Eighth time the charm
It took nearly eight hours, but Libertyville amateur Nicole Schachner finally outlasted Wheaton pro Jenna Pearson to win the Illinois Women's Open Championship with a par on the 10th hole of sudden death.
Schachner, a University of Florida sophomore, 2-putted from 13 feet and then watched Pearson 3-putt from 12 feet to end the marathon at Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Schachner, who sat out her freshman year of eligibility at Florida with a broken wrist. "We played that third hole eight straight times, and each of us made 2-putt pars the first seven times.
"Winning this championship is an honor, and to do it like that makes it really special. It was too bad one of us had to lose."
Nice touch: Instead of the usual hole-in-one wins a car promotion at the BMW Championship at Cog Hill this September, tournament officials decided on going a different direction.
"Instead of awarding one of our vehicles to a player scoring a hole-in-one during a championship on hole No. 14, we're going to instead award a four-year scholarship in that player's name to an Evans Scholar," said Tom Purves, president and CEO of BMW North America.
But that's not all.
"We're going to support the WGA's tradition at the Western Open to have all the proceeds of the BMW Championship go to the Evans Scholarship Foundation," Purves said.
Fine field: The 2007 Western Amateur field again will feature many of the world's greatest amateur golfers, including 12 returning Western Amateur final 16 match-play qualifiers.
Also, 13 NCAA All-Americans in 2007 -- four first-teamers, four second-teamers and five third-teamers -- were set to compete in the championship this week at Point O'Woods Golf and Country Club in Benton Harbor, Mich.
"We have one of the best fields in recent years committed to play in our 105th Western Amateur," noted John Kaczkowski, Western Golf Association tournament director. "Jamie Lovemark, our 2005 champion, heads a list of top-ranked national and international players who will be providing a very competitive week of golf at Point O'Woods."
Ready to rumble: A full field of 100 golfers from around the state have gathered for the 27th Annual Illinois Women's Golf Association (IWGA) State Junior Amateur Championship this week at the University of Illinois Orange Golf Course in Savoy.
Heading the field was Gianna DiGrazia, 2006 Junior State Championship runner-up from Addison and Jaclyn Jansen, an Effingham high school senior standout. The pair have the lowest handicaps of the field (1.4).
The final round is today.
Getting ready: The state's top amateur golfers will tee off in the 77th Illinois State Amateur Championship on Tuesday, Aug. 14, but they'll be without defending champion, Rob Grube, who is not competing.
The 2007 State Am will take place at Tuscola Golf Club.
He said it: 2006 Western Open winner Trevor Immelman on the new FedEx Cup playoff format: "Well, you know, I think it is what it is and the guys have embraced it because this is the decision that's been made, and the decision has been made obviously in conjunction with the players and the Players Committee, and so we need to go ahead with this now and make sure that this is a success."