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The European Tour is considering holding tournaments in the United States for the first time if, as anticipated, this season’s Iberian Swing is cancelled due to COVID-19.
The Daily Telegraph says American tournaments are a possibility if the Tenerife Open, Gran Canaria Lopesan Open and Portugal Masters fall foul of pandemic regulations.
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley has sent a message to members stating the tour’s tournament committee has discussed “this general idea.”
Pelley is said to have stressed his first choice would be for the Iberian events to be played as planned, but added the tour was assessing all options. The tour has made no public announcement on the subject.
The option to stage events in the US has been made possible by the “strategic alliance” the European Tour entered into with the PGA Tour last November. Under the terms of the alliance, the two tours agreed to “explore all facets of collaboration.”
Lucas Fallotico became the first Italian to win the Spanish International Men’s Amateur Championship when he battled back from the brink to beat France’s Paul Margolis in a seesaw 36-hole final at El Prat.
The Italian teenager beat Switzerland’s Robert Foley at the 19th hole to reach the final while Margolis also needed to go to extra holes before ending the challenge of Austria’s Maximilian Lechner on the 21st.
The final in Barcelona itself proved to be equally competitive. Fallotico raced to a four-hole lead after 14, before Margolis rallied to claim a two-hole advantage on the 33rd tee.
At that stage Margolis looked odds-on favourite to become the first French winner since current European Tour player and former (British) Amateur champion Romain Langasque lifted the El Rey Cup in 2016. But dropped shots on holes 33, 34 and 35 saw the former University of Washington player fall one hole behind and Fallotico went on to claim the biggest title of his career with a halve in par 5s on the 36th hole.
Carla Bernat became the first home winner of the Spanish International Women’s Amateur Championship since 2016 when she beat compatriot Julia López in this year’s final at Real Club Sevilla.
Bernat beat French favourite Lucie Malchirand, 2 and 1, in the semi-finals and was never behind the following morning before clinching victory against López on the same hole.
Earlier in the week world No 19 Malchirand confirmed she was the player to beat when she carded rounds of 72 and 67 to claim a one-stroke victory ahead of López in the 36-hole, stroke-play qualifier. Bernat faced a battle to qualify for the match-play stage after opening with an 80 but added a 70 to squeeze through with one shot to spare.
The USGA came up with few surprises when it named the U.S. Walker Cup team for the match 8-9 May against Great Britain & Ireland at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida.
Former Georgia Tech standout Tyler Strafaci heads the team along with world No. 1 Davis Thompson of the University of Georgia. The 22-year-old Strafaci earned his place by winning last year’s U.S. Amateur. Thompson, Ricky Castillo and John Pak also claimed automatic spots as the top three U.S. players on the World Amateur Golf Ranking as of last week’s announcement.
There also were places for mid-amateur stalwart Stewart Hagestad along with Pierceson Coody, Austin Eckroat, Quade Cummins and Cole Hammer. And Pepperdine’s William Mouw got the nod ahead of Southern Methodist University’s McClure Meissner, who was named first alternate.
Hagestad, 29, will make his third consecutive appearance in the biennial match. Hammer and Pak also are survivors from the US team that beat GB&I on home turf at Royal Liverpool in 2019.
“It is once again a great privilege to serve as US captain and to work with a group who represent the best of amateur golf,” said Crosby, who also was part of the winning US team in the 1983 Walker Cup match at Royal Liverpool.
Four of Crosby’s players hold down spots inside the top 12 on the WAGR – Thompson (No 1), Pak (5), Coody (8), Castillo (10) and Hagestad (11) – while Mouw is the lowest ranked player at No 23.
The GB&I team is expected to be named at the end of this month.
England’s Annabell Fuller is back in the WAGR top 35 after winning her school’s Gators Invitational. The University of Florida player, the reigning English Women’s Open Amateur Stroke Play champion, posted 11-under 205 to win by three shots. She climbed 11 positions to 34th.
Sweden’s Beatrice Wallin, a Florida State University student, improved her status by one ranking to 11th with her victory in the Florida State Match Up.
Rina Tatematsu is now Thailand’s 10th best amateur after victory in the Icon Invitational. The Oklahoma State player began the tournament ranked 759th, but jumped 436 places to 323rd.
South Africa’s Christiaan Maas made a 35-ranking rise to 155th after adding the Cape Province Open to the South African Amateur title he won the previous week. It is the Pretoria native’s fourth win in seven starts this year.
Morgan Pressel is the latest in a long line of leading players to take a job on the other side of the TV cameras.
The 32-year-old, six-time U.S. Solheim Cup player has joined NBC as an analyst and on-course reporter, although she has no plans to stop playing. She expects to compete in about 15 LPGA events this year.
“It’s kind of a bit of a trial year, so to speak, if that makes sense,” Pressel said ahead of last week’s LPGA Drive On Championship.
French world No 3 Pauline Roussin-Bouchard heads the first six players named for the International team for this year’s Arnold Palmer Cup at Rich Harvest Farms, Illinois, on 11-13 June.
England’s Alex Fitzpatrick (Wake Forest), China’s Yuxin Lin (Florida), Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad (Louisiana State) and Spain’s David Puig (Arizona State) join the South Carolina player as returnees from the International team that defeated the U.S. in last year’s match at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida.
Lindblad’s compatriot Beatrice Wallin also has been selected. The team will be finalised the week of 3 May.
South Africa’s Dylan Naidoo can look forward to piling up the air miles after securing a conditional card at the first of this year’s Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada Q-School at Weston Hills Golf Course near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The 23-year-old carded rounds of 73, 69, 68 and 68 to share ninth place. He plans to start his Mackenzie Tour career after competing in the first seven events on his home Sunshine Tour.
The former South African amateur international faced a mad dash to take part in the Q-School.
“The United States decided they would implement travel restrictions and not allow South Africans into the country from the end of January,” he explained. “So, I had to get myself over there before the restrictions. I managed to get my things together and left on Thursday 28 January. Fortunately, I already had a 10-year visa. I left on the Thursday, arrived in the U.S. on the Friday and from that Saturday onwards they closed the borders to South Africans, so I just made it.
“I should be guaranteed starts for at least half the season. I wanted top six, but I still played well and I’m not going to complain. It’s a good start getting the Mackenzie Tour card because it gives you a firm hold in the U.S. If you play well there you can get onto the Korn Ferry Tour.”
Colombia’s Camilo Aguado took the top card, while Frenchman Jeremy Gandon, a Kansas State University graduate, was among the six players to earn full cards.
LET professional Annabel Dimmock got the chance of a lifetime when she partnered world No 1 Dustin Johnson in the Saudi International pro-am. She reckons what she learned will hold her in good stead for the season ahead.
“It was honestly the most amazing experience,” said the 24-year-old Englishwoman, who finished 47th on the LET’s Race to Costa del Sol last season. “I was so tired coming off the course after five hours because I felt I was just trying to be a sponge and absorb so much.
“I had a really good chat with (Johnson’s coach) Claude (Harmon III) the whole way down the last few holes, who assured me my technique is in place where I don’t need to worry. Playing in front of the best player in the world and one of the best coaches in the world and they only had good things to say, I came off the course and felt I had won a tournament.”
Colin Callander and Alistair Tait