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Two-time major winner Ángel Cabrera will face domestic violence charges in his native Argentina after he was extradited to his home country on the 8 June.
The former Masters and US Open champion was arrested in Brazil and flown back to his homeland in handcuffs. He had been in hiding since August after failing to show up for a meeting with prosecutors in Cordoba, Argentina.
Cabrera was on Interpol’s red list before he was apprehended last summer.
Three women, including partner Cecilia Torres Mana, have filed domestic abuse complaints against the 51-year-old Argentinian.
A police statement said Cabrera will face charges of inflicting minor injuries, threats and theft. He will stand trial on 1 July.
“He is detained because the court considered that he was evading the trial,” prosecutor Laura Battistelli said.
Spain’s Jon Rahm posted Saturday on Twitter that he no longer is restricted to travel because of COVID-19 and is preparing to play in this week’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
“After two negative tests in a 24-hole hour span and being cleared by health officials, it’s time to get ready for the US Open. Vamos!!” the post said.
Rahm, 26, tested positive at the Memorial Tournament and withdrew before the final day. He held a six-stroke lead after his Saturday round with a total of 18-under-par 193, matching the 54-hole Memorial records for his score and the size of his lead.
The world No. 2-ranked golfer is in pursuit of his first major championship. He has seven top-10 finishes in majors, including T3 at the U.S. Open in 2019 when Gary Woodland won the title at Pebble Beach.
Asset management company Amundi has announced it is launching two new programmes to help individual European women golfers to excel at the sport.
Just months after signing a five-year deal to sponsor the Evian Championship – now the Amundi Evian Championship – the organization has launched the Amundi Women Talent and the Amundi Young Talent programmes aimed at helping a mix of professional and amateur women reach their true potential.
French players Camille Chevalier and Lucie Malchirand, Italy’s Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso, Karolin Lampert of Germany and Spaniard Luna Sobrón Galmés will benefit from funding for two years through the Amundi Women Talent programme to help raise their profiles.
Additionally, Amundi will select nine young French players during the U-18 tournament in Evian who are looking to play college golf in the United States. Amundi will support these players in partnership with the American Junior Golf Association.
“Equal opportunities are part of Amundi’s core values and we consider diversity – in all its forms – to be a real asset for society and for the company,” said Alain Berry, Amundi’s head of communications. “We are delighted to be able to contribute to the visibility of these five promising players and to allow the new generation to capitalise on their performances to study abroad.”
England’s Jack Cope received a welcome bonus following his victory in the St Andrews Links Trophy.
The 2020 English Amateur champion won the title in a three-man play-off with fellow Englishman Robin Williams and Scotland’s George Burns and climbed 143 places up the World Amateur Golf Ranking to enter the top 30 for the first time at 29th.
Burns reached a career high of 344th by improving 482 spots. Williams climbed 46 places to 153rd.
Megha Ganne’s T14 finish in the U.S. Women’s Open also brought her into the WAGR top 30 for the first time. She climbed 41 places to 30th after claiming the low amateur award at Olympic Club in San Francisco. Sweden’s Maja Stark reached a personal best of fifth with a two-ranking move after finishing a stroke behind Ganne in a share of 16th place.
NCAA individual winner Turk Pettit joined the top 20 for the first time. The American makes a 14-ranking rise to 19th.
Online car retailer Cazoo will sponsor two tournaments on the European Tour’s UK Swing.
As a result the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, on 22-25 July, is renamed the Cazoo Open, while the English Open at the London Club, on 12-15 August, is now the Cazoo Classic.
According to a European Tour press release, “Cazoo will have exclusive naming rights across both tournaments and the deal includes significant on-course and off-course branding to include tee boxes and markers, greenside boards, par and yardage boards as well as caddie bibs and branding at other European Tour events.”
Cazoo founder and chief executive officer Alex Chesterman OBE said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with the UK leg of the European Tour and adding golf to our growing portfolio of sports sponsorships. This deal gives us exposure to a new audience of golf fans.”
“We are delighted to welcome Cazoo into the European Tour’s commercial family for the first time and are very pleased that Alex and his team have added golf to their impressive portfolio of sports sponsorships,” added Guy Kinnings, the European Tour’s deputy chief executive officer and the director/chief commercial officer for the Ryder Cup.
Three aspiring female golf club managers will benefit from bursary money in the next three years thanks to support from the R&A and the European Club Education Foundation, the education arm of the Club Managers Association of Europe.
The bursaries will fund three places on the CMAE’s Management Development Programme, with the hope that each bursary student will obtain a club management diploma, the golf club’s benchmark management qualification.
The R&A is funding this initiative as part of its commitment to encourage more women and girls into golf.
R&A assistant director of golf development Jackie Davidson said: “We are delighted to support these bursaries for female club managers to continue to progress with their education via CMAE.
“The R&A is committed to growing women’s and girls’ golf through the Women in Golf Charter and personal development and ongoing education through the CMAE pathway is very important.”
Those interested in applying for a bursary should contact CMAE association manager Debbie Goddard at debbie.goddard@cmaeurope.org.
COVID-19 has caused the postponement of the Bonallack Trophy and Patsy Hankins Trophy competitions until 2023.
The biennial Ryder Cup-style contests featuring the best amateurs in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe were scheduled to take place in July.
“We had hoped that we’d be able to proceed with the Bonallack Trophy and Patsy Hankins Trophy this year,” Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation chairman Taimur Hassan Amin said. “But given the on-going restrictions around travel and quarantines, that will sadly now not be possible.”
European Golf Association president Haukur Örn Birgisson stated: “It’s been a difficult decision, but with the health, safety and well-being of players, officials and organisers of paramount importance, we were left with little choice.
“We’re now focusing on staging the tournaments at La Manga Club in late July 2023.”
Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm are the latest big names to join the field at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club on 8-11 July.
The current world No 2 and No 3 join fellow top players Collin Morikawa (No 4), Xander Schauffele (No 6) and Tyrrell Hatton (No 11) in what is shaping up to be one of the event’s strongest fields for years.
Thomas returns to the Renaissance Club having claimed a top-10 finish on his debut in 2019.
“I can’t wait to get back to Scotland and the Renaissance Club,” he said. “I have a lot of good memories of playing in Scotland and it would be an awesome place to win a first Rolex Series title. I’ve said before, it’s a goal of mine to win on different tours and I’d love to be successful when I come back to the Scottish Open in July.”
Spaniard Rahm will be making his first appearance in the championship held the week before the Open Championship.
Rickie Fowler’s hopes of playing in this week's US Open were dashed when he came up just short at Final Qualifying in Columbus, Ohio.
The American’s chip from the back of the green on his 36th hole came up a couple of inches short which meant he missed the 5-for-4-spots play-off by a single shot.
It will be the first time Fowler has missed the US Open since 2010.
“It’s a grind, I’d much rather skip this day and be sitting at home,” he said. “But we’re in a good spot, I’m excited with where the game currently is coming off the PGA Championship and last week at Memorial. So, better stuff ahead.”
Fowler got a special invitation into the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, where he bogeyed his 72nd hole to finish tied eighth. A par would have seen him finish fourth and earned him an automatic place in next year’s Masters.
The American Ryder Cup player missed this year’s Masters but watched the tournament unfold at Tiger Woods’ home In Florida.
There’s a chance he may call Woods again this week.
“If Tiger is home, I’m sure there is a chance of that,” he said. “Go hang with Tiger and (Woods’ son) Charlie and maybe get Charlie to play a little bit.”
The South African's quintet of Charl Schwartzel, Thomas Aitken, Branden Grace, Erik van Rooyen and Dylan Frittelli were among the players who advanced from Final Qualifying, in addition to Scotland’s Martin Laird and Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
The PGA of Australia and Golf Australia have teamed up to introduce a new pathway that will give their country’s top amateurs the chance to earn membership of the PGA Tour of Australasia.
The PGA Affiliate Future Tour will provide the opportunity for amateurs who play in PGA Tour of Australasia events to accrue points and earn a tour card for the following season.
The top amateur who earns the same or more points as the 50th player on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit will earn a card for the following season. That card can be utilised irrespective of whether the player turns professional or elects to stay as an amateur.
The second- and third-placed amateurs on the Future Tour Order of Merit also obtain a lower category of membership provided they also earn the same number of points as the 50th-place player on the Order of Merit.
“We believe this is another great opportunity for our future champions to gain some great exposure through playing PGA Tour of Australasia events and having the potential to earn playing rights for the following season,” said Kim Felton, the tour’s development manager.
“It will take the pressure off those who are successful and give them a great opportunity to plan their year ahead, both here in Australia and overseas.”
Colin Callander and Alistair Tait