When the Western Open venue was switched from opulent Butler National to purely public Cog Hill in 1991, there existed a certain amount of fear and trembling on the PGA Tour.
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The question was not only how to get there-once you reach the Cal-Sag Bridge that shakes over the troubled brown Illinois-Michigan Canal waters and pass that automobile junkyard on the right, you’re about a mile from the front gate, and you can miss it.
The real problem for pro golfers was, what do we find there when we find it? Anybody can do Dubsdread for $80. That includes the cart, but not fingerbowls. There are no fingerbowls at Cog Hill, and if you want that thick, shag country club carpet, bring your own. They don’t give away little bottles of shampoo, either.
“But we don’t come here to play the clubhouse,” says Joey Sindelar. “We come here to play the golf course. And this is one heck of a golf course.”
If the interior decorating at the Western isn’t dazzling, the leader board is. By late Sunday afternoon, there’s a fair chance that someone very rich and very famous on merit will win the 91st Western. It just seems to happen that way at places like Cog Hill.
Greg Norman and John Daly are missing, but so are the railroad ties.
“Very simple concept,” says Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman, one swing off Greg Kraft’s 11-under-par pace after 54 holes. “If you hit a good shot, you get rewarded. If you hit a bad shot, you get penalized. A strong test, but a fair test. We wish we could play these every week.”
Yes, but who’s Greg Kraft? To be sure, he’s the mystery guest on this estimable list of corporations in spikes. Call him a shadow-boxer trying to fend off heavyweights if you must, but everybody’s got to start somewhere. Tom Watson’s first victory was the Western in 1974, and he’s going to Hall of Fame. Scott Simpson, an outstanding golfer, made his first acceptance speech at Butler in 1980. And Scott Verplank was still an amateur in 1985 when they put his name on the trophy.
Kraft’s dilemma, besides inexperience at being in the hunt, is that he’s the bull’s-eye for a slew of big-game hunters. Defending champion Nick Price posted a scruffy (for him) 72 and is still at 10-under with Sluman. The threesome at 8-under features dangerously streaky Bill Glasson, who won his sixth tournament early this season; Fred Couples, so gifted that a cranky back and hacking cough didn’t preclude a 69; and Jim Gallagher Jr., a Ryder Cup thoroughbred who is more talented than heralded.
Scott Hoch and Mark Calcavecchia are four behind, but the latter’s caddie, Ryne Sandberg, still has a better shot at finishing first in this job than his last job. Meanwhile, an early departure from the fray was Phil Mickelson, who hit only two fairways as he struggled to a 77 and took 19 putts on the front side. A lot of us have been there, but Mickelson’s breakdown will cost him more than $80.
The ultimate winner at Cog Hill could be Glenn Tait, a veteran PGA Tour official who roves from site to site each week, seeing that all is well and hearing when it isn’t. Besides wondering whether Saturday’s finicky winds would bring more rain, Tait seemed rather composed. On his job, a little boredom is healthy.
“When players have complaints, they come to me,” Tait says. “It’s very quiet here. I don’t know of a better public course in the country. Pebble Beach has the ocean and the scenery. It also has houses. All there is here is a solid golf course in terrific condition with great people running it.
“Joe and Frank Jemsek just can’t do enough to make it right. Cog Hill was just about perfect when we first came here, and it’s getting even better. I don’t use much white paint out here. There are only two spots for ground under repair. And the greens are excellent.”
And for $80, these guys can return some day and play Dubsdread from the tips. Asked who those back tees are for, Sluman didn’t hesitate.
“Not us,” he said.