A tribute to Mike Spellman

Writing from Chicago

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

    Daily Herald reporter Mike Spellman, as accomplished a writer as you will find, and as giving a person as you will find, died Tuesday, one day before his 51st birthday. Spellman covered the Blackhawks, the Bears, horse racing and just about everything else for the Arlington Heights-based paper. He was especially lyrical when covering golf.
    I asked Mike to be a columnist when the print edition of Illinois Golfer was launched. Thanks to logistics, there hasn’t been a second issue, but the column he turned in for that first issue in April 2012 was a gem. Here it is, reprinted online, for you to enjoy again.
    Please remember Mike in your prayers.

    – Tim Cronin

    If you’re been there, you understand

    By Mike Spellman

    It happened to me at Wrigley Field as a kid.
    It happened again as a young teen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
    And just a few years ago it returned again while on assignment at Augusta National.
    You know that feeling when you walk into a place and it absolutely overwhelms you and you can’t exactly explain why? All you know is that you’ve entered very, very sacred ground.
    For me, Wrigley had it the first time I emerged from the dark and dinge that is the lower concourse and there it was … the green. The field, the ivy, the scoreboard - I was hooked, and it didn’t matter that George Mitterwald and Steve Swisher were our catchers and we had about as good a chance of winning the division as Pat Paulson did of winning the presidency.
    At Indy, my three memories are of walking forever around the perimeter of the track on race day, hearing all the hubbub inside and dying to be a part of it. The second memory is ridiculous but here it is – a young couple holding a leash in front of them as they walked an invisible dog around the infield like it was no big deal. I don’t know why that sticks out, but it does.
    And finally, it was getting to our seats way up in pit row. Music playing, the cars lined up on the track, and across the way, a jam-packed double-decked grandstand that stretched for what seemed like miles down to Turn 4.
    Sandi Patty, “Back Home in Indiana,” the invocation, the anthem, the orders to start your engines, the balloons, the fireworks, the pace laps, the checkered flag … spectacle indeed.
    Want to guess what my next school project was on? That’s right, A.J. Foyt winning the 1977 Indianapolis 500.
    In mid-March of 2006, I remember my editor calling to set up a meeting.
    “We’re going to send you to the Masters,” he said.
    Thanks to smelling salts, I think I was only out for a couple of minutes. Kidding, but I remember hearing only every third or fourth word of what he was saying as my mind raced. And honestly, I don’t think my leg ever stopped twitching.
    Holy Majoley, I was going to the Masters.
    I was going to the tournament that had hooked me on the game. The same place where Jack Nicklaus won at age 46 and moved me to purchase a yellow golf shirt just like his (in a great move considering my age, I opted not to get the checkered pants as well). The same place where a dozen years later he made another run, at age 58, ending up finishing sixth in a remarkable performance.
    Can you tell I’m a Jack fan?
    Because of the late notice, there wasn’t a hotel room to be had anywhere near Augusta. Or anywhere in Georgia, for that matter, so I ended up booking a room in Columbia, S.C.
    It was a ridiculous drive, but I didn’t care because it was the Masters for crying out loud.
    I arrived in Columbia on Sunday afternoon and by the time 6 a.m. Monday rolled around, I had enough adrenaline flowing in me to clean and jerk a small building.
    After about an hour on the highway I exited at Washington Road, lined as far as you can see with cars, Waffle Houses, gas stations and cheap hotels, but that all ended with one quick right turn.
    And there it was – Augusta National.
    The big state trooper with the mirrored sunglasses, seeing that my parking pass was legit, surprised me with a friendly Johnny Carson-like golf swing, the follow-through of which directed me to the correct parking lot.
    I found my seat in the media center, dropped off my gear, and out I went.
    I almost felt guilty for walking on the most manicured grass I had ever seen, but I did anyway. And actually, it wasn’t really walking, more like floating as I visited ever corner of the rolling, tree-lined, immaculate course, including Amen.
    The highlight of a week that was an absolute blur came on Wednesday when Jack and his son Jackie stopped by the media center on what was the 20th anniversary of their amazing win.
    There I was standing a few feet away listening to the legend talk … it was happening again.

Ruthkoski captures Chicago Open in playoff

    Tuesday, October 7, 2014

    Andy Ruthkoski wants to be the next Carlos Sainz Jr.
    He’s going about it the right way.
    Ruthkoski did today what Sainz did last year. He won the 25th Chicago Open. Ruthkoski collected the centennial version of the title, and $10,000, with a 10-foot birdie putt to beat Casey Pyne on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff at Cantigny Golf in Wheaton.
    Now Ruthkoski wants to emulate Sainz’ next step and gain a PGA Tour card.
    Sainz did that earlier this fall. Ruthkoski will chase a Web.com Tour berth – that’s the PGA Tour’s version of Triple A – in order to do so.
    The money the 31-year-old Michigan native earned for winning will help stake his quest. He’s already played on the Tour on several occasions, including playing in the John Deere Classic after grabbing one of the four spots in Monday qualifying. But he’d like to find his way to a regular berth to chase the weekly pot o’gold.
    For now, he can bask in the spotlight as the Chicago Open champion, on a list with Sarazen and Hogan and Snead, who won the original version when it was on the big circuit.
    “It will be an honor to have my name on that trophy alongside all those guys,” Ruthkoski said.
    He scored 4-under-par 68 to finish at 2-under-par 216, while Pyne, from downstate Bloomington, used a 3-under 69 to match his total. Back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th – the second and third on Cantigny’s Lakeside nine – keyed Ruthkoski’s rally. Pyne settled for par on the second playoff hole, the ninth on Lakeside, but Ruthkoski’s 10-footer for a 3 was true.
    A five-man deadlock for third included:
    • Sainz, whose bogeys on the 16th and 18th cost him a second straight title;
    • Ryan Martin of Prestonburg, Ky., who bogeyed the 18th to miss the playoff;
    • Matt Thompson, the 2013 runner-up whose back-nine rally couldn’t make up for a 4-over outward nine;
    • Illinois Open challenger Michael Davan of Hoopeston, whose birdie at the last earned him extra cash;
    • and Illinois men’s golf coach Mike Small, who ran off five straight birdies on the back nine, part of a six-birdie binge across nine holes, only to double-bogey the 16th, his 4-under 68 a stroke more than needed. He had five double-bogeys in three rounds.
    John Callahan of Hinsdale was the low amateur, scoring 72 for 5-over 221.
    – Tim Cronin

Can Thompson hold off Sainz?

    Writing from Wheaton, Illinois
    Monday, October 6, 2014

    Matt Thompson is where you want to be heading into the final round of the 25th Chicago Open.
    He’s in the lead.
    But the man directly behind him is one of the last guys Thompson would want in hot pursuit.
    That would be Carlos Sainz Jr., the defending champion.
    If this sounds familiar, it should be. Thompson was the runner-up to Sainz in last year’s Chicago Open.
    Thompson, a 25-year-old third year pro from Marshall, Mich., scored his second straight 1-under-par 71 in a stiff breeze at Cantigny Golf on Monday, and stands at 2-under 142 with Tuesday’s final round looming.
    Sainz added a 71 to his opening 72 and is at 1-under 143 in his quest to be the first back-to-back winner of a Chicago Open – albeit under different management and in a different era – since Ken Venturi, who captured the 1958 and 1959 Gleneagles-Chicago Opens at that Lemont course.
    Sainz would be leading but for a major malfunction on the 18th hole. A double-bogey 6 at the last dropped him behind Thompson, who was in his threesome.
    Until that miscue, Sainz had been on a tear, racing back from a three-strokes deficit via a combination of his birdies and Thompson’s bogeys, including a two-shot swing in the par-5 14th.
    They’ll be coasing the $10,000 first prize in the final threesome on Tuesday, along with Ryan Martin of Prestonsburg, Ky., whose 71 for even-par 144 moved him into a tie for third. He’s deadlocked with Michael Davan of Hoopeston, who has flirted with the Illinois Open title the last two years.
    First round leader Chris Brant of Edwardsville blew up with a 7-over 79 and fell to 3-over 147 and a tie for 12th. Mike Small, Illinois’ men’s golf coach, added a 73 for 4-over 148. He’s tied for 17th, six strokes in arrears with 18 holes to play.
    – Tim Cronin

Edwardsville's Brant leads Chicago Open

Sunday, October 5, 2014

So far, the long trip from downstate Edwardsville has been worth it for Chris Brant.

Brant, looking to add the Chicago Open title to the Metropolitan Open crown he earned near St. Louis in July, fired a 4-under-par 68 on Sunday at Cantigny Golf in Wheaton and holds a two-stroke lead entering the second round of the 25th Chicago Open. Seven birdies splashed across his scorecard, offset by a trio of bogeys, added up to a pair of 34s on the Woodside and Lakeside nines of the 27-hole complex.

Brant’s nearest pursuer in the 54-hole test is Matt Slowinski, the head pro at Conway Farms with a stint at Cantigny on his resume. He played the back nine in 2-under 34 and stands at 2-under 70. That’s a stroke better than the trio of Matt Thompson, Andrew Ruthkowski and Garrett Jones, the first two from Michigan and the third a Wisconsin resident. They’re all at 1-under 71, the only other players under par.

Defending champion Carlos Sainz Jr., who recently earned his PGA Tour card, posted an even-par 72 that featured birdies on his first three holes, then three bogeys across the final 12 to bring him back to level. Sainz’s victory last year at Cantigny brought back memories of the days he worked at the course in high school.

Illinois men’s golf coach Mike Small, always a threat when there’s a purse available – first place awards $10,000 from the $50,000 purse – fired an untidy 3-over 75 and is tied for 20th. A holeout for eagle 2 from the fairway of the par-4 12th was more than offset by a pair of double-bogeys on the second and fifth holes.

Mark Hensby, the Australian native who became as well-known for sleeping in his car in the Cog Hill parking lot as for winning the 2004 John Deere Classic, scored 78 in his first round, and, tied for 50th, is in danger of missing the cut. The field of 96 will be trimmed to 40 and ties after Monday’s adventure.

Hinsdale’s John Callahan is the low amateur through 18 holes thanks to an even-par 72.

– Tim Cronin

It's official: BMW to Indy in 2016

    Writing from Chicago
    Tuesday, September 9, 2014

    Crooked Stick Country Club members have approved the return of the BMW Championship to Carmel, Ind., club in 2016, the Western Golf Association announced today.
    The vote, taken Au. 28, was expected. Other details took longer to iron out. Crooked Stick hosted the 2012 tournament, won by Rory McIlroy, and spectators turned out en masse despite several downpours and wet conditions over the course of the week.
    It also earned close to $3 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation, the Western’s caddies-to-college arm.
    “We are thrilled to be bringing the BMW Championship back to Crooked Stick Golf Club, where we had such a successful event in 2012, thanks in large part to the tremendous community and business support in the market,” Vince Pellegrino, the WGA’s senior vice president of tournaments, said in a release.
    “We look forward to engaging again with the great people of Indiana and to producing the very best fan environment possible.”    
    The precise date has not yet been set. The 2016 schedule is complicated but not only the Ryder Cup, but the Olympics.
    Next year’s BMW – the 112th edition of the traditionally-named Western Open – is Sept. 17-20 at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest. Conway Farms is also expected to host in 2017, with the WGA settled into a routine that has the tournament in Chicagoland in odd-numbered years and out of town in even-numbered years.
    Tournament officials and the brass at Cherry Hills Country Club, which hosted last year’s edition, were thrilled with the response from the public, corporate support, and the players, but when the Western might return to the club, or go to nearby Castle Pines Golf Club, host of the old International, is the big question. The next available date is 2018.
    “It’s my personal opinion that the state of Colorado has to be looked at for the BMW Championship in the next five, 10 years,” club member George Solich, an Evans Scholar and the general chairman of the big week, told The Denver Post. “I know the PGA Tour wants to come back to Colorado.”
    Solich, also a member of Castle Pines, noted it’s in Cherry Hills’ charter to host championship golf.
    “We wanted to get in the conversation,” he told the Post. “I think we’ve done that.”
    – Tim Cronin