April 10, 2008

Urbana, Ill. - Stone Creek Golf Course, the home to this weekend's Fighting Illini Spring Invitational, is no stranger to hosting big-time events. Since it was built in 1999, the picturesque course has hosted 14 major state and national tournaments. Built by the Atkins Family and designed by Tim and Dick Nugent, Stone Creek has been home to Illini golf since 2000.

Stone Creek was the first in the history of the Women's National Amateur to be held at a public facility. It has hosted both the men's and women's Big Ten Championships, the PGA Junior Amateur, the Women's Western National Amateur, the Men's and Women's Northern Intercollegiate, the PGA of America Northern Club Professional Championship, the Illinois' Men's Amateur, and a USGA United States Amateur Championship Qualifier. It also played host to an NGA tour event. The list of golfers to compete on the course has included Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, and Luke Donald.

"The folks at the State Amateur provided one of our one greatest compliments when they told media and the players that we set the bar on how the event should be handled from now on," head golf pro Mickey Finn recalled.

Stone Creek is a Scottish links style course with over 50 acres of fairways. Named for the creek that meanders through the course, it features soft, smooth slopes with subtle elevation changes. Among the course's characteristics are bent grass fairways, sculptured bunkers and several lakes. The trees are starting to fill in the course, but Finn says there have been very few changes to the course other than the bunkers on No. 3. "The wide fairways give the player risk/reward, and they are rewarded more than they are penalized," he said.

The signature hole is the 204-yard par 3 third. It has the backdrop of the clubhouse and Kennedy's Restaurant. "We have great finishing holes on both the front and back nine, but no. 3 is the one everyone puts in their mind when they think of Stone Creek," Finn said.

"From the same yardages, I have hit a five iron and I have hit a three wood depending on the wind," Finn added. "I tell everybody that left is the way to be on that hole. Right isn't with the lake. That's how we've played that hole in a couple of TV spots that I've shot par both times. It's always nice to knock the ball two feet away from the pin, but the green is designed so that you have a good shelf and can chip to the green comfortably. We give you a chance to make par even if you don't hit the green."

Finn grew up at Champions Golf Club in Houston and played college golf at Sul Ross State University. He began his career at Desert Mountain Golf Club in Arizona and worked as an assistant in Ruidoso, N.M. at a high-end private facility. He has been the club pro at Sunset Hills in Pekin, Ill., and the general manger for eight years at Harrison Hills Golf Club in Indiana.

Finn has been golf pro at Stone Creek for the past five years and says that one of the attractions of the course is its versatility. "I'm a golf professional, but also a golfer," Finn explains. "It's nice to have a facility that can host as tough of an event as you want, and on the same day a 25 handicapper can play on this golf course and say those greens are little faster than they normally are and that's the only thing that they notice. The playability of the golf course fits all skill levels."

Stone Creek prides itself on being a destination course that players from the metropolitan areas of Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis include among their rotation. Indeed, depending on which of five sets of tees a player uses, Stone Creek can play as long as 7,118, as it will this weekend for the Fighting Illini Spring Invitational, or as short a 4,956 from the ladies tees. With Kennedy's Restaurant and banquet facilities, players from across the Midwest have held meetings in the morning and got in a round of golf in the afternoon. Finn says that season passes will be offered for the first time this year and handicap services are provided to the general public.

"Our motto is `Experience Stone Creek'," Finn said. "It allows someone to come here, stay for the day and say, `Okay, I have to come back."

Its relationship to Illinois golf has been a major component for Stone Creek. "It adds to the prestige of the golf course," Finn said. "By hosting so many quality tournaments, it gives (men's coach) Mike (Small) and (women's coach) Renee (Slone) a chance to brings kids to this area."

"This is a championship golf course that plays its best when it's firm, fast and when the wind is blowing," Small said. "The relationship I have with the Atkins Family and with the staff here has been terrific. It's been a great place to call home."