Great Britain and Ireland captured the Walker Cup today for the first time since 2003. The final score was 14-12, with the US capturing 6 1/2 of the 10 points up for grabs in today’s singles matches.
The US made a game of it, but the difference between the teams may have come down to a rules violation yesterday by one of the GB&I players. Jack Senior, in his match with Andy Sullivan against Russell Henley and Kelly Kraft, used his brother Joe Senior, a Euro Tour player as his caddie. The rules sheet clearly states that professional golfers are not allowed to act as caddies at the Walker Cup.
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The USGA might not be fielding their best possible team for the upcoming Walker Cup, but team captain Jim Holtgrieve has no plans to repeat the rain gear snafu that Team USA experienced at the last Ryder Cup.
Given that the Walker Cup is being played at Royal Aberdeen and they’re likely to play in the rain, it makes sense to have working rain gear. To that end, Holtgrieve, donned the Polo-supplied rain suit and hopped in the shower. It worked fine so it looks like Team USA will be dry and comfy (relatively speaking) over in Scotland.
ProGolfTalk
by Derek on August 30, 2011
in USGA
LSU’s John Peterson raised a lot of eyebrows last month when he finished 2nd in a Nationwide Tour event and proceeded to state that he thought top amateur golfers could beat the top pro’s. I don’t agree with him, but hey, he’s 22 and had almost won a professional tournament as an amateur (Harris English, the event’s winner was also an amateur). I’m willing to give him a pass.
Apparently the USGA isn’t though, as they declined to name Peterson to the Walker Cup team. UGA’s Harris English (who joined in with Peterson’s comments) and soon to be t-sip Jordan Spieth were selected.
The decision immediately sparked outrage. Peterson won the NCAA individual championship and a Nationwide Tour event. How the hell do you not pick him? Patrick Kane of Virginia Golf Report had this to say:
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The USGA and R&A have finally come to their senses and announced a rule change that will allow players who learn of an infraction after signing their scorecards to be assessed a penalty rather than being disqualified.
The new rule applies when a “player is not aware he has breached a Rule because of facts that he did not know and could not reasonably have discovered prior to returning his score card”.
The change comes after Padraig Harrington and Camilo Villegas were disqualified for signing incorrect scorecards earlier this year in different tournaments. In Harrington’s case, his ball moved on the green. He knew that the ball had moved, but thought that it had returned to it’s original position and consequently did not replace the ball and take a penalty stroke.
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2010 vs 2009 PGA Tour Stats (through Sep 20)
There’s a great forum thread over on Golfwrx, discussing the impact of the new groove rule. Basically, the USGA implemented the new groove rule to “protect” the game from “bomb and gouge”. As you can see from the chart above, there has been absolutely no impact on the game. Other than our pocketbooks that is. And from the title of this post, you can guess what my take on the issue is.
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