Ross Litton picked up the phone but didn’t feel like talking – much. Understandable. A week earlier, on May 12, the 77-year-old longtime CDGA member was in the intensive care unit at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. There, he was recovering from numerous brain bleeds and a hematoma to the leg, which he su ered when he was run over by a man driving an SUV while playing the fifth hole at Billy Caldwell Golf Course on Chicago’s North Side. The driver, Tory Gardner, 30, of Cicero, was captured on the course by local police and charged with aggravated battery while “intentionally and knowingly causing great bodily harm to a person over the age of 60” and unlawful possession of a weapon (knife) by a convicted felon. “He hit Ross Litton with his vehicle,” according to the felony complaint. Judge Anthony Calabrese ordered Gardner be held at Cook County Jail until his trial.
How you feeling, Ross? “It’s different…I’m still alive.” A regular at Billy Caldwell who said he lives “close to the course,” Litton plays there “twice a week.”
Gardner drove into the main entrance of the course at 6150 N. Caldwell around 5:30 p.m., May 12, and steered his black Dodge Journey onto the maintenance path, according to police and state’s attorney reports. Billy Caldwell employees saw him and immediately gave pursuit. An off-duty course employee tried to stop Gardner, who got out of his vehicle and charged at him with a knife. The employee wasn’t injured and somehow managed to puncture Gardner’s right rear tire. Gardner got back in his vehicle and resumed speeding around the course, endangering and no doubt terrifying golfers. Another golf course employee, Michael Bergum, drove his silver Honda onto the course, attempting to stop Gardner, who struck Litton and kept going. Bergum continued to chase Gardner and eventually collided with the SUV. Still, Gardner continued to speed recklessly around the course, giving no indication he was going to stop. Police arrived and managed to stop and arrest Gardner, who told police he drove on the golf course as a short cut. He told police he knew that he’d struck Litton and did so because Litton was yelling at him. Police said Gardner expressed no remorse.
After the PGA Tour announced it was shelving its bizzare “Starting Strokes” format for the Tour Championship (a/k/a $100 million FedExCup final)Golf Channel commentator Tripp Isenhour suggested the Tour take a page out of the Western Amateur playbook with a twist. Namely, have the 30 contestants play 72 holes of stroke play, take the top four points getters for the year and have them play two rounds of match play to determine the champion. Not an exact replica of the Western, which has 156 players and a cut to 16 who compete in match play to identify a winner. “The best examination in amateur golf is the Western Amateur…Then you’d have a true playoff that stands the test of time.
Coach Mike Small said his Illinois golf team had “a total meltdown” at the NCAA championship on May 25, when it failed to to be one of the 15 teams to make the cut and qualify to play in the stroke play finals in Carlsbad. Though the Illini finished 12th in the country, Small said the team didn’t live up to the standard he set over the years. “This has been a very up and down, inconsistent year,” Small said. Though the NCAAs were disappointing, Jackson Buchanan, Max Herendeen and Ryan Voois were named First Team All-Big Ten while freshmen Jake Birdwell and Trey Marrion were named to the All-Freshmen team. Meanwhile, Northwestern’s Cameron Adam and Daniel Svard were named All-Big Ten.
The renovation of the Hillside 9 at Cantigny Golf has been completed by golf course architect Todd Quitno and will reopen to the public on June 1. On the same day, Quitno will start renovation work to the Lakeside 9 of the KemperSports-operated property.
Quitno also designed a new 16,000 square-foot practice putting green and short game area at Vernon Hills Golf Course, a 9-hole municipal facility in the north suburb, also managed by KemperSports. —Barry Cronin