When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
All four closely contested matches produced some fine golf as the U.S. split the session, holding on to a 10-6 lead heading into the ten singles matches. A late arriving crowd managed to shed their church wear in time to greet the matches as they made the closing stretch from the 14th on in. Excessively difficult hole locations for any format but especially for foursomes took away some of the Sunday morning fun but National continues to shine.
Ryan Herrington reports that the USA needs just 3.5 points to capture the Walker Cup.
USA Today's Kelly Whiteside with the news from Buenos Aires, where Tokyo landed the 2020 Olympic Games beating out Istanbul and Madrid.
The Wakasu links was the course nominated to be the host golf according to Wikipedia, but the Tokyo bid committee's website (acting up from massive hits when I tried to access) apparently says the masterful C.H. Alison-redesigned Kasumigaseki's East Course will be host. (Former NBC Olympic producer Molly Solomon also tweeted this.)
Here is the club's English history.
**A 2010 Golf Club Atlas thread by Andrew Bertram shows what Kasumigaseki Country Club looks like these days.
The National Golf Links of America put on a classy, once-in-a-lifetime flag raising ceremony on picture-perfect Southampton day overlooking Peconic Bay, and it was President George W. Bush, who made the occasion one to remember.
Granted, as a former president whose great-grandfather created the event at hand so he has a bit more leeway in the speechmaking department. Still, it was Mr. Bush's levity, respect for history and sense of humility that brightened an otherwise bordering-on-somber ceremony to kick off the 44th Walker Cup. Perhaps had the remarks been televised "W" might not have been so glib, but thankfully those fortunate enough to have been there, we'll never know!
Unfortunately, the entirety of his remarks are not on YouTube, and none of the much needed levity comes through. Still, Jessica Marksbury does host a short wrap up for YouTube.
The USGA's official photos from the ceremony.
A few of my really dreadful shots from the audience:
Just 91 years later The National Golf Links of America makes a triumphant return to USGA golf with the 44th Walker Cup. This is also the first chance to see arguably the most important golf course ever built.
Golf Channel covers from 4-6 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday.
At least three inches of rain hit the course Tuesday and while it softened things a bit, the speed of the greens is just fine and any faster would be silly considering the contours. I can't wait to watch today's players take on C.B. Macdonald's masterpiece.
Let the Walker Cup begin!
Your Saturday matches:
Saturday Foursomes
7:15 a.m. - Nathan Kimsey and Max Orrin - GB&I vs. Cory Whitsett and Bobby Wyatt - USA
7:30 a.m. - Matthew Fitzpatrick and Neil Raymond - GB&Ivs. Jordan Niebrugge and Nathan Smith - USA
7:45 a.m. - Garrick Porteous and Rhys Pugh - GB&I vs. Michael Weaver and Todd White - USA
8 a.m. - Gavin Moynihan and Kevin Phelan - GB&I vs. Patrick Rodgers and Justin Thomas – USA
Saturday Singles
GB&I vs. USA
1 p.m. - Neil Raymond vs. Bobby Wyatt
1:11 p.m. - Max Orrin vs. Max Homa
1:22 p.m. - Callum Shinkwin vs. Michael Kim
1:33 p.m. - Jordan Smith vs. Cory Whitsett
1:44 p.m. - Garrick Porteous vs. Jordan Niebrugge
1:55 p.m. - Matthew Fitzpatrick vs. Michael Weaver
2:06 p.m. - Nathan Kimsey vs. Justin Thomas
2:17 p.m. - Gavin Moynihan vs. Patrick Rodgers
Course creator C.B. Macdonald was pretty high on his Sahara hole, National Golf Links' 2nd.
Here's what he wrote:
The Sahara of the Royal St. George's at Sandwich I found in our second hole. In one sense it is not a replica, but it is a mental picture of that fine hole, embodying the underlying principle--a golfer's reward is granted to him who can negotiate the carry he is capable of accomplishing. The real carry on the line of the hole is over an immense bunker calling for 210 to 220 yards. The ball then can run to the putting green. Less powerful players must satisfy themselves with placing their ball from the tee advantageously to reach the green in two. I am confident that it is a much better hole than the original Sahara.
Here are three short, very rough videos from the course looking at the Sahara, Alps back tee and the Punchbowl (16).
Nice Friday afternoon news from the PGA Tour if you like the Tampa and Kapalua stops.
First, Tampa:
Valspar Commits to Four-Year Title Sponsorship of PGA TOUR Event in Tampa Bay and is Named “Official Paint Supplier” of the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour
Valspar Championship to be Played in March at Innisbrook Resort; BB&T Named Local Presenting Sponsor
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., and MINNEAPOLIS (September 6, 2013) – The Valspar Corporation (NYSE: VAL), a global leader in the paint and coatings industry, and the PGA TOUR today announced a four-year agreement for Valspar to become the title sponsor of the Tampa Bay area’s professional golf tournament on the PGA TOUR.
Named the Valspar Championship, the tournament will be contested March 13-16, 2014 on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, a Salamander Golf & Spa Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla. The Valspar Championship will be the third of four straight tournament weeks in Florida.
In addition to the sponsorship, Valspar will join the PGA TOUR’s Official Marketing Partner program and receive the exclusive designation as “Official Paint Supplier of the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour.”
And Maui...
Hyundai Renews Title Sponsorship of Tournament of Champions
Two-year deal carries through the 2014-2015 PGA TOUR season
COSTA MESA, CA, and PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL (September 6, 2013) – The PGA TOUR and Hyundai Motor America announced today a two-year extension of Hyundai’s title sponsorship of the exclusive field Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, through the 2014-2015 season.
The upcoming Hyundai Tournament of Champions will be held January 3-6 at the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui, and will mark the PGA TOUR’s resumption in January following a 1½-month break of the 2013-2014 tournament schedule.
“We are very pleased to have Hyundai continue as title sponsor of the Tournament of Champions, which has played a distinctive role on the PGA TOUR for more than 60 years by inviting only tournament winners from the previous year,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “Hyundai has been very active in promoting the tournament and using it to broaden awareness of its brand and products. We look forward to continuing to work with Hyundai over these next two years to meet its objectives as title sponsor.”
“The Hyundai Tournament of Champions is an ideal platform to share Hyundai’s premium lineup with golf fans around the world,” said Steve Shannon, vice president, Marketing, Hyundai Motor America. “The tournament has continued to grow the past three years with ratings up more than 75 percent in 2013. Not surprisingly, the ratings increase and our involvement with the PGA TOUR has coincided with market share growth of our premium vehicles, Genesis and the flagship Equus. This tournament is a great fit for our brand.”
In addition to Hyundai’s sponsorship, Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) continues its relationship with the tournament, under terms of a 10-year agreement that began in 2010. Serving as the tournament’s title sponsor that first year, SBS had the opportunity to bring Hyundai in as title sponsor in 2011, at which time the tournament’s original “Tournament of Champions” name was reintroduced to highlight the exclusive nature of its field. Originally introduced as the Tournament of Champions in 1953, the limited-field event maintained the “T of C” identity in its title until 1994.
A broadcasting partner of the PGA TOUR for nearly 20 years, SBS also will continue to televise PGA TOUR tournaments in Korea through 2019.
In preparing for the Walker Cup where I'll be reporting from Southampton for coverage at GeoffShackelford.com, Twitter and in Golf World, I went back through old Golf Illustrated and American Golfer magazines to read up on coverage of the 1922 match at The National Golf Links of America (an 8-4 win by the USA).
I got a kick out of this from James Coxmenelton's "Current Comment" column in a September, 1922 Golf Illustrated.
Following the Walker Cup matches and the National Amateur Championship, a writer in the London Daily Telegraph says as follows: "Personally I see nothing wrong with British golf. The plain truth is we don't make a business of it, and I sincerely hope we never shall. If we are to be beaten by a nation that a couple of decades ago did not possess a single first class player we shall take out licking like men. If the Americans in their pursuit of glory care to live on milk and fish, to eschew tobacco and go to bed at 10 o'clock, let them. I would rather see Tolley, Ray and Vardon blowing clouds of tobacco smoke around the links than with their mouths full of chewing gum."
Fortunately for the rest of us, who have high admiration for British golfers and golf writers, this criticism is so narrow as to be ludicrous and cannot be taken seriously in any way. If by any chance, and I do not think that practices he mentions are as prevalent as he is inclined to believe, our boys do not smoke and drink, stay up after ten o'clock and chew gum rather than tobacco we should probably feel proud of the fact. Incidentally, neither Sweetser nor Evans, this year's finalists, smokes; but, for the most part, I would say our golfers smoke just as heavily as Britishers, the only difference being that the Britishers fancy pipes and Americans cigarettes.
Damon Hack returns to his old craft of writing, calling up Ben Crenshaw to talk about The National Golf Links on the eve of the Walker Cup.
Comparing it to next door neighbor Shinnecock Hills...
I asked Crenshaw to compare it to its long-time neighbor, Shinnecock Hills, which will host the United States Open in 2018.
“Shinnecock is a sterner test, and it’s ironic that they are right next door,” he says. “Fun is the operative word at the National.”
Over the years it has become rote to describe the National as an ode to the great Scottish links, but Crenshaw believes that notion is a simplification.
“Yes, a majority of the holes are replicas of famous holes overseas, but they have a touch of character that makes them play a little different,” he says. “You play the Alps hole, the 17th, at Prestwick and then you play the third hole at the National, you can see the features, but they are entirely different,” Crenshaw says.
Sounds like the schedule for 2016 working around the Rio Olympic Games is shaping up, as Bloomberg's Michael Buteau reports that the PGA of America is comfortable with moving the Baltusrol PGA to late July, before the Aug 5-21 games.
A schedule change could benefit the PGA Championship at the Springfield, New Jersey, course, which also hosted the 2005 PGA Championship, won by Phil Mickelson, Bevacqua said.
“It’s a better time to host a major championship,” he said. “More people are around and in the swing of things. Less people are on their summer vacations. We think it’s actually going to work out to our advantage.”
We also will know soon which city will be creating headaches for the IGF as the 2020 Olympic Games final bribes are due with announcement set for this week. Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid are the pulse stunting finalists, with Madrid reportedly pullling away down the stretch.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
