The plan to transform Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses into a tournament-ready golf mecca is incredibly complicated, requiring tens of millions in fundraising, cooperation from the City of Chicago, properly addressing lakefront erosion and gaining a buy-in from the community and approval from the Western Golf Association, PGA Tour and their business partners.
The plan also relies on Tiger Woods, who was selected as lead architect despite his limited portfolio in course design.
And now?
Can organizers count on Woods to be the face of the project?
Can anyone count on Woods to do anything productive after his DUI arrest following what he called an “unexpected reaction to prescribed medications”?
Mark Rolfing, the NBC analyst and DeKalb native who is spearheading the project, told the Tribune on Tuesday: “We can’t roll out a Tiger Woods design without Tiger being a big part of it. He has to be engaged in it. We’ll have to see whether he is willing and able to do that.”
Police reports released Tuesday backed up Woods’ statement Monday night that no alcohol was in his system. However, the reports also said that police found Woods asleep at the wheel on the side of a six-lane road with two flat tires and the engine running; that his speech was slurred and he didn’t know where he was; and that he failed a field sobriety test so badly that officers thought he might fall over.
Rolfing, while observing play at the NCAA golf championships at Rich Harvest Farms, likened Woods’ situation to his own: Rolfing is going strong after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer of the salivary gland in the summer of 2015.
“I am viewing this as a wake-up call for Tiger,” Rolfing said. “It’s almost like having a second chance after Stage 4 cancer.
“Tiger’s legacy as a player has been determined. He will never play at that level again. Whether or not he’s competitive again is almost irrelevant to that legacy.
“What is totally unwritten at this point is what his legacy will be off the course. He has to try to figure out what will fulfill him, what will make him happy. I’m hoping that an initiative like Jackson (Park) could do something like that. What else would there be? He has some hobbies, he dives some, but he’s not really a fisherman. I hope he really takes advantage of this situation.”
What motivated Woods to take on the yet-to-be-named Jackson Park/South Shore project was a chance to do something meaningful for kids, according to Rolfing and others involved.
After touring the South Side courses in August, Woods asked, “Where are the kids?”
The Jackson Park/South Shore plan could provide a prime opportunity for Chicago-area youth to learn the game on a top-notch course and an accompanying short course and earn wages, make connections and vie for college scholarships as caddies.
The First Tee of Greater Chicago and the WGA, which helps to fund the Evans Scholars Foundation, are key partners in the project.
“It will be important for him to help sell what this will be,” Rolfing said of Woods. “We really need him to change this perception that this will be an ‘elite’ golf course. It couldn’t be further from an elite golf course. And people are only going to listen to me to a certain amount.”
Rolfing said the plan is to roll out a course design the week after the U.S. Open in late June.
“I’m hoping that that plan doesn’t change,” he said.
tgreenstein@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
