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New format for 100th Elgin Open meets with resistance from top players

One of the city of Elgin's marquee sporting competitions celebrates a historic birthday this weekend.

But the celebration of the Elgin Open's 100th anniversary has a storm cloud hanging over it heading into the opening round of golf Saturday at Wing Park.

The tournament, which to honor the milestone birthday will be contested at all three city courses (Wing, The Highlands and Bowes Creek) over the next two weekends (63 holes), will have a field of only 25 golfers, a number about half as large as last year's roster that competed in a 36-hole, one-weekend competition.

The dwindling participation number, according to city golf officials and some current and former participants, has a variety of origins.

Elgin golf director Mike Lehman noted participation numbers have been on a downswing for several years, but factors such as the new three-course format and the switch from summer to early fall may have contributed to this year's smaller field.

"There's not one thing in particular," he said. "We moved it and made it special with the three courses and two weekends and quite honestly it may not have been effective. In talking to some players, two weekends is tough to give to a tournament. Life is too busy for people. This is something we probably can't duplicate again. We probably have to go back to one weekend."

Three-time champion Jeff Lange wondered specifically about the switch in dates from summer to fall. "I don't understand why they are having it this time of year," he said. "Some guys I know at this time of year couldn't take two weekends off."

Lehman said the two-weekend format would have been tough to pull off during the summer months. "It's next to impossible for all courses to try and do something like that during peak golf season," he said.

Another big issue with the new format and dates is the conflict it creates for local high school and college golfers who now are in the middle of their respective school seasons. On that front, one major casualty is two-time defending champion and St. Edward alum Eric Winters, who is not playing this year.

"It's more the date change," Winters said. "It has eliminated a lot of the college and high school players who are in season right now and can't play. If you look back at the last 10 or 15 years or so, the winners and top finishers have come from that age range. The field has somewhat been diluted by not having those players being able to compete."

Winters, who graduated from Valparaiso University in May and is now an insurance underwriter in Chicago, said he most likely would return if the tournament returned to the summer months.

"I've made my peace with it," he said. "Because I graduated college I had the option to choose to play or not. I feel more bummed out for the high school and college players who didn't have that option."

Winters' brothers, Brad and Dan, also won't play in the tournament. Brad Winters, who won the tournament three years ago, moved to Chicago in the spring, while Dan Winters is now a sophomore studying at Bradley University in Peoria.

This year's format features a 9-hole round Saturday at Wing Park, the oldest municipal golf course in the state (E.W. Wing won the first Elgin Open). The tournament's next 18 holes move to The Highlands on Sunday. Tournament play resumes Oct. 3-4 with the final 36 holes at Bowes Creek. Players will be seeded into the championship and A flights after this weekend. There also is a Super Senior Division for players 62 years and older.

"We have some past champions in it this year," said Jim Vogt, golf pro at The Highlands. "It's a diverse group. It's our major tournament and it's been around 100 years now. There's a lot of history here."

St. Charles North graduate Nick May is new to the field this year. "Two weekends and three courses is pretty neat," he said. "Playing four days is like playing in a big tournament."

Tom Harle is one of those past champions in the field, winning the 1999 installment.

"I like the format and like that we're playing at all three courses," he said. "I haven't played Wing Park in years, so that will be cool. It's disappointing the field is small, but there are still some good players. It still will be a lot of fun. You don't find many tournaments that are 100 years old."

And hopefully the lessons learned from this year's tournament will be the springboard to 100 more successful Elgin Opens.

Mike Miazga has written about Fox Valley sports since 1993. Email him at mjm890@gmail.com.

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