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Ziehm: Streelman needs to leave his mark in New Jersey to qualify for BMW at Medinah

A week ago, the Chicago area's best PGA Tour player just wanted "two solid weeks." That, Kevin Streelman figured, would be enough to get him into next week's BMW Championship at Medinah.

Now Streelman has to have one - at The Northern Trust, which tees off Thursday at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J. - to earn a spot at Medinah.

The top 70 players on the point list for the FedEx Cup Playoffs qualify for the field at Medinah. Streelman was No. 66 going into last weekend's Wyndham Championship, the last event of the PGA Tour's regular season. The Wheaton golfer didn't help himself there, missing the 36-hole cut by one stroke.

That left Streelman a precarious No. 68 going into the 125-man field at Liberty National. The FedEx Playoffs consisted of four tournaments since its debut in 2007, but now there are only three and The Northern Trust is the only one with a 36-hole cut, so big money is on the line.

Make the 36-hole cut at Liberty National and you're assured at least a share of the $9.25 million prize money. The purse is the same at Medinah, but there's no cut and all 70 qualifiers will cash in. So Streelman, understandably, called the next two weeks "one of the most important periods of my career."

Streelman had a slow start in 2019, even missing the cut at the Valspar Championship in March - the site of the first of his two PGA Tour victories in 2013. But he recovered after that and has $1,588, 881 in official money going into the playoffs. That amount will swell dramatically if he just survives the cut Friday at Liberty National.

The prize money has not been announced for the last playoff event - The Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta from Aug. 22 to 25 - but only 30 players will divide it there. Streelman, with $18.7 million in career earnings, has qualified for The Tour Championship twice. For now, he's just focusing on Medinah. The club is only a 15-minute drive from where he grew up.

"It'd be incredible for me to play there," he said. "I caddied there and, though we weren't members, I played there a couple times each year with some family friends who were members."

Streelman played most of his Chicago golf at Cantigny and Arrowhead, nearby public courses. His main instructor since age 12 was Jim Suttie, and he got an emergency call when Streelman was struggling early in the season. After a long stint teaching in Chicago, Suttie now works out of Jeremy Ranch in Utah in the summer and TwinEagles in Florida in the winter.

Streelman said Suttie gave him "a return to the basics, a few simple things," and his game got back on track. He climbed 110 places in the FedEx standings in the last five months.

Once the playoffs are over, Streelman's tour life will change significantly on at least two fronts. Family travel will be more limited because daughter Sophia starts her school years and he'll miss being on the PGA Tour Policy Board. His three-year term ends after the next meeting.

Referee deserves top Rank:

Garrett Rank, a National Hockey League referee, emerged the champion of last week's 117th Western Amateur - a tourney played at Chicago area courses in recent years but staged at Point O'Woods in Benton Harbor, Mich., this time.

Rank, 31, became the tourney's second Canadian winner, the first being Jim Nelford in 1997. He was also the first international champion since Danny Lee in 2008. Rank was runner-up to Nathan Smith in the U.S. Mid-Amateur when it was played at Conway Farms, Lake Forest in 2012.

Here and there:

Scott and Tommy Dunsire of Naperville captured the Chicago District Mid-Amateur Four-Ball at Oak Park Country Club. The brothers grew up playing at Medinah. Scott is a recent Michigan State graduate and Tommy is a sophomore at Northern Illinois.

• BMW Championship week begins Aug. 13 at Medinah. Opening day will feature a free junior clinic at 4 p.m. for kids 16 and younger. Mark Wilson, a PGA Tour player from Elmhurst, will emcee. An adult who has purchased a grounds ticket for that day must accompany participants.

• Nicole Jeray, runner-up in the Illinois Women's Open a week ago, tied for fourth in the Janesville Senior Pro-Am on the LPGA Legends Tour on Sunday. The Mistwood teaching pro and Northern Illinois University hall of famer covered the tourney's 36 holes in 1-over-par 147.

• Schaumburg Golf Club has reopened No. 17 on its Baer Course. It was one of two holes closed during a renovation of that nine-hole layout at the 27-hole facility. No. 18 will remain closed with the No. 9 hole of the Tournament nine being used temporarily to complete an 18-hole rotation.

• For more golf news, visit lenziehmongolf.com, contact him at lenziehm@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @ZiehmLen and check out his posts at Facebook.com/lenziehmongolf.

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