The USGA has confirmed that 10 European Tour players will earn spots in this year’s US Open through a three-tournament qualification series.
The top 10 aggregate point earners (not otherwise exempt) across the Betfred British Masters (12-15 May), Made in HimmerLand (27-30 May) and Porsche European Open (3-6 June) will earn places in the championship alongside the exempt players.
It is a similar system to the one introduced last year when COVID-19 forced the USGA to cancel its traditional 36-hole European qualifier staged at Walton Heath.
That event previously had been played every year since 2005, when New Zealand’s Michael Campbell was among the qualifiers and went on to win the US Open at Pinehurst.
European Tour Chief Operating Officer Keith Waters said: “We are very pleased to continue our collaboration with the USGA in offering European Tour players an opportunity to earn places in the US Open despite the disruption caused by the ongoing global pandemic.
“Last year’s qualifying series added further excitement to the inaugural UK Swing, and I’m sure we can expect more of the same at the three events across Europe this year.â€
John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director for championships, said: “In these challenging times, we are pleased to work with the European Tour in creating an exemption category for the 2021 US Open at Torrey Pines.
“The final qualifier in England has featured a strong field since its inception in 2005 and while qualifying is not possible this year due to (pandemic) restrictions, it is important that a path is provided for players competing on the European Tour to earn a place in this year’s championship field.â€
The European Tour, the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour have joined forces to introduce an upgraded mixed tournament at Galgorm Castle and Masserene golf clubs in Northern Ireland, from 29 July-1 August.
The ISPS Handa World Invitational will feature a field of 144 men and 144 women with the latter being split equally between members of the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour.
The event will be contested using a traditional 72-hole, stroke-play format with the men and women playing over both courses on the first two days before the top 60 and ties proceed to the third round at Galgorm Castle.
That is followed by a further cut with the leading 35 men and women plus ties contesting the final 18 holes at the same venue.
The $2.35 million prize purse will be split evenly between the men and the women.
“ISPS Handa has long been a visionary in how sport can be an agent of change and we are excited to help them move to a whole new level and deliver a message of equality to fans in Northern Ireland,†said LPGA commissioner Mike Whan.
“To have the best women and men compete alongside each other at the same venue and for the same purse is exciting for fans and it showcases what is great about this global game.â€
The men’s tournament will count towards Ryder Cup and European Tour Race to Dubai points, while points for the LPGA’s and LET’s orders of merit are up for grabs in the women’s event. Solheim Cup points for both Team Europe and Team USA also will be available.
A qualifying tournament for non-exempt men and women pros will be staged in June while the Ulster Stroke Play Championship will be utilised as a means of qualification for elite amateurs.
Davis Thompson is back on the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The University of Georgia player makes a one-ranking move to swap positions with Japan’s Keita Nakajima.
Thompson held the No 1 spot for two weeks last November year when he replaced fellow American Ricky Castillo at the top of the world order. This move to the top of the WAGR table comes after a stout defence of the Jones Cup Invitational, where he finished second to Ludvig Ã…berg of Sweden.
Åberg, a student at Texas Tech University, moves inside the WAGR top five for the first time. The world’s best Swedish male earned his second victory in as many starts when he was declared joint winner of The Prestige along with American Trevor Werbylo and Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark. They shared the title with matching 4-under 209 totals over the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California.
In the women’s rankings, Sweden’s Linn Grant and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France put pressure on top-ranked Rose Zhang as the two players recorded matching three-shot victories on the American college golf circuit.
Arizona State player Grant won the Sun Devil Winter Classic to strengthen her grasp on the world No 2 spot. Former world No 1 Roussin-Bouchard, who attends the University of South Carolina, climbs one place to third after winning the Moon Golf Invitational.
Tributes have poured in for Lyndsay Stephen, one of Australian golf’s great characters, who has passed away at the age of 64.
“Lynds,†as he was best known, a regular on the European Tour in the 1980s and a former winner of the Senior Australian PGA Senior Championship, was described by his friend and rival Mike Clayton as “a beautiful-looking player.â€
“Blessed with perfect rhythm and a big handsome swing, he was one of the few who could keep up with Greg Norman off the tee when both were at the flying best,†Clayton said.
Clayton also recalled that Stephen was renowned for getting drawn to play in the worst of the weather.
“There has been a long-time joke on the Australian Tour about getting caught on the wrong side of the draw,†he wrote. “You know, when half the field gets a perfect, windless morning only for the afternoon lot to have to play through a heavy seaside wind on greens drying out and getting slicker by the minute.
“It’s universally known in Australia as ‘the Lyndsay Stephen draw’ because you could guarantee Lynds would be off in the brutal afternoon conditions. Or so it seemed.
“We would all joke about it when playing in tournaments. You had no chance if you were on the same side as Lynds.â€
Seher Atwal survived last-round nerves to claim her first professional victory at the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour event at the Poona Club Golf Course in India.
Atwal, 22, playing as a pro for only the seventh time after returning home from college in the States, held a two-shot lead heading into the final round before firing a 2-over-par 73 to extend her lead to three strokes ahead of Vani Kapoor and Hitaashee Bakshi.
“It’s a big relief to get the job done,†said Seher, a niece of European Tour and PGA Tour player Arjun Atwal. “I will not lie. I was quite nervous at the start and it was the windiest of the three days. I’m glad I could hold on.
“I came back from the US, where I was at Rollins (College), in March because of COVID-19 and graduated in May. When I was in the States, I would often speak to Arjun and even played with him. With college and practice, it was not as often as I would have wanted, but, yes, I was in touch with him.
“I would like to play the (Ladies) European Tour Q-School this year and hopefully I can get there,†she added.
A small group of home-based English amateurs will have a rare chance to catch the eye of the Walker Cup selectors when they tee up in this week’s Spanish Amateur at El Prat.
Ben Schmidt, Haider Hussein, Arron Edwards-Hill, Charlie Thornton, Callan Barrow, Jack Cope and Joshua Berry are the English players included in a strong international field headed by defending champion José Luis Ballester of Spain.
Other GB&I entries include Ireland’s Keith Egan and Hugh Foley, and Stuart Easton and Gregor Graham from Scotland.
Several other UK players pulled out in the week ahead of the championship.
Much of the 2020 domestic amateur season was decimated by COVID-19, and with the repercussions of the virus still having a detrimental effect on the schedule, the only GB&I players who have been able to stake a Walker Cup claim to date have been those who attend college in the States and the small group headed by Englishman Jack Dyer who played the major events on this year’s South African amateur circuit.
Dyer is likely to have cemented his place on the GB&I team by winning medalist in the stroke-play portion of the South African Amateur.
The dearth of events in which potential team members could stake their claim has resulted in suggestions the match should be postponed from May until later in the year.
That suggestion has garnered support in some quarters but the signs are the match will go ahead as planned at Seminole Golf Club in Florida from 8-9 May, meaning GB&I selectors will have an even more difficult job than normal picking an in-form team capable of avenging the defeat at Hoylake two years ago.
The RBC Canadian Open looks like it could become another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City of Toronto, where the event is scheduled to be played at St George’s Golf and Country Club, has cancelled all official events up to and including Canada Day on Thursday 1 July, three weeks after the Canadian Open is due to start on 10 June.
Golf Canada is waiting for an official announcement on the fate of its national championship.
Scottish Golf has announced the cancellation of its three championships due to be played in April.
The Scottish Boys’ Championship (at Lundin from 7-9 April), the Scottish Girls’ Open Championship (at Longniddry on the same dates) and the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open (at Troon from 16-18 April) are all victims of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
“Following the latest update from the First Minister, and further discussions with our partners at sportscotland and the Scottish government, it is with regret that Scottish Golf has taken the decision to cancel the hosting of our first three national championships,†a statement said.
Last year the entire Scottish Golf schedule was scrapped because of the pandemic.
The virus also has caused disruption to this year’s Welsh amateur schedule with its Ladies Open Stroke Play Championship being postponed from 30 April-2 May until 24-26 September. It still will be played at Newport Golf Club.
English golfers are looking forward to returning to the fairways after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a timetable for a route out of the current lockdown. Johnson has pegged 29 March as the date for clubs to reopen following a review of COVID-19 safeguards.
Golf clubs in England have been closed since 4 January, despite Scottish golfers being allowed to play. So the news of a return was welcome for English aficionados.
England Golf did not approve of the news, however. Chief executive Jeremy Tomlinson had campaigned for English golfers to be accorded the same access to clubs as their Scottish counterparts, but to no avail.
“England Golf is extremely disappointed that the scientific evidence presented to the government detailing how the sport can be played in a COVID-secure manner has not resulted in a return to play date earlier than 29 March,†he said.
Colin Callander and Alistair Tait
