| by: Len Ziehm - 8/12/2003 3:09:03 PM |
| In Chicago golf circles this has already a banner year. The local stars have been superb.
Roy Biancalana, the St. Andrews teaching pro, qualified for the U.S. Open and Western Open. Not many Chicago players do that, especially in the same year.
Gary Groh, the veteran Bob O'Link pro, not only made the cut in the U.S. Senior Open. He also finished in the top 25, so he'll be back in that major championship for the 50-and-over set next year as well.
Dino Lucchesi, the Twin Orchard assistant, qualified for the PGA Championship. The last time an Illinois club pro did that was in 1995, when Jim Sobb made it.
Best of the bunch, though, has been Mike Small. The University of Illinois men's coach became the first golfer to win the Illinois PGA Championship and the Illinois Open in the same year. The IPGA has been conducted since 1923 and the Illinois Open since 1950. Small also became the first IPGA member in 17 years to survive the 36-hole cut at the Western Open.
In the Illinois Open he even set a scoring record--13 under par for 54 holes at The Glen Club in Glenview. That's one stroke better, in relation to par, than Mark Hensby--a member of the Buy.com Tour this year--posted in his eight-stroke victory at Orchard Valley in Aurora in 1996.
Small says he's had ``a bad year" on the job. His job now is coaching, and he's done well at that, too. Illinois--Small's alma mater--was 11th in the Big Ten in his first season on the job, but second the last two years. The bad part was that his best player, Big Ten player-of-the-year James Lepp, opted to transfer.
``He was homesick. It wasn't golf-related," Small said. But Lepp's departure still hurt. Small's play on what he calls a ``moonlight" job, though, at least partially offset that.
In May Small held off Biancalana by one shot to win the Illinois PGA title at Royal Melbourne in Long Grove. He won the Illinois Open by three strokes over Scott Moore, a Hooters Tour player who had played at the University of Arizona. Moore set an Illinois Open one-round record with a final-round 64--eight under par at The Glen Club. Even that great score wasn't enough to overtake Small, who started the final round with a four-stroke lead over Biancalana and Ridgemoor assistant pro Jason Lee.
The lead wasn't too big to satisfy Small, however.
``Golf is a fleeting game. When you think it’s easy, it gets you," he said.
Playing golf used to be Small's job. He played on the Nike and PGA Tours before taking over the program at Illinois four years ago.
With the college season starting three weeks after the Illinois Open, Lepp's departure stimulated Small's recruiting efforts. He met with recruits twice while playing in the tournament and worked the phones at night. Small believes that his good play is part of his recruiting pitch.
``I'd think this would help the program, knowing that the coach doesn't just drive the team bus," Small said. ``Ron Guenther (the Illinois athletic director) thinks it's good that I keep my head on the game. Every program has its own niche, and not many schools have coaches who can still play. My recruiting niche is that I've played on tour, and I know what it takes to get there."
After this banner summer his playing days aren't over. In fact, Small is considering a return to the PGA Tour qualifying school in October. His two victories as a Nike Tour player give him one more year's exemption through the first stage of qualifying, so if he just shows up he’ll be guaranteed playing privileges on the Buy.com Tour next season. Small, though, plans to continue coach regardless of his playing eligibility on the pro tours.
Some historical footnotes:
Eleven players have won both the Illinois Open and the Illinois PGA Championship. Groh could have made significant history had he been able to overtake Small in the final round at The Glen Club. He became the tourney’s oldest champion when he won at Royal Fox in St. Charles in 1994. Groh is 57 now. He could have become the fourth golfer to have multiple wins in both the Illinois PGA and Illinois Open. Groh won the IPGA title four times. The only other players with at least two wins in both were Bob Harris, Bill Ogden and Dick Hart. The last win by any of those three was by Hart in 1969.
Also, 1975 champion Bill Erfurth, who became the first player in tournament history to shoot his age last year, did it again. Erfurth, 74, shot a 73 in the second round but didn't survive the 36-hole cut.
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