| by: WebMaster - 6/27/2005 8:05:09 PM |
| GLEN ELLYN, Illinois (June 24, 2005) – For the second time in three weeks, the newly renovated Village Links of Glen Ellyn is set to host a qualifying event for a major professional tournament.
Now in its first full season since reopening after a $5 million course renovation, The Village Links on Monday will host the Cialis Western Open qualifier, where 97 top golfers will compete for four spots in Chicago’s most prestigious regular PGA Tour event, which runs June 30-July 3. The Links hosted the U.S. Open sectional qualifier on June 6.
Leading the field will be “Amateur Slam” winner Ryan Moore of UNLV, who turned professional after the U.S. Open and is playing in his first PGA Tour event this week in Westchester, NY on a sponsor’s exemption.
Moore already has received a sponsor’s exemption to play in the Western, but will attempt to qualify in order to save that exemption for another event. Under PGA Tour rules, Moore may receive only seven sponsor’s exemptions unless he earns the same amount of money as the 150th spot on the 2004 Tour money list ($442,872). Should he earn that much, he would be entitled to unlimited sponsors’ exemptions.
“If Ryan Moore were to qualify on Monday at the Village Links, we would get that exemption back and could offer it to someone else,” said John Kaczkowski, tournament director for the Cialis Western Open.
Moore tees off at 11AM on Hole No. 1.
The event is open to the public and admission is free. There is no charge for parking.
Among other notable players in the field are: reigning Illinois Open champion Joe Affrunti; Derek Lamely of Florida, who qualified for the Western last year at the Village Links qualifier; touring pro Brenden Pappas, and Canadian Tour player and former Illinois Open champion Brian Payne of Northwestern.
The field consists of 80 pros, 17 amateurs, 57 Illinois residents and 40 out-of-state residents, according to the Illinois PGA, which is conducting the event in conjunction with the PGA Tour.
The field also includes two other familiar PGA Tour names: Mickelson and Jacobsen. However, it’s not Phil Mickelson of Masters fame, it’s Andy Mickelson of Minooka, Ill. And it’s not Peter Jacobsen, reigning U.S. Senior Open champion, it’s Paul Jacobsen of Racine, Wisconsin.
Moore’s “Amateur Slam” consisted of his winning the individual NCAA championship, the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Amateur Public Links, the Western Amateur, the Sahalee Players Championship and the Mountain West championship. Some have said he has the best amateur record since the legendary Bobby Jones.
This will be the 23rd time in the last 25 years that the Village Links has hosted the Western’s Monday four-spot qualifier and the second time since it reopened last year following the 20-month renovation.
The renovation that addressed all areas of the golf course, including greens, tees, irrigation, and length. The course can be stretched to a maximum of 7,208 yards. Regular customers may choose any one of five teeing areas.
“Following the renovation, the Chicago District Golf Association rated the Village Links at 74.7, which made it the ninth-toughest public golf course in the CDGA’s four-state jurisdiction,” Pekarek said. “We think the golf course will give players trying to qualify for the Cialis Western Open all they want in terms of a challenge.”
In addition, the course’s increase length, the new greens are larger, more contoured and faster than the former greens, which were comparatively flat. This means players must think more strategically about where to land the ball on the green not only to afford themselves birdie opportunities but to avoid three-putting. The size of the greens and the variety of hole locations makes the course play differently from round to round for the Links’ regular golfers, Pekarek said.
The course record for the renovated 18 is 3-under par 69 set by four men at the ’04 Western qualifier: Affrunti, Australian PGA Tour member Greg Chalmers, Lamely of Ft. Myers, Fl., and Glen Oak CC head pro Danny Mulhearn.
Although the routing of the course is essentially the same, the Village Links added 275 yards to the championship yardages, pushing it to 7,208 from 6,933. Originally, the course had three tee locations in one tee box instead of the current five separate areas.
All tees, greens and bunkers were rebuilt, the irrigation system replaced, drainage upgraded, and some water hazards and bunkers repositioned to account for technical improvements in golf clubs and balls that go farther.
A primary reason for the renovation was that the Village Links lost greens on several of its holes three times in 1995, 1998 and 1999. The new greens were expanded and given more contours in order to provide more pin location zones on each green, an important factor for a golf course that hosts some 40,000 rounds a year.
The new greens were seeded with A-4 creeping bent grass, a new denser form of turf that has resulted in a putting surface that produces truer putts, higher speeds and better color along with absorbing the wear and tear of heavy play.
A number of trees were removed. On No. 14 trees were taken down to reveal the water hazard and make it part of the golfer’s strategic approach to the hole and a beach bunker was added along the water on what might be the most beautiful hole on the course. Another willow was removed on the Par 5 15th, the longest hole on the course, to reveal the water hazard. No. 16 was lengthened from a Par 4 to a Par 5 and now plays 554 yards from the championship tees.
The Village Links opened in 1967 as both a recreational amenity and a storm water management facility. The renovation was directed by golf course architect Garrett Gill of River Falls, Wisconsin, son of the original architect David Gill.
|
