U.S. Women's Open: Doak Stalks Creamer!

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Fun anecdote from Randall Mell from Tuesday at Sebonack on the eve of the U.S. Women's Open at the Tom Doak-Jack Nicklaus designed course:

When Doak first inquired whether he could follow Creamer around, Creamer didn’t believe it.

“I asked my dad,`Is it a joke? Is someone playing a trick on me?'” Creamer said.

Creamer, who won the U.S. Women’s Open in 2010 on Oakmont’s treacherous greens, relished the chance to grill Doak on nuances of his designs.

“Why would you do this to us?” Creamer playfully asked Doak of the toughest greens. “I didn’t give him too much grief about it, but he laughed.”

Dave Shedloski talks to architects Nicklaus and Doak about the unusual design collaboration.

Nicklaus said the routing of the course is predominantly the work of Doak, but the tee-to-green strategy shows more of his influence. He figures he moved perhaps as many as half of the bunkers into more strategic locations. Doak designed the greens. Nicklaus liked them, but softened them.

“The look is more Tom’s, and the golf is a combination of both of us,” Nicklaus said. “My idea was to have good, playable golf. Tom will throw bunkers in different places for the aesthetics, so that’s the look. I think the combination turned out well. I learned a lot from this golf course; it’s given me another dimension on how to do golf courses.

There's also a nice USGA slide show of course images.

Cordevalle Still Getting '16 U.S. Women's Open

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Ron Kroichick broke the news so long ago that he needed to re-break it in advance of Wednesday's announcement on Long Island.

Cordevalle is again hosting this year's Frys.com Open on the PGA Tour.

"I don't see Rory as a flat-line player"

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Interesting characterization of Rory McIlroy's recent on-course struggles by Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley, as told to The Guardian's Ewan Murray.

"He is never going to be a Nick Faldo who is going to flat line. We just have to accept that and let him get on with it. He will come through the bit of a trough that he has had; he'll come through and have success again. I don't see Rory as a flat-line player and I just think that's going to be part of his career for the rest of his life.

"Everybody is different and one of the reasons why he is so exciting is the fact that he is up and down. That's one of the reasons why Seve was so exciting, he was up and down, too. I think that's the X factor that Rory has. He can win every week."

Casey Martin Denied Cart To Recruit At USGA Event

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Cassie Stein files an in-depth report on an incident Monday in which Oregon golf coach Casey Martin was denied the use of a golf cart at the U.S. Junior qualifier in Oceanside.

It seems the USGA contacted the host regional golf association, the SCGA, to ask Martin to give up the cart.

“I’ve never felt more discriminated against or unfairly taken advantage of in my entire life,” Martin told Golfweek that evening.

Pawlak said the USGA contacted the tournament and asked that Martin not use a cart.

“He wasn’t happy about it,” Pawlak said, “but he accepted it.”

When contacted by Golfweek for comment, the USGA issued a statement:

"The United States Golf Association has been and continues to be a strong supporter of Casey Martin. The unfortunate situation at the U.S. Junior qualifier stems from a misunderstanding over the USGA Cart Policy at our championship events. We regret that this misunderstanding may have caused Casey an inconvenience, but it certainly was unintentional. We have extended to Casey accommodations that we offer all disabled spectators at our championships. Despite this unfortunate situation, we continue to admire what Casey has been able to accomplish in the game as both a player and a coach."

The rules are quite clear that carts are not allowed for spectators at USGA events and that one-person scooters will be made available on a first-come basis. However, if those are not available or the course runs out, it would seem logical to grant the use of a cart to one of the few handicapped people on the planet trying to spectate a USGA qualifier, no?

Flooding: Somber Scenes From Calgary Golf Courses

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With good reason Graham DeLaet contributed $1000 for each birdie he made during the Travelers, matched by the tournament and others. Seeing the latest articles sent by reader Andrew along with the video puts into perspective just had bad the flooding sitaution in Calgary is.

Wes Gilbertson reports that Canadian Open hopeful Glencoe Golf & Country Club is in bad shape but no major damage was done to the newly renovated course.

“It’s sickening. It’s truly sickening,” said Mike Kenney, the executive professional and associate general manager at Glencoe, one of the large number of Calgary-area golf courses impacted by the worst flood in Alberta history.

“We were going to be opening the Forest next Saturday after 23 months of renovations, and that’s probably the hardest pill to take, just knowing we were that close. Now, I’m not sure when it will open again. It’s going to be awhile.

“It’s just going to take time to recuperate. A lot of it is going to have to be stripped and re-sodded and shaped a bit differently.”

Brody Mark on Kananaskis Country GC closing for the season in June because of the flooding.

“While we cannot measure the damage until the waters of our rivers and creek beds receded, it will be some time before the courses (Mt. Kidd and Mt. Lorette) will be playable.”

Robinson announced full refunds will be given to all with a confirmed tee time.

While no official word has been levied on the 2013 fate of Inglewood Golf and Curling Club, Glencoe Golf and Country Club, Cottonwood Golf and Country Club, Redwood Meadows, Valley Ridge and McKenzie Meadows, each of those courses had pictures of extensive flooding posted on various social media sites.

A video from high above the world famous Banff Springs golf course.

Video Preview: U.S. Women's Open At Sebonack

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Here's a nice video overview and the first glimpses of the Doaklaus design making its debut on a grand stage, this week's U.S. Women's Open.

Mark Herrmann has the backstory of Sebonack and the odd design pairing of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak:

Logic insisted that, when the time came to design Pascucci's dream course, he hire Nicklaus to do it, which is what happened. Logic left the room, though, when Pascucci insisted that Nicklaus share the job with Doak, the current architecture whiz. The course owner held a meeting at which neither of his guests wanted to be present.

"I remember the tension in that office was incredible,'' said Mark Hissey, who was project manager while Sebonack was being built and is executive director of this year's Women's Open.
At one point, Pascucci left the room, pretending he had a phone call, just so the two men could start talking. Before it was over, they had an agreement, and when they were all done, they had a course that the U.S. Golf Association found major-worthy.

Open Championship Qualifying WD-Fest Reaches New Low!

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Or is that a high, as in the most WD's ever? 29 members of the white belt-wearing set couldn't be bothered to finish the Open Championship International Final Qualifier's 36 at the Sunningdale's New Course, not exactly one of the cow pastures of the game.

Congrats to American Brooks Koepka on medalist honors.

Longtime readers know that this is an annual mystery of the game that seems rather easy to remedy and for whatever reason has not been dealt with by the governing bodies.

Rose Pulls Out Of AT&T National...

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It was admirable of him to stick to his Travelers Championship commitment last week but the adrenaline can only last so long, as U.S. Open champion Justin Rose WD's from the AT&T National this week to regroup for The Open Championship.

His statement:

"I'm disappointed to withdraw from the AT&T National, but the last three weeks have been extremely demanding both mentally and physically," Rose said. "This tournament has been very good to me - especially in 2010 - and I would play if I felt I could. Tiger and his Foundation run a great tournament, and I wish I could be there."

Video: AJGA Recently Set An Under Four Hours Time Par

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Great stuff on Morning Drive today exposing the AJGA's pace of play work as part of Golf Channel's push this month. Namely, the AJGA getting to explain their check point and time par system that is working. It's a sharp contrast to the USGA's glossy campaign that is not backed up by the implementation of a time par system at the U.S. Open.

The most interesting thing I learned from AJGA executive director Stephen Hamblin and player representive Nicole Morales is their abandonment of the honor system and the 17-minutes a round saved by asking players to walk ahead to the next tee when they've holed out first. They also recently set a time par of 3:58 at an event and rounds averaged under that.

I also was intrigued by Hamblin's mention of this as a "safety issue" by keeping everyone out of midday hot weather an hour less a day. Considering the length of the days at the recent U.S. Open at Merion, that's not a bad point!

Closing The Book On Merion '13...

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In hearing the reaction to the U.S. Open at Merion a few days removed, it's been fascinating how many people have said they found the last day dull because of the setup and not the course. A decade ago the consensus would have been that this was classic U.S. Open golf, but it seems at least in casual chats I've had that tastes have been refined to recognize the style of golf played at Merion erred just a bit too much on the side of "last man standing" instead of "best man emerges."
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Unpaid 10-Second Ad Appearance Costs Amateur His Status

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But he can receive equipment manufacturer balls and clubs to be counted at USGA events for advertised ball and club counts! 

What a wacky world, as Julie Williams reports on Scott Pieri losing his amateur status after he "made a 10-second appearance in a commercial for Golf Etc., a local club-fitting store owned by a friend, to deliver a brief testimonial."

And if you want to start your week off in peachy fashion, just read the contradictions in the Decisions on Amateur Status. Breathtaking.