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The USGA has announced that the three highest-ranked American players on the World Amateur Golf Ranking on July 21 will earn automatic places on the U.S. Curtis Cup team for the match at Conwy Golf Club, Wales, on Aug. 26-28.
Those places currently are held by world No. 1 Rose Zhang, No. 2 Rachel Heck and No. 15 Allisen Corpuz. The next U.S. players on the list are Emilia Migliaccio (16), Rachel Kuehn (22) and Gina Kim (26).
The team’s remaining five players will be chosen after the U.S. Women’s Amateur, which will be played Aug. 2-8 at Westchester Country Club in New York.
The winner there, as well as the recipient of the 2021 McCormack Medal, should either or both be American, also will earn automatic spots on captain Sarah Ingram’s team.
European captain Pádraig Harrington reached for experience in naming Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell as vice captains for this year’s Ryder Cup match, to be played Sept. 24-26 at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin.
Former U.S. Open and PGA champion Kaymer is new to the job but has played on three winning European Ryder Cup teams, most notably in 2012 when he holed the winning putt in the match at Medinah Country Club.
This will be McDowell’s second outing in the role, having served for Thomas Bjørn in the winning side at Le Golf National, Paris, in 2018. The Northern Irishman, also a former U.S. Open winner, played in the match on four occasions and like Kaymer also knows what it feels like to bring home the winning point, in his case at Celtic Manor in 2010.
“I’m delighted to welcome Martin and Graeme as vice captains, both of whom I believe will bring experience, knowledge and great balance to the team room,” Harrington said. “They have both contributed winning points in Ryder Cup history, have been there and done it, and the other players look up to them.”
Kaymer and McDowell join Luke Donald and Robert Karlsson as vice captains for Team Europe named by Harrington.
A group of Scottish locals have formed a community company with the aim of submitting a new planning application to build what they describe as an environmentally sensitive golf course at Coul Links, in East Sutherland near the village of Embo.
Communities for Coul (C4C) was formed after an original planning request was turned down following a petition which attracted more than 92,000 signatures worldwide, but fewer than 200 from the local community.
“Ours is an economically challenged area with ongoing depopulation and an aging demographic and we were dismayed when an economically transformative plan to create a global hub for golfing tourism in East Sutherland was refused by Scottish Ministers,” said a C4C spokesperson. “Our disappointment was magnified by the fact that the project would have brought in almost £50 million of private investment, with no call on the public purse, and create over 200 jobs locally.”
The R&A and watchmaker Rolex have teamed to sponsor the Challenge Tour Grand Final, Nov. 4-7 at T-Golf & Country Club in Mallorca.
Rolex has been affiliated with the Challenge Tour for more than 30 years and will become the title sponsor of the tour’s grand finale. The R&A is confirmed as a supporting partner of the event.
The newly named Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by the R&A will have a prize fund of €450,000, an increase of €30,000 from last year.
Stacy Lewis has confirmed she will return to defend her title at this year’s Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open at Dumbarnie Links in Fife.
Her decision was confirmed during a media day at the new Clive Clark course in East Neuk during which Prin Singhanat confirmed the new title sponsors’s grandiose plans for the championship.
Also confirmed at the media conference was the introduction of a new Jock MacVicar Trophy, which is named in honor of the veteran Scottish golf writer who passed away at age 83 earlier this year and will be awarded to the leading Scot at the championship.
TAP-INS
Today’s winners of the John Shippen National Invitational at Detroit Golf Club, contested by top Black amateurs and professionals, will earn exemptions into the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic and the LPGA Tour’s Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational (UPDATE). … PGATour.com reports rookie Austin Eckroat has signed on as a professional staffer for Ping (READ MORE). … The LPGA Tour announces audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG will act as the circuit’s data and analytics advisor (READ MORE). … The R&A World Golf Museum at St Andrews has reopened after being closed for more than a year for a major redevelopment. (READ MORE). … The European Tour introduces a campaign to support UNICEF’s drive to deliver 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses globally (READ MORE).
Staff and Wire Reports