NCAA's Match Play Dates To Change...

...I'm sorry, I meant the U.S. Amateur is moving starting in 2012 to accommodate the fall academic calendar.

USGA CHANGES FUTURE DATES OF U.S. AMATEUR  AND U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Far Hills, N.J. (March 9) – Beginning in 2012, the United States Golf Association will shift its schedule for future U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships to help avoid conflicts between the competitive golf season and the fall academic calendar.

“Starting in 2012, our goal, for the most part, will be to end the Women’s Amateur on the second Sunday in August and the U.S. Amateur on the third Sunday in August,” said Jeff Hall, USGA managing director of Rules and Competitions. “Our intent is to give a large majority of the players who are still students a chance to compete in the national amateur championship and begin their fall class schedules on time.”

The 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo., was originally scheduled for Aug. 20-26. It will now be played Aug. 13-19. The 2013 U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., will be conducted Aug. 12-18. In some instances, the final day of the U.S. Amateur will not fall on the third Sunday in August.

Ben Crane Offers Best Incentive Yet To Issue Two-Shot Slow Play Penalties

Rich Lerner interviews Ben Crane about his workout videos and debuts an agonizing new one, this time spoofing his addiction to rudeness, a.k.a. as his slow play addiction. Crane chalks up his inability to be considerate of his fellow golfers to "overtrying, just trying too hard" and because "I care too much."  He also says this "isn't who I am" and, "yes I play slow golf."

So why not make fun of my inconsiderate and entitled ways?

The Commissioner has made clear he does not believe two-stroke penalties are appropriate, but when a player is openly mocking the notion of slow play even as it's become a bigger issue than ever, could this be the time that we start enforcing the 45-second rule?

"He had a wonderfully dry sense of humour and his love of golf and his job was always apparent. He will be much missed."

Douglas Lowe's paper gets around to acknowledging his passing with a lovely collection of remembrances from a diverse group of golf dignitaries.

Casey Says Reports Of His Succumbing To Jason Day's Gamesmanship Provided LOL Moment

Steve Elling talked to Paul Casey about the look he supposed gave Jason Day after having to putt out in their WGC Match Play encounter a couple of weeks ago.

"I was honestly laughing out loud at what was written," Casey said Tuesday at the Cadillac Championship.

In an admitted attempt to make his opponents cringe, Day was making his foes finish even the shortest putts in their matches. Day dispatched Casey in the second round, a notable upset.

Casey said that any outward manifestation of frustration had nothing to do with any of Day's ploys.

"I have played in a lot of matches," said Casey, who won the World Match Play in Europe and is a two-time finaliest at the Accenture. "I have pretty much seen it all. I was mad at myself. I played like crap."

As for the Day ploy, Casey shrugged.

"We putt 'em all out every week," he said.

Tiger's New Practice Facility Has Double Decker Option

Why? Because he can.

Pretty soon, I'll be moving into my new home in Jupiter, Fla. I'm excited about that and even more excited about my new practice facility. It's phenomenal. Working with my team, I designed the short-game facility and oversaw its construction. It features four greens, six bunkers with different depths and kinds of sand, a video center and a putting studio. If no wind is blowing, the longest club I can hit is a 7-iron. It's also set up so I can hit shots out of my second-story studio.

Golf Digest To Let Golfers Sample 15-inch Cups...

Peter Finch with the details on a one day event at Pine Needles to play with 15-inch cups for $100 in the W-I-D-E Open, a response to the Flogton/Mark King kvetching about the USGA having a hand in all world evil.  Finch also Tweeted a photo of the proposed cup size.  Ron Whitten Tweets that the cup cutter was created by Baltusrol mechanic Todd Simms.

The 18-hole event will feature holes created with a specially designed cutter that measure 15-inches in diameter. That's more than three times the diameter of a standard golf hole and only slightly smaller than a basketball hoop.

The competition was inspired by recent comments from Taylor Made CEO Mark King, who suggested using 15-inch holes as a way to make golf more fun and appealing to newcomers. Intrigued by the idea, Golf Digest Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde created Thursday's W I D E Open event to measure how fun experienced players -- from club pros to scratch golfers to high handicappers -- would have on such a course set-up.

"Dougie - you were a super colleague, a trusted friend and you'll be very sadly missed."

More tributes for late golf writer Douglas Lowe, starting with Martin Dempster in the Scotsman:

Five months ago we reported together on Colin Montgomerie leading Europe to a thrilling Ryder Cup victory, but the high of that occasion has now been replaced by a feeling of shock and disbelief. Diagnosed with a brain tumour early in the new year, Dougie passed away at his Helensburgh home surrounded by his family at the age of 59 - the surgery he had undergone and subsequent treatment having proved unsuccessful.

Dougie, a long-time member at Helensburgh, was our 'statto'. He knew everything from the vagaries of the World Golf Rankings to how many children had been introduced to clubgolf.

He was also a stickler for the rules, as was witnessed when one of his playing partners conceded him a putt during a media event in the build up to the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry. Dougie didn't do anything wrong but, still, he played it by the book and penalised himself, though, thankfully, that didn't stop him from winning that day.

Dougie wasn't your all singing, all dancing types, but he certainly made me laugh when recalling a story about himself last year on the walk back to his house from Helensburgh railway station after a night out in Glasgow. Passing the local park, he ventured in and made a bee line for the football pitch, where he duly scored an imaginary headed 'goal'.

Little did he know that he was being watched by two members of Strathcylde constabulary who, after letting him finish his subsequent celebration, had a quiet word in his ear before sending a smiling Dougie off into the dark to finish his journey.

Press rooms won't be the same this season.

Bernie McGuire, contributing golf correspondent for the Daily Record and Herald, posted this in the comments on the initial post:

Sadly, it was while I was out in Abu Dhabi earlier this year when I learnt my good friend Dougie Lowe was suffering from a brain tumour.

As a contributing correspondent for the Daily Record along with the Scottish Herald, it was a huge shock to be informed Dougie would probably never return to report on the European Tour. However, I had the rug pulled right out from under me today (MON) when Jim Black (The Scottish Sun) advised me Dougie had passed away.

I first met Dougie around 2003 and soon after he had been appointed golf correspondent for the Herald.

Dougie quickly settled into life on the Tour and I remember his immense delight in being afforded the job of covering the Walker Cup later that year in the States. But it was early in 2004 when I really got to know Dougie better.

That was in when Dougie travelled to Australia.  So excited to be out covering golf he bought himself an around world ticket. Dougie pencilled in coverage of the co-sanctioned Heineken Classic in Melbourne and the ANZ Championship just north of Sydney. He thrilled at being offered a spot in the Pro-Am at Royal Melbourne and delighted also at the thought of spending the next week in a beach cottage at Nelson Bay, some two hours drive north of Sydney.

It was the year Laura Davies accepted a highly-controversial sponsor's invitation to compete against the men in the ANZ. Dougie was his element, surfing every morning before breakfast and then heading off to cover the event before delighting all of us around a barbeque later in the day with his unique style of humour. Davies finished last in the field but it was Dougie who came out on tops.

Next stop on his reporting schedule was the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship. And as Dougie had spent so much time on the beach, I remember saying to him before he left to the States he looked so tanned he could have easily passed for a native Australian.

My partner and fellow European Tour journalist, Fatiha Betscher last July delighted in joining Jim (Black) in spending the week of the Barclays Scottish Open as guests of Dougie in his nearby Helensburgh apartment.
I teased him about a pile of un-ironed washing in the corner but Dougie was a great host that week. Fatiha cooked meals and Dougie entertained the three of us with more of his tales and jokes.

Bizarrely, as you look out his lounge room window the building dominating the view is the church right across the street from where he lived and from where he will be buried next Monday. Dougie - you were a super colleague, a trusted friend and you'll be very sadly missed.