Kulwin comes from six strokes behind to win the Illinois State Amateur
Photographs by Ron Johnson
This article appeared in the August 2026 edition of Chicago District Golfer.
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With his win, Kulwin joined an elite list of amateurs who have hoisted the Louis L. Emmerson Trophy.
Shelly Kulwin had never played golf before seeing it on color television in the 1960s. He still doesn’t play golf, but is an inveterate watcher of the game. On July 16 - a steamy, nearly windless 90-degree Thursday in Bloomington – he didn’t need a TV to watch his son have the best golf day of his life. Charlie Kulwin, who once sat on his dad’s lap and watched young Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy duel the way Shelly watched Jack and Arnie, went out on the leafy acreage of Crestwicke Country Club and won the 95th Illinois State Amateur Championship.
He did so with final-day rounds of 68 and 69 for a 36-hole aggregate of 5-under-par 137 to total 2-under 282, finishing three strokes clear of Crestwicke member and local favorite Logan Stauffer of Bloomington and Alex Eickhoff of Springfield. He also did so with a succession of fist pumps and one-liners, sometimes self-deprecating, sometimes not.
“It was stressful,” Kulwin said. “It felt more like work than play, but you don’t play in these things unless you want that feeling. It was hard down the stretch.”
Kulwin will want to get used to it. The recent Loyola University graduate came from six strokes off the pace on the 36-hole final day to pass all the favorites, including the co-leaders, Bloomington’s TJ Barger and Libertyville’s Ryan Andrews, to annex the title and, with it, an automatic berth in this year’s U.S. Amateur. A Jones College Prep alum who captured a pair of Chicago Public League crowns, the 22-year-old is believed to be the first Public League golfer in history to win the Illinois State Amateur.
The critical stretch for Kulwin during his final round was a five-hole run beginning on the par-5 11th. He birdied to get back to even par, parred the immensely challenging 12th and then birdied the next three holes, way out on the south edge of the course, the stretch culminating with a 25-foot putt for a birdie 3 off the back edge of the 15th green. Call the neighborhood Kulwin’s Corner.
“I got a putting lesson from Stan Utley, and I remember he had six putts in nine holes,” Kulwin said. “I remembered he putts from off the green and makes them. On 15, I’d already made two amazing putts (in earlier rounds), and to make that was destiny, almost.”
Kulwin finished by sinking a downhill 15-footer to save par at the last, shouted to his dad, “I’ll probably lose, but I’m like that,” then waited 100 minutes to see who would pass him. Nobody did. He was really like that.
“If you told me on day one I’d be leading in the clubhouse, I’d take it,” Kulwin said.
The final day, featuring the traditional 36-hole marathon, was the hottest of all in corn sweat country. Kulwin was fortunate in starting his morning round at 7 a.m., when it was only 73 degrees, but everyone felt the heat in the afternoon.
“If there weren’t trees on this course, I would have died,” Kulwin said on his 34th hole. He’d already briefly been sick in the first round thanks to a meal the night before, but soldiered on.
The proud father was under the trees all day, whooping it up with every birdie – and there were nine in the final 36 holes.
“I’ve been following Charlie since he was 5 years old,” Shelly said. “Through the IJGAs, through the AJGAs, trying to get a scholarship during COVID, to finally get one at the very end. The ups and downs of his college career.
“I always told Charlie, ‘Of all the advantages to become a great golfer, you’re small, you live miles away from the nearest golf course, we don’t belong to a country club, your mother won’t join one, oh, and nobody in your family golfs. Nobody.”
That “encouragement” mattered not to Charlie, who began by swatting plastic golf balls in the backyard, so taken was he with what he saw on the screen in living color.
“I’ve made a lot of improvement since last year in trusting my swing, turning my mind off when I play,” Kulwin said. “I think it showed this week.”
Stauffer and Eickhoff each scored even-par 71 in their final rounds, as did Chadd Slutzky of Deer Park and John Wild of Glen Ellyn, who were joint fourth with Michael Springer of La Grange and Barger.
“It’s a younger man’s tournament and I’m just happy to hang out with them,” said Stauffer, 33. “I like how I fought through it; very happy with how mentally tough I was. I knew it was going to be a marathon, but I kept focusing.”
For Barger, the defeat was another in a line of Illinois State Amateur disappointments. He had a one-stroke lead over a quartet including Kulwin at lunch, but scored 3-over 74 in the final round, a circuit punctuated by a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 12th thanks to a tee shot and an approach in the water.
“He’s going to win one and might even win bigger,” Stauffer said of Barger. “He’s got big things coming if he just stays patient.”
So might Kulwin. The secret is out. The kid can play.
Tim Cronin is the author of 13 books on golf.
Around Crestwicke Country Club
Bloomington native and Crestwicke Country Club member Logan Stauffer was the fan favorite throughout the week. Stauffer, the 2018 Illinois State Mid-Amateur champion, competed with a gallery of fellow members in tow. His round climaxed with an up-and-down for par on 18 that was met with hearty cheers.
“I saw about 10 signs on the course with my name on it,” Stauffer commented. “As the days went on, more and more people came out to watch me and it was just one big family out there. I grew up with the English family [owners of the club] – Kyle [English] and I were on the same golf team in high school. It’s just one big happy family here.”
• • •
Deer Park’s Chadd Slutzky, 49, notched his second-consecutive fourth-place finish in the event. The two-time (2022 and 2025) CDGA Player of the Year rebounded from an opening-round 75 to card rounds of 70-70- 71 and finish in a tie for fourth at +2.
“I’m one of the few guys in this field who has a full-time job,” Slutzky quipped.
• • •
In addition to champion Charlie Kulwin’s exemption into the 2026 U.S. Amateur, Kulwin, Stauffer and Springfield native Alex Eickhoff earned exemptions into Final Qualifying for the 2027 iteration.
The low 20 and ties (24 players in total) are exempt into the 2027 Illinois State Amateur Championship, slated for Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville.
• • •
The scoring average for the tournament was 75.62. Round 1 was the most difficult of the event with an average of 76.54. Round 3 was the easiest, recording an average of 72.55
The 419-yard par-4 12th, dubiously nicknamed “Hog Alley,” was the most difficult hole of the tournament. The field posted a mere 15 birdies over the course of the event in comparison to 44 double bogeys or worse. The averaged score was 4.62.
The field carded 78 birdies at the 570-yard par-5 14th, marking it as the easiest hole of the event with an average of 4.99.
Only eight eagles were recorded by the field across the four rounds. The par-4 16th surrendered the most with four.
—Casey Richards and Simon Schuler
Photographs by Tim Merrick and Jacob Bomeli