Farnam stuns Perkins to take Illinois Amateur

Writing from Wheaton, Illinois

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Ethan Farnam wasn’t out of it starting the final round of the 89th Illinois Amateur, but he wasn’t in it either.

He was four strokes behind 36-hole leader David Perkins of East Peoria, the Illinois State standout who had won the CDGA Amateur last year and was runner-up in that this year. 

Engrave the Louis Emmerson trophy?

Not quite.

Farnam, like everyone else, failed to pressure Perkins, going around Cantigny Golf’s windblown Woodside nine in even-par 36. Perkins, after a birdie on No. 2 expanded the margin to five strokes, was 10-under. Then Farnam bogeyed No. 3 and trailed by six.

Hand out the trophy?

Not yet.

Then golf happened. Farnam, a 20-year-old Crystal Lake resident whose 63 a fortnight ago set the course record for the revamped Crystal Lake Country Club, nibbled at Perkins’ heels. A deuce at the par-3 eighth, where Perkins bogeyed for the second time in three holes. A four at the 600-yard par-5 11th.

Still, Perkins led by two with six holes to play. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything. And on the fourth hole of the Lakeside nine, the par-3 13th for the tournament, no less, where a bunkered tee shot led to a thinned sand wedge that sailed over the green, and was followed by a bad chip.

“I was lucky to make a four-footer for double,” Perkins said.

And Farnam was more than lucky. Amidst Perkins’ chaos, Farnam rolled in an improbable 70-footer for birdie.

The three-stroke swing put Farnam in the lead by one. After a 6-foot birdie at the par-4 14th, he led by two, and kept that margin the rest of the way, scoring 3-under 69, the day’s best round, for 8-under 208 to capture his first Illinois Amateur. Perkins, who closed with a 75, shared second with Jordan Less of Elmhurst, who birdied four of the last five holes en route to a 70.

“I came back without him losing a ball, and I thought that was the only way I had a chance,” Farnam said. “But I started lighting it up with my irons. Hit a bunch close.”

Plus made the cross-country birdie on the 13th, one of five birdies in his last 11 holes.

“That big swing on 13, that’s just momentum,” Farnam said. “David just happened to catch the bunker shot a little thin. A crazy swing, but I felt I took it in stride well.”

For Perkins, whose bogey-free first 36 holes included seven birdies and an eagle, the double-bogey was an unrecoverable body blow.

“I wouldn’t say I lost my cool, but I definitely let that hole get to me a little bit,” Perkins said. “I hit it in the upslope of the bunker, didn’t hit a good shot, flubbed my next one. With him making the 60-footer, it’s just demoralizing.

“I missed a lot of putts and had a couple bad swings.”

At least three times, including on the par-3 17th, Perkins left a potential birdie putt a couple of feet short. Those were killers as much as the fateful double on the 13th.

Farnam won the Illinois Junior at Makray Memorial four years ago and beat many of the same players he knocked off Thursday, including Perkins and Less, in that affair. He spent one year at Northwestern without a scholarship, then transferred to St. Mary's (Calif.).

“It’s definitely a step up from the state junior, but as a progression from college, it almost feels like the same level,” Farnam said. “It’s really good to feel that growth. It feels nice to be atop the leaderboard, that’s for sure.”

The plan was to play 36 holes, as is traditional, on Thursday, but Wednesday night the extreme heat advisory prompted CDGA officials to drop the fourth round. As it turned out, the thunderstorms that rolled through at daybreak and persisted delayed the third round until 1:30 p.m., so it would have been 54 holes, hot or cold.

In the end, the heat was bearable. And Farnam was hottest of all.

– Tim Cronin

Porvasnik captures Illinois Women's Open

Writing from Romeoville, Illinois

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Jessica Porvasnik knew where she stood. She wasn’t quite sure if she could believe the leaderboard she saw at the 16th tee of Mistwood Golf Club. That meant one thing: go for broke.

“If I could get one or two more to fall on the way in,” Porvasnik said. “You’ve just got to stick to your own game and try to make as many birdies as you can.”

At 4-under and among the leaders at that stage, she came close at the par-3 17th, narrowly missing a birdie putt, and came through at the last, sinking a 15-footer for birdie on the par-5 closing hole for 2-under-par 70 and a total of 5-under 211 for a one-stroke victory in the 25th Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open over Mistwood teaching pro Nicole Jeray (closing 71), Kasey Miller (73) and amateur Monica Kaho Matsubara (73), the recent Northwestern graduate.

“That was special,” said Porvasnik, who graduated from Ohio State in 2017.

Porvasnik had won a mini-tour tournament in Toronto last year, and has had some high finishes in 2019, including a top 10 in the Colorado Women’s Open, but had yet to grab a trophy this season until this steamy Wednesday. Making the cut in the LPGA tournament in Toledo last week, making $4,085, and winning at Mistwood – with the $5,000 first prize – has made this her favorite, and most lucrative, fortnight of the year.

“Last week, playing with some of the best players in the world, that was cool,” Porvasnik said. “It’s cool to know you’re not far off.”

Jeray had fallen four strokes behind leader Kasey Miller after a bogey on the par-4 11th, but began a three-hole birdie binge with a 4-hybrid to 18 inches on the par-3 14th, the beginning of Kelpie’s Corner. Sinking consecutive 10-footers for birdie on the next two holes brought her to 4-under, matching Porvasnik and a stroke behind Miller.

“I was charging, then I woke up,” Jeray said.

A good par save at 17 was followed by a poor approach at the last that left her at the edge of the green. She two-putted for par from there.

“She stuck a couple in there,” Porvasnik said. “She birdied the three in a row, so to put it on the last green and sink the putt was really cool.”

Jeray at least rallied to get a share of second. Her fellow 4-under finishers did not.

Miller, a stroke ahead at the turn, bogeyed the par-5 15th and par-3 17th to drop to 4-under, and will be kicking herself on the way home to Ohio. Matsubara can also play the “what if” game. She would have tied Porvasnik and forced a playoff but for her bogey at the last after driving out-of-bounds. She had birdied the 17th.

Anna Alpert Lund tied for fifth with amateur Sarah Busey at 1-under 215, and had the shot of the day, an ace on the 158-yard par-3 ninth hole. Samantha Postillion’s 3-under 69 was the day’s best round.

– Tim Cronin

Three share IWO lead; Jeray among lurkers

Writing from Romeoville, Illinois

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Kaho Monica Matsubura, a recent Northwestern graduate who has yet to turn professional, was cruising along in the second round of the 25th Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood Golf Club.

She was 7-under through 33 holes of the double-round opening day, and leading by two strokes. She had survived two bouts with Kelpie’s Corner.

Then the 16th hole happened.

“I just got in my own head,” Matsubura said.

The resultant double-bogey 6 and a pair of closing pars dropped her to 5-under 139 and a share of the lead with Kasey Miller of Findlay, Ohio and amateur Sarah Busey of Racine, Wis., going into Tuesday’s final round.

That trio enjoys a two-stroke advantage on Mistwod teaching pro Nicole Jeray (71-70) of Berwyn and Jessica Porvasnik (72-69) of Hinkley, Ohio.

“The second nine I tried to play a little bit more aggressive,” said Matsubura, who opened with a 1-under 71. That was working – she birdied six of the first 13 holes – until her travails at the 16th. “I feel I still left a few shots out there.”

Miller had a like attitude about birdies flying away uncaptured.

“The course plays pretty short,” Miller said of Mistwood, which is set up at 5,961 yards. “I had a lot of wedges in, and I was sticking ’em tight, lots within 15 feet. Man, if ...”

Miller took full advantage at the par-5 15th, cutting the corner on the 504-yard dogleg over water and hitting her second shot close to set up an eagle putt. That placed her at 5-under, where she stayed to complete her second-round 3-under 69.

Busey scored 69-70, with a bogey-free opening circuit and a more random second round, including three bogeys, two of them on par 5s. But, she said, she putted exceedingly well, including a number of critical par-savers, notably a 30-foot downhill left-to-right putt that fell in on the par-4 13th. She had and made a similar putt on the following hole, the par-3 14th, and sank it for a deuce.

“I was on fire,” said Busey, who is entering her junior year at Santa Clara.

Jeray is chasing her third IWO title, which would come in a third different decade.

“I didn’t really hit anything close, but I played very solid,” Jeray said of her five-birdie, two-bogey double round.

“The weather itself was not too bad,” Matsubura said of a day that mixed heat, humidity, rain and the occasional cooling breeze.

Neither Busey nor Miller were put off by the switch in format to 36 holes on the first day.

“We play 36 on the first day of most college tournaments,” Busey said.

Miller played 36 holes in U.S. Open sectional qualifying a few months ago.

“Thirty-six hole days are more like a marathon,” Miller said. “You’ve got to keep grinding. But I feel like I have an advantage with the endurance exercising I do.”

– Tim Cronin

Three titles on offer at three courses this week

Writing from Chicago

Monday, July 15, 2019

The buffet that is summer golf overflows this week in the Chicago area with a national championship and a pair of statewide titles on offer.

The big one is the 119th Women’s Western Amateur, which commences a five-day run at Royal Melbourne Country Club in Hawthorn Woods on Tuesday. Californian Emilee Hoffman is not defending her title, but there are favorites this venerable championship, which has been played without interruption since it was created in 1901.

One is an Illinoisan, Megan Furtney, who was part of the team that captured the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball earlier this summer. The South Elgin native will begin attending Duke in the fall.

Two days of stroke play qualifying will whittle the field to 32, and match play will take care of the rest, climaxing with a 36-hole final – as traditional as it comes – on Saturday.

The state championships also begin on Tuesday, at Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville and Cantigny Golf in Wheaton.

Mistwood is the traditional home of the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open, which celebrates its 25th playing with a new format featuring a 36-hole opening day and 18 holes to settle the issue on Wednesday. The Sunday pro-am was moved to Monday this year, but doesn’t count toward the aggregate.

Like the Women’s Western, the defending champion is missing. Hannah Kim of California has chosen not to defend her title, so the Kosin Cup and the $5,000 first prize is up for grabs among the 51-player field – with the money prize chased by only 13 professionals. The new format may be the reason the field is smaller than usual (74 players last year, 77 in 2017), as pros aren’t used to playing 36 holes in a day. The conflict with the Women’s Western, which Mistwood hosted last year, clearly forced some local players to choose between the two.

Cantigny is hosting the Illinois Amateur for the fifth time. The 132-player field in this 89th edition includes recent CDGA Amateur winner Jordan Less of Elmhurst and Bloomington’s Rob Wuethrich, runner-up in last year’s Illinois Am in Bloomington. Wuethrich was a key member of the Illinois Wesleyan team that won the NCAA Division III title earlier this year. Champion Jordan Hahn is not defending, instead playing in national tournaments to prepare to turn pro in the fall. He’s 203rd in the world amateur ranking at the moment, and recently finished 23rd in the Northeast Amateur.

The Illinois Am opens with 18 holes on Tuesday, 18 more on Wednesday, and then a cut to the low 35 and ties for a 36-hole finale on Thursday.

– Tim Cronin

Frittelli roars from behind to win Deere

Writing from Silvis, Illinois

Sunday, July 14, 2019 

Dylan Frittelli is not a scoreboard watcher, but on the PGA Tour, the big screens are everywhere.

Thus, while Frittelli knew he was playing well on Sunday at TPC Deere Run – six birdies in the first 11 holes and narely a bogey since Friday will give you that feeling – he didn’t know precisely where he stood.

Until, that is, he lined up his birdie putt on the par-5 17th, a putt that would move him to 21-under-par.

“I looked down the hill to read my putt, and there was a giant scoreboard behind the pit,” Frittelli said. “There was a giant scoreboard behind and I saw my name on top. I tried not to look at the rest.”

He didn’t have to. He ran down the 11-footer for his seventh birdie of the day and 22nd of the week for a two-stroke lead, and the 49th John Deere Classic was effectively over.

“It definitely calmed me over the 18th tee shot,” Frittelli said.

He drilled it, and not even a so-so approach that barely made the front of the green, 46 feet from the traditional Sunday back-left pin placement, could fluster him en route to a 7-under 64 for 21-under 263. Hey, a three-putt par after driving the green on the downhill 321-yard par-4 14th brought forth a smile. Dylan Frittelli, who had previously lost his head under pressure, was in his happy place on Bastille Day.

“I don’t think many pros can do that,” Frittelli said.

It’s the mental game that separates the best from the rest at the top level. Everybody can hit the ball, and if some swings are unorthodox – hello, Matthew Wolff – at impact, everyone is in the right place when everything is working. When it isn’t, that’s where doubts creep in.

Frittelli has had those doubts. Never mind that he, as a senior at Texas, sank the winning putt when the Longhorns won the NCAA title with Jordan Spieth and Cody Gribble, who have preceded him as PGA Tour winners, Spieth first doing so at the Deere, on the squad.

Never mind that he’s won twice on the European Tour, plus on various other circuits. The PGA Tour was the goal for this 29-year-old South African, and now, he’s locked in for the next two seasons plus.

The pressure points were there on Sunday, but he didn’t show it as he had in the past.

“I was thinking in those (past) moments I was really stressed and feeling the adrenaline and there’s no purpose for that,” Frittelli said. “Just calm yourself down to the point you can hit good tee shots and hit it on the green and hopefully hit a good putt here and there.

“If you can block out those distractors or those things that get your emotions going, it makes it so much easier.”

That’s not quite on a level with Kipling on triumph and disaster and treating those impostors quite the same, but he worked for him.

Frittelli came from only two strokes off the pace to win, but at the Deere, it always seems like a climb to the top for someone not in the final pairing – he was third from last – is next to impossible. On this Sunday, with Russell Henley, out 2 1/2 hours before overnight leaders Cameron Tringale and Andrew Landry, racing to the lead via a 10-under 61 for a one-stroke lead at 19-under 265, anything was possible. That kept the gallery of about 20,000 buzzing.

Frittelli chipped in from 17 feet for birdie on the par-5 10th to match Henley at 19-under, then sank a 20-footer on the par-4 11th to stand 20-under and gain a lead he’d never relinquish.

Little did he know. Bill Haas fired and fell back, stumbling to an even-par 71. Tringale fell to 2-over 73 and ended up in a tie for 16th. Landry’s 2-under 69 was acceptable but he needed a 66 to tie, and ended up in third at 18-under 266, with only Frittelli and Henley in front of him.

Meanwhile, Frittelli was hitting 11 of 14 fairways, 15 greens, needed but 27 putts, ranked first in strokes gained overall and second in putting and around the greens. “Drive for show, putt for dough” still applies – though his 344-yard drive on the par-4 17th showed who was boss in that department as well.

“It just proves the work I’ve been doing is the correct work,” Frittelli said. “Being 150th in the FedEx Cup throughout the season is so frustrating because you don’t see the results coming through. If you keep sticking to it – I made that change in my mental game and it thankfully came to fruition this week and helped me out.”

A few moments later, suddenly 48th in the playoff race, he was signing an Open Championship flag and getting ready to board Air Deere, the Boeing 767 that transported him and 13 other players to Northern Ireland and a short drive to Royal Portrush for the 148th Open.

The last scoreboard there is even bigger, high above the main grandstand and bright yellow.

Around Deere Run

Aside from Frittelli, the finisher most pleased with his outcome was rookie Collin Morikawa, whose tie for fourth on top of last week’s tie for second gave him enough points to score PGA Tour membership for the rest of the season. Now his goal is to finish in the top 125 by the regular-season finish, the Wyndham, to lock in a card for next year. ... Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson, tied for 10th via a closing 6-under 65. ... Landry’s 61 was the best Sunday score in Deere history by a stroke, and two better than any Sunday round since the 2001 move to Deere Run. ... The field tattooed Deere Run again on Sunday, even with the firmer and faster conditions than years past, with an average of 68.657 strokes. The weeklong average was 69.510, with the ninth hole ranking most difficult (4.194) and the par-5 second the pushover (4.464). ... Frittelli made only one bogey all week, on the par-4 first on Friday. He had one of only five bogey-free rounds on Sunday. There were 33 across the first three days.

– Tim Cronin