Eagle Ridge Major Closes out the Regular Season

The Major at Eagle Ridge in Galena marked the final event of the Regular season. 6 Chicago Member’s took home the trophy out of the 10 flights that competed over the weekend. Of the 22 players who finished in the Top 3, seven more have qualified for the national or Sr. National Championship bringing the total to 103 of the 233 member’s. This represents the largest amount of qualifier’s ever for the Chicago Tours.

IMPORTANT – for those who have qualified and met the eligibility requirements, tomorrow is registration deadline and I strongly urge those who qualified to register tonight. The field is filling very fast and could get closed out tonight.

Congratulations to the following Chicago Tour Champions at Eagle Ridge Major over the weekend:

Championship Flight – Bradley Belcaster

Hogan Flight – Pete Kaufman

Sr. Hogan Flight – John Williams

Sarazen Flight – Matt Jura (just promoted to Hogan)

Jones Flight – Mike Dyer (just promoted to Sarazen)

Snead Flight – Don Locke (just promoted to Jones)

SR. Snead – George Checks

Hole in One: (Mike Mullikin) I was fortunate to arrive at the 8^thtee on the North Course to witness Mike Mullikin’s Hole-in-One which from the elevated tee and shadows looked like his ball was 2 feet from the cup; it was instead his pitch mark. None of us saw the ball back up and go in the hole because of the height and shadows from the tee.

John Mauck flirted with a hole-in-one on the same hole when he hit his ball above the hole and this time we could clearly see his ball back up and just rim the edge.

Matt Bergstrom is the young Rookie to tournament golf and has been playing the game for just over 5 years. On the 5^th hole (his 15^th hole) which is a Par 5, he hit drive in the left side of the fairway and blocked out from any chance of reaching the green in two. He did something that very few if any would have attempted and that is hitting a sweeping hook aiming at nothing but dense woods. Matt curved the ball some 70-80-yards to a green about 190-200 yards away. He landed in the left greenside bunker and got it up and down for Birdie.

I am sure there were many other great shots that I wasn’t able to witness. Good Luck to all those who have qualified for National’s or Sr. National’s.

Lastly, the 2013 tournament schedule portal will be visible Monday Sept. 17^th. I will not have the entire schedule completed by then but will be working on it over the next 4-6 weeks after National’s. Look for one or two event s in Northwest Indiana.

The money race to make the Chicago Team begins Sept. 29^th. I realize it is Ryder Cup weekend but there is little opportunity to get tournaments in before the weather really changes. The first event will be played in Lake Geneva the Sunday the 23^rd and will appear on both schedules but is NOT an event used for the Team event. Make sure to register on the 17^th if you are interested in playing the event in Lake Geneva I believe at Grand Geneva.