Western Amateur at Skokie Country Club

[Jud_T]

Anyone heading over to check it out?  I'm thinking of trying to catch the quarter finals Friday afternoon....If you've never seen the course, I'd highly recommend it.....

[Anthony_Nysse]

This is their turf blog. A lot of good details as to what they've been doing the last year to prepare.

http://skokieturf.blogspot.com/

[Sven Nilsen]

Fellow GCAer Rob Bice is competing today qualifying as Skokie club champion.  From early scores it looks like Skokie is no pushover.

[Sven Nilsen]

16 is a par 3, you must be referring to 15.

Interesting test case for a half par hole at 18.  Plays as a par 4 from the tips (par 5 from one tee box up), currently playing to a 4.77 average.

[PCCraig]

Skokie is holding up very well.

It's tough to get all the way up to Glencoe from the city, but I might try to sneak over after work tomorrow to watch a few holes.

[Paul Richards]

Great tourney and great venue!!

Go out and see how the young 'flat-bellies' play at one of Ross's classic courses and then next Mon-Thursday see some more out at The Beverly CC which is hosting the Illinois State Amateur.

Great time to be seeing the 'next wave' of great young players from our state and across the country!!

[Phil McDade]

Holy Cow!  I just noticed that John Hurley is in this field!  TEP:  you want me to get his autograph for you?   

I gotta go check this kid out.

Right now Big John of Nebraska is sitting on the cut line -- his first-day 73 puts him T-49, and they cut to the low 44 and ties. Maybe today's soft conditions will be to his advantage.

[Phil McDade]

For those who may know Skokie, looking at some aerials, there is an interesting green, sitting at the confluence of the 3rd and 11th tees, and the 2nd hole, a good 500 yards away from the clubhouse. What's it doing there? Simply a mid-round practice green? It sits at what appears to be a very busy part of the course, with lots of tees and greens not that far away. An oddly located practice green? It comes complete with a bunker....

[Jud_T]

That may be the practice area Phil.  There's a short driving range, where you have to use balls that don't fly very far, and I believe a short-game area around where you're looking....

[Ronald Montesano]

Now the fun begins...down to the final 16 for match play...homer in me is cheering for Yaroslav Merkulov, incoming Duke freshman from Rochester, NY and David Chung, 2010 Porter Cup champion.

http://www.thewesternamateur.com/

[Jud_T]

Lion Kim baby, U of M guy on a roll since the Publinx....

[Chuck Brown]

Lion Kim baby, U of M guy on a roll since the Publinx....

Yeah, I mentioned Lion in another thread.  I spoke with him on Tuesday.  He's really relaxed, really comfortable with where his game is at right now.  He said he'd been fighting with his driver earlier in the year (he thinks he's gone through 18 drivers at Michigan), but has one now that he likes.  It is a Taylor Made with an Ozik, which Lion doesn't talk about too much because he has an all-Titleist bag and Titleist has been helpful to him with equipment and such.  (All legal under USGA and NCAA rules.)  He's actually looking forward to the new Titleist driver coming out soon.

How about this one; the Michigan golf team at Pebble and Cypress...

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/040210aaa.html

18 year-old (and incoming M freshman) Joey Garber from Petoskey, winner of the Michigan Am, did not make the Sweet 16.  Joey's a second alternate for the U.S. Am.

[Phil McDade]

Where's the GCA Aussie contingent? Kieran Pratt has made it to the semi's.

Here's his brief:
Pratt, Kieran                         

Melbourne, VIC  Commonwealth   age 22
St Josephs College & VIC Sport Institute

#20 SP World Amateur Ranking (as of 8/2)

10 British Amateur 32's
10 Trans-Tasman 3/0/1  +  Australian Am Quarters
10 Riversdale Cup T6  +  Tasmanian Open 3rd
10 Lake Macquarie Am Champ + Master of Ams 3rd
09 Victoria Match Am 3rd + Port Phillip Am Champ
09 Federal Am Open T14 + Portsea Open Am 2nd
09 Australia Interstate 7/0/3 (W/H/L)
09 Australian Am Quarters  +  Riversdale Cup T16
09 Tasmanian Open 4th  +  08 Dunes Medal T11
08 Riversdale Cup 2nd  +  07 Victoria Am Finalist
07 Dunes Med 5th, 07 Prt Phillip & 06 VIC Jun Chp

[Chuck Brown]

There were several Aussie and Kiwi players in the event.

Peter Uihlein and Jordan Speith did not make it to the Sweet 16 match play.  Lion Kim lost to USC freshman Jeffrey Kang 3 and 2. 

[Jud_T]

I was out there yesterday afternoon for the quarterfinals.  The most impressive thing about these kids wasn't their length, it was some of the recovery shots they played and their short games.  And kudos to the crew at Skokie who had the course in very good shape despite the massive amount of rain that fell earlier in the week...

[JR Potts]

Sorry shivas...can't root for Rowe.  He's a good guy and I like him but the fact that he got his amateur status back is one of the most laughable things Ive ever seen.

The guy was winning events on the Asian tour as a professional one year and then playing in the US Am, CDGA Am, MidAm qualifiers the next.

He also decided to play in the Butler Club Championship that year and won by 15ish shots....needless to say, the members were not so happy.  He's no longer a member there from I've been told.

I'll root for the real amateurs.

edit - found this article.....there's also one on the tribune site from 2001 showing that this is no amateur.
http://www.golfweek.com/news/2009/aug/06/rowe-back-swing-amateur-golf/

Sorry about the bad link...can't seem to find a way to easily do it with the IPad.

[Buck Wolter]

Personally, I always love the story of the old guys. Paul Hindsley, that old guy from Iowa, Rob Bice (I'm assuming he's old , Scott Rowe (although he's not thaaaaat old), etc.

Guys who can hang with the pups ....

What do you call these pups?  If the Tour is flat-bellies, what are these guys?  Pre-bellies?

I love the old guys, the multi-bellies, that can still get it around a little. Always have. Hell, I thought Hindsley was "old" when I was 14, and here he is, 30 years later, still swinging.... I LOVE IT!!

Mike McCoy is the Old Dude from Iowa -- his Son was also in and plays at Iowa State -- that's pretty good staying power. I remember seeing Nate hitting balls next to his dad when he was maybe 2 years old --already had a great swing.


McCoy,  Mike                           

w des moines, ia   Wakonda Club  age 47

Wichita State Univ Alum & Insurance

#96 SP World Amateur Ranking (as of 8/2)

10 Iowa State Am Champ + Coleman Inv 5th

09 & 9-time Iowa GA PoY  +  Porter Cup T4

09 US Mid 16s, Western Am 25th + Iowa St Am 2nd

09 Lupton Inv, Coleman Inv & Azalea Inv Top 3

09 Jones Cup 6th + 08 & 05 US Mid Semi's (07 16s)

08 US Am 32's & Qual Med + Western Am T19

08 & 00 Trans-Miss Mid-Am Champion (03 16's)

07, 05 & 04 Crump Cup Champ  (Semi's in 09 & 06)

07 Terra Cotta T7  +  06 Northeast T9 (T16 in 08)

05 Coleman T4 + 05 Porter T15

5-time Iowa State Am & Mid-Am Champion

27 USGA Championships & 3-time MVC Champ
   
       
 
 McCoy,  Nate                           

w des moines, ia   Wakonda Club  age 20

Iowa State University Junior

#428 SP World Amateur Ranking (as of 8/2)

10 Porter Cup 5th

10 Trans-Miss Amateur 6th

09 US Amateur Qualifier

09 Lake Creek Amateur 3rd

09 Shocker Classic 4th + 07 Iowa Masters 5th

07 Herman Sani Invitational 9th

07 Iowa HS 1A Champion
 

[Phil McDade]

Sorry shivas...can't root for Rowe.  He's a good guy and I like him but the fact that he got his amateur status back is one of the most laughable things Ive ever seen.

The guy was winning events on the Asian tour as a professional one year and then playing in the US Am, CDGA Am, MidAm qualifiers the next.

He also decided to play in the Butler Club Championship that year and won by 15ish shots....needless to say, the members were not so happy.  He's no longer a member there from I've been told.

I'll root for the real amateurs.

edit - found this article.....there's also one on the tribune site from 2001 showing that this is no amateur.
http://www.golfweek.com/news/2009/aug/06/rowe-back-swing-amateur-golf/

Sorry about the bad link...can't seem to find a way to easily do it with the IPad.

Ryan:

This sort of came up at the US Mid-Am two years ago at Milwaukee CC, when the winner -- Steve Wilson -- was a re-instated amateur after trying the mini-tours for a while; he may have even played on the Japanese/Asian tour for a while.

Curious -- should there be some kind of additional limits on re-instatement? Presumably the USGA allows it for those golfers who turn pro shortly after college, don't do well, and want to continue to play in significant tournaments like the Mid-Am or the Western Am. Length-of-time? Money earned? Here's what I found:

http://www.usga.org/rules/amateur_status/faq/Amateur-Status-FAQs/

http://golf.about.com/od/amateurgolf/a/amateur_rule9.htm

[JR Potts]

This is probably too strict of a rule but off the top of my head:

If one has ever received fully exempt status on either the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour or European Tour, said professional shall be ineligible for reinstatement as a Amateur for a period not less than ten (10) years.

[JR Potts]

So let me get this straight - you espouse golfers being able to declare themselves a professional when money is on the line and then declare themselves amateurs when merely fame and a Masters Invite is on the line?  Your proposal seems to blow up the distinction between professionals and amateurs.

In my opinion - it's like being pregnant...you either are or you are not.  Those who enter the professional ranks do so with the complete understanding that they are relinquishing their amateur status to make money playing golf and to take on the best players in the world.  It should not be as easy as it is to revert bank once one either: a.) hasn't made enough money b.) has become outclassed as a golfer  c.) realizes that they don't like being a professional or d.) etc.

You really think that LaBron James should potentially have the ability to play for a few years for Cavs after High School, decide he doesn't like it and then petition the NCAA (successfully in 4 weeks) to allow him to play NCAA basketball?  Of course you don't - that would be crazy.  Not much of a difference here (although to a lesser degree) with the USGA's rules.

You either are or you are not in my opinion.

[Phil McDade]

Congrats to Standford junior David Chung of North Carolina, who won 2-and-1 over UCLA's Gregor Main, to capture the 108th Western Am.

[J_ Crisham]

I watched the final match this afternoon. I thought Main would win given the way the match started. Wish the finalwas 36 holes. 2 great players and Skokie shined- I forgot how good a track it is. Hats off to the WGA- great event.  Jack