Illinois Golfer WesternWestern Am,Am, IllinoisIllinois OpenOpen previews;previews; 600-plus600-plus coursecourse guideguide IllinoisIllinois GolferGolfer DigitalDigital EditionEdition AugustAugust 20172017 DeChambeauDeChambeau Deere’sDeere’s DeBestDeBest Page 2 • August 2017 • Illinois Golfer www.illinoisgolfer.net ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The Buzz In This Issue –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– News –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Western Am Preview: Sun-Times joins Jax ‘no’ chorus It’s Meyer vs. the world 4 “A scheme.” Illinois Open Preview 6 Cover Story: That’s what the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board DeChambeau takes the Deere 8 calls the proposed reconstruction of the golf courses in Vandy dandy captures IWO 13 Jackson Park and South Shore. Oh brother! Flavin wins Illinois Am 16 That blunt assessment was made in an editorial Opinion on July 28, one that noted the concept was “being –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– rushed to the finish line in classic Chicago style, with Grill Room: Of ungiven gimmies 3 final decision and ground-breaking scheduled before Departments anybody knows the score.” –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Around Illinois: As far as ILLINOIS GOLFER knows, there’s no literal Look, Ma! No sun! 19 ground-breaking scheduled yet. The plan has been Tim Cronin / Illinois Golfer Tour Guide 20 slowed by opposition and an inability by the sponsoring This way With the Statue of The Republic standing Tournament Calendar / scoreboard 21 Chicago Parks Golf Alliance – which came out of no- guard, a sign beckons Jackson Park golfers. The Directory 23 where to spring the concept on a community that didn’t lakefront setting, is perennially first on that list. know it was needed – to raise quickly the $5 million in The question of the protected “Bird & Butterfly seed money necessary to fund the construction of a Sanctuary” also came up, and the group had no spe- Illinois Golfer sample hole on the South Shore property to show off to cific relocation plan. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– the pros before next month’s BMW Championship. The editorial noted the Park District has an Octo- August 2017 Digital Edition • Vol. 3, No. 6 Nevertheless, count the Sun-Times with the Tri- ber deadline for a final plan, and that the CPGA wants –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– bune and ILLINOIS GOLFER on the “no” side of the aisle. to get the bulldozers out by the end of winter. (The idea Published monthly April through November, “Call us naive, but we’d like to believe that ordi- is to have a course available for the 2021 BMW Cham- with occasional special issues –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– nary people, not the elite, come first in this town,” the pionship, should the Western Golf Association and the Publisher & Editor Tim Cronin editorial said. “If so, this project will be slowed down. auto firm decide to give the area south of Madison St. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Because, honestly, nobody knows nothing.” another whirl. Given BMW’s idea to play the old West- Join us online at www.illinoisgolfer.net Write us at P.O. Box 541, Worth, Illinois 60482 The Sun-Times noted that Jackson Park and ern Open in high-rent zip codes, that’s doubtful.) E-mail us at [email protected] South Shore are the third and fifth most-played of the “(O)n this one,” the paper editorialized, “we’re with Call us at (708) 638-1164 Chicago Park District’s six courses, and that the pro- the Friends of the Parks, which has called on the Alli- Follow us on Twitter: @illinoisgolfer –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ponents of the reconstruction had compared their play ance and the Park District to slow down, do a better job Display / classified advertising: Call (708) 638-1164 for particulars. only to Marovitz – a.k.a. Waveland – which, with its on their homework and make a better case.” Illinois Golfer assumes no responsibility for unsolicited ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– materials or claims of advertisers. Caveat emptor. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The Cover First-time Tour winner Bryson DeChambeau exults after sinking the winning putt in the John Deere © 2017 Illinois Golfer LLC, a unit of Cronin Multimedia Classic at TPC Deere Run. / Greg Boll / John Deere Classic Page 3 • August 2017 • Illinois Golfer www.illinoisgolfer.net ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The Grill Room by Tim Cronin The ungiven gimme, and a lesson for all t was the gimme putt that wasn’t, the conces- told a shocked Moon she had lost the match. Call cept of equity in the game – do what’s fair – it only sion that was unconceded. Shepherd shocked as well. applies to areas not defined by the Rules of Golf or It cast a pall over the U.S. Girls Junior, In theory, had not Nicoson piped up – aren’t the many decisions that have been made over the and immediately critics – your correspondent caddies supposed to show up, keep up and shut up? years. And conceding putts in match play is an area Iincluded – tried to determine who, if anyone, was – Shepherd might have just walked to the next tee that has been thoroughly covered. in the wrong, and who, if anyone, acted admirably. when she saw Moon’s rake job, effectively conced- The way the rules are written, the common There were more of the former than the latter. ing the par and keeping the match alive – presum- sense idea of Shepherd being allowed to give Here are the facts. The semifinal match ing the referee would have gone along with it. Moon the eight-inch putt for par to continue the between Erica Shepherd and Elizabeth Moon had But she didn’t, and the match was over, with an match after it had been raked back isn’t allowed. gone to the 19th hole. Shepherd had already missed unhappy loser and an unhappy winner. It should be allowed. For one thing, it’s the her birdie putt, Moon conceding the par. Now While Shepherd, 16, was distressed by the turn polite thing to do, just as a routine concession is. Moon had a five-footer for birdie herself, and saw of events, still unhappy when she arrived at Boone It’s one player saying to another, “Hey, you would it curl away, missing on the left side of the cup. It Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo., for the cham- have made it. Let’s play on.” stopped no more than eight inches past the hole. pionship match she would win – “I just sat in bed Shepherd wanted to be polite, fair, a good Shepherd had closed her eyes, waiting for the crying,” she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – it sport, and wasn’t allowed. sound of it dropping. Hearing nothing, she looked was Moon who was hardest hit. Is there any wonder why the USGA is held in up to see Moon raking the putt back. Time it, and The 17-year-old threw away a chance to win disdain by so many in the game? it’s 1.13 seconds between the ball stopping and on the next hole, or a subsequent one. The ball she Every time a ruling comes along that falls Moon reaching to rake it back. raked back in gimme range for even a stickler like along the “do as we say, or else” side of the world, By the time Shepherd saw that, was too late for Jason Day, who plays match play like it’s stroke not only do some people give up on the group, but a verbal concession. play, in which everything must be holed out. Shep- others who now play casually and might otherwise Now wide-eyed, she turned to the left, ap- herd would obviously given it to Moon, if she was be inclined to become more involved look and say, parently at her caddie and coach, Brent Nicoson, given a chance to do so. “Why get involved with a game where you get beat the coach of the University of Indianapolis golf Moon did what we all have done. Miss a short over the head for trying to do something right?” team, and Shepherd’s swing coach. One report had one, and you’re ticked off. You’re thinking in the That, along with the amount of time it takes Nicoson asking, “Did you give it to her?” The Fox instant it goes by the hole, “There’s no way that to play in a hurried world, and in many cases the broadcast clearly has her saying, “I didn’t say that could have missed.” So you reach for it and give price, can’t be helping to grow the game. was good.” Seconds later, Shepherd said, “I wanted it another try. (Annoyingly, almost 100 percent of The R&A and USGA are in the middle of con- to but she was dragging it back.” putts that no longer matter go in.) templating a major renovation of the rules. Nothing At that point, the United States Golf Associa- Moon did a very human thing and paid the in that renovation addresses what could be called tion’s referee came in and explained the rule that price. the Common Sense Concession Principle. prevents a concession after another stroke, and Therein is the problem. While there is the con- It should. It’s just common sense. Page 4 • August 2017 • Illinois Golfer www.illinoisgolfer.net ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 115th Western Amateur Preview It’s Meyer vs. the world By Tim Cronin ––––– arely since the beginning of the jet age has the Western Amateur, one of the world’s top three gambols for the no- cash set, featured as formibable a field Ras the one that will assemble for the 115th play- ing, set for Aug. 1-5 at Skokie Country Club in north suburban Glencoe. A glance at the World Amateur Golf Rank- ing finds 12 of the top 20 names checked in the affirmitive, beginning with No.