After Rough Start, Blakeman Ties for Third at Illinois Open

Bennett Blakeman of Burr Ridge hoped to get off to a fast start Wednesday in the final round of the PGA’s Illinois Open golf championship at Hawthorn Woods Country Club to put pressure on tournament leader Philip Arouca of Wilmette.

Things didn’t quite go according to plan.

After entering the day four strokes off the lead, Blakeman, 24, bogeyed the second hole and double bogeyed the fourth to fall eight strokes behind Arouca, who went on to win the championship.

“In the beginning, Bennett definitely struggled with his swing,” Arouca observed.

“I guess I choked early,” Blakeman said frankly after finishing the day with a 1-under-par 70. “I had to grind all week. I never really had my best stuff. Despite giving myself pretty good looks on the greens, I never made anything worth a darn.”

Blakeman finished the tournament seven strokes under par, good enough for a tie for third place with Matt Miller of Bloomington.

After shooting a 67 Tuesday to move into sole possession of second place, Blakeman spoke of wanting to start Wednesday’s round aggressively. But he acknowledged that he may have been pressing too much at the beginning.

“The approach shot on two was certainly not my best,” he said. “The iron on four, not my best. It’s just trying to be too aggressive. I think there’s a lot of birdie holes on this course. I should have more or less done damage control through those first few and then you can make hay on this golf course as long as you haven’t shot yourself in the foot early, which I did.”

To his credit, after finishing the front nine plus-3, Blakeman finished strong, putting together his best back nine of the tournament with four birdies. He came tantalizingly close to a fifth on 18, leaving a long putt on the edge of the cup.

“Ultimately, I’m playing this game for a living, so I need to try as hard as I can on every shot,” Blakeman said.

Had that fallen, he would have finished in a tie for second with Michael Schachner of Libertyville. Schachner, who set an NCAA Tournament record with a round of 60 four years ago while playing for Duke, made a strong run at Arouca and drew even with him after 12 holes at 9-under. He started the 18^th hole one stroke back, but ran into trouble when his approach shot wound up on a rock by the course’s signature waterfall. He wound up with a double bogey on the hole.

Blakeman, who spent the first half of the year playing on the Gateway Pro Tour in Arizona, will spend the latter half trying to get through the rigorous PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament series, known as Q-School. Last year, Blakeman advanced through the pre-qualifying and first stages of the competition to reach the second stage, falling just short of the final stage. The top 25 players in the final stage earn their tour card for the PGA.