"As a Yank, I am not sure I have ever felt more embarrassed to be a member of the USGA."

That's USGA dues paying members Steve Elling in this week's Pond Scrum chatting with John Huggan about the wild array of current events, including the Walker Cup committee sending captain Jim Holtgrieve's team to Royal Aberdeen without the NCAA Champion and world No. 7 ranked (now former) amateur, John Peterson.

Huggan: Ah yes, amateur bodies picking teams. I have some personal experience of this -- both good and bad -- and sadly these things are not always just about golf. Personalities and nationalities both play parts in this often distasteful business. Both teams will go into this year's matches with something less than their best 10 players. It has nearly always been that way and it always will be.

Elling: You have to wonder if Peterson's post-round comments after that Nationwide event, where he said that there were a bunch of guys in college capable of regularly beating PGA Tour pros, rubbed some folks the wrong way. Still, even if he had said Gadhafi should be governor of New Jersey, he should have been a lock for the team.

Huggan: On the GB&I side, the omission of Scottish amateur champion David Law -- a member of the host club, no less -- is almost impossible to justify. And it sounds like your man Peterson has been equally hosed. But let me repeat, these things are not unique. As soon as you get blazers involved, there is going to be a fire to put out.

Martin Dempster reports on David Law's equally mind-blowing omission, and at least you have to credit captain Nigel Edwards for acknowledging the "unfortunate" move and talking about the R&A committee's rationale behind their selection.

"David Law is unfortunate and his situation is accentuated by the fact he comes from Aberdeen," admitted Edwards. "If he'd had a better summer from the Lytham Trophy through to the Scottish Amateur, it might have been different, but that's stating the obvious.

"Sometimes you have to go with a hunch. I'm not saying that David wouldn't have won points for us, but myself and the selectors took an accumulation of factors into account. It was a tough call for a number of reasons and not just the obvious ones. If the teams had been picked straight off the world rankings (Law was 121 places above Irishman Alan Dunbar when the side was selected), both sides would be very different to what they are."

Back to Peterson, who announced on Twitter late Sunday night after learning of his Walker Cup fate that he was turning pro, after holding off in hopes of making the team:


Unfortunately the writers we've grown to trust to watch over the governing bodies on amateur golf matters had to file print stories for their respective publications, so there was no follow up. However the comments on Ron Balicki's original story suggest that the outrage is not going to help the USGA's cause at the grass roots level.

Patrick Kane, editor/publisher at Virginia Golf Report:

Shame on the USGA again. They did it two years ago and now again, a well deserving player is denied a spot on the team because 2 or 3 control freaks that think they know it all decide a young man does not quited fit what they think he should. Isn't that how young people grow up? I'm sure Peterson regrets remarks he made, if he learns from them then great. But 2 or 3 men should not have so much power that they can crush a deserving young man of a dream that should have come true based on his RECORD.

And Jeannette Kandes Reed of Augusta, Georgia:

The Walker Cup team should be picked by rankings only.....each and every young man plays their hearts out throughout the school year and throughout the summer and to have it come down to some one or two persons either on the team or on the committee that has issues with an individual is a disgrace....golf is an individual sport, there are always issues, there is always jealousy, but when you pick a team, these guys have one thing on their minds and that is winning.....yes, it is a team, but you go head to head in match play, they are individually playing as a team. Whoever, had issues with John, grow up! The Peterson family is one of the nicest families you will be ever have the pleasure to meet. Too bad every year USGA or someone on the team feels the need to leave a deserving person out. John you have a bright future ahead of you, you went out on top as an amateur and a college player, I know you and your family are very proud, great job!

"To say it was one of the best match in the 116-year history of the competition would be hyperbole, but it certain was entertaining."

Without television covering the finish, most of us were left to track the all-star U.S. Amateur match between UCLA's Patrick Cantlay and Georgia's Russell Henley via Twitter, and based on the accounts and enthusiasm, it was one for the ages.

Ryan Herrington with some of the highlights:

* Over the course of 21 holes, the two made 13 birdies and two eagles, offset by just four bogeys.

* Three different times they halved holes with birdies, the two shooting matching 68s before going to extra holes.

* Just three times all day did a par win a hole.

"It was the craziest match I have ever been a part of," said Cantlay, a 19-year-old from Los Alamitos, Calif., who'll start his sophomore year at UCLA next month. "If you told me all that stuff would have happened the way it did, I wouldn't have believed you."

Sean Martin said the emotions of the match were summed up by the sight of the normally stoic Cantlay fist-pumping, as caught by J.D. Cuban's camera (above).

Cantlay’s run at Erin Hills looked like it was going to end Thursday. He was 2 down with two to play after Henley holed a 16-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th. Both players came up short on the par-4 17th. Cantlay holed his straightforward chip, and Henley was unable to match.

Henley found trouble with his tee shot on the par-5 18th and had to hack out of the fescue. Cantlay had just 6-iron for his second shot, two-putting from 20 feet to extend the match.

When Cantlay won the 21st hole, it was the first time he led the match since the fourth hole.

Randall Mell said it was a heavyweight fight.

Walking to the 11th tee, Henley’s nose started bleeding. He looked like he needed a cut man more than a caddie. He played five holes with a napkin stuffed into his right nostril.
“I got hit in the nose twice in high school playing basketball and ever since, when it gets dry, it seems to start bleeding,” Henley said.

This match was everything it was hyped to be even if it felt as if it came too early in the week as a second-round showdown.

Friday's Round of 16 includes another standout match: Cantlay vs. England's Tom Lewis. Bill Nichols notes that in the final 16 are defending champion Peter Uihlein and Dallas's Jordan Spieth.