Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/638142
Only a few of today's current players avoided the pressure of having to earn their PGA Tour cards via Qualifying School or playing the entire Web. com Tour season. In 1985, Oklahoma State junior Scott Verplank won the Western Open right here in Chicago and became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Doug Sanders did back in 1956. As a junior at Arizona State, Phil Mickelson won the 1991 Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Arizona and earned the coveted two year PGA Tour card. Mickelson has gone on to win three of the four Grand Slam Titles, with three Masters, one Open Championship, and one PGA Championship. After announcing he was turning professional, Tiger Woods was given multiple sponsors' exemptions and promptly won the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational, which gave him full playing privileges in 1997, the year he won his first of 14 major championships at the Masters. Chicagoland has a long history of proudly hosting multiple Western Opens, U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, regular PGA Tour events, and the 2012 Ryder Cup. Throughout the years, golf fans from all over the Midwest have always had the ability to visit Chicago and witness the world's best golfers hoist significant trophies. In 2007 the PGA Tour created the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Western Open was renamed the BMW Championship. That move left the Chicago market without an annual PGA Tour stop as the BMW Championship rotates host courses with other Midwest cities. Trying to fill the professional golf void in the third largest market in the U.S. the PGA Tour has given Chicago the ability to host Champions and Web.com Tour events. The Web.com Tour made stops in Chicago from 2002-2008 and after an eight year hiatus, will return to the Windy City in 2016. Ivanhoe Country Club will welcome the future stars of the PGA Tour on June 6-12, as the Rust-Oleum Championship moves from Cleveland. The decision on which course would get the nod shouldn't have been a difficult one, as Rust- Oleum CEO Tom Reed is a member at Ivanhoe C.C. When you attend the Rust-Oleum Championship this summer chances are you will see a future Jim Furyk or Zach Johnson in the flesh, you just won't know it yet. Ivanhoe's Forest Course, Hole No. 7