Can Billiter, Brodell top last year's victories?

Jim Billiter may not have been the Illinois PGA's Player of the Year in 2015, but his season was an eye-opener. In his first nine years as an assistant at the Merit Club in Libertyville, Billiter had no significant victories on his resume. Then, within a few months, he had two.

Billiter opened last season with a victory in the IPGA Match Play Championship at Kemper Lakes and proved that wasn't a fluke when he also captured the IPGA Championship on Medinah's No. 1 course.

Winning two of the section's four major championship wasn't enough to claim Player of the Year honors because Billiter didn't play in the other two majors. Now, with his title defense in the 65th playing of the Match Play event starting on Monday at Kemper, Billiter still doesn't plan to change his tournament schedule.

"It'll probably be the same story because I always miss the Illinois Open," said Billiter. "It's opposite the biggest ever of the year at my club."

Last year, with Player of the Year on the line, Billiter also skipped the IPGA Players Championship at Eagle Ridge in Galena to go on a road trip with club members. That virtually handed Player of the Year to Brian Brodell, a teaching pro at Mistwood in Romeoville, but Billiter doesn't have any no regrets.

"That was fine," he said, "because ours was the trip of a lifetime."

The fall trip is also an annual thing at Merit Club, and last year's was the 10th anniversary of the event. The destination was Scotland. Billiter didn't want to miss that.

So, Billiter will head into the first big tournament of the Chicago season without dwelling on his two big wins of a year ago.

"I was lucky. I caught lightning in a bottle," he said. "I go on streaks and fortunately they came on those courses. At Kemper, you can win a lot of holes with pars. It's a great course because it doesn't lend itself to low scoring. At Medinah, no one knew that course."

Medinah's No. 1 layout was hosting its first big event after undergoing a massive renovation.

Last year's Match Play event set the tone for the season. Billiter beat Brodell in a dramatic final that went 21 holes. Billiter put his tee shot on the final hole in the water but still won the hole when Brodell could do no better than double bogey.

"It was just pure luck that I won," said Billiter. "He played much better than me all day."

That show of modesty is misleading, though. Billiter can play, as witnessed by the course record 61 he posted at the Merit Club, a private club that hosted the U.S. Women's Open in 2000 and will host its first tour event since then in July when the LPGA's UL International Crown will be played there.

Like Billiter, Brodell plans to play strictly a local schedule again. He claimed Player of the Year without winning any of the four majors. He tied for 12th in the Illinois Open, tied for 28th in the IPGA Championship and tied for third in the IPGA Players Championship.

Brodell doesn't even feel he's the best player on the Mistwood staff. Director of golf Andy Mickelson won two national events for club pros last year but isn't eligible to play in the IPGA Match Play Championship, which runs through Thursday.

Here and there:

Batavia-based Greg Martin has been elected president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Martin has worked on many Chicago area courses and is currently overseeing a massive renovation at Oak Meadows, the DuPage County Forest Preserve District facility in Addison.

• The U.S. Open begins Monday with local qualifying rounds at Village Links of Glen Ellyn and Illini Country Club in Springfield.

• Crystal Lake's Joe Affrunti continued on the comeback trail with a tie for 20th in the PGA Tour's Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He concluded the rain-delayed event with a 66 in the final round on Monday.

• The Illinois PGA had both Senior and Assistant stroke play events scheduled for Monday at Flossmoor. Both had to be postponed following the heavy weekend rainfall. No reschedule date has been determined.

• The Chicago District Golf Association will conduct qualifying for its senior amateur four-ball event today at Blackberry Oaks in Bristol.

• Palatine Hills has scheduled a free family golf-fest, called Head for the Hills, from 2-5 p.m. on May 14.

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