Men’s amateur golf tournaments allow some players, who have enough time and commitment, to form a bit of their own tour within a 50-mile radius of Aurora.
Last weekend, Glenn Przybylski won his third Naperville amateur championship in the last six years. If he has time and inclination and could play in the Aurora City men’s tournament Saturday and Sunday at Phillips Park in Aurora in the 36-hole event. Until recently the tournament was 72 holes and included the Fox Valley Golf Course the first weekend. Fox Valley in North Aurora has been sold to developers who will build housing.
Phillips Park, a nice course, will be the host site. Jackson Clark, a sophomore at Waubonsee Community College, won last year’s championship. This year will be the 87th annual tournament.
Przybylski captured the Naperville tournament last week with an eye-popping 67-70-137, seven under par, first at Naperbrook Golf Course and Sunday at the Springbrook Golf Course. Both are owned and administered by the Naperville Park District. Patrick Coyle was second, 69-72-141, and Nicholas Tenuta took third, 70-73-143.
Przybylski shot the low round of the tournament Saturday with the 67. He won in 2015 with 136, one stroke better than this year, and took first place in 2013 with 145,
Naperville flight winners: A, Tony Holguin, Jr., 74-76-150; B Flight, Mark Joye, 71-74-145; C Flight, Patrick Altman, 76-86-167; D Flight, Bill Welter, and E Flight, Jack Payne. Good weather is always a must in July and with long daylight each day, there is a bit of excitement in the air.
A few notes of information and comments include the following bits:
• Football will be the hot topic soon. The Chicago Bears this week were set to start training camp in Bourbonnais;
• Northern Illinois University defensive end Sutton Smith was named to the Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List for the 2018 Maxwell Football Club. He was a semifinalist for the award last year and led the top division in tackles for loss with 29.5 and broke the school record for sacks in a single season with 14, which tied for the national lead last year. He was named the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year last season.
• The late Bill Mallory, a fine football coach and a wonderful person, is receiving a legacy with the Mallory Cup for games between Northern Illinois and Miami University in Ohio. See article here.
• High school football fans and coaches likely will remember the late coach, John Jackson, who died last week. He was head coach at Plainfield Central High School and an assistant at Naperville North. He was only 58 years old. There is a gofundme.com page to help with his family. He was generally regarding as a consummate teacher and mentor.
• The West Aurora High School football program will be host to big man competition Thursday, July 19 in the “Battle of the Big Butts” which was canceled last season because of excessive heat.
• North Central College hired its 11th women’s head basketball coach, Maggie McCloskey-Bax. She has been an assistant at Carthage College and Ohio Wesleyan.