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Rumors that commissioner Jim Delany will bring Ron Guenther into the conference office are accurate. Guenther, who retired as Illinois athletic director July 1, will begin his job with the Big Ten as a consultant in the fall.

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Former Illini golfer teed about slump with pro debut nearing

How can you be fresh off a birdie, and suddenly shaking hands with a snowman (that's an 8 in golf lingo)?

No sport is so unpredictable and fickle.

One year ago, Illini Scott Langley was the toast of the nation ... golf's hottest amateur. The St. Louis southpaw won the NCAA title and shared 16th in the 2010 U.S. Open. Glorious opportunities and huge paychecks lay in front of him.

In fact, he could have cashed in then and there. Lucrative golf sponsorships were begging. But he elected to return for his senior season, where he joined Jamaican hurdler Andrew Riley and, as it would turn out last fall, halfback Mikel Leshoure as the most accomplished athletes on campus.

But the game that seemed so easy became suddenly and increasingly difficult. Langley finished 86-80 in NCAA stroke play this spring, and missed the recent John Deere cut with 76-83. For Langley, scores in the 80s had been unheard of in his first three Illini seasons. Now, one year after he would have been "automatic" to make the prestigious 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team (U.S. amateurs play Great Britain and Scotland in odd years), he needs to turn it around in the upcoming Porter Cup (Niagara Falls, July 26-30), Western Amateur (Aug. 2-6) and U.S. Amateur events to regain his former status. At this point, he surely trails UI teammate Luke Guthrie (UI spring averages: Guthrie 71.24; Langley 73.47) in the quest to play at Royal Aberdeen in Scotland on Sept. 10-11.

"I got off track," Langley said this week, "and it has become a struggle. I may have gotten sloppy in my practice routine. I picked up some bad habits. I could get away with it on the range because I could time it. But it was different on the course. A lot of it is getting off the tee.

"I still believe in myself. Even last year, I played poorly in the Big Ten meet before I turned it around."

Langley's problem sounds familiar. Steve Stricker, now 44 and peaking, once tumbled so far that he received golf's "comeback" award twice, apparently because voters couldn't believe he did it the first time.

"Stricker was lost for five years," said UI coach Mike Small, Stricker's former teammate. Over time, Stricker worked out a swing that in no way resembles his technique at Illinois. It almost appears mechanical ... robotic. There is no simpler swing on the tour.

"Scott will figure it out," Small said. "He appears a little narrow and under plane. He is going through a learning process, trying to become more independent and planning his future. He didn't hit it good off the tee all spring. He was taking instruction from me and from St. Louis and also on his own. He had some rough moments but he was still good enough to help the team finish fifth in the NCAA. He is a fighter.

"I go through the same thing as a player. If your drives aren't spot on, if you hit three or four more in the rough than usual, that's three or four birdie opportunities lost, if not worse. And then you miss a few putts, and you see what happens. It's all self-imposed. Generally speaking, most amateurs become more tense as they approach the greens, while the pros walk slower and their heart beat slows down."

Small went on:

"Pressure is golf's greatest adversary. Setting goals is counter-productive. I heard (golf pro) Zach Johnson say last week that he never thinks about winning. By that he means you just have to play each shot as it comes. You need to open up, throw your head back and clap your hands. When you slump over, you lose posture and the small muscles tighten.

"Scott is thinking ahead, trying to map his future. He's not in the moment. But I think he has identified some problems, and he'll figure it out."

Langley plans to turn pro in September.

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— Among former Illini athletes, Stricker ranks very high in earnings with $30 million from the PGA Tour alone. But he's still far behind another comeback kid, Brian Cardinal, the erstwhile Unity and Purdue cager. A four-time free agent and twice waived, Cardinal shows $38 million in NBA salaries ... a low of $316,969 in 2001 and a high of $6.75 million in 2010. The UI's annual Stricker outing will move to Olympia Fields on Aug. 21-22 as part of an every-other-year arrangement with Stone Creek.

— Frank Haith, the surprise coach of the Missouri Tigers, is going wild in the transfer department. Having graduated, Louisville's George Goode will be immediately eligible for the Border War in December. And Haith has the leading scorers from Pepperdine (Keion Bell, 18.9) and Auburn (Earnest Ross, 13.2) joining Mizzou a year from now. Bell was suspended the last eight games at Pepperdine.

— Some disappointing numbers: More than 100 college programs have dropped wrestling in the last 20 years. And men's gymnastics, which featured more than 200 teams in the 1960s, heads into a new school year with 17, thanks in part to Cal staying alive with pledges of more than $2.5 million to retain the varsity sport.

— It wasn't all about the money, so say official Nebraska releases, but it shouldn't be overlooked that, if these numbers are accurate, Big 12 teams split $130 million unequally in TV revenue while 11 Big Ten teams took equal shares of $220 million. Watch those Big Ten numbers soar with the new divisional playoff system.

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Mood check:

Why I Feel Young ...
The football season is creeping up on us. Eight Illini home games. It's my favorite sport, by far, and the UI schedule offers a solid UI team with a favorable opportunity. Every July brings the feeling of a fresh start and provides a sip from the Fountain of Youth.

Why I Feel Old ...
People keep asking: "How long can you keep doing this?" This will be my 46th year covering UI football and the 33rd with the "Saturday Sportsline". Being realistic, it can't go on forever. And the frequent questions make me realize I'd better enjoy it while I can.

Loren Tate writes for The News- Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.