Illini chase sixth Big Ten title in seven years

    Writing from Champaign
    Wednesday, April 22, 2015

    Illinois had won five straight Big Ten men’s golf championships entering last year’s conference tournament. The streak ended when Minnesota, unheralded, knocked the Fighting Illini off their lofty perch and into second place, four strokes behind the Golden Gophers.
    This year could see a return to the top for Illinois. The squad was ranked No. 1 nationally for much of the season – it enters the tournament No. 3 – and is coming off a 32-stroke rout of the field at last weekend’s Boilermaker Invitational at Purdue. The Illini finished 35-under, with Louisville the only other team under par.
    Talent is the first reason for the optimism. The Illini are loaded, including senior Brian Campbell and freshman Nick Hardy, both of whom played in last year’s Western Amateur, plus juniors Charlie Danielson, who tied for the individual conference title last year, and Thomas Detry.
    Then there’s freshman Dylan Meyer, the fifth member of the travel squad, a.k.a. the secret weapon. Meyer tied for first in the Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields in the fall, and took third at Purdue. Even better, he’s provided a detailed scouting report to his teammates on the tournament site, Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind., near Evansville.
    Meyer hails from Evansville. He’ll be working at the club in the summer. He knows Victoria National, a Tom Fazio design ranked 45th among modern American courses by Golfweek, inside and out.
    “It sits in an old coal mine,” Meyer said at the team’s final practice before leaving for Evansville. “You’ve got to drive your golf ball out there. You’ve got to play it smart, use good course management. It’s a very good course for this team. We know how to plod our ball around and know what it takes to play well at this golf course.”
    His knowledge, Meyer believes, gives the Illini the edge this weekend.
    “It definitely is an advantage there,” Meyer said. “There are some blind shots out there that you don’t really know if you don’t play there. There are some spots where you think, ‘I can push it up on this par 5,’ where you really can’t. You don’t have to hit a lot of drivers on this golf course.”
    The Illini are deep, if the Big Ten’s player of the week award is any indication. Detry and Danielson shared it for their Purdue exploits, where they tied for first individually, while Campbell has won it twice, including the April 8 award. Detry’s scored five awards this season, Danielson two. No player at any other school has won more than once.
    All this success makes head coach Mike Small confident, but not complacent.
    “I think we’re the team to beat, but anybody can win this thing,” Small said. “It’s golf. Look at last year. It was a good wake-up call to us, because we won (NCAA) regionals, beating USC and Cal the next week. Hopefully, it’s still evident.”
    The team’s strength is.
    “We’ve been ranked No. 1 a lot of the year, have three returning All-Americans (Campbell, Danielson and Detry), and two quality freshmen playing well,” Small said. “And our scoring averages are unreal. On paper, it’s pretty good.”
    The only important paper beginning on Friday is the scorecard.

    – Tim Cronin

Golf at the movies: "The Squeeze"

Poster for "The Squeeze" from JAM Films; from left: Michael Nouri, Jeremy Sumpter, Christopher McDonald, Jillian Murray

By Tim Cronin

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Say this much for “The Squeeze,” the motion picture about golf and gambling – which is to say, about life – available via some Groupon sites today and opening Friday via video on demand and in select theaters: The golf scenes are utterly realistic. Unlike many previous attempts going all the way back to “Follow The Sun,” where the only believable playing scenes were those where Ben Hogan stood in for Glenn Ford, who was playing Hogan, everything golf-related in “The Squeeze” rings true.

The rest of it? To use a golf term, let’s call it rough.

If you like stereotyped characters, this is a four-star production. You are presented with, in no particular order, the ernest young lad working at the hardscrabble town’s muni hoping to qualify for the U.S. Open, the fetching girlfriend who puts money in the pockets of the town’s homeless man and cannot believe her man’s sudden love of lucre, the young lad’s mean father, the father’s suffering wife, the flamboyant small-time gambler with the overly made-up wife, and, eventually, the Vegas gambler with the mob connections.

Well, that character is very believable. Named Jimmy Diamonds and played by Michael Nouri, he could be standing in for any of a dozen guys from Chicago when gentlemen from the Windy City had a major share of Vegas in their pockets. If cold-blooded killer and golf nut Sam Giancana was still with us, he might be pleased at the portrayal.

Otherwise? Not so much.

In this regard, it’s up there with “Grand Prix,” the 1966 auto racing film helmed by John Frankenheimer. The scenes on Formula One tracks were as realistic as the races themselves, and used camera-car technology that television only began to emulate 25 years later.

The rest of that movie, from plot to characters? Most of it ended up in the guard rail.

This one ends up in a deep bunker.

Perhaps the parallel presents itself because both movies were created by former television directors. Frankenheimer came from the live television days of the 1950s. Terry Jastrow, whose baby “The Squeeze” is, was one of ABC’s best and brightest, directing or producing everything from the Olympics to the Indianapolis 500 to many major golf championships for Roone Arledge.

This is not to say “The Squeeze” is unlikable. It is likable, from the settings to the photography, which Taron Lexton aced. Individual scenes are very likable. Augie – Our Hero, played by Jeremy Sumpter, a plus 1.2 handicapper – beating his sand wedge to death in a bunker, for one. A foe throwing his golf bag into a pond, then going in after it, for another. And the writing is often witty.

As a whole, however, it is also unbelievable. Any movie requires a certain amount of buy-in by the viewer to suspend disbelief. The cutout nature of the characters challenges one to do so, along with the twists and turns of the plot, which here are considerable. Johnny Carson famously said, “You buy the premise, you buy the bit.”

The buy-in here? It’s doubtful that Riverboat (Christopher McDonald), the unreconstructed gambler with the seen-it-all wife (Katherine LaNasa) and blue boat anchor of a car, who sees young pro hopeful Augie as his ticket to big-time winnings, could cough up enough to buy into this production. Especially the loopy climax featuring an unlikely character reversal.

Loosely based on the real-life adventure of Las Vegas golf pro Keith Flatt, “The Squeeze” proves life can be more believable than fiction.

Sumpter can hit a nice draw, though, and Jason Dohring, his foe in the big match at the end, is no slouch either.

The movie? Don’t kid yourself. We judge it to be a tremendous slouch.

“The Squeeze” is rated PG-13.

––––––––––––––– 

The Squeeze

Opens online on Groupon in select cities on Thursday, on iTunes and in select theaters, including the AMC Crossing in Skokie, on Friday

Written and directed by Terry Jastrow; photography and editing by Taron Lexton; production design by Sephen Lineweaver; costumes by Ellen Falguire; score by Michael D. Simon; produced by Jastrow, Anne Archer, Michael Dovan, George Parra and Brian McCormack; a JAM Films production released by Arc Entertainment. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes.

With: Jeremy Sumpter (Augie Baccas), Christopher McDonald (Riverboat), Katherine LaNasa (Jessie), Jillian Murray (Natalie), Michael Nouri (Jimmy Diamonds) and Jason Dohring (Aaron Bolt).

Miller leaving Illinois PGA for Southwest PGA

    Writing from Chicago
    Friday, March 20, 2015

    A few weeks ago, Michael Miller noted that there hadn’t been any changes in the Illinois PGA office in eight years, and suddenly, he needed to fill two positions in his role as the section’s executive director.
    Those spots have been filled, but another seat will soon be vacant.
    His.
    Miller is leaving to take over the executive director’s role with the PGA’s Southwest Section, which covers the state of Arizona and Clark County (Las Vegas) in Nevada, it was announced late Friday. He’s expected to start there on May 1.
    Miller, 52, of McHenry, guided the Illinois Section for 20 years, and overall worked in the office for 27 years across a pair of stints.
    Illinois PGA president Jim Opp said in a written statement he was sorry to see Miller leave.
    “This was a very, very difficult decision for him,” said Opp, the head pro at Bonnie Dundee Golf Club in Carpentersville. “His service and commitment to the Illinois Section has been a large part of his life and career. However, after fully considering all aspects of this new opportunity and challenge it was a decision he felt was best for he and his family. I know Michael and his wife Lisa are excited about this next chapter in their lives.”
    Miller was the third executive director since the position was created when the section opened an office in the late 1970s. He was preceded by Ken Boyce, who hired him as his assistant, and Vance Redfern. When Redfern left for San Diego State in 1995, Miller took over and guided an expansion of services and staff size.
    Opp and the rest of the section’s board of directors will be in charge of hiring Miller’s successor, calling it “a fairly long process. We are not in a hurry.”

    – Tim Cronin

Aronimink approves hosting 2018 BMW

Writing from Chicago

Wednesday, March 4, 2018

As expected, Aronimink Golf Club, located in the posh Philadelphia suburb of Newtown Square, will host the 2018 BMW Championship. The deal, approved by the club’s membership today, locks in the next two out-of-town sites for the tournament. The 2016 BMW is a return visit to Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., near Indianapolis.

The deal is part of the Western Golf Association’s push to expand and improve the Evans Scholars program, the caddies-to-college scholarship fund that has seen 10,000 students graduate since the first scholars entered school in 1930.

The WGA began partnering with the Golf Association of Philadelphia, which runs the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust, in 2003, with one Platt-Evans designee, Christian Smith of Llanerch Country Club, enrolled at Miami in Oxford, Ohio. The long-term plan is to build an Evans Scholars dorm at Penn State. The WGA already works with the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, so adding the GAP for up to two Platt-Evans scholarships a year, at the start, was a natural.

Founded in 1896 and at its present site since 1926, Aronimink is one of the oldest clubs in the east. The Donald Ross-designed course has been in and out of the hosting business, most recently with Tiger Woods’ AT&T National in 2010 and 2011, won by Justin Rose and Nick Watney, respectively.

It first gained the public spotlight in 1962, when it hosted the PGA Championship, won by Gary Player. A U.S. Amateur (1977) and Senior PGA (2003) has also played through, and the club is angling to score another PGA Championship.

The Western Open has been been played east of the Midwest before, though barely. The 1948 Western was played at Brookfield Country Club in Buffalo, N.Y., while the 1959 edition was at the Pittsburgh Field Club. Crossing Pennsylvania is a first.

The 2017 tournament will be in the Chicago area at a site unknown.

The decision to offer Aronimink the 2018 BMW was first reported by www.csnphilly.com.

– Tim Cronin

Illinois Open expands to two courses

Writing from Rosemont, Illinois

Friday, February 27, 2015

It took about eight months, but the plan to expand the field in the Illinois Open is coming to fruition. This year's state championship will be played at Royal Melbourne Country Club and Hawthorn Woods Country Club, Illinois PGA executive director Michael Miller announced at the Chicago Golf Show.

Using two courses will allow 258 players to start, rather than the standard 156, with the top 70 and those tied moving to the final round in the 54-hole tournament. It's been top 50 and ties in recent years, with 57 making the cut last year at the Glen Club.

"Both of these changes are first in the history of the event," Miller said. "We feel confident the field expansion will lead to increased qualifier registration and allow us to grow the championship to the next level."

Which is to say, a $100,000 purse. That's been a long-term goal, and was reached from 1998 to 2003, when Mike Small snagged the first of his four titles, but the purse has dropped to between $75,000 and $85,000 subsequently. Last year, the pro purse was $57,337, with the rest of the purse devoted to gift certificates for the amateurs – and there were 25 of them – making the final round.

The first two rounds will be played at the two KemperSports-operated clubs, with half the field playing one or the other on Mon., July 20, then going to the other course on Tuesday. On Wed., July 22, the final round tees off at Royal Melbourne.

The two layouts are only a few miles apart, with Royal Melbourne in Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods in, of all places, Hawthorn Woods.

Royal Melbourne, which hosted a pair of Illinois PGA Championships early in the century, is a 1992 Greg Norman design. Hawthorn Woods, a product of the Arnold Palmer Design Co., opened in 2006 and hosted the Illinois Open from 2008-11.

The first of seven qualifiers open to Illinois residents is June 4 at Royal Hawk Country Club in St. Charles.

– Tim Cronin