Reprinted with permission of The Southern Illinoisan, Sunday, June 29, 2008

Article by Scott Mees

The Southern Illinois Golf Association announced Saturday (June 28) that the Kokopelli Golf Club will host the 2012 Illinois State Amateur Championship.  The last time the tournament was in Southern Illinois was 1998 when Rend Lake Golf Club hosted the event.  "We basically had to bid for it, and we went to them and said we'd like to have it back down here at some point," Brandon Bullard, executive director of the regional golf association, said about approaching the Chicago District Golf Association.  "There are a lot of bullet points that have to be met in order to host a state tournament.  It seems like Kokopelli and this area of Marion had all the points down pat."

Rick LeHew, the director of field services for the Chicago district, came down for a visit last year and was apparently impressed with what he saw.  "We toured the golf course, we played nine holes and looked around with (LeHew)," Bullard said.  He was taken to dinner and shown what all we had to offer and all the hotel rooms."  Bullard said Marion had an advantage because of all of its hotels to lodge the field of competitors and a slew of fine restaurants.  "Some of the best golf courses in the state are literally in the middle of nowhere," Bullard said.  "It's going to be hard to host a tournament there when you have to drive 45 minutes or an hour to play golf."

Steve Smyers, an ownership partner and designer of Kokopelli, was in attendance for the announcement as well.  Kokopelli, which debuted in 1997, is spread across 160 acres.  "We've had good fortune with our courses, and I think we build them for tournament golf," Smyers said.  "There are a lot of great courses in Chicago and this Bermuda grass course will give them a little bit of a test."

Jesse Barge, director of golf and lead PGA golf professional at Kokopelli, also played a role in landing the big event along with golf pro D.W. Davis, who hosted the event at Rend Lake in 1998.  "My interest in the rules and my interest in tournaments make it really exciting to have the event here," Barge said.  "We really showcased the golf course when they came down here and had it in good shape.  We'll have a lot of people from the rounds before the tournament, so it's good for our economy."

This year's Illinois State Amateur Championship takes place August 12-14 in Wheaton at Cantigny Golf.

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