The Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood Golf Club July 27-28-29, Emily Collins is the defending champion, see Mistwoodgc.com for more details. The Mt. Prospect Golf Club reopens with a shotgun outings on Saturday August 1st, and Sunday August 2nd, residents can call starting this Friday at 9 AM. (847)-259-4200 to book a foursome. Non residents can call for remaining tee-times starting on Monday morning July 20th. Both outings have a gift bag and lunch after golf. The Western Amateur Championship starts on Tuesday August 4th at Rich Harvest Farms, with the defending champion Beau Hossler in the field. For more see Thewesternamateur.com the championship match is Saturday afternoon August 8th starting around noontime. ______________________________________________________________________
The Gog Blog by Rory Spears Editor and Director of Content is part of Golfersongolf.com. Follow Rory on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter @GogBlogGuy.
What a week of golf it was, not just in Illinois but overseas, and in Lancaster Pa. where the Lancaster Country Club hosted the most successful and most attended U.S. Women’s Open in history. Some 134,000 fans marched through the front gates, shattering the records set in Kohler back in 1998.
Closer to home, golf fans who traveled over to Glenview saw the end of the Encompass Championship and the run at the North Shore Country Club. Jerry Smith who made some good runs at the title over the years in the Quad Cites, broke through and won the big prize, beating out a very good field that fell back after the first day.
Doug Milne of the PGA Tour, sits with 2015 John Deere Classic Champion Jordan Spieth before Spieth’s Championship press conference.
In the Quad Cites World #2 Jordan Spieth didn’t have his best stuff on Sunday, but it was enough to earn his fourth win of the season, and get him some momentum headed into this weeks British Open in St. Andrews.
After round 1, Spieth was sitting at even par and in 101st place, and wondering if he would make the cut. Before he hit the first tee box on Friday morning, he had fallen down to 104th place. There was work to be done, and he had 18 holes to do it. But a seven under par round of 64 had four shots to the good, and around for the weekend. The huge sigh you heard, was one of relief coming from the Quad Cities. If you would like to hear more from Spieth, check out our last post with his Sunday press conference in full.
JOHN DEERE What a finish, Spieth out dueling veteran Tom Gillis who at 47 is running out of chances to win on tour. Since I promised you his comments yesterday, his story and final press conference is below.
Click here to hear Tom Gillis and his post round press conference at the John Deere Classic.
Gillis could not have shown more class in defeat, and had some great things to say about Spieth. Between Spieth and Bill Murray at the pro-am, the John Deere Classic in spite of Saturdays rain had a great week.
Next year John Deere’s week due to a crazy calendar and the return of golf to the Olympics, will move into August and the week of the 8-14. The only question is will Spieth be able to defend his title if he is in South America representing the United States.
If you enjoy great golf, and great finishes, check out the John Deere Classic if you haven’t already done so, it never ceases to amaze.
ENCOMPASS CHAMPIONSHIP it’s sad that Jerry Smith likely won’t get to defend his title, Encompass Insurance has left the building and there is no golf course yet for next year, even if a sponsor is found.
It’s unclear what the board will do, and or how successful their search is going for a new sponsor. I’ll pass along the news as we get it, not sure when that will be. But in the meantime, thank you to Encompass for bringing the Champions Tour back to Chicago for the last three years.
U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN how about Lancaster Country Club, breaking all the records and showing everyone how to get a U.S. Women’s Open done. I’ve had the honor to play the course twice, and I have been there three times. It’s a fantastic old William S. Flynn course with some great elevation change and views. The holes are straight forward and it’s pure golf if there ever was. A pat on the back to Vice-Chairman Steve Buterbaugh and everyone at LCC including pro Rick Gibson who is a credit to the PGA.
The whole idea of having an open at LCC, came when Mike Davis stopped by to play golf with his friend Buterbaugh who he had known since grade school. Late in the round Davis said we could hold a U.S. Open here, at first Buterbaugh laughed but Davis was serious. He told Buterbaugh not the men’s open, but a women’s open or senior open could work. This past week the USGA and LCC showed that it could and did. Some folks are still scratching their head why Davis picked Chambers Bay for a U.S. Open, but nobody will be second guessing Davis for picking Lancaster. The only question left is when does the USGA come back to LCC.
SCOTTISH OPEN..Rickie Fowler wins another big tournament, he seems primed for St. Andrews. Can he get that first major. Between Fowler and Spieth, the excitement is building for major No.3, are you ready to get up early, real early. I am.
The Par 3, 12th hole at Lancaster Country Club.
The first week of real tournament golf in Illinois is over, but last week has things off to a great start. This week our state amateur tee’s off in Springfield. The Illinois Open is next week, followed by the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood.
August brings us the Western Amateur, then the U.S Amateur two weeks later at Olympia Fields. The PGA is in between, just a short drive up into Wisconsin. The BMW Championship drives into Conway Farms come September.
Jordan Spieth, Jerry Smith and the Women’s Open at Lancaster really made last week a great week for golf. Too bad they all got played at the same time, but golf tournament season is looking good for the rest of 2015. For those of us up north, let’s enjoy the next couple of months. Now were rolling.
The Gog Blog Returns on Wednesday, GO PLAY. RS