May 6, 2020 vol . 6 4 i ss u e 2 8
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news from plainfield Joliet shorewood lockport crest hill bolingbrook romeoville downers grove Westmont Woodridge lisle niles Morton grove park ridge & more
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state
golf courses across illinois opened May 1 by Mark gregory editorial director
@Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com
After shutting down parks, walking trails and golf courses for more than a month, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker relaxed the stay-at-home order slightly as he extended the mandate through May. One of the the recreation activities allowed to reopen May 1 were Illinois golf courses — although with strict rules. Cups were made shallow, players could only play in twosomes and no carts, motorized or pull carts, were
rented out, but people came to play. “It was the perfect storm. Everyone has been really cooped up for a couple months and then you get three almost perfect days,” said Jason Shook, PGA Head Golf Professional at Wedgewood Golf Course in Joliet. “I think we were able to meet some of the demand. “I am sure some people are still going to Wisconsin or Indiana that wanted to be in carts.” The Joliet Park District course saw the tee sheets booked solid, which Shook said wasn’t difficult to do with the restrictions.
“It doesn’t take much to be booked solid because you can only have two golfers every 15 minutes, but our tee sheets on Friday and Saturday were booked from 6 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. and on Sunday, we were booked from 7 a.m. until 5 or 5:30 p.m,,” he said. “We saw a lot of old pull carts that were pulled out of the garage and a lot of people were upset they had sold theirs in a garage sale over the last few years.” Tam O’Shanter Golf Course in Niles didn’t have as much luck weatherwise. With the north branch of the Chica-
go River flowing through the course, the mid-week rain made it impossible for play the first two days the course was allowed to reopen. “We hustled to get ready to open Friday and Saturday then unfortunately, we were flooded and closed, but were finally able to get opened on Sunday to welcome people back,” said Golf Course Manager Peter Dubs. “Everyone was just happy to be out there and as silly as some of them thought the policies were, they realized they weren’t our rules.” Walking the course is less of a burden at Tam O’Shanter, as the course is only nine holes. “We are a shorter walk,” Dubs said. “It was nice to be able to provide a little brightness in the day for the golfers that were able to come visit.” As courses across the state continue to follow the mandate, Shook is hoping the rules begin to relax over time. “I am hoping in a week or two if the governor sees that courses did it the right way, maybe the tee times will come down or we can be in foursomes or maybe the driving ranges can open soon,” Shook said. “As long as the COVID-19 numbers go down, that we can slowly open back up and get to whatever the new normal will be.” One of the state-held golf tournaments, that had been postponed now has a scheduled date. The 2020 Evans Scholars Invitational, which was originally scheduled for May 20-24, was postponed
on March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event – now one of five tournaments that will make up the Korn Ferry Tour’s new fall schedule – will be held in the Chicago area at a site yet to be determined. “We are excited to announce this new date for the Evans Scholars Invitational as we look to bring Korn Ferry Tour golf back to Chicago in 2020,” said Vince Pellegrino, senior vice president of tournaments for the Western Golf Association. “We appreciate the ongoing support of our partners and volunteers as we work towards tournament week, knowing we will only contest this event if deemed safe to do so under the guidance of leading public health authorities.” The announcement of a fall schedule comes after the PGA TOUR announced last week that, due to circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation or postponement of 13 events from the 2019-20 TOUR Season, eligibility has been extended for exempt 2019-20 PGA TOUR members for the 2020-21 season. These adjustments will result in the Korn Ferry Tour not having a graduating class in 2020; however, the TOUR has established a performance benefit for the top 10 from the Korn Ferry Tour points list following the conclusion of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance. Those players will be granted access into all PGA TOUR additional events for the 2020-21 season.
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