Perhaps if Chicago golf fans had known that Scottie Scheffler would go on to win three majors (and counting) and an Olympic Gold; that Cameron Young would be PGA Tour Rookie of the Year and a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and that England’s Harry Hall, he of the Ben Hogan cap and the Claude Rains moustache (think Casablanca), would have played in the Masters this year thanks to winning a PGA Tour event, they would have turned out in droves to see them play at the area’s annual Korn Ferry Tour (KFT) event at The Glen Club in north suburban Glenview. Alas, in a big-time city that has everything in multiples, we Chicagoans prefer to spend our time and money on luminaries who already are fixtures in the celebrity constellation, not merely aspirants to it. In recent years, Sche ler, Young and Hall all won the Western Golf Association-conducted tournament now known as the NV5 Invitational and are now playing the “big tour.” So is last year’s champion Thomas Rosenmueller, 28(pictured), of Germany and runner-up Karl Vilips of Australia.
This year’s NV5 is July 24–27. Although the final field and sponsor exemptions haven’t been announced o icially as of this writing, a couple of the players who seem likely to participate are Neal Shipley, who finished low amateur at the Masters a couple of years ago and went viral after he mean-mugged the camera inside Butler Cabin and former Western Amateur champion Austin Greaser, who has battled injuries in recent years.
So come on out to The Glen Club. You’re likely to see tomorrow’s stars today. —Barry Cronin