Kishwaukee Country Club pro David Paeglow relishes experience at US Senior Open

When he competed at the US Senior Open last month, David Paeglow got to shoot a practice round with Steve Stricker, a former University of Illinois golfer and longtime pro who has won seven major championships on the Champions tour.

But the Kishwaukee Country Club pro said his caddie, Grant Goltz, allowed him to experience another cool moment – getting to share the course with Paeglow’s sons at a major championship.

Goltz allowed Paeglow’s son Jack to take over caddie duties on his penultimate hole in the second round, and Brett handled caddie duties on No. 18, his final hole of the tournament.

“That was a great gesture by Grant to do that for me. To be able to experience inside the ropes in a major championship with my kids caddying was pretty cool,” Paeglow said. “Really cool.”

Paeglow shot rounds of 75 and 78 for a 13-over-par 153 total in his two rounds as he missed the cut at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. Richard Bland shot a four-round score of 13 under to tie Hiroyuki Fujita and win on the fourth playoff hole.

Stricker shot 9-under to take fourth. Paeglow said getting to shoot nine practice holes with Stricker was a definite highlight.

“That was really fun to walk the fairways with Steve and talk to him about his game,” Paeglow said. “He played golf at U of I and won a college golf tournament at Kishwaukee back in 1989. So we talked a little about that. He was nice enough, talking about, ‘How’s the membership at Kishwaukee?’ things like that. Really down-to-earth guy.”

Paeglow said the course was very challenging, especially the greens. He said it seemed like no matter the lie, there was a 2-foot downhill break.

He also said while he felt calm on the course, his swing had other ideas. He opened the tournament with a double bogey and was 6-over par on his first nine holes of the tournament. He bounced back on Day 2 with a couple of birdies on the front nine.

“The first day I didn’t feel like I was too nervous, but my body sure reacted nervous,” Paeglow said. “Some of my swings were pretty tentative. I wasn’t able to free myself up if I was back home. That was something I couldn’t really get a handle on, to swing way and play free.”

He said he just chalks it up to being his first major championship.

“It’s kind of surreal to be playing golf with these guys that you’ve watched for 30, 40 years on TV,” Paeglow said. “To be there was really fun, but I was a little out of my element. I tried mentally to be like, ‘OK, I’m back home at Kish, hitting golf shots. What’s the big deal? Blah, blah, blah.’ But I couldn’t really get my body to free up. The second day, you’re more comfortable.”

Paeglow said he’s already looking forward to trying to qualify again next year for the US Senior Open. A few days before competing in Newport he won the Illinois Senior Championship at Hawthorn Woods Country Club, finishing at 2-under 142 to win the tourney for a second time.

In addition to his sons and his caddie’s family, Paeglow said there were half a dozen Kishwaukee Country Club members who made the trip to Rhode Island to watch him compete.

“That was the experience I was looking for was to enjoy that,” Paeglow said. “If I could play great golf, that would be even better. That was really my focus during the round was to enjoy it with my kids and my members.”