Sainz alive entering final round of Illinois Open

Writing from St. Charles, Illinois

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Carlos Sainz Jr. went so low on Tuesday at Royal Fox Country Club, he didn’t know how low.

“I think it’s 10 (under),” he said after scoring 6-under-par 65 in the second round of the 67th Illinois Open.

He was even better. Sainz’ aggregate of 132 equals 11-under and leads 2014 champion Brad Hopfinger and Tour hopeful Christian Heavens by four strokes entering the final 18 holes at Royal Fox.

Sainz, who registers from just up the road in Elgin, has been on the PGA Tour and hopes to get back there. He earned his Tour card for last year, but only made $124,115, good for 213th in the Tour standings. That didn’t earn the return he yearns for.

“It’s the same game out there, but they’re really good,” Sainz said. “It gave me a taste. I really want to get back there.”

First, he’d like to annex the first prize from the $100,000 purse. After his sterling approach game on Tuesday, he’s the man to beat.

Take his final hole, the par-4 ninth, for example. He had about 110 yards left after a big drive, and fired his pitch right at the hole. It landed three inches from the cup and bounced back over it before settling 12 feet away. Alas, a spike mark prevented an eighth birdie of the day. He settled for seven, against a single bogey, and the 65 that stands one off the competitive course record set by Marty Schiene in the second round of the 2001 Illinois Open.

“I hit some good iron shots today,” Sainz said. “I stayed patient. With soft greens you can go at the pins. You can hit your shot a little hard and it still holds.”

Sainz considered his best hole the par-5 14th, where a big drive and a 4-iron placed him in the fringe 18 feet from the pin. He barely missed the eagle attempt and settled for a birdie, the first of seven birdies in 11 holes. And it could have been better.

“Realistically, I was a couple shots better,” Sainz said.

The rest of the field gives thanks he wasn’t perfect. Hopfinger, a Chicagoan, and Heavens, from downstate Fairview Heights, have their work cut out, and the threesome at 6-under 137, Mistwood Golf Club assistant Andy Mickelson and amateurs Nick Hardy and Branden Mounce, would have to climb over that duo to get at Sainz.

“I was happy to get 70 with my swing today,” said Heavens, who opened with a 66 at Royal Hawk, among his best rounds since switching putters three times immediately after catching a case of the yips during U.S. Open sectional qualifying. “Golf is so much about confidence. Winning this would show me I’m doing things right.”

Hopfinger was nearly as hot as Sainz for a time, with six birdies in 11 holes, but had a pair of bogeys early in his round and another at his final hold to card a second straight 68.

Mounce, from downstate El Paso and entering his sophomore year at Bradley, fired a 2-under 69 with a double-bogey on his card. Primed for the state championship following appearances in the CDGA Amateur, Waterloo Open and Illinois Amateur, Mounce finished with a flourish, hitting an approach on the peninsula green 18th to 80 feet and two-putting from there.

“It’s about keeping the ball in play,” Mounce said. “If you do that, every hole is a birdie hole.”

Mounce made the cut in the Illinois Amateur at St. Charles Country Club and finished at even par, only 28 shots behind winner Hardy, with whom he’ll be grouped in the final round.

“I don’t think I could have come up with 28 shots (to save ground) over there,” he said, marveling at Hardy’s exploit.

Lurking six strokes back is Tommy Kuhl, a 16-year-old from downstate Morton whose total of 5-under 138, built on Tuesday’s 67 on Royal Fox, demonstrates the talent of this prodigy. He would be the youngest winner of the Illinois Open if magic happens on Wednesday.

“I honestly have no clue what to think if that happens,” Kuhl said. “It would be big for my resume.”

Kuhl is a cool customer for 16. At 3-under for the day after a birdie on his 10th hole, he didn’t let a bogey on his 11th, the par-5 second, disturb him. Instead, he answered with a birdie on the third and another on the par-5 sixth, a smooth ride to his 4-under 67.

“I hit it average, a lot of fairways,” Kuhl said. “I had a lot of makable birdie putts.”

His most dramatic was a 30-footer on the 12th hole, his first birdie of the day. Otherwise, he was closer to the hole, not surprising given he believes the strength of his game is his wedges and short irons.

Kuhl, already verbally committed to Illinois – older brother Pete, who also made the cut, enters Wisconsin this fall – won the state elementary school title in eighth grade and the IHSA Class 2A crown as a freshman at Morton High, which won the team title. He advanced to match play in this year’s U.S. Junior Amateur before falling to world No. 1 junior Joaquin Niemann of Chile, 7 and 5, in the first round. So he’s felt pressure before.

Would it be different against a field of adults, many of them seasoned pros?

“I don’t think so,” Kuhl said. “I like the pressure.”

Kuhl will be grouped with his future boss, Illinois coach Mike Small, whose 68 moved him up the chart on Tuesday, and Lombard’s Kurtis Luedtke, who scored 70.

Around the Open

The cut fell at 2-over-par 145, moving 52 players (38 pros and 14 amateurs) to the final round. Among those making it on the number: defending champion David Cooke. ... Sainz needs to shoot 66 on Wednesday for 198, which would be an Illinois Open record. ... The sneaky good rounds of the day were the 67s authored by amateurs Tae Wan Lee at Royal Hawk and Drew Shepherd at Royal Fox. Lee came home in 5-under 30 after an even-par front nine at the Hawk. Conversely, Shepherd went out in 4-under 31 at the Fox and had a double-bogey at the 16th sully his scorecard. ... The flip of the halves of the field between Royal Fox and Royal Hawk told as much about the quality of the field as it did the difficulty of the courses. Tuesday’s group at Royal Fox averaged 73.42, nearly five strokes less than Monday’s half on the course. That group played Royal Hawk and averaged 78.57 on Tuesday, which was 4.07 strokes higher than those who played there Monday. ... The purse is $100,000 for the first time since 2003.

– Tim Cronin

It's Carroll and Heavens after one round of 67th Illinois Open

Writing from St. Charles

Monday, July 25, 2016 

Brian Carroll arrived at Royal Hawk Country Club at 6:30 a.m. Monday, fully six hours ahead of his tee time.

When you’re opening the golf shop and the 67th Illinois Open is being played outside the shop door, it’s something you have to do.

Carroll was still fresh when he arrived at the first tee, scoring 6-under-par 66 to tie for the lead with Christian Heavens of downstate Fairview Heights, whose score was crafted in the morning.

Both will play at Royal Fox Country Club on Tuesday, as the two halves of the 254-player field switch courses in the second round. Wednesday’s final round for the low 50 and ties, or anyone within 10 strokes of the lead, is at Royal Fox.

Carroll and Heavens hold a one-stroke lead on a quartet of challengers, including amateur Nick Hardy, who overwhelmed the field in winning the Illinois Amateur last week at St. Charles Country Club. Hardy shares third place with 2013 runner-up Carlos Sainz Jr., Brandon Holtz and Andy Mickelson, a two-time winner on the national club professional scene.

All of the above played at par-72 Royal Hawk, the easier of the two courses. Royal Fox, a par-71 layout, yielded only one under-par score, a 69 by amateur Zach Burry. Across the two courses, 34 players broke par and another 11 were at par.

For Carroll, who knows Royal Hawk intimately, it was a case of following his plan.

“I know how to play this course, but I’d only played it twice this year before last week,” Carroll said. “I knew the angles I wanted to take, had my game plan.”

He also received a bonus, a birdie on the first hole via a 12-foot putt.

“I never really birdie the first hole, because I lay up short to avoid the trouble,” Carroll said.

A birdie on the second followed, but converting a 5-foot putt for eagle on the fifth hole moved him to 4-under, and even a bogey on the sixth didn’t hurt much. Four more birdies in six holes, the longest putt from 15 feet on the par-4 seventh, placed him 7-under with the last six holes, the toughest part of Royal Hawk, to negotiate. Aside from a 6 on the par-5 13th, it was all pars for a 66.
“You never know when this is going to happen,” Carroll said. “I’ve played a lot of average rounds in section stroke plays, sloppy, too many bogeys.”

Heavens reset the Effingham Country Club course record at 64 in winning the qualifier by eight strokes. A First Tee of the Gateway alumna who went to Georgetown College, earning NAIA all-America honors, and turned pro four years ago, the 27-year-old has been looking for his big break, even competing in the Big Break series on Golf Channel.

This season, Heavens has won twice on mini-tours and wangled an invitation to the Trophee Hassan II tournament on the European Tour, where he missed the cut. He was 37th in last year’s Illinois Open.

Heavens’ round opened with an eagle on Royal Hawk’s par-5 10th and closed with five birdies in the last six holes on the front nine.

Sainz and Mickelson also eagled the 10th in their 67s, while Holtz started uncommonly quickly. He was 5-under after five holes thanks to eagles on the second and fifth and a birdie on the par-4 fourth. Holtz’s eagle on the second was set up by driving the green on the 291-yard hole, and was one of three 3s on the hole.

Sainz is scrambling for places to play after losing his PGA Tour card last year. He’s played in one Web.com tournament and missed the cut.

Mickelson won the PGA Assistant Championship at PGA Golf Club in Florida last year, captured the TaylorMade National Championship at Pebble Beach, Calif., in March, and took an Illinois Section Monday tournament at Bowes Creek recently. Monday, he shrugged off a first-hole bogey at Royal Hawk and went 6-under the rest of the way to finish at 5-under 67. Like Sainz, he eagled the par-5 10th, smacking a 188-yard 6-iron to four feet.

“That really got me going,” Mickelson said. “I found something on swing thoughts about three weeks ago and have been riding that momentum.”

Hardy also bogeyed the first, then added six birdies. The Illinois junior has a chance to duplicate David Ogrin’s feat, accomplished in 1980, of winning the Illinois Open and Illinois Amateur in the same year. Nobody else has done it.

The great majority of the low scores were recorded at Royal Hawk, with Burry proving the exception. His 2-under 69 on par-71 Royal Fox was about nine strokes lower than the field average for the course on Monday. Burry, with three birdies offset by one bogey, plays easier Royal Hawk today. The field at par-72 Royal Hawk averaged about 74.4 strokes on Monday, while those at Royal Fox, generally the less known half of the field, averaged about 78.1, with no hole playing under par.

At both courses, keeping the ball in play is critical. For example, strict course management paid off for Bryce Emory of Aurora, who scored 68 at Royal Hawk.

“I hit one driver, on the fifth tee, and the rest irons,” Emory said. “I did a good job keeping it in play.”

Kurtis Luedtke’s 68 at Royal Hawk was achieved in similar fashion.

“This course is about managing your miss,” Luedtke said. “So it was mostly hybrid off the tee, and driver only four times.”

Luedtke’s greater feat was in playing. This is the Lombard resident’s first tournament since rupturing an Achilles tendon in January.

“Actually it could be a blessing in disguise,” Luedtke said. “I’ve been able to work on my fundamentals.”

It paid off. He and Heavens led the field with seven birdies.

Around the Open

Defending champion David Cooke of Bolingbrook opened with a 1-under 71 at Royal Hawk and is tied for 24th. Brad Hopfinger, the winner in 2014, was among the crowd scoring 4-under 68 at Royal Hawk and is tied for seventh. ... Andrew Godfrey of Homewood was humming along at 3-under until he double-bogeyed the last. He had two eagles, on the fifth and seventh holes, and no bogeys. ... Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller, in on a sponsor exemption, scored 27-over 89 at Royal Hawk and is next-to-last among the 250 who completed 18 holes. ... Vince India, last year’s runner-up, withdrew to play in this week’s Web.com tournament in Hayward, Calif.

– Tim Cronin

Reid steals show as U.S. rallies

Writing from Gurnee, Illinois

Friday, July 22, 2016

One-on-two generally doesn’t work.

Statistically, it didn’t work for England’s Mel Reid on Friday at the Merit Club. Forced to play alone when teammate Charley Hull took ill, Reid lost 1 up to Japan’s Haru Nomura and Mika Miyazato.

But emotionally, dramatically, and every other way, Reid was the winner. She was saluted by the gallery, lauded by teammates Holly Clyburn and Jodi Ewart Shadoff – whose tie with Ai Suzuki and Ayaka Watanabe gained England a critical point – and essentially was the queen of the second day’s play in the 2nd International Crown.

Reid was a one-woman team with Hull sidelined, and more than hung in there. Standing 2 down after all holes, she won the par-4 12th hole with a birdie, then eagled the par-4 13th by holing out a three-quarter wedge from 70 yards, squaring the match. That brought forth a roar from a gallery that was already rooting for her.

Then she birdied the par-3 14th to match Miyazato’s bird, and a thought crept into her head.

“Hey, I’ve got a chance here,” Reid thought.

She knew the holes were running out, and some were in her favor.

“I knew they were going to birdie (par-5) 16. They finished birdie-birdie-birdie. I finished birdie-par-birdie. There’s nothing you can really do. If you lose to a birdie, it’s fine.”

Hull said in a statement she was “gutted” from not being able to play. Her asthma kicked up beginning Thursday night after dinner, and, combined with a fever, caught her hard upon waking up Friday.

“I really wanted to join my partner Mel at some point during the match, but at the advice of the medical team, the best thing to do was to rest and get healthy for my team for tomorrow,” Hull said.

England leads Group A with five points to the four each of Thailand and Japan, and the three of the United States.

The Americans got on the board solidly, making up for Thursday’s shutout. Cristie Kerr and Leix Thompson overwhelmed Ariya Jutanugarn and Pornanong Phatlum, winning 4 and 3 on the strength of playing 13-under best-ball golf in 15 holes. They birdied every hole except the third and 13th, a phenomenal performance even when the Merit Club was set up for low scores. The ball still had to reach the green and the putts on greens that are smooth but hardly tabletop flat had to find the cup. Time after time, Kerr or Thompson did just that.

The U.S. was on the verge of a sweep until Moriya Jutanugarn and Porani Chutichai whittled away a two-hole deficit to draw with Americans Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller. Chutichai’s birdie putt on the 17th made the difference. Lewis had a good look at birdie at the last, but edged the cup after lipping out a chip shot on the 17th.

“With the law of averages, they have to start going in eventually,” Lewis said.

Maybe, maybe not. But the Americans stayed with the same pairings as Thursday, when there were blanked by Thailand, drawing on their successful use at last year’s Solheim Cup as the reason.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Piller, invoking Bert Lance.

The birdie binge of Kerr and Thompson didn’t translate to a big lead. They didn’t go 2-up until the sixth hole, when both birdied the par 4 while Phatlum and Ariya Jutanugarn failed to do so. Their win, closed out by Thompson’s 25-foot birdie from the fringe on the par-4 15th, was huge.

“I think we need to at least make three points (on Saturday) to guarantee a playoff spot or something like that, and we know what we have to do,” Kerr said. “It’s a hard format, and when you make it to Sunday, there’s a lot more points available in the singles.

“That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to make it to Sunday.”

That’s what the U.S. quartet didn’t do in the inaugural playing two years ago. And if the U.S. earns three points against Japan on Saturday for a total of six, they would leap over Japan, which would have five points, but could end up in third and into the sudden-death playoff, if England and Thailand split. Only a Saturday sweep by the U.S., moving them to seven points, guarantees them at least second place and a berth in Sunday’s finals.

In Group B, Taiwan split with South Korea and continues to lead with six points to Korea’s four. Australia and China are tied for third with three points each. The Australian duo of Minjee Lee and Su Oh won the last hole, via Lee’s birdie, to halve their match with China’s Shanshan Feng and Xi Yu Lin, assuring them of a 3-1 margin in points after Karrie Webb and Rebecca Artis beat Jing Yan and Simin Feng, who is not related to Shanshan Feng.

Around the Crown

Saturday’s play begins at 10:30 a.m., with the playoff between the two third-place teams for the final spot in Sunday’s singles coming immediately after the last match ends. ... Sunday’s singles start at 11 a.m. ... Galleries jumped on Friday, and while no figure was announced, the total was probably close to 4,000. One Merit Club official said the total in South Korea two years from now could exceed 100,000 for the week, given the popularity of the Korean players in their homeland and the chance to win an international competition on home turf. 

– Tim Cronin

U.S. shut out by England in opening day of International Crown

Writing from Gurnee, Illinois

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Hammered again.

Skunked.

Shut out.

Blanked.

Get the idea?

The two United States duos in the 2nd International Crown at the Merit Club were beaten on Thursday by England. Americans Cristie Kerr and Lexi Thompson never led against Holly Clyburn and Jodi Ewart Shadoff, who teamed for a 2 and 1 victory. Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller had a 2 up lead on England’s Charley Hull and Mel Reid after six holes, but couldn’t stop Hull and Reid from a birdie-eagle-birdie binge on the next three holes. The Brits were thus 1 up at the turn, and, never trailing thereafter, went on to a 2 and 1 triumph.

If this sounds familiar, it is. Two years ago, when the Crown debuted at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland, the Americans were also shut out on the opening day, a deficit they couldn’t come back from in the following two days. The Yanks ended up on the sidelines on Sunday, when the Crown was on the line.

The outcome earned England four points, while Thailand has three and Japan one in the  group with the pointless U.S.

“I felt like we played good golf today, so there’s – that’s what this format is,” Lewis said. “You play good golf and you’re going to lose matches, and that’s the way it goes.”

Golf lacking a defensive component, Lewis is right. She and Piller combined for a 6-under best-ball reading in their 17 holes, but Hull and Reid were 9-under, including an eagle each. Hull was 8-under herself, finishing eagle-birdie to close out the match.

“It was just a great day,” Hull said.

The barrage under par starting at the seventh was the stuff golf dreams are made of. Hull dropped a short into to within 10 feet on the 179-yard seventh and sank it. Reid smashed her 6-iron second shot within 15 feet on the par-5 eighth and sank it for an eagle. Hull returned the favor with a 3-iron to eight feet on the ninth for a birdie 2.

“Charley made everything she looked at,” Piller said.

It was there for the taking for the English duo. Piller made only two birdies, Lewis five.

“It’s always nice to beat you guys,” Reid said with a grin to an American reporter.

Clyburn and Ewart Shadoff got off to a quicker start than their compatriots, a birdie by Clyburn on the par-3 second moving them ahead of Kerr and Thompson. By the end, the visitors were 8-under across 17 holes to the 6-under of the hosts.

“On the back we didn’t play well enough to win,” Kerr said. “I left Lexi a couple times as a partner, and you can’t do that in four-ball if you want to win.”

Thailand appeared to be on the way to a similar sweep of Japan, but Ayaka Watanabe’s birdie at the last ensured a halve for her and Ai Suzuki against Thai duo Ariya Jutanugarn, the sixth-ranked player in the world, and Porani Chutichai. Jutanugarn scored seven birdies, but she and Chutichai never led until the 15th hole – when Jutanugarn authored birdie No. 6 – and lost that advantage when Watanabe poured in her 8-footer on the 18th.

In the other group, Taiwan, a.k.a. the Republic of China to diplomats and Chinese Taipei to the International Olympic Committee, swept Australia, even as they posted four points against the U.S. two years ago. Now, unlike 2014, the quartet wants to keep it going.

“We tried to make as much birdies as we can instead of one play aggressive and one play smart and safe,” former world No. 1 Yani Tseng said. “Me and Teresa (Lu) today, we’d go for every shot almost.”

That brought them a 2-up lead on Karrie Webb and Su Oh after five holes, and while the Australians brought the match square via birdies on the 11th and 12th holes, Lu birdied three of the next four holes and Tseng birdied the one Lu didn’t to run off with a 3 and 2 victory. 

The sweep was completed by Candie Kung – runner-up in the Women’s Western Amateur at Exmoor in 2000 – and Ssu-Chia Cheng’s 2-up victory over Minjee Lee and Rebecca Artis.

South Korea and the People’s Republic of China split, with Korea’s In Gee Chun and Amy Yang beating China’s Shanshan Feng and Xi Yu Lin 2 up, and China’s Simin Feng and Jing Yan scoring a 1 up win over Sei Young Kim and So Yeon Ryu.

“I was nervous on the first tee,” Shanshan Feng said. “I wasn’t shaking, but I could feel like I wasn’t concentrating as normal.”

It was like that for many players. For the Americans, desperate to get back into contention, it may be even more so on Friday morning, when the U.S. plays Thailand. England meets Japan in the other Group B match, while South Korea and Taiwan face off in Group A, and Australia meets China.

Around Merit Club

The quote of the day came from England’s Mel Reid, who couldn’t help note her team’s success compared to the woeful English squad in the Euro 2016 soccer tournament: “We were saying along the way, we’re all pretty big football fans, and we made more points in one day than England did in the whole tournament. Can I just point that out? We’re pretty proud of that, so we’re already on a winner.” ... Galleries weren’t huge, but the estimated 2,500 or so on hand were into it, with a few flags and painted faces in evidence. With tee times running from 8 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. on Thursday and Friday, large crowds aren’t expected until the weekend. ... The 2018 Crown in South Korea was awarded to the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, the site of the 2015 Presidents Cup. ... This year’s Crown is the first of three straight years a significant LPGA tournament is in the Chicago area. Next year, the WPGA Championship is at Olympia Fields, and the 2018 edition will be played at Kemper Lakes in Hawthorn Woods. When the 2000 U.S. Women’s Open was held at Merit Club, the address was Libertyville. Since then, with luxury homes sprouting up around the perimeter of the course, the course and those homes have been annexed by the village of Gurnee, most of which is located to the northeast of the facility.

– Tim Cronin

Duel In The Sun, Mistwood-style

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Two players tied for the lead.

Two more, three strokes back.

A forecast for unrelenting sunshine and heat.

Sound familiar?

It’s the menu for Wednesday’s final round of the 22nd Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville, with Big Ten rivals Stephanie Miller and Brooke Ferrell the co-leaders at 6-under-par 138, and Kelly Grassel and Lexi Harkins tied for third at 3-under 141.

Eight players of the 32 who made the cut are under par, with the only professional in red figures Sterling’s Ember Schuldt, at 1-under 143.

Miller, going into her senior year at Illinois, posted a second straight 3-under 69 on Tuesday. Ferrell, a senior at Wisconsin, added a 70 to her opening 68.

It’s the second time Miller, from Elgin, had held or shared the lead entering the final round. Four years ago, when she was in high school, she slumped to an 80 and fell out of contention quickly.

Ferrell, a disciple of Dennis Tiziani, who like her hails from Edgerton, Wis., shared second place last year.

Dana Gattone, with Ferrell the co-leader after the first round, ballooned to 78 on Tuesday from her opening 68 and stands at 2-over 146, tied for 10th and eight strokes out of the lead.

Grassel and Harkins each scored 2-under 70 to stay within contact of the leaders, and will play together in the penultimate pairing at 9:06 a.m. Miller and Ferrell tee off at 9:15 a.m.

The cut fell at 13-over 157, encompassing nine pros and 23 amateurs, the latter group including Monday’s ace owner, Lindsay Dodovich of Chicago. 

– Tim Cronin

Leaders

a-Brooke Ferrell, Edgerton, Wis. 68-70–138

a-Stephanie Miller, Elgin 69-69–138

a-Kelly Grassel, Chesterton, Ind. 71-70–141

a-Lexi Harkins, Crystal Lake 71-70–141

a-Hannah Kim, Evanston 74-68–142

a-Bing Singsumalee, Naperville 71-72–143

a-Taylor Thompson, Galesburg 72-71–143

Ember Schuldt, Sterling 71–72–143