One year shy of hitting the century mark, Itasca Country Club in west suburban Itasca will welcome the state’s top amateur golfers age 55 and older when the 38th Illinois State Senior Amateur Championship is conducted Sept. 16-18.
The Illinois State Senior is the final of four State Championships on the 2024 CDGA slate, following the Illinois State Women’s, Illinois State and Illinois State Mid-Amateur Championships earlier this summer. Registration for the event was open to any Illinois resident who met the aforementioned age requirement while holding a Handicap Index® of 10.4 or lower. The field will consist of 25 players exempt for the Championship and those advancing from qualifiers held in late August at Mt. Prospect Golf Club, the Country Club of Peoria and Blackberry Oaks Golf Course. In order to hoist the Earl R. Liff Trophy, players will compete in 18 holes of stroke play each of the first two days before a cut to the low 35 and ties. Those players will advance to Wednesday’s 18-hole finale. Additionally, a Low Super Senior crown will be awarded following the second round.
Last year, Scot Frankenreider of Peoria successfully defended his first CDGA-administered event title in 2022 by emerging victorious again at Rockford Country Club. Frankenreider went wire-to-wire to finish seven shots clear of Frankfort’s Glenn Przybylski. At 6 under overall, he was the only player in the field to finish the event in red figures.
Itasca was designed by James Foulis, Jr., a Scotsman who worked at Old Tom Morris’ golf shop and eventually became the golf professional at Chicago Golf Club. The 2007 Illinois Golf Hall of Fame member, along with brothers David and Robert, also captured the second U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1896. Itasca has previously hosted two CDGA-administered Senior championships. The 2017 CDGA Senior Amateur Four-Ball and 2018 CDGA Senior Amateur Championships were both contested on the tree-lined layout, which features small, undulating greens.
Founded: 1925
Architect: James Foulis, Jr.
Director of Golf: Jim Sykes
Previous CDGA Championships: 2
CDGA Senior Amateur Championship - 2018
CDGA Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championship - 2017