Illinois Golfer KimKim copscops DeereDeere •• Davies,Davies, SinghSingh scorescore seniorsenior titlestitles •• Ziehm!Ziehm! IllinoisIllinois GolferGolfer DigitalDigital EditionEdition AugustAugust 20182018 Western Amateur champion Cole HammerHammer HammerHammer allall thethe wayway Page 2 • August 2018 • Illinois Golfer www.illinoisgolfer.net ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The Buzz In This Issue –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– News –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Western Am is Hammer time 4 WWGA, WGA now partners Kim runs away with the Deere 10 Davies is first to raise the trophy 16 It’s official. The Women’s Western Golf Associa- mat from the Western Amateur, which uses 72 holes of Singh scores Senior Players win 22 tion and Western Golf Association have entered into stroke play to eliminate all but 16 from a field of 156. Kim captures Illinois Women’s Open 24 a partnership for both running the Women’s Western The five-year pact brings together groups which Hahn collects Illinois Amateur 27 Amateur and Women’s Western Junior and the WW- had split in 1903, two years after the WGA started a Opinion –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– GA’s scholarship program through the Women’s West- women’s amateur championship. The ladies of the day Grill Room: Think fun! 3 ern Golf Foundation. thought they could run it better and started the WWGA, Initially slated to begin Aug. 1, 2017, the co-op which is two years younger than their signature cham- Departments –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– agreement was pushed back a year because the pionship. In 2012, the WGA began to give administra- Road Warrior: Ziehm in Louisiana 29 WWGA had already locked up a tournament site. Now, tive support to the WWGA for tournament operations. Around Illinois: Illinois Open preview 31 that’s going to be the WGA’s task. Already, Royal Mel- Now, with the all-volunteer WWGA, once populat- The Calendar 33 bourne in Long Grove has been announced as next ed by housewives, finding fewer women willing to give The Scoreboard 34 The Directory 35 year’s Women’s Western Amateur site. The course has up a week from work to run golf tournaments, the WGA hosted the Illinois Open in the past. has agreed to staff tournaments, bringing a mixture of “We’re thrilled to be bringing the Women’s West- green (WGA) and blue (WWGA) coats together. ern Amateur to Royal Melbourne,” WGA senior tourna- It should give a boost to the Women’s Western Am, Illinois Golfer ment VP Vince Pellegrino said. “These are the most the second-oldest women’s amateur in the country be- –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– talented amateur women in the game, and we look for- hind the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Its history of notable August 2018 Digital Edition • Vol. 4, No. 6 ward to seeing them challenge themselves on one of champions, includes, in 2013, Ariya Jutanugarn. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– the toughest courses in the Chicago area.” HE’S ACES: There’s never a bad time to make Published monthly April through December, The KemperSports course was designed by Ted your first hole-in-one. Pete Karambelas will tell you with occasional special issues Robinson, Greg Norman and Bob Spence. that. Fit as anybody 30 years younger at age 93, Pete –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Publisher & Editor Tim Cronin “It is an honor for us to host the best women’s is the man to beat at Sun City in Huntley, whether play- Travel Expert Len Ziehm amateurs from around the country at one of our flag- ing softball, pickle ball or golf. But he’d never made an –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ship properties,” KemperSports president Josh Lesnik ace until Aug. 13, when, playing with pals, including a Join us online at www.illinoisgolfer.net Write us at P.O. Box 541, Worth, Illinois 60482 said. cousin, he took on the fifth hole at Prairie Isle and made E-mail us at [email protected] The 119th Women’s Western Am is slated for July a 1. A Cobra 7-wood and a smooth swing enabled him Call us at (708) 638-1164 15-20, and open to players with a USGA Handicap of to negotiate the 130-yard hole – over water, no less – in Follow us on Twitter: @illinoisgolfer –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 5.4 or less. The 120-player field is cut to the low 32 a single stroke. As his son Bill said, “I guess that’s why Display / classified advertising: you never stop playing!” Call (708) 638-1164 for particulars. after 36 holes of stroke play. That gives it a unique for- Illinois Golfer assumes no responsibility for unsolicited ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– materials or claims of advertisers. Caveat emptor. The Cover Cole Hammer of Houston eyes his opening tee shot in the championship match of the 116th West- –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– © 2018 Illinois Golfer LLC, a unit of Cronin Multimedia ern Amateur at Sunset Ridge Country Club. / Tim Cronin / Illinois Golfer Page 3 • August 2018 • Illinois Golfer www.illinoisgolfer.net ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The Grill Room by Tim Cronin There’s room for fun in this crazy game here is always something to complain or argue about in golf, whether it’s Phil Mickelson losing his mind at the U.S. Open or the inability of the United TStates Golf Association and R&A to regulate dis- tance, so fearful are they of lawsuits from equip- ment manufacturers. At times, it seems the grumpy outnumber the Tim Cronin / Illinois Golfer satisfied. The appearance is that golf is turning Big hitter Attached into sports talk radio, where even a winning team to the business end of a 470G excavator, a can do little right. big driver stands ready Appearances deceive. To quote Chip Beck, to belt a big golf ball “Golf is good.” toward Carbon Cliff in The game is fun, if infuriating at times for the John Deere Classic’s fine and baffled players alike. The business of the always-popular equip- game is slowly improving, though it’s hard to tell ment display. at times from the number of courses for sale. The quality of play is ridiculously high. in the right direction. There’s nothing not to like Plus, Carner split the fairway and shot her age Forget for a moment the distance the youngsters about that. – 79 – on the first day. of today slam the ball. The cadre that attacked Atmospherics mean something as well. That Just strolling about Chicago Golf Club is a Sunset Ridge in the Western Amateur reduced became evident at Chicago Golf Club before and golfer’s version of walking on air, but one need a course that was a major-league park in 1972, during the first round of the Inaugural U.S. Senior not necessarily be there to feel good about playing when only 14 players broke par for 72 holes in Women’s Open. A bit of it was hokey – ceremo- or watching the game. Way out in Silvis the same the Western Open, to a Double-A operation this nially depositing items into a box not for a time week, TPC Deere Run hosted the John Deere time around, chiefly thanks to the triple whammy capsule, but for the USGA Museum? – but raising Classic for the 20th time, and the galleries got a of better agronomy, phenomenally better equip- the group’s gonfalon up the flagpole, a stirring kick out of the play, enjoyed Whitey’s Ice Cream ment (see paragraph 1) and the technical teaching rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” and – a delicacy that Quad Citians enjoy year-round resulting in perfect swings. finally the hardly-ceremonial first tee shot by – and made the centerpiece of the Deere equip- It might make a mockery of scoring and cause JoAnne Carner, winner of most USGA titles than ment display, the now-traditional giant golf ball record books to be revised on a monthly basis, but anyone (and matched only by Tiger Woods) hit backed by a driver powered by a mammoth Deere it’s great fun to watch. Cole Hammer’s thin as a every mark on the How To Inaugurate A Champi- excavator, the selfie capital of the Midwest. rail, but he hits the ball into the next county, and onship card. Fun. There ought to be more of it in golf. 116th Western Amateur Championship AttaAtta boy,boy, son!son! ColeCole HammerHammer winswins thethe WesternWestern AmateurAmateur withwith mommom onon thethe bagbag Photograph by Tim Cronin Page 5 • August 2018 • Illinois Golfer www.illinoisgolfer.net ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Texas-bound teen sets course record, shares stroke-play medal, survives two extra-hole matches to triumph at Sunset Ridge By Tim Cronin Reporting from Northfield Illinois ––––– f Cole Hammer wants to take up another sport, he might consider Golfer running the marathon. If he does, bet on him. Hammer, an 18-year-old perpetual mo- Cover tion machine, played 76 holes in match play on Friday and Satur- Story Iday, and survived all four matches. Two of them went to the 20th hole. Another turned on his opponent’s drive landing in a divot when Hammer was two down with five holes remaining. Before that, he’d run the table in stroke-play qualifying, his 23-under-par 261 – which Sam Stevens stunningly matched – turning Sunset Ridge Country Club’s scorecard upside down. His Western Amateur championship match with Davis Riley at Sun- set Ridge on Saturday, August 4, appeared for a time to be a rout. Ham- mer was 4-up at the turn. Then Riley rallied, cutting the gap to 1-up after his birdie on the par-5 16th, even though he questioned the pin placement. Riley could get no closer, halving the last two holes to make Ham- mer the 1-up champion. Hammer isn’t the youngest to win, nor did he dominate, as the two 20-hole wins will attest, but he may have the most complete game at 18 since Tiger Woods.