THE RUST-OLEUM CHAMPIONSHIP tee’s off this week at the Ivanhoe Club in Mundelein. Come out and see the PGA Tour stars of the future, and our local players.   _____________________________________________________________________

 THE IVANHOE CLUB (L) will be home this week to the Web.com Rust-Oleum Championship, (R) Illinois Golf Hall of Fame member Jim Sobb has been the clubs only head professional since it opened in the early 1990’s.

The Gog Blog by Rory Spears, Editor and Director of Content. Follow Rory on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter @GogBlogGuy.

The Rust Oleum Championship gets underway this week at the Ivanhoe Club in Mundelein.

It’s the first of three years at the club for the championship. The tournament was played in Cleveland in recent years, but has moved to the Chicago area under CEO Tom Reed a member at Ivanhoe.

Rust-Oleum makes it’s offices in Vernon Hills, not far from Ivanhoe.

The new destination with a purse of over a million dollars, with $108,000 to the winner has attacted a great field. Locally several players with ties to the Chicago area are in the field.

They include Deerfield’s Vince India, Brad Hopfinger of Lake Forest, and Michael Schachner of Libertyville who grew up playing Ivanhoe since his family were members. Some other players with Illinois connections include former University of Illinois Brian Campbell and former John Deere Classic champion Jonathan Byrd.

Click here to hear interviews with Ivanhoe head professional Jim Sobb, and sponsor exemption Michael Schachner.

Ivanhoe is a 27 hole facility,but only 18 holes will be used for the championship. Ivanhoe has three nine’s, the Forest the Prairie and the Marsh. The entire Forest nine will be used, and parts of the Praire and Marsh. The 18 holes used, will be the clubs original 18 holes.

The weeks schedule is as such. There is a pro-am today with some former members of the Chicago Bears. On Tuesday there is the first qualifier for Drive-Chip and Putt, and the players will have practice rounds. Wednesday there is another pro-am with some players playing practice rounds.

Thursday through Sunday are rounds 1-4. All four of the rounds will be shown on the Golf Channel. Check local listings for times, because the Golf Channel coverage will not always be on live when the tournament is being played.

The field will be 156 players, and that will include 9 of the top 10 players from the money list of the Web.com tour. Multiple players with wins on the PGA Tour will compete as well.

For more information see Rustoleumchampionship.com