U.S. Am: Burge makes a surge

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Alex Burge is the forgotten member of Illinois’ golf team. The Bloomington resident is the Fighting Illini who didn’t get to fight last season, when the Illini won the Big Ten and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship.

He’s making up for that disappointment. Earlier this summer, he won the CDGA Amateur  and annexed medalist honors to boot. Now, he’s barged into the match-play field of 64 players for the 115th U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields Country Club.

Burge, now in masters studies at Illinois, said he didn’t turn pro because his game needs honing. With the opportunity to practice at the team’s new facility in Champaign, Burge may be better than he thinks.

Tuesday on Olympia’s North Course, he added a 1-over-par 71 to Monday’s even-par 70 on the South to total 1-over 141, eight strokes behind medalist Brett Coletta, an Australian who went around the North in 4-under 66 to total 7-under 133 for 36 holes.

Burge’s effort was good for a tie for 25th when play was suspended because of darkness, and a berth in match play. His opponent won’t be known until Wednesday morning, when the second stroke play round concludes, along with the almost-inevitable playoff for the final spots.

“It’s a grind out here,” Burge said. “Just hit greens was my goal. I didn’t care if I was 35 feet away.”

That was a prudent play, given the deep rough – about three inches, and thick after a downpour late Monday night that delayed the start of Tuesday’s activity – and the other disasters that can befall one straying from the fairways and greens.

“I thought right around even (par) would be in for sure,” Burge said. “I want to shoot as low as I can just to shoot a low number, but once you get to match play, it’s anyone’s game.”

Burge went 4-0 in matches to win the CDGA Amateur at Knollwood Club, so he’s not unfamiliar with the mano-a-mano battles to come. Before that, he’d played on the Illinois team that took second in the NCAAs in 2013. But Mike Small red-shirted him after his junior year.

“Sitting out last year wasn’t the most fun thing to do, but I think it’ll pay off in the future,” Burge said. “I thought an extra year playing with coach (Small), playing and learning, just growing more can only help.”

Burge and Illinois Open winner David Cooke were the only Illinoisans to advance to match play from a group of 12.

Cooke also scored 141, adding an even-par 70 on the North. He birdied the par-4 16th to get back to 1-over at a time when it appeared 2-over 142 would be the score needed to make the playoff for match play. Later, the wind blew and the scores went up, shoving the likely cut to 143 before play was suspended for the day.

“I was on the bubble,” Cooke said of his nine-foot birdie putt on the 16th. “I knew I needed to get at least one or two back coming in. The 16th was the last good look I’d have.”

The par-3 17th hole was stretched to 240 yards and the par-4 ninth to 466, the cup back on the top shelf.

The big surprise among the state contingent was Northbrook’s Nick Hardy. The Illinois sophomore-to-be fired a 7-over 77 on North to blow himself out of the tournament at 5-over 145.

Other Illinois scores that failed to make the grade included Roselle’s Dan Stringfellow (73-72–145, +5), Western Springs’ Daniel Hudson (76-70–146, +6), Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim (76-70–146, +6), Lake Bluff’s Andrew Price (75-73, 148, +8), Knoxville’s Mack Foster (79-76–155, +15), Marion’s Jordan Lewis (80-81–161, +21), and, next to last in the field of 312, St. Charles’ Jordan Wetsch (89-77–166, +26). Yet to finish were Bloomington’s Todd Mitchell (3-over overall, 1-under on his opening nine) and Crystal Lake’s Ethan Farnam (12-over overall, 1-over with one hole to play).

Around Olympia Fields

The horn blew to suspend play for darkness at 7:11 p.m. The last group to finish on the South Course putted out in the gloaming at 7:25 p.m. There are 54 players left to finish. ... George Cunningham of Tucson aced the par-3 14th on the South Course en route to a 4-under 66 for 3-under 137. ... Notable trunk-slammers – as the late Phil Kosin would have said – included mid-amateur notable Nathan Smith (145), 2013 Western Amateur champion and 2015 British Open low amateur Jordan Niebrugge (146), Fighting Illini team member Charlie Danielson (147), and, in the morning, Western Amateur runner-up Aaron Wise (T127 at suspension, 6-over with nine to play). ... And Hogan didn’t make it either. Jonny Hogan of Santa Barbara, Calif., that is. He shot 149. ... On the bubble: World No. 1 amateur Jon Rahm-Rodriguez and 2014 Western Amateur winner Beau Hossler (T56 at suspension, 2-over 143). ... The deluge late Monday night that shoved back the start of play on Tuesday brought the total for the eight days since the USGA took over the course to three inches, grounds superintendent Sam MacKenzie said. ... The delay was only 90 minutes because MacKenzie’s ace staff was all over the place before dawn, picking up debris, doing squeegee work on greens, and repairing bunkers. As a result, aside from a bit of standing water in the rough, there was no way to tell it had rained at all.

– Tim Cronin

Hardy in the hunt at U.S. Amateur

    Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois
    Monday, August 17, 2015

    The first day of the U.S. Amateur is an interesting study in golf and golfers. Each man in the field of 312 players comes in knowing that only 20 percent of the group will still be around on Wednesday, when match play commences.
    And each man is confident they’ll be among that 20 percent. That represents 64 places. By hitting fairways and making some putts, how hard can it be?
    Then the bell rings and the discovery is made. It can be very hard.
    Monday at Olympia Fields Country Club was only the latest example in a string that stretches back to 1895.
    For every Nick Hardy, the Illinois sophomore-to-be who cruised around the South Course in 2-under-par 68, a score that placed him in a tie for ninth entering Tuesday’s second round of qualifying, there was an Ethan Farnam. His 11-over 81 on the North Course all but guarantees he’ll be going back to Crystal Lake on Tuesday night without a berth in the field of 64.
    Golf can be tough that way. Style counts for nothing, pedigree even less. The raw number rules.
    Just ask Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights. The sophomore-to-be at Texas scored 6-over 76 on the testing North Course, despite authoring what might have been the shot of a day, a 180-yard approach from the to the ninth green that flew under the branches of one tree, soared over the next tree, missed the one after that, caught the green by inches and rolled to within four feet of the cup.
    Ghim missed the putt. He’s in a tie for 219th going into the second round. Golf can be tough that way.
    The rest of his round? Tough.
    “I didn’t make enough putts, didn’t put it in play enough, and didn’t play smart,” Ghim said. “I came in thinking to shoot around even par and have a relatively stress-free day (Tuesday).”
    Now, the heat will be on. The South Course is about a stroke easier, but that doesn’t mean his morning will be easy. Even with a 65 or 66, he’ll have to wait several hours to see if he makes the field – or ends up in a playoff.
    “I have to think my way around,” Ghim said. “Today, I let emotions get in my way.”
    Those bubbled up when he double-bogeyed the second hole. And with family watching a rare home game, it was difficult for Ghim keep them in check. Tuesday may be different. Nobody wants to go home, whether near or far, before match play begins.
    A 65 on the South is possible. Matt NeSmith of North Augusta, S.C., carded precisely that on Monday morning, a stroke better than the 66s of Ryan Ruffels and Kenta Konishi on the North and Lee McCoy and Nathan Yankovich on the South.
    Nobody else in the Illinois resident contingent could keep up with Hardy, though fellow Fighting Illini teammate Alex Burge (Bloomington) scored even-par 70 on the South to come close.
    David Cooke (Bolingbrook) fired a 71 on South, Dan Stringfellow (Roselle) opened with a 73 on North, while Todd Mitchell (Bloomington) fashioned a 74 on North.
    Andrew Price (Lake Bluff) shot 75 on North, Daniel Hudson (Western Springs) a 76 on North to match Ghim, Mack Foster (Knoxville) scored 79 on South, Jordan Lewis (Marion) took 80 on South, and Jordan Wetsch (St. Charles) brought up the rear with an 89 on North for solo possession of 312th place.
    Illinois senior-to-be Charlie Danielson fired a 75 on South, while teammate Thomas Detry of Belgium answered to a 72 on North.
    Defending champion Gunn Yang opened with a 73 on North. Beau Hossler, last year’s Western Amateur champion, scored 75 on North. Jon Rahm-Rodriguze of Spain, the world’s top-ranked amateur, opened with a 74 on North.
    Western Amateur runner-up Aaron Wise had a 75 on South, while British Open low amateur Jordan Niebrugge scored 73 on South, while Paul Dunne, whose showing at St. Andrews through 54 holes prompted a special invitation from the USGA, carded a 71 on North. NCAA champion Bryson DeChambeau fired a 70 on South.
    Missing from the field of 312 is Western Amateur champion Dawson Armstrong, who triumphed 10 days ago at Rich Harvest Farms. Armstrong failed to make it through U.S. Amateur qualifying, and the Western Am champ doesn’t get an exemption.

    – Tim Cronin

Olympia Fields, Kemper Lakes land 2017, 2018 WPGA

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Writing from Chicago 

Olympia Fields and Kemper Lakes, two of the Chicago area’s most prominent country clubs, will host the WPGA Championship in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

It was known that Olympia Fields was negotiating to host the renamed and enhanced LPGA Championship, but it was expected to be the 2019 edition, to be announced after next week’s U.S. Amateur, the centerpiece of the south suburban club’s centennial celebration.

Instead, Olympia Fields will host the world’s leading female players on the North Course in two years. It will be the club’s first professional major championship since the 2003 U.S. Open, and the first women’s major since the 1933 Women’s Western Open, won by Olympia member June Beebe.

Kemper Lakes’ hosting of the WPGA will be its first foray into major championship golf since the 1989 PGA Championship. Kemper Lakes was a public course then, but was bought and turned private in 2007. The members have been seeking a tournament to get back into the public eye.

The move by the PGA of America and the LPGA triples the number of appearances the women’s tour will make in Chicagoland in the next few years. The International Crown, brainchild of Jerry Rich, will come to his Rich Harvest Farms next year. Add in the WPGAs at Olympia and Kemper, and you’ve got three women’s majors or international team competitions in as many years, and the Crown could return to Rich Harvest in 2020.

Olympia Fields president Jon Dye announced the deal to his membership by saying, “”In the competitive world of tournament golf, we believe we must strive to show the world the wonderful facilities that are located on our grounds. The board is committed to pursuing the club’s stated mission of hosting championship golf while doing so without further asking you to subsidize these endeavors. We believe that this tournament will be a breakeven proposition with a great likelihood of being a profitable event for your club.”

Olympia’s last connection with the PGA of America was the 1961 PGA Championship, won by Jerry Barber in a playoff. Dye noted in his letter he hopes hosting the WPGA would be “igniting our relationship with the PGA for future considerations.”

That would be a possible PGA Championship or Ryder Cup.

Inbee Park won this year’s WPGA at Westchester Country Club. Next year’s edition will be at Sahalee Country Cub near Seattle.

– Tim Cronin

Armstrong wins Western Amateur on 20th hole

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Dawson Armstrong has this penchant for the dramatic.

He’ll hole a long putt, or sink a long chip shot, and like that, the match he’s playing will turn around.

He did so several times in the 113th Western Amateur on Saturday at Rich Harvest Farms.

The first time, it brought Armstrong the momentum in his semifinal match against Robby Shelton.

The last time, it won Armstrong the championship. The 19-year-old from Brentwood, Tenn., a sophomore at Lipscomb University, holed out a 50-foot bunker shot on the second extra hole for an eagle 3 and victory over 19-year-old Aaron Wise of Lake Elsinore, Calif.

“My actual first thought when it went in? The pain in my stomach went away.” Armstrong said. “My stomach started cramping up on me as soon as we finished the first hole. I did not feel good.”

Armstrong won the first sudden-death championship since Ryan Moore’s 19-hole triumph over James Nitties in 2004. But nobody within memory has won any WGA title as dramatically as Armstrong, whose sand wedge from the deep bunker in front of the second green hopped twice and, with a gallery of about 100 watching at 5:15 p.m., dove into the cup.

“I ran up about two feet, and it hit the pin and dropped in,” Armstrong said. “When we got up there, my dad told me, ‘You’ve had a lot of great shots, but nothing’s gone in.’ I was, ‘All right, let’s try to knock this in.’ I knew he was going to birdie it.

“I was trying to land it just over the ridge and trickle it down. It was going to have to be a lucky shot, and it was extremely lucky.”

Fittingly, the second hole at Rich Harvest Farms is called “Chance.”

“That was an incredible shot,” Wise said. “Not much I could do about that.”

Wise, who had reached the green of the 552-yard par-5 in two, still had a 25-foot downhill putt to force a third extra hole. He ran it by, and Armstrong was the champion.

“I’d missed a couple of putts low coming in, so I played a little more break on that one, and unfortunately it stayed out,” Wise said.

Armstrong led only twice in the match earlier, and for only a hole in each case. He was 1 up after seven and nine holes, but Wise squared the match on the next hole each time, a brace of birdies moving up 1 up after 13 holes. Armstrong squared the match with a birdie on the 14th,  and made a remarkable save from the junk to the left of the par-3 16th.

“It was the perfect shot for that moment,”Armstrong said.

Wise’s par save on the par-4 17th gave him the lead going to the last when Armstrong made one of his few mistakes, a putt through the fringe that never got anywhere. But his 90-foot up-and-down birdie on the par-5 18th, coupled with Wise three-putting from the back fringe after a bold approach, forced extra holes.

“As I was walking up, I felt I had a chance, because my lag putting was real good this week,” Armstrong said. “I’d had a putt earlier on No. 6 that almost went in from 20 feet off the green.”

This cross-country putt stopped four feet below the hole. Wise, faced with a putt that would go uphill, then fall toward the hole, left the first putt 10 feet short, then tapped his next one, which would have won the match by halving the hole, two feet by.

“It was a touchy putt for a time like that,” Armstrong said of Wise’s putt from the fringe.

Armstrong’s penchant from great shots every other hole started on the 14th, when his approach stopped five feet from the cup, setting up a birdie to square the match.

Armstrong’s father Dale was on his bag for the four match-play rounds. He hadn’t caddied for him since he was a 14-year-old, before he was playing in AJGA competition. And there are no caddies in college tournaments.

“I’m hoping he’ll never forget that moment, because I won’t,” Armstrong said.

“My attitude was, he’s the boss,” Dale Armstrong said. “I’m going to do what every caddie does: ‘Show up, keep up and shut up.’

“I hated that (Wise) lost it on the 18th. He gave Dawson a chance. We were thankful for the opportunity. Dawson’s attitude the whole week was, ‘Let’s have fun and then we’ll play good golf.’ He stayed with it.

“He’s got a great short game; always has,” the proud father continued. “He’s got great hands. To get the ball up-and-down on 16 out of the hazard, and then to have that putt (on 18) and then to hole it? Three out of five holes, he hit great short game shots. But it doesn’t surprise me. It happens to him all the time.

“I don’t know where it comes from, but it shows up.”

Armstrong, who called Rich Harvest “perfect, a dream of a golf course,” beat Shelton 2 and 1 in the morning semifinal, an outcome keyed by his chip-in birdie 2 on the par-3 13th. It was the middle of three straight holes he won to break open the all-square match.

Wise advanced to the championship match by rolling over fellow Californian Jake Knapp 4 and 2. Wise, entering his sophomore year at Oregon, built a 5-up lead after eight holes thanks to five birdies, and coasted from there.

“Right now, it’s hard to say, but I’m sure, reflecting back in the next couple of days, I’ll learn a lot,” said Wise, who, unlike Armstrong, is in the U.S. Amateur, which starts a week from Monday at Olympia Fields Country Club.

“I really hadn’t played any match play at the top amateur level,” Wise said. “My goal was to make the match play this week, and I exceeded the goal; I almost got it done.”

Armstrong is a bit of a student of history. He knew that Sweet Sixteen participants had accounted for more than 70 major championships. He knew that Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods had preceded him as Western Amateur champions. But he didn’t know that in the century-plus history of the championship, nobody had finished a title match like that.

Dawson Armstrong stands alone.

– Tim Cronin

Saturday results

Semifinals

Dawson Armstrong d. Robby Shelton, 2 & 1

Aaron Wise d. Jake Knapp, 4 & 2

Championship

Armstrong d. Wise, 20 holes

Armstrong, Shelton to meet in Western Am semis

Writing from Sugar Grove

Friday, August 7, 2015

His first name is Dawson, not David, but on Friday, same difference, for Dawson Armstrong was a giant-killer in the first two match play rounds of the 113th Western Amateur.

First, he knocked off Harrison Endycott, an Australian whose resume included wins down under in each of the last two years, 5 and 4. In the afternoon quarterfinals, the 19-year-old from Brentwood, Tenn., took down 2013 Western Am champion Jordan Niebrugge, who is even better known for being the low amateur in the British Open two weeks ago.

That 3 and 1 margin was built on a quick start. Armstrong was 2 up after six holes and never trailed thereafter, even though Niebrugge routinely hammered tee shots past him by 15 to 20 yards.

“It felt like the David vs. Goliath scene,” Armstrong said. “I parred eight holes in a row, just fairway and green every time, and kept telling myself that hitting it in the middle of the green would put pressure on him.”

Yet, the match turned on Niebrugge’s tee shot into the hay on the par-3 16th after he’d won the previous hole to pull within a hole. Niebrugge went from the hay to a back bunker, and left his next shot there. That made Armstrong dormie with two holes to play.

And when Niebrugge, after smashing his driving iron some 40 yards past Armstrong, hit a hacker’s approach 15 yards short of the green into the middle of a pond in front of the 17th green, it was all over.

For the day, at least. In Saturday’s first semifinal, Armstrong will face Robby Shelton, whose victories over Jack Maguire (3 and 2) and Ryan Ruffels (4 and 3) on Friday featured blazing starts. He dropped a 35-footer for a birdie against Maguire on the first hole and was 2-up after four holes. Maguire squared the match on the seventh green, but Shelton was 2-up again after a birdie on the 10th hole. Ruffels, a 17-year-old Australian, felt a similar breeze by Shelton passing him by in the quarters, since the 19-year-old junior-to-be at Alabama birdied the first and third holes, then the sixth, seventh and eighth.

Shelton is now 6-0 in match play at Rich Harvest, including his 4-0 mark in the Palmer Cup earlier in the summer. The Alabama stalwart figures it was “because I hit fairways,” he said. “Now that I’ve gotten a feel for the place, I’ve made some putts. And I love match play.”

Aaron Wise will face Jake Knapp in the second semifinal. Wise, from Lake Elsinore, Calif.,  knocked off Florida-based Sam Horsfield of Manchester, England, 3 and 2 in his quarterfinal. Knapp needed 24 holes to oust Gavin Hall, doing so with a birdie. It was the longest match since matches went to 18 holes in 1961.

Knapp was the fly in ointment for Illinois senior Charlie Danielson of Osceola, Wis., in the round of 16. Danielson played 2-under for the 16 holes of the match and never made a bogey, but Knapp was a steamroller, going out in 7-under 29, including an ace on the third hole to go 1-up. Danielson never had a chance.

Jerry Rich remembers Louise Suggs

Louise Suggs, one of the LPGA’s founders, died Friday at 91. Rich Harvest owner Jerry Rich knew her well from his membership at Pine Tree Golf Club in Boynton Beach, Fla.

“When I was putting the Solheim Cup (bid) together in 2003 (for 2009), Ty Votaw, who was the LPGA commissioner, was avoiding me. I called Louise and said, ‘Could you put in a call to Ty to see if we could have breakfast together.

“In 10 minutes, Ty called.”

By then, Rich and Suggs had known each other for 20 years.

“ My first foursome as a new member (at Pine Tree) in 1983 was Sam Snead, JoAnne Carner and Louise Suggs,” Rich said. “How good is that?

“Halfway through the round, Louise said, ‘You could be a pretty good player. When we get in, I’m going to give you a little hint.’ We’re having a Coke, and she said, ‘Mr. Rich, you have one major flaw in your swing. When you get to the top of your backswing, you release your top right hand grip. You’ve got to work them together.’

“I said, ‘Thank you very much.’ It took me at least eight to 10 years to feel comfortable with both hands put together. She was a great teacher. She said the most important thing in golf was the grip. She was a great lady.”

Friday

Round of 16

Robby Shelton d. Jack Maguire, 3 & 2

Ryan Ruffels d. Luke Toomey, 5 & 4

Jordan Niebrugge d. Adam Wood, 3 & 2

Dawson Armstrong d. Harrison Endycott, 5 & 4

Gavin Hall d. Jonathan Garrick, 1 up

Jake Knapp d. Charlie Danielson, 3 & 2

Aaron Wise d. Alex Franklin 3 & 2

Sam Horsfield d. John Coultas, 19 holes

Quarterfinals

Shelton d. Ruffels, 4 & 3

Armstrong d. Niebrugge, 3 & 1

Knapp d. Hall, 24 holes

Wise d. Horsfield, 3 & 2

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