 4-over though eight holes thanks to a bogey on the par-5 third and a triple-bogey 7 on No. 7. He rallied a bit and birdied the last to come in at 3-over 74, one of 27 players over par.

Fox in the henhouse

LIV touted its move from CW to Fox as a boon to larger ratings this year, but it really hasn’t worked out that way. Part of the problem may be the variety of times and the need to change channels. LIV uses the shotgun format to, in theory, get everyone in the field on television, but all three days at Bolingbrook are split between broadcast network Fox and either cable channel FS1 or FS2, the latter of which in in fewer homes.

Friday’s broadcast started at 11 a.m. and went from FS1 to Fox at 1 p.m. Saturday starts on Fox at noon and switches to FS2 at 2 p.m. Sunday starts on FS2 at 9 a.m. and moves to Fox at 11 a.m., but in Chicago there’s a twist. Fox-owned WFLD has the Bears preseason opener on Sunday, so the Fox portion of the final round will be on WPWR-TV 50. (And the IndyCar race on Fox apparently won’t be seen in Chicago until it airs on tape on FS1 at 7 p.m.).

Around Bolingbrook

Word on the street is 18,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday. … High man for the day was Anthony Kim, whose 11-over 82 included six bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey.

– Tim Cronin

Steady Feagles takes Illinois Open title

Writing from Kildeer, Illinois

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Bogey on the first hole of the final round isn’t the standard way to win a golf tournament, but it worked for Michael Feagles on Wednesday at Kemper Lakes Golf Club.

Feagles spotted the field a shot straight out of the box, then birdied the next three holes and five of the next 12 to not only insert himself into the discussion, but finally monopolize it. Despite a bogey on the par-5 15th, he hung on to post a 3-under-par 69 for a 54-hole aggregate of  1-under 215, good enough an annex a one-stroke victory in the 76th Illinois Open over Butler National head pro Andy Svoboda of Oak Brook.

The victory was not only welcome to Feagles, who has now won three state opens in two years – Arizona and Nevada were conquered last year – but historic. Now a resident of Scottsdale, Ariz., he’s the first non-resident of Illinois to capture the title. A rule change three years ago allowed Illinois-connected non-residents to play. Feagles’ connection was playing for the Fighting Illini golf team. He joins Mike Small, for whom he played, as an Illinois Open champion.

“Based on the way I played this week, I didn’t think I’d win,” Feagles said. “Struggled, but I just hung around, made some gritty pars at times.”

The 27-year-old was a Korn Ferry Tour member for two years but lost his card in the fall of 2023. He dearly wants to get out of the wilderness and back to the promised land. The $20,923 first prize will more than cover the PGA Tour’s pricey entrance fee to qualifying.

Feagles set a goal of 4-under 68 for the day to have a chance. Missing a birdie putt at the last meant he settled for 69, with three groups left to finish, including overnight leader Brian Ohr, who started with a four-stroke lead and saw it drip away, his several good approaches unrewarded.

Ohr had 13 pars and five bogeys for a 5-over 77. Bogeys on Nos. 14, 17 and 18 were especially harmful to Ohr’s cause. He had a one-stroke lead over Feagles at the turn, when Feagles was through 12 holes, but Feagles’ birdie of the 13th joined Ohr at 2-under. There was a brief three-way tie at 1-under with Medinah teaching pro Travis Johns, but he went bogey-double bogey on the 16th and 17th to fall out of contention.

In the end, Feagles’ bogey on the par-5 15th didn’t hurt him.

“I had no idea how this course would play,” said Feagles, who flew in Sunday night and didn’t play a practice round. “Man, it was tough. It kind of reminded me of college golf, where par is valuable. The professional game gets so birdie-crazy at times.”

Svoboda’s 1-under 71 lifted him from a tie for fourth to solo second, the best finish for a club professional since Johns finished second to Brad Hopfinger at The Glen Club in 2014.

Ohr ended up in a tie for third with Tommy Kuhl, another Illinois grad, whose 6-under 66 was the day’s best round. For a while, Medimah’s Grant Roscich was threatening to grab that honor, if not the lead, but his six-birdie day was sullied by a bogey and double-bogey. He settled for a 3-under 69 and low amateur honors, sharing fifth place with Johns and Tyler Isenhart.

“It’s just staying patient out there, stay positive as much as I can,” said Roscich, a collegian representing North Carolina who set a new course record on Medinah No. 3 the other day – a 61, proving that even spending around $30 million to revamp and toughen a classic course isn’t enough to prevent low scores.

Roscich was two strokes behind on the par-3 13th tee put pulled his the shot left and settled for double-bogey. He bounced back with a birdie on the 14th but Feagles was too far ahead. Then Feagles finished and had to wait.

“I tried to stay loose, hit some balls, but the worst part was not being able to control anything,” Feagles said. “Most golfers are control freaks. Luckily those (closing) holes are the hardest holes on the golf course.”

And good holes to have behind you.

Around Kemper Lakes

Nine of the 52 players to make the cut broke par in the final round. … The field averaged 75.04 strokes on the 7,125-yard layout Wednesday, and 80.28 strokes for all three rounds. … Mahomet resident Lance Olson’s 14-over 86 was the high round of the day.

– Tim Cronin

Ohr hoping to strike gold at Kemper Lakes

Writing from Kildeer, Illinois

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

A sorta-kinda PGA Tour hopeful, a full-blown Tour hopeful and a crafty club professional.

That’s your top three players for the final round of the 76th Illinois Open at Kemper Lakes Golf Club.

The protagonists, in order on the leader board:

Brian Ohr, 26, of Northbrook, who is teaching as much as he’s playing these days after a run at the Tour. He’s at 4-under 140 after adding a 3-under 69 Tuesday to his opening 71, the only player to score two under-par rounds at Kemper Lakes, a.k.a. the big course of horrors.

Timmy Crawford, 24, of Arlington Heights, chasing the dream of a Tour card sooner rather than later and sitting at even-par 144 after Tuesday’s 69.

Travis Johns, 47, lead teaching professional at Medinah Country Club, the big West Side club whose remodeled No. 3 course can be as tough or tougher than Kemper Lakes, depending on tee and cup positions and the disposition of those setting it up. Johns, the overnight leader, is also even par after adding a 4-under 76 to his opening 4-under 68.

Crawford and Johns, while four strokes in arrears, are the closest competitors to Ohr, who this days splits his time between teaching at Louis Sauer’s Next Level Golf in Northbook, and playing on the developmental APGA Tour.

Illinois coach Mike Small and Andy Svoboda of Oak Brook, head pro at Butler National, are tied for fourth at 1-over 145. The trio tied for sixth at 2-over 146 consists of Dylan Meyer, Michael Feagles and Bobby Beaubien.

“I just played steady, conservative golf,” Ohr said of Tuesday’s circuit. “I can’t try to beat the golf course. Just go with the flow and take the opportunities as they come. I’m grateful to be in this position.

“I’ve played out here a lot. One of my close friends is Jim Billiter, who was the head pro here. I think I’m comfortable at this golf course.”

But, Ohr said, Kemper Lakes in tournament condition is a different animal.

“It’s a lot easier usually, and still very difficult,” Ohr said.

“Brian is a class act and a really good player,” said Johns, in his threesome Monday and Tuesday. “Hits a nice little fade. I really like his game.”

Johns is chasing not only an Illinois Open win, but a career state grand slam. He’s won each of the other three tournaments open to professionals, the Illinois PGA, the Illinois Match Play, and the Illinois Players. And he’s thought of it.

“The funny thing is I leave the hardest one, with all the Tour players that come back – I guess if I win it against the Tour players, then I’ve earned it,” said Johns, who won a Match Play crown at Kemper Lakes.

Johns would also be the first Illinois Section club professional to win since Todd Tremaglio beat then-amateur D.A. Points in a playoff in 1998. Mike Small is a section member, but a coach and thus in a different classification than Johns and Tremaglio.

“I didn’t know what to expect not playing very much coming into it,” Johns said.

Johns suffered a quartet of three-putts on his outward nine, Kemper’s back nine, including a double-bogey 6 at the treacherous 18th prompted by a bad swing. He rallied and played the front nine in 2-under, including a trio of birdies, play more in keeping with his opening round.

“It was weird,” Johns said. “I hadn’t played that much golf. Normally you can get slowed down in you mind, but here I had 16-17-18 to play.”

But he survived and is as much in contention as anyone.

Crawford was 1-under for the day through 11 holes and missed the fairway on the right with his tee shot on the par-4 12th, but holed out for an eagle with an 8-iron and coasted home from there.

“A lot of ups and downs,” Crawford said of his pro experience so far. “It’s difficult. You have to play well.”

Crawford finished fifth in a Korn Ferry tournament last year after Monday qualifying, earning about $32,000, but hasn’t had a similar success since. Winning Wednesday would at least pay for each stage of Tour qualifying this fall and leave some money left over.

“I gained a lot of experience seeing where my game was,” Crawford. “I didn’t play great the rest of the year but I learned a lot.”

Around Kemper Lakes

The cut fell at 11-over-par 155 and included 52 players. The 13 amateurs advancing include Illinois Amateur champion Jordan Less. … Set up at 7,100 yards, Kemper Lakes was marginally easier in the second round, averaging 78.63 strokes. … Credit for perseverance goes to Joey Gavac of Chicago, who rebounded from his opening 102 with a second-round 93, a score that would have been much better but for his septuple-bogey 12 on the par-5 11th and the quintuple-bogey 10 on the par-5 15th.

– Tim Cronin