Eduardo Romero, a multiple winner in both South America and Europe, died Feb. 13 in his native Argentina at age 67 after complications from cancer.
The son of a club pro, Romero won and won often in his home country, taking home 44 Argentine Tour titles, including the 1989 Argentine Open. His victory total is second only to Roberto De Vicenzo among Argentine professionals.
He was victorious in five other Argentina-based tournaments and also won in Chile and Mexico. Romero’s eight European Tour wins came during a 13-year span where topped Bernhard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Colin Montgomerie and José María Olazábal, among others.
“Beyond what he did on the golf course, though, was Eduardo’s humanity,” said Miller Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions. “He was a consummate professional, one of the kindest, most generous players our tour has seen. We send our condolences to Eduardo’s family, his wife, Adriana, and his daughter, Dolly. We will greatly miss him.”
Local and final qualifying sites for the 122nd U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, have been finalized.
Eighteen-hole local qualifying events will take place between April 25 and May 23 at 109 sites in the United States and Canada. Players who advance locally join exempt players in 36-hole final qualifying events on May 23 and June 6.
Online player registration for the 2022 U.S. Open begins Wednesday. The window for registration remains open until April 13.
Illini Country Club in Springfield, Illinois, will host a local qualifying event for the 43rd consecutive year, and Maketewah Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, will be a local site for the 45th time in the past 47 years.
The tournament will be contested June 16-19 at The Country Club.
Qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open will be conducted across 36 holes at locations in 17 U.S. states plus three international sites between April 19-May 16.
California will host the most qualifiers of any state with four, while Florida and Texas will host three and two, respectively. South Korea, Japan and England will host events after international qualifying was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19.
The 77th U.S. Women’s Open will be played June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Major champion Hannah Green, won by four strokes at the TPS Murray River event in her native Australia.
In a news release, Golf Australia reported Green as the first female winner of a four-round, mixed-gender event on any world tour.
“I feel amazing. I’m just so grateful that I came. It actually wasn’t my plan to play; I was hoping to go back to Perth. Things happen for a reason so I’m really glad that I made it,” Green said.
Part of a four-way tie for the lead through 54 holes, the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner shot 5-under 66 in the final round for a 20-under total.
Ty Votaw, who last week announced his retirement after 30 years as a golf executive, understands the business of professional golf like few others.
From his time as commissioner of the LPGA Tour through his time as executive director of the International Golf Federation to his PGA Tour duties ranging from chief marketing officer to executive vice president of the tour’s international operations, Votaw has played a key role in the game’s continued development.
He will retire in June but will remain with the tour as a consultant.
“In thinking back over the last 30 plus years, I consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to have worked with and learned from visionary leaders like Jay Monahan and Tim Finchem at the PGA Tour, Charlie Mechem and Jim Ritts at the LPGA and countless other talented players and individuals in both organizations and across the golf industry,” Votaw said in a news release announcing his retirement.
“It was an honor and a privilege to team with (then chief executive officer of the R&A) Peter Dawson in leading the industry’s efforts to bring golf back to the Olympics in Rio. Moving forward I am looking forward to helping and supporting the PGA Tour and the game of golf in any way I can.”
The United States Golf Association announced that its executive committee will be led again by Stu Francis of Hillsborough, California, and by Fred Perpall of Dallas, Texas, who will serve as president-elect.
In addition, Sinclair Eaddy Jr., of Baltimore, Maryland, and Kevin Hammer of Boynton Beach, Florida, have been elected to three-year terms on the USGA’s 15-member executive committee.
The election took place on Saturday during the 2022 USGA Annual Meeting, which was broadcast virtually from Carlsbad, California.
Kyi Hla Han died Saturday afternoon at age 61 in Singapore due to complications from a cancer treatment.
Han was one of the most iconic figures in Asian golf, a former No. 1 on the Asian Tour who also served as executive chairman of the circuit.
“There are few words to express the loss that everyone at the Asian Tour is feeling at the moment,” said Cho Minn Thant, commissioner and chief executive officer of the Asian Tour. “First and foremost, our heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to his family at this very difficult time.
“We are all only just processing the news as we recently saw him at the SMBC Singapore Open in January. Asian golf has lost one of its greatest players, its greatest personalities, and its greatest leaders. We will forever remember Kyi Hla.”
Tap-ins
The ISPS Handa Championship in Spain and the Catalunya Championship will be played in consecutive weeks in April on the DP World Tour, making up for previous cancellations on the circuit. … The PGA Tour announced Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson as co-chairmen of the Player Advisory Council in 2022 after a vote of tour membership. … Linda Chen will take on the role of executive director of business development and Cathy Harbin will become executive director of business operations for the Legends of the LPGA.
Staff and Wire Reports