Paeglow is senior Player of Year, joins others in Florida tourney
It'll be the senior members of the Illinois PGA in the spotlight this week as the Chicago golf tournament season wraps up.
The IPGA Senior Players Championship concluded Tuesday at Twin Orchard in Long Grove, and the key players in it headed for Port St. Lucie, Fla., for the Senior PGA Professional Championship, which begins its 72-hole run Thursday.
Ten IPGA members are in the field for the 50-and-older national tourney at PGA Golf Club, and they included five of the top seven on the Errie Ball Player of the Year point race prior to the 36-hole competition at Twin Orchard.
David Paeglow, head pro at Kishwaukee in DeKalb, clinched the Player of the Year with a fifth-place finish at Twin Orchard. Roy Biancalana, a teaching pro at Blackberry Oaks in Bristol, finished three strokes in front of him in third. Kevin Healy of Black Sheep in Sugar Grove, won the title and was the only player to finish under par (73-70-143 for the 36 holes).
Medinah's Rich Dukelow finished second, one stroke ahead of Biancalana, and Biltmore's Doug Bauman was alone in fourth, one swing ahead of Paeglow. As soon as the tournament was over all five headed to O'Hare to catch flights to the national event in Florida.
Biancalana and Paeglow were the only Illinois club pros playing all 72 holes at last year's Senior PGA Professional Championship. Biancalana tied for 22nd and Paeglow tied for 49th.
Paeglow, 53, won the Illinois Senior Open, was second in the IPGA Senior Match Play and tied for second in the IPGA Senior Championship. He also won two of the section's senior stroke play events. The highlight of Biancalana's season was a victory in the Illinois Super Seniors Championship.
While the IPGA doesn't make its Player of the Year awards official until a banquet in mid-November, the winners are determined on point standings after the tournament season is over.
Ironically neither Paeglow nor Biancalana may be the section's best bet in the national event in Florida. Mike Small, beaten out by Paeglow for senior honors, still was the IPGA overall Player of the Year. A 13-time winner of the IPGA Championship, he skipped the local finale at Twin Orchard to get ready for another run at a national title.
Small, the University of Illinois men's coach, is a three-time winner of the PGA Professional National Championship.
Illinois club pros who also qualified for the national event in Florida are Healy, Ivanhoe's Jim Sobb, Biltmore's Doug Bauman, Chicago Golf Club's John Guyton and Beverly's John Varner. Also making the trip to Florida are David Hannon from Links & Tees, and Kevin Rafferty of Golf Galaxy in Vernon Hills.
Here and there: Tim Sheppard of East Peoria, and Tom Kearfoot of El Paso won the Chicago District Senior Amateur Four-Ball title for the third time in the event's five-year history, beating Mike Karney of Crystal Lake, and Mike Mcloone of Arlington Heights in the championship match. The event at Aurora Country Club was the fourth and final championship on a CDGA schedule.
• Onwentsia in Lake Forest hosts the Western Junior championship in 2021. The club was to host this year but was canceled because of the pandemic. Naperville Country Club, which was to host in 2021, will now be the site in 2022 and Midlothian will take it in 2023.
Toptracer - a popular attraction at the Mistwood Golf Dome in Bolingbrook - is being added to the Mistwood Performance Center in Romeoville. The Performance Center will also have winter hours this year.