North Shore's Youth Golfers Swing in the Summer Season

As an unofficial start to summer golf, 57 youth golfers from around the North Shore competed in the 47^th annual Al McLean Junior Open Championship at Wilmette Golf Club on Wednesday morning.

Despite rainy conditions, every golfer – ranging in age from 11 to 19 years old – completed the 18-hole round.

“Our junior golf program starts about this time each year,” Head PGA Professional Jamie Locke said. “A lot of the kids that are playing in [the Al McLean championship] started in Wilmette; others are coming from different neighborhoods.”

Winnetka’s Jack Junge, who will be a freshman at New Trier in August, shot 75 to tie for the low round of the day on Wilmette’s par-70 course. Junge finished fourth in the tournament’s Junior Division (ages 14-16) after a playoff with three other competitors.

“I was definitely hitting a lot of fairways,” Junge said. “My putting wasn’t that great, I missed a lot of short putts. But I was hitting it pretty accurate and I was happy with 75.”

Connor Maytnier won the playoff to take home first place in the Junior Division. Skyler Levine shot 76 to win the Freshman Division (ages 11-13) while Wilmette’s Tom Kennedy fired a 75 in winning the Senior Division (ages 17-19).

The annual tournament is named after the late Al McLean, a former resident of Wilmette who died at the age of 22. McLean was an accomplished golfer and was named the team captain for Northwestern University’s golf team as a senior in 1964. He won the 1965 Midwest Amateur Championship shortly before his death.

Since 1966, the tournament has been hosted by Wilmette Golf Club. In the tournament’s first year, youth golfers played four rounds of golf over three days and the entry fee was $8.00.

“This tournament used to be a little bigger, but there are just so many playing opportunities now available for kids,” said Locke, who’s in his first year as head pro at Wilmette.

In 2001 the tournament drew 350 golfers from the Chicagoland area, but organizations like the Illinois Junior Golf Association and the Mid-American Junior Golf Tour sponsor a number of tournaments for junior golfers to compete in.  

While Locke is still adjusting to his new role at Wilmette, he says attracting more players to the tournament will be a priority in the future.

“As the seasons go on, I’m going to try to pick it up,” Locke said. “I think it can be a premiere junior event again.”