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
Bel-Air To Host '23 Women's Amateur, '26 Curtis Cup And '30 Mid-Amateur
/
Congratulations to Bel-Air for securing three USGA events over the next decade. The club was instrumental in the success of the 2017 U.S. Amateur hosted by Riviera and will be an incredible setting.
For Immediate Release:
Bel-Air Country Club, in Los Angeles, Calif., has been selected as the host site for the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, 2026 Curtis Cup Match and 2030 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. The historic golf course has previously hosted two USGA championships.
“Bel-Air is one of the country’s most prestigious courses, steeped in golf history, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate three more USGA championships there,” said John Bodenhamer, senior managing director of Championships, USGA. “The USGA is looking forward to continuing to build our relationship with this esteemed club.”
Located in the heart of Los Angeles, Bel-Air is a private club with an 18-hole course originally designed by George Thomas and recently renovated by Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf Design. The project focused on updating the course while restoring its archetypal integrity. The course previously hosted the 1976 U.S. Amateur, which was won by Bill Sander, and the 2004 U.S. Senior Amateur, where Mark Bemowski took home the trophy. It most recently served as the stroke-play co-host course for the 2018 U.S. Amateur at The Riviera Country Club.
“To be named host club for not one, but three USGA championships over the course of the next decade is an extraordinary honor for Bel-Air and its membership as well as our surrounding community,” said Jamie Widdoes, president of the club. “Hosting the U.S. Women’s Amateur and Curtis Cup is very special, as we are pleased to play a role in the USGA’s commitment to women’s golf during this exciting time for the game. To then welcome the U.S. Mid-Amateur represents the heart and soul of what we celebrate at Bel-Air, amateur golf.”
In the shadows of the Hollywood Hills, Bel-Air is known for its dramatic topography and one of golf’s most famous suspension bridges, which spans a canyon on the 225-yard par-3 10th and serves as a stunning backdrop for the 18th hole.
The U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship marks the beginning of women’s competitive golf in this country. The Women’s Amateur is one of the USGA’s first three championships, having debuted in 1895 along with the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open.
In 2019, University of Southern California standout Gabriela Ruffels became the first Australian to hoist the Robert Cox Trophy at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., while Rose Zhang of Irvine, Calif., earned the title by defeating Ruffels in a final match that went extra holes in 2020 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. The U.S. Women’s Amateur champion receives a full exemption into the following year’s U.S. Women’s Open.
The 2021 championship will be hosted by Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., from Aug. 2-8. The dates of the 2023 championship at Bel-Air are Aug. 7-13. The 2024 championship will take place at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., and the 2026 championship will be held at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn.
The Curtis Cup Match, a biennial international women’s golf event contested by teams from the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, was last played in 2018 at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., when the USA defeated GB&I, 17-3. Many U.S. Women’s Open champions have competed in the Match, including JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Juli Inkster, Laura Davies, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, and Michelle Wie, as well as LPGA Tour stars such as Georgia Hall, Stacy Lewis, Jessica Korda, Nancy Lopez, Mel Reid and Lexi Thompson. The 2021 Curtis Cup will take place at Conwy Golf Club in North Wales from Aug. 26-28, and the 2022 Match will take place at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., from June 10-12. The dates of the 2026 Match are June 12-14.
The U.S. Mid-Amateur champion receives a full exemption into the following year’s U.S. Open. The 2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur will be held at Sankaty Head Golf Club, in Siasconset, Mass., from Sept. 25-30. In 2022 the U.S. Mid-Amateur will be contested at Erin Hills, in Erin, Wis., and the 2023 championship will be held at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, N.Y. The dates of the 2030 championship at Bel-Air are Sept. 14-19.
Super Golf League Meeting Called Quick, Underwhelming
/Whether this was all code for something more we’ll soon find out, but the initial reviews suggest the Saudis did not throw much of a Kiawah party.
“It all happened pretty quick,” the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. “It was like, We have everything sorted, it’s all going to work out.”
Present for the meeting were lawyers from a high-profile American law firm that is handling the venture’s contractual work. These attorneys assured agents that they were combing through any potential legal hiccups and that their process, too, would be completed sooner rather than later.
Oh yeah, nothing to worry about.
A rep for Golf Saudi also ZOOM’d in. Which is probably why the characterization shared by Rex Hoggard makes a lot of sense:
One manager who attended the meeting characterized it as “underwhelming” and given how long representatives from the Super League Golf concept have been pushing for the new tour it’s likely going to continue to be a topic and a distraction for some time.
Quadrilateral: 2021 PGA Wednesday News And Notes
/
*Whoops, sent this one out only to the paying folks. I send the first round’s notes to all subscribers. The link above though should give you access.
"As you gain experience, you lose innocence"
/Padraig Harrington’s comments yesterday understandably got a lot of attention since we don’t usually hear profound lines from golfers. A couple of Quad subscribers emailed wanting to see the full context after it ran in yesterday’s newsletters, so here is the Ryder Cup captain’s full answer:
Q. You just talked about Kiawah being a good test and you won the World Cup there in '97 with McGinley, but he didn't mention this is your 21st PGA Championship. How much is the accumulation of all this experience you've got and also the experience of playing Kiawah, how comfortable will it make you feel this week?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, look, people often ask in a general term about experience. Well, as you gain experience, you lose innocence. I suppose if you drew a graph, there's a crossing point of equilibrium where you have some experience and a certain amount of innocence and enthusiasm. As you get a little bit older and you get all this experience, on paper people might think you get better with experience, but as I said, you've seen a few things that you know in your game that you probably never wanted to see, so you kind of lose that little bit of, I suppose, innocence.It's not everything it's cracked up to be to have experience. I know I've played 21 times in the PGA, and to be honest, when you come to a great golf course like this and you look back, you realize how many different types of tests we've had at the PGA over the years.
I think when I first came out the PGA was considerably played on probably a pretty typical U.S. golf course, U.S.style golf course. But we've played a great variety now over the years, and it's really matured as a major championship from what I would have had an image of it in the '80s. It really is sitting up there now giving us a good variety of tests. You never know what you're going to get from year to year in terms of style of golf course, and it's -- as all the majors, they're putting it up to each, it's upped its game, it's improved its standing, and coming to places like this for a week where this is going to be a great championship, there's going to be plenty of excitement on this golf course, and whoever wins this week will be a worthy winner.
Quadrilateral: 2021 PGA Tuesday News And Notes
/
I only briefly touched on today’s Saudi stuff and took a pass on the Ryder Cup talk.
Five Families Make Moves To Stop Disruptor Leagues
/Documentation seen by the Guardian confirms world ranking points only apply on the basis that: “Tournaments on a tour must average fields of at least 75 players over the course of each season.” On this rule, the proposed tour clearly falls short; their 14 planned tournaments are for just 48 players.
The guidelines add: “A tour must demonstrate it has complied with the above guidelines for a period of at least one year immediately prior to being admitted to the OWGR system and must continue to comply with such guidelines following its inclusion in the OWGR system.”
The “average” language helps offset players and agents pointing to something like the Hero World Challenge’s 18-player field earning points.
Another interesting twist in the disruptor golf league world came Tuesday at Kiawah, as PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh made clear the Ryder Cup will only accept PGA of America members who get that perk through their PGA Tour membership:
“If someone wants to play on a Ryder Cup for the U.S., they’re going to need to be a member of the PGA of America, and they get that membership through being a member of the Tour,” Waugh said. “I believe the Europeans feel the same way, and so I don’t know that we can be more clear kind of than that. We don’t see that changing.”
Translation: should someone sign up for an SGL or PGL, and the PGA Tour follows through with threats to toss them off their books (with potential legal ramifications), the players would be Ryder Cup ineligible.
Whether that is enough to dissuade Americans, is unclear.
Adam Schupak filed this Golfweek with more details of Waugh’s remarks and his interesting assertion that these league conversations are healthy for the game, to a point.
“I actually think it’s healthy. You either disrupt or you get disrupted. That’s what this is,” he said. “You know, should it be a hostile takeover of the game? I think is way too far. They’ve created this conversation, which by the way isn’t new. It’s been around since 2014 in different forms, has created change. It’s created an alliance of the European Tour and the PGA Tour, which we think is really healthy for the game.”
R.I.P. Arthur Hills
/
The golf course architect and former ASGCA President was 91. The ASGCA’s announcement of his passing:
Arthur Hills, ASGCA Fellow, dies at 91
BROOKFIELD, Wis. – American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) Past President Arthur Hills, ASGCA Fellow, died May 18, 2021, in Florida. He was age 91.
A graduate of both Michigan State University (science) and the University of Michigan (landscape architecture), Hills excelled at golf as a member of the MSU Spartan golf team. He formed his golf course architecture firm in the 1960s. Today, Hills * Forrest * Smith, Golf Course Architects continues to, as their website states, “create golf course designs that stimulate the senses, display creativity, and honor the hallowed traditions of the game as they relate to strategy, shot values and aesthetic character.”
Hills designed more than 200 new golf courses around the world and renovated more than 150 other courses. His new designs include: Bonita Bay, Naples, Florida; The Golf Club of Georgia, Atlanta; Bighorn Golf Club, Palm Desert, California; Keene Trace Golf Club, Lexington, Kentucky; and Hyatt Hill Country Resort, San Antonio, Texas. Hills-designed courses have hosted a number of distinguished amateur and professional tournaments, including U.S. Opens and the Ryder Cup.
“As a kid drawing golf holes and dreaming about becoming a designer, I would read the magazines and marvel at the articles about new courses,” ASGCA President Forrest Richardson recalled. “One was Tamarron in Colorado, a new course by Art Hills set in a rugged valley with steep cliffs. Eventually I got to see it firsthand, and it inspired me with its bold greens and creative routing.
An environmental pioneer, Hills designed the first Audubon Signature Sanctuary courses in the United States, Mexico and Europe. ASGCA Past President Pete Dye dubbed Hills “the Mayor of Naples” for the number of private country club courses that he designed in and near that coastal Florida location.
ASGCA Past President Steve Forrest said, “He started the business by placing an ad in the Toledo, Ohio, Yellow Pages under ‘Golf Course Architect’ while operating a landscape contracting business. I had the great privilege of learning all aspects of golf course architecture from a distinguished professional practitioner and humble gentleman over 42 years. Arthur became a father-like figure to me who was a mentor, an instructor, exhorter and admonisher while always trying to improve his own skills and increase his personal knowledge every day.”
“Mr. Hills was among a handful of golf architects who subscribed to a newsletter I published about golf design in the 1970s, and he also took time to comment and contribute,” Richardson said. “While he left an incredible legacy of work across the world, for me I will always recall the kindness he showed a young aspiring student — a gift we should all pay forward.”
Hills has been inducted into both the Ohio and Michigan Golf Halls of Fame and received a lifetime achievement award from the Michigan Golf Course Owners Association.
He became an ASGCA member in 1971. Hills served as ASGCA president in 1992-93 and achieved Fellow status in 2003. He is survived by his wife Mary. They had eight children, 24 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be at Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania, Ohio, on Sunday, May 23, from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. Funeral Mass will be at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Sylvania, Ohio, on Monday, May 24, at 11 a.m.
Westwood On Olympic Golf: "They didn't quite get the format right or the players that play in it right and the qualification right."
/Lee Westwood has an outside shot at making England’s Olympic golf team and surprised media assembled at Kiawah Island by revealing he’s already given notice of his intent to pass on Tokyo.
The reason? Too much golf at that time of year.
Many, many reasons. I have a few family commitments,and I already proved a few weeks ago that playing seven in eight weeks is not good for me. And there's already a lot of tournaments crammed in around there, Scottish Open, Open Championship. I need a couple of weeks off between there and the FedEx in Memphis. Then there's only another week off and I could be playing three FedExCup events, the PGA, a week off, then the Ryder Cup. I want to be in good shape for all of those. I think going to Japan the week before Memphis, just with all that going on, is a bad idea, especially when I can't say whether I'm in it at the moment anyway.
I'm of an age where I need to make a plan and stick to that going forward, else my game suffers.
And then he offered this on the format:
LEE WESTWOOD: I know why they brought the Olympics to golf, and I'm all for that. It's taking it to another audience, and obviously the funding from the Olympic committee feeds down through golf, which is great.I just feel like maybe they didn't quite get the format right or the players that play in it right and the qualification right.
Quadrilateral: 2021 PGA Championship Monday News And Notes
/
Some good stuff to read and refine your sense of what kind of week we’ll have at Kiawah. Anytime the forecast is good we’re almost assured some special moments, but throw in a refined Ocean, some key players finding their form in time and some potential (rangefinder) controversy, and we’re off to a good start.
My roundup for Quadrilateral’s generous subscribers.
Subscription info (and remember Thursday’s will be available to allow followers of the newsletter).
Discovery-Warnermedia Merger Hatched Over Golf(ish)
/
As if the ego maniacal types congregating at each February’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am needed inflated sense of self, the megamerger of WarnerMedia and Discovery had origins in golf.
According to the New York Times’ Edmund Lee and John Koblin, Discovery CEO David Zaslav initiated the talks and it was always only a conversation with WarnerMedia.
Mr. Zaslav expected to meet with AT&T’s chief executive, John Stankey, at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament in February, but both had stayed home because of the pandemic. Instead, Mr. Zaslav sent an email to Mr. Stankey as he was watching the golf tournament on TV to discuss a possible deal.
“You around?” Mr. Zaslav said he wrote to Mr. Stankey. “I have an idea.” He added some emoji flair to his signoff with several 🏌🏻and one 😎.
Mr. Zaslav said the note kicked off a conversation that lasted several hours. Later, the two met several times “secretly from my brownstone in Greenwich Village,” Mr. Zaslav said.
Met secretly at my home would have sufficed.
Hollywood Reporter: Will NBC Turn Its Sights On ViacomCBS?
/The Hollywood Reporter’s Kim Masters speculates on ramifications of the Warnermedia-Discovery merger and floats this doozy that would have huge ramifications for golf:
Before it emerged that Discovery was in the game, the betting had been that NBCUniversal would make off with the WarnerMedia assets, including premium cabler HBO, Warner Bros. studios and Turner networks like TNT and TBS. A decision to make an offer would have been up to NBCU owner Comcast, which may have hesitated and lost out on the chance. Now sources believe NBCU will turn its sights on ViacomCBS.
Whether or not that happens, says one knowledgeable source, depends on if ViacomCBS chairman Shari Redstone is a seller (she’d have to consider it, given the state of the media world) and if the deal — which would potentially bring assets including CBS and NBC, with their various news operations, under one roof, not to mention Paramount and Universal — can pass federal antitrust scrutiny. It would be sure to face a much harder look from regulators than a Discovery combination with WarnerMedia. No doubt assets would have to be shed if such a marriage were to be attempted.
Oh they know how to shed!
The story goes on to detail some golf stuff related to Jeff Zucker and AT&T Chief John Stankey.
Chris Powell's MacKenzie Reclamation Is Featured By The NY Times, Golf.com
/
During the coronavirus pandemic Chris Powell became obsessed with restoring a lost Alister MacKenzie design in Wales and mowed enough down to play it…for a day.
And in Sunday’s New York Times, Jack Williams filed a similar feature with photos by Phil Hatcher-Moore.
While others in Britain spent the past year or so navigating coronavirus lockdowns and picking up indoor hobbies, Powell estimated that he had spent roughly 1,000 hours roaming this land that was once his town’s local golf course — a site that closed more than five decades ago and has slowly been melding into the landscape ever since.
Thanks to Powell’s dedication to discovery and his skills as a one-man renovation team, he managed not only to identify all of the previous tees and greens, hidden among the hills and foliage, but also to repair the course to a playable state. There were surprises along the way, too — like the discovery of ties to a certain course in Augusta, Ga. — and now he and the group were ready to tackle the Rhayader Golf Links once more.
Anyway, both are super reads about a pretty fun story.
Golf Waits To See Who Would Run Discovery-Warnermedia
/Bloomberg broke the Sunday stunner: barring a last minute issue, AT&T will spin off its Warnermedia empire and merge with Discovery.
While most of the hardcore golfers have moved on from the ranks of AT&T leadership, Discovery’s David Zaslav is the brains behind the PGA Tour-GolfTV partnership and his company owns Golf Digest.
It remains unclear who will lead the new combined company, but Zaslav seems the likely candidate and his role as CEO would certainly help the cause of a few golf partnerships.
