"The IGF could’ve instituted a 36-hole cut instead of shortening the tournament."

Sean Martin takes issue with the lack of an on-the-spot call by the International Golf Federation to prevent a virtual washout day of weekend World Amateur Team Championship golf, but what really scares me about this episode is that it's precisely the kind of thing that they use to justify the dead-on-arrival 72- hole individual stroke play format for the Olympics.

There’s nothing the IGF can do about the weather. But its insistence on emphasizing participation over competition in a tournament billed as a “world championship” has frustrated many players and coaches.

Letter From Saugerties: Amateurism Edition

Following Sunday's U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay, former USGA Executive Director Frank Hannigan shares these thoughts on the state of amateur golf.

August 31, 2010

The annual USGA pre-professional championship concluded on Sunday. Of the 64 players who made it to match play only 11 were 25 years of age or older.     

One of the 11, Skip Berkmeyer, actually won a match before succumbing in the second round to a student athlete from Stanford.

The last time an adult won the event was in 1993 when John Harris of Minnesota prevailed. Harris had been a pro, was reinstated, then turned pro again to make serious money on the senior tour. But the ultimate adult golfer of our time was Jay Sigel, who beat all the college children in both 1982 and 1983, a feat so unlikely it warrants his enshrinement in golf's Hall of Fame.

My point is this: what is called the Amateur Championship is not an equitable competition because college golfers have an inordinate advantage in that they play golf nine months a year at someone else's expense and then milk their parents for money to play the other three.

Some pick up the semblance of an education in the process. Many do not. Only a minority of PGA Tour members who enrolled in college obtained degrees.

There is nothing new in this condition. Back in 1979 after only one adult, Dick Siderowf, reached the round of 16, two of the USGA's finest officials--Jim Hand and Sandy Tatum--asked me to concoct a new championship for post college golfers who had not attained seniority.

I came up with what is  called the Mid Amateur Championship which bears a minimum age limit of 25.  It has been a success in the sense that low handicap golfers enter in droves. The concept has been widely emulated by regional and state golf associations and even the R&A. (By the way, just what is a "mid amateur"?)

The USGA once declared in its code of amateurism that golf scholarships were forbidden. Such an attitude was deemed anti American. The USGA caved in during the 1950s.

Assiduous research led me to conclude that the very first golf scholarships were given at LSU during the 1930s with some other label.  Among the recipients was Freddie Haas, who later gained fame by ending Byron Nelson's winning streak of 11 straight victories.

Ah, but who gave out the scholarships?  None other than Huey Long, the Kingfish, governor of Louisiana, who wanted LSU to be first in everything except perhaps learning.

Amateurism was a class Victorian notion designed to keep the well bred apart from working men in sport.  It evolved, however, into something sane and decent. So long as golf enjoyed its tradition of "open"  competitions it was natural to have events limited to those who did not enjoy the advantage of playing golf for a living.

College golf scholarships blew that concept up in that the elite of college golf are better than the best club professionals.

The Rules of Amateur Status are made up of about 2,000 words of rationalizations. Among them is the proclamation that an amateur golfer is one who does not accept remuneration. A college scholarship based on golf skill is obviously a form of remuneration. The entire code, in reality, could be reduced fairly to 13 words:  "An amateur golfer is one who does not attempt to win prize money."

"What we've learned is you've got to have moisture down six inches, 12 inches, 24 inches to get a consistent dry where it doesn't go from really good to literally baked out, unplayable in a matter of minutes."

Tim Booth writes up the outstanding U.S. Amateur final, but doesn't quite capture just what a dynamic and well-played match it appeared to be. 

Ryan Lavner captures the joy of the Uihlein family after Peter's 21st birthday win over David Chung.

The golf course looked fantastic on NBC, perhaps a product of a few more production touches saved for the weekend and someone in Orlando not cranking up the green saturation. It also appeared to play better and in an odd twist, Chambers Bay may actually be better off hosting events in June instead of August when there is more moisture in the soil.

From the post round press conference with Mike Davis, Tom O'Toole and Jim Hyler of the USGA:

You know, Chambers Bay came in so incredibly dry that we'd never had any ‑‑ this course is pure sand.  If you dig down six inches, if you dig down a foot, if you dig down five feet it's sand.  And what's interesting is you could have never gotten another course with any type of other grass like this here you could have kept it like this for months on end and the grass is just dormant.

What we've learned is you've got to have moisture down six inches, 12 inches, 24 inches to get a consistent dry where it doesn't go from really good to literally baked out, unplayable in a matter of minutes.

That's what we learned.  So Tuesday night what we ended up going with the superintendent and our agronomist said recharging the greens, we essentially flood the things, absolutely flooded them.  So we got water down 12 inches, 16 inches, 24 inches, and that allowed Chambers Bay to, essentially, you know, dry out on a much more even keel basis.

As for the green question, Hyler was asked and answered this way...

Q.  It was obvious during the week on the TV the course was a good deal greener than it is in reality.  I wondered what your reaction to that was?  Were you disappointed by that?

JIM HYLER:  We noticed on the broadcast I think the first day or whatever it was with the TV, I looked at it and said that's not what I'm seeing outside.  We found out that something was going on with the local feed.

Other parts of the country it was exactly what we were seeing.  I'm not sure what the technical issues were, but other places it showed up just like you see it outside.  So we had sort of the same thought, but it got straightened out, I think.

Asher Wildman also notes the impressive attendance for the week, which came through on television for Sunday's final match. 

Saturday's Busy Day Of Golf Open Thread

The U.S. Amateur, Johnnie Walker Ryder Cup drama and of course the scintillating FedExCup playoffs at Ridgewood. And I'm not watching any of it live. But you might be...not that there's anything wrong with.

Gary Koch Doesn't Quite Declare Chambers Bay Better Than Most

Dan Hicks asked for his assessment during a lull in Friday's U.S. Amateur telecast and the declaration?

"It's a wonderful match play golf course."

Update on 2010-08-27 20:35 by Geoff

**As compelling as Chambers Bay is to watch, we also should see the conclusion of matches, no?

Shane Bacon takes issue with the Golf Channel's scheduling today, which showed up part of matches but not the conclusions. If The Tennis Channel did that, they'd be out of business in no time!

Okay, so the dilemma on Friday is how do you show both things live? Well, the Amateur is in Washington, so why not just have the quarterfinal matches a little later, and show them live? Trust me, people would much rather watch the butt-end of these matches than the start of them. It is pointless to spend hours watching the U.S. Amateur if you don't get to see what happens over the final three holes. On top of that, they are switching to the Barclays where Phil Mickelson has already completed his round and Tiger Woods only has about six holes left.

Were these matches scheduled to be completed by the end of the telecast window?