THE ACORN GRILL at Heritage Oaks Golf Club at 3535 Dundee Road in Northbrook, is offering indoor and outdoor dining. So come see what else is new-Heritageoaksgc.com
THE GOG BLOG BY RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy or connect on LinkedIn and Facebook.
THE WHITE EAGLE GOLF CLUB in Naperville Illinois, home of the 2022 Illinois Open.
THE FIRST ROUND IS IN THE BOOKS AT THE 2022 ILLINOIS OPEN.
THREE PLAYERS are tied for lead at 2 under par.
Jimmy Morton, Drew Sheppard, and (a) Marcus Smith who is transferring to Howard University this fall.
Michael Schachner the assistant golf coach at DePaul University, had his score at the turn as low as 4 under par.
But after two consecutive drives that got pushed right on holes 1 and 2 (on the front nine) Schachner was back down to three under par. But eventually fell back to event par before his round was complete.
The 2022 Illinois Open, at White Eagle Golf Club.
But all in all, 54 players are within 5 shots of the lead with 36 holes to go.
Some of those names are familiar, and some might not be. Regardless, considering Round 1 conditions and course set-up plenty of the fields players played some pretty good golf.
IPGA Tournament Director Brad Slocum visited the media room early in the afternoon session. Slocum said the maintenance team had the greens rolling at over 13 on the Stimp-meter, that’s moving.
The start can be really tough if your not ready to go. Holes 1-4 on the front nine have water left or right. Homes left or right, OB left and right, which can have a player spending the rest of the round playing catch-up, if they add a few penalty shots early in day.
But what’s really amazing is the overall condition of the golf course. Because only a week ago, a small tornado went through the course taking out some 75 trees. But there was more damage to the scoreboard, a patio awning and some golf carts that were all destroyed. So serious credit the maintenance team for making things look like nothing happened, only 9 days later.
But in addition to the current leaders, several local IPGA professionals are within a few shots of the lead, including White Eagle GM and Director of Golf Curtis Malm. But also in contention is Bryce Emory who won the Illinois Open at White Eagle in 2020.
David Perkins of East Peoria talks about his opening round at the Illinois Open.
(A) Marcus Smith Smith of Rockford on his first round at the Illinois Open.
More coverage of Rounds 2 & 3 coming up here at Golfersongolf.com.