Sterling native and Parkland College alum Jim Buyze has been in charge at Atkins Golf Club since 2021 as its general manager.
URBANA — Jim Buyze wasn’t hunting for a new job in the spring of 2021. The longtime golf course manager, was working at Wild Ridge & Mill Run in Eau Claire, Wis., where he had been for 15 years.
“I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do with the end of my career?’” Buyze said.
Asked and answered.
An opening at a course in Urbana, which he heard about through the PGA of America, got his attention.
Atkins Golf Club — the former Stone Creek — was looking for someone to run the renovated facility. Sterling native and former Parkland College basketball player Buyze was immediately interested.
“I still knew people in town,” Buyze said.
Scott Szymoniak, the former general manager at Urbana Country Club, interned for Buyze while in college.
Buyze asked Szymoniak: “Is this what I want to do?” And heard, “Oh yeah, you definitely want to do it.”
Buyze got the job at a course in transition.
Coming up on four years later, Atkins is again a vital part of the local golf scene.
How did that happen?
Illinois provided the resources. And veteran Illini men’s golf coach Mike Small has been an important supporter.
“Something Mike doesn’t get a lot of credit for publicly, but he is a genius fundraiser,” Buyze said. “He doesn’t take that for granted. He really, really truly does appreciate that support and knows he couldn’t be where he is without it.”
There are challenges to be sure.
“We’re right where we want to be as far as a course,” Buyze said, “Some of the things are going to take a little time, thickening up the rough in some areas where they took out bunkers. But those thing are coming.
“We’re really, really happy with how the golf side has progressed and looking forward to the food and beverage side progressing like that.”
Showcase event
Starting Monday, Buyze’s course is hosting its most important tournament ever: the 13-team NCAA men’s golf regional.
The field includes host school and No. 3 seed Illinois.
“This is our U.S. Open, Masters, everything rolled into one,” Buyze said.
The Illinois athletic department had bid to host a regional later in the decade.
But multiple schools that had been awarded a regional this year declined to host. The NCAA checked with Small to see if Illinois wanted to step in.
The final “yes” didn’t happen until October. Buyze and the Atkins crew had already been preparing to host just in case.
“It’s exciting,” Buyze said. “It’s a great opportunity to get Atkins Golf Club on the big stage.”
Most of college golf is played away from home. Not this time.
“To give the Champaign-Urbana and central Illinois community a chance to see this level of play on this type of golf course that’s what we’re doing,” Buyze said.
North Carolina star David Ford, the top-ranked college player, is moving to the PGA Tour after the season ends.
The Urbana Regional is deep and talented.
“Coach Small wants his guys to compete at the highest level,” Buyze said. “Let’s bring in the best guys and see where we stand.”
The NCAA helped the course prepare with a manual that explains the particulars step by step.
Among the NCAA, Illinois, Atkins and volunteers, there are 85 folks making it go.
“Some pressure? Absolutely. But some pressure that we want,” Buyze said.
What will he consider a winning event?
“The No. 1 thing we want, that will define success, is to have the NCAA view this as, ‘We want to come back and do another regional here,’” Buyze said. “We want them to want to be here.”
Background check
Technically, Buyze’s employer is Troon, the world’s largest golf management company.
Buyze, 58, studied golf course management at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich.
His first job in golf was at Champaign’s Lincolnshire Fields, where he worked with Illinois Hall of Famer Becky Beach.
Buyze and wife Kathy live in Champaign. Their son Nate is in Wisconsin. Daughter Megan is graduating from Parkland this week.
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