Winnebago County Amateur helps families golf together
The Winnebago County Amateur’s different tee time rules make it the most family friendly Rockford-area golf tournament
The Winnebago County Amateur belongs this year to Drew Grygiel, a 23-year-old Hononegah grad who won his first local adult golf tournament by shooting 69-68—137 Saturday and Sunday at Macktown Golf Course.
“I always dreamt of being an upper-echelon player in the county and never thought this day would come,” Grygiel said. “I grew up playing Macktown for years and years. I only live 10 minutes away. It really is a dream come true to be able to have that feather in my cap now.”
While this was Grygiel’s year, the County Am belongs to local golf families every year. It is the one local golf tournament that lets golfers pick their own tee times and keep those tee times every day of the tourney instead of regrouping the leaders and having them play together in the final group on the final day.
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That makes it the perfect tournament for brothers to play together. Or fathers and sons. Or fathers-in-law with their son-in-law. It also makes it one of the more popular tournaments. There were seven different relative groupings among the 80 players in this year’s tournament. That included twins Kyle and Cody Rhymer. Kyle finished fifth, shooting 72-69—141 to finish two strokes ahead of Cody, who tied for sixth with a 71-72—143.
“We love this tournament because we get to play together every year and I get to watch him play and he gets to watch me play,” Cody Rhymer said.
Cody Rhymer, 32, has become one of the best golfers in Rockford, winning four tournaments since 2019, but this was one of the rare times his twin edged him out.
“I love to compete against him as much as possible but it’s always a little better when I get to play with him and I get to see him grind it out in a tournament atmosphere,” Kyle Rhymer said. “Normally we’re multiple holes apart so we don’t get to see that level of detail. It’s really nice in this type of format you get to play with the people you like and your buddies and better yet your brother.
“I could be shooting a million out there and I am still hoping he will shoot a 59. When you are brothers, you always want to see each other do well.”
Not that Cody wanted to see his brother do that well. Or at least not better than him.
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“We definitely trash talk, but it is always good-spirited,” Cody Rhymer said. “I will never not pull for him. I am always rooting for him to shoot as low as he can. I just want to shoot one lower. That’s all.”
While the Rhymers were the lowest-scoring relatives, the Blough brothers won for volume, with Barry, Randy and Rory playing together for at least the 25th year in a row — they can’t remember when they started, just that it was before the year 2000. They would have had an entire Blough foursome but Randy’s son, Chris, pulled out after his wife had a baby.
“We play every year in honor of our father. He introduced us all to the game,” Barry Blough said.
Randy Blough also earned the title of longest drive, driving 18 hours from Conroe, Texas — just north of Houston — to golf with his brothers. What? Aren’t there any airplanes in Texas?
“I don’t trust my golf clubs to the airline,” Randy Blough said. “I could have flown here for free but I chose to drive so I could bring all my necessities with me. This is about brotherly love. We don’t get together as often as we like to. It’s a great opportunity to all be together.
“The competitive aspect of it is not what it once was, but it’s still there in the background. It’s mostly just get together and annoy each other for four or five hours.”
It’s easy for Jon Althof to remember how long he has been playing with Bill King, 80, in the County Am: 31 years — ever since he married King’s daughter.
“It’s great to play a competitive round with my dad here. He is an inspiration to all of us,” Althoff said.
“It’s good to play under tournament conditions,” King said, “and still have camaraderie. I would be glad to tell him what he did wrong, but he threatened me earlier: ‘Don’t tell me anything.’ ”
“No,” Althof said. “No advice. But we were cheering each other on. Or crying on each other’s shoulders after a bad shot.”
Other family groupings included Zach and John Schwarzbach, Will and Cole Runkel, Brian and Jon Silvers and Eric and Ryan Arnold.
Brian Silvers (tied for sixth at 143) edged his son by two strokes. Silvers has seven career local tournament wins. One of his favorites was his lone County Am victory when he and nine-time Men’s City champion Jamie Hogan played in the same group with their sons.
“It’s a lot of fun playing with Jon,” Brian Silvers said of his son. “It’s relaxing. I spend more time watching him play than worrying about my game.”
Grygiel also said his foursome helped him win. He played with the two Schwarzbachs and Ken Lee, a three-time former County Am champ who shot 68-71—143 to finish second, two strokes behind Grygiel.
“I played with Ken Lee and Zach Schwarzbach, who are two of the most consistent golfers around,” Grygiel said. “They hit fairways. They hit greens. They are great putters. To have two very high quality golfers by my side helped me play better since they were playing so well as well.”
