Time To Lose The Secret Walker Cup Selection Process

Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com has been a longtime watcher of the Walker Cup selection process and points out that while an unenviable task, is the only "Cup" with a points list kept private.

Lavner writes:

Nitpicking résumés of elite players who don’t compete against each other every week is an unenviable task, which makes it even more bizarre that the USGA doesn’t make its decisions more transparent. 

The Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and Solheim Cup all have points lists. The USGA says there is an internal system that spits out numbers and weighs such factors as strength of schedule, but it chooses not to make that information public. 

That’s a mistake.

Making that list public would eliminate two things: (1) the unnecessary stress for players who are flying around the country in a desperate attempt to impress a secretive committee, and (2) most of the second-guessing that comes after an important decision that defines their amateur careers.

When asked how transparent the committee has been over the past few months, former Virginia standout Denny McCarthy – the favorite to land one of the final spots – said: “I literally have no idea. I can’t control what they do. The only thing I can control is the golf I play and my emotions. Hopefully I can play some really solid golf this week and leave no doubt in their mind that I should be a part of this team.”

Finally: Jason Day Wins A Major (In Record Style)

The act of prognosticating majors is a silly game many of us partake in because they never play out how we hope. Many of us picked Jason Day as the obvious favorite, with Jordan Spieth likely to be right there. And for a change, a golf tournament played out kind of like we expected and hoped.

Day's win is especially enjoyable because he's had so many close calls, works hard, loves what he does and has been on the cusp. That doesn't always translate to major success but what fun to see things play out before our eyes as the paper evidence hinted.

Doug Ferguson gets at the emotional weight lifted for Day in his AP story:

Worried that this year might turn out to be a major failure, Day never gave Jordan Spieth or anyone else a chance Sunday. He delivered a record-setting performance at Whistling Straits that brought him a major championship he started to wonder might never happen.

Day was in tears before he even tapped in for par and a 5-under 67 for a three-shot victory. He sobbed on the shoulder of Colin Swatton, his caddie and longtime coach who rescued Day as a 12-year-old struggling to overcome the death of his father.

And then came high praise from Spieth in the scoring trailer when golf's new No. 1 player told him, "There's nothing I could do."

Ian O'Connor at ESPN.com on how Sunday was the culmination of a life lived overcoming a lot.

Day wanted to tell you that he was 12 when his old man died of stomach cancer, and that his mother needed to take out a second mortgage on the house and borrow money from his aunt and uncle to put him in a golf academy seven hours away. He wanted to tell you that he was getting into fights, and getting drunk at home before he was even a teenager. He wanted to tell you that his mother used a knife to cut the lawn because she couldn't afford to fix the mower, and that she'd heat up three or four kettles so her son could take a shower in a home that didn't have a hot water tank.

"That's why a lot of emotion came out on 18," Day said.

Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com notes the irony of Day winning at Whistling Straits, where his run of near majors began.

Jason Day came full circle on Sunday after having started what some were beginning to see as a misguided major quest at Whistling Straits when he tied for 10th at the 2010 PGA.

Five years after that first brush with Grand Slam greatness the affable Australian laid a Heisman on the field with a near-flawless round and then both hands on the Wanamaker Trophy, the 27-pound chalice that had started to feel like the weight of the world on Day’s broad shoulders.

Jim McCabe at Golfweek.com notes how confident and aggressive Day was Sunday.

“Jason played like a champion,” Spieth said, shaking his head at the winner’s consistent play with a hard driver off the tee. “I wouldn’t say I was surprised, but I was amazed he kept hitting the driver.”

As one of the most aggressive players on the PGA Tour, Day started the day two in front of Spieth and kept the engines on. He birdied four of the first seven holes but still led by only three.

Cameron Morfit at golf.com has some fun inside the ropes details, including this about the incredible 11th hole drive:

He uncorked a massive drive on the par-5 11th hole that wound up 382 yards down the fairway, and when Spieth walked up and saw it he turned around and said, “Holy s---!” Day simply smiled and playfully flexed his biceps.

“I knew I was going to be playing uphill from there,” Spieth said.

Col Swatton has been on the bag for Day a long time and has endured no shortage of hours on the range, so the "blubbering mess" he displayed was real, notes Stephen Hennessey at GolfDigest.com.

On a lighter note, there was some confusion over son Dash's gender, at least from NBC Sports personality Josh Elliott.

Here was wee Dash running out to greet dad. From The Big Lead.

First Take: The 2015 PGA Championship

Imagine that, the favorite going in thanks to his recent play and his previous performance at Whistling Straits won. Nice how it all comes together sometimes.

It wasn not a great day for fans as the lack of a cap on commercial breaks and the relentlessness of certain commercials. I can't think of a better example of how a telecast impacts the impression of a major championship. Few sports fans would have watched today and thought this was anything but a typical tournament.

I'm curious what the lasting impression is of this week after Day's win, Spieth's epic year and Whistling Straits.