This year The Rog at Rich Harvest Farms will be on
July 31, 2021
The History
In 1992, the IJGA hired its first paid Executive Director, Roger Ulseth. Mr. Ulseth had a passion for golf and used that passion to lead the IJGA through a period of immense growth. Ulseth expanded the IJGA by adding tournaments outside the Chicagoland area, and he included events such as a Girls’ Match Play, Girls’ Better-Ball Team event and the Prep Team Preview.
Mr. Jerry Rich, the Founder and Architect of Rich Harvest Farms, and Mr. Roger Ulseth had become friends and teammates while playing on the York High School Golf Team. Their friendship did not end after high school graduation, and as a matter of fact lasted for another 20 years after Mr. Ulseth came back from the service. In 1994, Jerry Rich and Rich Harvest Farms started to host the “Regional Round-Up,” an event created to promote the game of golf and give the most dedicated girls and boys a chance to play Rich Harvest Farms at the end of the season.
Roger Ulseth passed away in the midst of the 1997 season. Ulseth’s memory still lives on in the IJGA and was immortalized in the dedication of the IJGA’s premiere season-ending event “The Rog.”
Since the 1990’s, when Rich Harvest Farms began hosting an end-of-season IJGA event, this Golf Digest America’s Top 100 Facility has hosted:
- 2019 Centennial Western Junior (Western Golf Association)
- 2017 Division I Golf Championships (National Collegiate Athletics Association)
- 2015 Western Amateur (Western Golf Association)
- 2015 Palmer Cup (Golf Coaches Association of America)
- 2014 NCAA Men’s Division I Central Regional (National Collegiate Athletic Association)
- 2012 Ryder Cup Captains Challenge (Professional Golf Association)
- 2012 Mid-American Conference Championship (National Collegiate Athletic Association)
- 2011 – present Northern Intercollegiate (Northern Illinois University)
- 2009 Solheim Cup® (Ladies Professional Golf Association)
- 2007 Men’s Division I Central Regional (National Collegiate Athletic Association)
- 2003 Western Junior (Western Golf Association)
- 2003 Mid-American Conference Championship (National Collegiate Athletic Association)
“The Rog” Format
This premiere event features select 12-person teams from the four divisional Player of the Year Point Lists (Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Senior Boys, Senior Girls.) The top six players from each division qualify for the event.
The event’s unique format sees each team’s seeded players in each flight/division paired together (in threesomes). Each player will be put into one of three teams based on Player of the Year race “seed.”
The event is be a Team Stableford. In a Stableford, points are awarded per hole-by-hole score taken per player, and the number of points awarded on each hole is determined based on comparison of the number of strokes taken to par. In addition to competing at Rich Harvest Farms, juniors can in turn invite two special guests to the event to cheer them on and tour the Rich Harvest Farms complex.
The Participants
This penultimate event on the IJGA calendar has played host to U.S. Amateur Champion and Masters participant Brad Benjamin, and a host of outstanding collegiate athletes you can learn more about below.
Toral Bhatt
Maggie Carlson
Mallorie Clifton
Charlie Davenport
Kaylee Dwyer
Kendall Farm
Antonio Gutierrez
Clay Heilman
Meilin Hoshino
Jackson Hulsey
Luke Kruger
Gavin Newkirk
Caroline Owens
Anderson Palm
Josh Pehl
Effie Perakis
Maria Perakis
Emil Riegger
Eddie Scott
Aman Shah
Christian Wakeford
Gianna White
Kailey White
Sadie Zorrilla
Andrew Abel
Emily Ascher
Ryan Beerheide
Abigail Bitto
Reese Clark
Samuel Dykema
Trenton Garrett
Gavin Hjelle
Matthew James
Ben Johnson
Devin Johnson
Kaylin Johnson
Aaron Kim
Emma Kirvan
Amy Kucera
Myles Lahart
Haeri Lee
Katherine Lemke
Alex Lilly
William Marshall
Catie Nekola
Madeline Palmer
Elise Parker
Renata Petersen
William Schimbke
Aman Shah
Isabella Spinazze
Nick Tenuta
Sarah Thornton
Rohan Vasudeva
Jessica Yuen
Sarah Zheng
Phebe Elizabeth Chen
Reese Clark
Samuel Dykema
Jacob Fritz
Nikko Ganas
Mandi Granato
Emma Hayes
Stefan Ink
Matthew James
Kaylin Johnson
Emma Kirvan
Katherine Lemke
Emma Lin
Greg Long
Jack Marshall
Ryan Onorati
Margherite Pettenuzzo
Aman Shah
Emily Skoronski
Isabella Spinazze
Arjun Vyas
Matt Wattelet
Reindl Weaver
Michelle Zhang
John Lishchynsky
Colin Lyster
David Baerson
Samuel Mortell
Adam Bornstein
Jonathan Waugh
Jake Pluth
Tyler Roat
Karl Tolentino
Matthew James
Andy Holm
Trevor Brandon
Chloe Morrissey
Catherine Reisinger
Joanna James
Emma Lim
Kelly Kavanagh
Madeline Palmer
Olivia Lee
Mary Boesen
Grace Owens
Mara Flaherty
Trinity Corwin
Nicole Jordan
Anthony Accetura
Sarah Arnold
Lena Benjakul
Scott Boyajian
Emma Carpenter
Christopher Cho
Jake Dianovsky
James Dvorak
Jason Folker
Alex Green
Nicole Hansen
Nicole Jordan
Faith Jung
Amy Kucera
Sophia Lau
David Lipan
Grace Owens
Victor Perez Iuna
Adrienne Rohwedder
Anthony Scaletta
Dominic Scaletta
Caroline Smith
Bradley Vetter
Brynn Warrick
Andrew Abel
Anthony Accetura
Jackson Bussell
Jennifer Cappello
Elyse Emerzian
Jahanavi Gaur
Jason Gohde
Sarah Hauenstein
Maddie Hurt
Tyler Isenhart
Connor Ladone
David Lipan
Kellie McCabe
Jake Mills
Lauren Nay
Michael Rhee
Dylan Riley
Adrienne Rohwedder
Rainstar Roque
Arushi Singh
Michael Sisk
Megan Sturonas
Hanna Tanaka
Jack Vercautren
Michael Adler
Patrick Akaniroj
Luke Armbrust
Blake Betke
Christopher Boyle
Sebastian Dobon
Nathan Eisenhut
Jason Gohde
Sarah Hauenstein
Margaret Hickey
Amy Hong
Thomas Huang
Emma Klimala
Haeri Lee
David Lipan
Rylie Loux
Louise McCulloch
Stephanie Mroz
Hannah Netisingha
Kevin Paek
Jack Ramsett
Emma Vickery
Michael Wijas
Jasmine Yi
Isabella Abdullah
Michael Adler
Tyler Aldrich
Leia Atas
Emily Brown
Thomas Dale
Daniel DePrey
Jason Gohde
Maria Harrast
Cole Kempinski
Chris Krebs
Haeri Lee
Justin Lenzini
Jordan Less
David Lipan
Larissa Luloff
Niquole Mangal
Mike Misheck
Hanna Netisingha
Kacie O’Donnell
Chip Savarie
Ally Scaccia
Jessica Schultz
Jessica Yuen
Taylor Arenson
Michael Banas
Burke Barsamian
Alex Bassetto
Blake Betke
Julia Calbi
Ryan Craig
Thomas Dale
Matthew Fazio
Dorothy Feng
Arina Kim
Timothy Kim
Braden Klaisle
Niquole Mangal
Brian McCaffrey
Hanna Netisingha
Justin Schwab
Renee Solberg
Kelly Sterling
Eric Swanson
Brianna Ward
Liam Warner
Courtney Williams
Melissa Vansistine
Christopher Boyle
Julia Calbi
Scott Chudacoff
Brady Franson
Jack Junge
Grace Kil
Katie Kim
Jeremy Klein
Emily Lejman
Stephen Lowe
Nikki Marquardt
Sam Masini
Kelly Muskat
Hanna Netisingha
Kelli Ono
Ciara Rattana
Holly Shupe
Sarah Skurla
Michael Stathakis
Michael Suazo
Eric Swanson
Nick Szerzinski
Melissa Vansistine
Jordan Velez
Michael Abrahamson
Riley Bauman
Danielle Brown
Andrew Cisco
Tara Cullerton
Connie Ellet
Taylor Ellet
Jack Ferguson
Ariana Furrie
Brock Jameson
Morgan Kukla
Abby Luchtenberg
Sam Masini
Matt Murphy
Kelly Muskat
Xavier Owens
Nick Robles
Sarah Skurla
Renee Solberg
David Thoensen
Melissa VanSistine
Kelly Voigt
David Whinery
Ryan Wolfe
Sylvie Brick
Bryant Bolden
Kevin Carlson
Lynn Dresilker
Connie Ellett
Taylor Ellett
Keith Haines
Tee-K Kelly
Grace Kil
Raymond Knoll
Abagail Luchtenberg
Brian Miller
Callie Nelson
Quinn Prchal
Dex Reese
Renee Solberg
Nick Szerzinski
Andrew Woodhull
Dan Alsup
Ashley Armstrong
Sam Bettinardi
Cynthia Bounleutay
Brian Bullington
Lindsey Carr
Lauren Dawson
Lynn Dresilker
Kyle Gunther
Nicholas Heller
Michael Hermanson
Marina Karamanis
Russell Katz
Michelle Mayer
Rachel Mayer
Peter McKinzie
Marisa Miko
Keegan Ryan
Ember Schuldt
Johannes Seemann
Kathy Sterling
Michael Sullivan
Jack Watson
Kevin Workman
Ashley Armstrong
Brooke Bettis
John Callahan
Joseph Carlson
Brian Colbert
Meg Gilley
Ryann Gilley
Jordan Golf
Erin Gorman
Matt Hageman
Abbie Horan
Jeff Kellen
Nora Lucas
Stephen Powers
Nick Quagliano
Ember Schuldt
Stephen Skurla
Tori Stock
Peter Tanaka
John Tara
Matt Vitale
McCall Barsamian
Sam Bettinardi
Hannah Buck
Josh Butterfield
William Cullen
Paul Dagys
Angela Dehning
Ryan Frederick
Alyssa Gaudio
Meg Gilley
Jonathan Hauter
Kim Hunley
Jeffrey Kellen
Kaela Klune
Jamie Lavin
Molly O’Connor
Victor Postillion
Nick Quagliano
Andrew Solow
Daniel Stringfellow
Erin Sullivan
Taylor Thunberg
Mandi Vavrinchik
Beth Weinstein
Hannah Buck
Carissa Burdi
Josh Butterfield
Paul Dagys
Angela Dehning
Matthew Denison
Alyssa Gaudio
Meg Gilley
Thomas Greene
Brad Hopfinger
Luke Kolquist
Dusty Koth
Melissa Miller
Dale Morris
Paul Oehrlein
Claire Orfanos
Liz Palma
Brian Sandroff
Nicci Schultz
Scott Segal
Nicole Spear
Kevin Swan
Mandi Vavrinchik
Jacob Wagner
Andrew Wyatt
Aaron Zander
In addition to hosting major premiere golf events, Rich Harvest Farms also is the home of the Kids Golf Foundation. While Roger Ulseth was advancing the mission of the Illinois Junior Golf Association, Mr. Rich was building a different type of youth organization that would bring the sport of golf into the lives of children. The Kids Golf Foundation began increasing awareness of the sport to youth both in the inner city and suburbs in 1998, and therefore helped to grow the interest in playing both recreationally and competitively. Today, the Foundation continues to work with youth organizations across the state to introduce golf in their community. Program participants who began in a Tee Level Clinic have advanced to the high school and collegiate level, and many volunteer their time teaching younger participants golf fundamentals and life lessons.
IJGA members and their families are encouraged to give back to the game of golf by volunteering in Kids Golf Foundation activities. You can learn more about the Kids Golf Foundation and their initiatives for junior golf by clicking here.