Lake Forest’s Grieve bidding farewell to amateur golf
Lake Forest’s Pierce Grieve has a big stretch of golf ahead, and his game is ready for it.
Last week the 6-foot-6 Grieve, who finished his collegiate career at West Virginia after starting it at Louisville, was low man in the final qualifier for the 125th U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club in San Francisco. He’s the only Chicago area player to make it to the finals, and that Aug. 11-17 event will mark the end of his solid amateur career that includes titles in both the Illinois State Amateur and Chicago District Amateur.
Grieve will bid farewell to the amateur ranks when he plays in the Illinois Open for the first time next week at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer.
“The Illinois Open is the last win in Illinois that I’m missing,” Grieve said. “I’ve played Kemper Lakes a good amount and feel it fits my game really well. Everything came together (at Aldeen). My game is in a pretty good place.”
Getting to the U.S. Amateur was his main focus going into this key part of the competitive season for Chicago area players. He shot a 7-under-par 65 to top the field in the final U.S. Am qualifier at Aldeen in Rockford. Last week he entered the qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour’s NV5 Invitational at the Glen Club in Glenview, and missed a chance to make the final field by one stroke.
The seventh and last qualifier for the 76th Illinois Open is Wednesday at Countryside in Mundelein. The 54-hole tournament proper tees on Monday.
STREELMAN IS BACK: Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman, Illinois’ most successful PGA Tour player, returned to action at last week’s NV5 Invitational. He had been sidelined since March after surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
Coming off a mediocre season, the 46-year-old Streelman made three of four cuts to start the 2025 campaign before his knee injury. He made 300 cuts in PGA Tour events since joining the circuit in 2008. In his return to action he shot a 67-70, 5-under-par at the Glen, and missed the cut.
Californian Johnny Keefer was the NV5 champion, shooting 28-under to win by two. He’s No. 1 on the Korn Ferry’s point list with seven tournaments remaining and has already clinched a spot on the PGA Tour for 2026.
LIV UPDATE: Next stop for the Saudi-backed tour is the LIV/Chicago stop from Aug. 8-10 at Bolingbrook Golf Club. LIV completed its non-U.S. schedule with a tournament last week in the United Kingdom with Chile’s Joaquin Niemann winning by nine shots over runner-up Bubba Watson.
Niemann was second in LIV’s individual standings behind Jon Rahm last season after Rahm won at Bolingbrook with Niemann the runner-up. Rahm’s Legion XIII unit leads the circuit’s team competition.
WOMEN’S U.S. AMATEUR: Barrington’s Bridget Butler won the Illinois State Women’s Amateur earlier this season and will chase a bigger prize at next week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.
Butler redshirted as a college freshman at Nebraska after being sidelined 11 months with a torn ACL. She bounced back with her victory in the State Am.
HERE AND THERE: One of the biggest Chicago junior tournaments, the 45th Chick Evans Junior Amateur, crowned its champions at Itasca Country Club. Northbrook’s Alexis Meyers, headed for the University of Illinois, won the girls’ division by beating Long Grove’s Campbell Ray, a rising junior at Stevenson High School, in the title match. Tyler Samaan of Elgin won the boys division. He defeated Rayden Tee of Hoffman Estates in the final. Meyers will play in this week’s Junior PGA Championship on Purdue’s course in West Lafayette, Ind.
Northbrook’s Nick Hardy and Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim are both in the field at this week’s Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, the last event of the PGA Tour’s regular season. Hardy used a final round 67 to climb into a tie for 28th at last week’s 3M Open in Minnesota. Ghim missed the cut.
The Chicago District Golf Association’s Four-Ball Championship concludes Wednesday with semifinal and championship matches at Eagle Brook in Geneva.