Philip Arouca of Wilmette, Ill., saw a four-shot final-round lead disappear, then in a wild finish put things back together Wednesday to win the 62nd Illinois Open championship at Hawthorn Woods Country Club in suburban Chicago.

Finishing a grueling week of competition which saw him tie for 17th at the Greater Cedar Rapids Open this past weekend, then head home for three days and 54 more holes against Illinois’ best players, Arouca shot a 1-under-par 70 to finish at 11-under-par 202. His final three-stroke advantage over runner-up Michael Schachner of Libertyville might have a comfortable look, but it was anything but.

Schachner was in third place and actually trailed Arouca by five strokes to start the day. But the two were actually tied for the lead after 12 holes when Arouca made a double-bogey and Schachner birdied the hole for a three-shot swing. Arouca, who fired a 4-under-par 68 in his first round of the GCRO, which took two days to complete because of weather delays and followed that with an even-par 72, birdied the next hole and then birdied the 16th while Schachner was posting a bogey. That three-stroke lead lasted one hole when Schachner eagled the par-5 17th to pull within one. But Schachner then double-bogeyed the 18th and Arouca could breathe a sigh of relief.

Tommy Bliefnick of Decatur, who finished in a tie for second at the GCRO, posted a final-round 2-over 73 and tied for 32nd at Hawthorn. Joe Emerich of Palatine improved on his tie for 84th at the GCRO with a final-round 5-over 76 and a tie for 44th. Emerich, who graduated from Illinois State, won the Illinois Open as an amateur back in 2008.

For more information on the Illinois Open, go to www.ipga.com.

Don Wojciechowski resides in the Hunters Ridge Golf Course community and plays the course on a regular basis. He’s a former sports editor for a suburban Chicago daily newspaper and an avid golf fan.