USGA tightens its belt: No winter squad
get-together for Walker Cup possible

The United States Golf Association has announced that it will not host a practice squad or winter practice session before the 2009 Walker Cup match, said Steve Smyers, chairman of the USGA’s selection committee.
The biennial amateur competition against Great Britain and Ireland is scheduled for Sept. 12-13 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, home club of US captain Buddy Marucci.
“Basically, it came down to the situation pretty much the entire world is in right now economically,” Smyers said. “We felt that at this time this is what we needed to do. It was a very tough decision, but there are times, like we’re in right now, where tough decisions have to be made.”
Before the past three Walker Cups, the USGA has selected a practice squad of 20-25 players who contended for the 10-man team. The group gathered in December or January in Florida for a few days of practice and bonding.
In each instance, the bulk of the U.S. Walker Cup team came from players on the practice squads.
“We regret having to do this, but in no way does it mean we are not taking the 2009 Walker Cup very seriously,” Smyers said. “We will be keeping a close eye on everyone next summer and communicating with them.
“Our goal is still to put together the best team we possibly can and host the best Walker Cup we could have,” Smyers said. “I believe we will do just that.”The plan, Smyers said, is to select seven or eight players for the US squad after the Western Amateur in early August. Three weeks later, after the US Amateur, the team would be more or less finalised.
Smyers said a practice session would be held after the initial selection of players and another after the 10-man team was selected.
“We will still have time to get the players assembled and give them the opportunity to get to know each other better and to see who fits best together (for the foursomes portion of the competition),” Smyers said. “We’ll definitely go to Merion and play, as well as another venue or two”
The economic situation also has affected the 2009 Copa de las Americas. The fourth staging of the biennial event among men and women amateurs within the Americas was scheduled for Jan. 8-11 at Buenos Aires Golf Club in Argentina.
“At this time, we couldn’t get enough interest in the countries involved to hold the event in January, so it has been postponed,” Smyers said. “We are definitely still planning to have it sometime next year, but at this point it is a work in progress. It is not cancelled, just postponed.”

Scots' solid start as Ireland set

pace in PGAs of Europe

international team event

Scotland, spearheaded by Robert Arnott, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, with a two-under-par round of 70, made a solid start to the four-day PGAs of Europe international team golf championship at Roda Golf Club, Murcia in south-east Spain today.
Team-mates Sam Cairns and Gordon Law scored 74 and 75 respectively on a bright, sunny day but with a strong wind blowing across the course.
With the best two scores from three to count daily, Scotland totalled 144, the same as England who share second place, four shots behind Ireland for whom Eamon Brady returned a 69, the best score of the day, John Kelly a 71 and Robert Giles a 72.
Wales rounded off a good opening day for the home countries by filling fourth place on 145 with a 72 by Richard Dinsdale, a 73 by Andrew Barnett and a 74 by Matthew Griffiths.

There was a fourth Scot in action, Stephen Hubner from Glasgow, playing for United Arab Emirates. Stephen had a 75 and UAR totalled 150.
FIRST ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72). Best two from three scores to count daily.
140 Ireland (Eamon Brady 69, John Kelly 71, Robert Giles 72).
144 England (Paul Simpson 70, Paul Wesselingh 74, Will Barnes 83); Scotland (Robert Arnott 70, Sam Cairns 74, Gordon Law 75)
145 Wales (Richard Dinsdale 72, Andrew Barnett 73, Matthew Griffiths 74).
146 Holland (Eric Kruijning 81, Ben Hollier 73, Joost Steenkaner 73)
148 Bulgaria (David Eddiford 74, Neil Turley 74, Nikolay Staniev 84), South Africa (Johan Van Vuuren 74, Michael Michell 74, Paul McErlean 80)
149 Switzerland (Jean-Jan Dusson 74, Chris Aegerter 76, James Johnson 75), Italy (Mauro Bianco 72, Giorgio Grillo 77, Allessandro Napoleoni 78)
150 Czech Republic (Petr Strougal 76, Jiri Janda 74, Jiri Nemecek 81), Germany (Jason Evans 76, Denis Prossel 79, Lee Spencer 74), United Arab Emirates (Nick Oakley 75, Stephen Hubner 75, Luke Cantello 84)
151 Slovenia (Janez Grilc 76, Damjan Murgelj 80, Daniel Kraljic 75), Belgium (Arnaud Beaupain 77, Gilles Monville 80, Francois Nicolas 74)
152 Spain (Sebastian Miguel 77, Luis Navarro 75), Austria (Steve Waltman 83, Douglas Nicol 76, Justin Brink 76)
153 Sweden (Johan Klubb 79, Mikael Berglund 77, Fredrik Ericsson 76), Finland (Jyry Peltomaki 78, Sakari Aho 78, Harri Murtonen 75)
154 Denmark (Stephen Smith (80), Christian Roar (77), Michael Kaae Brund 77)
155 Slovakia (Michal Orabec 92, Peter Spacek 80, M Sopko 75), Norway (Niklas Diethelm 77, Johan Elgborn 78, Thomas Oderud 79)
156 Poland (Mike O’Brien 75, Martyn Proctor 83, David Ekberg 81)
160 Luxembourg (Leon Marks 79, John Pickford 81, Julien Pailler 82)
165 Croatia (Neno Smoljenovic 81, Darko Ljubanovic 86, Miro Raic 84)

Macaulay, Henry turn pro but Wallace Booth aiming for 2009 Walker Cup place

Jock MacVicar reveals in today's "Scottish Daily Express" that two of Scotland's leading male amateur golfers, Scottish champion Callum Macaulay (Tulliallan) and former Scottish boys and men's stroke-play champion Scott Henry (Cardross) have now officially turned professional.

Both competed at last week's European Tour Final Qualifying School in Spain when Macaulay gained playing rights on the big tour but Henry did not make the 72-hole cut.

Henry will play on the Challenge Tour in 2009 when he expects to play around 20 events.

Scottish stroke-play champion Wallace Booth, pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, was eliminated at Stage 2 of the European Tour qualifying process. He is going to remain an amateur for at least another year.

The 23-year-old from Comrie says "My aim is now the Walker Cup next year."

The 2009 Walker Cup match will be played at Merion Golf Club in the States on September 12 and 13.

Macaulay, 24, will make his debut as a tour pro in South Africa in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, followed by the South African Open. Callum will come home for Christmas and then return to South Africa for the Johannesburg Open.

So two places up for grab in the Scotland team in 2009. Go to it, boys!

Midland Alliance news

This week's Midland Golfers Alliance meeting was postponed due to adverse weather conditions. this fixture will now take place on Tuesday, December 9.
Next weeks's meeting is over the Charleton golf course on Tuesday, December 2.
The tee is reserved from 9am to noon.

Remember when the World Cup
used to feature the top players?

FROM THE IRISH TIMES WEBSITE
By PHILIP REID
What on earth has happened to the World Cup?
This year's version of the team event takes place at Mission Hills in China this week; but, despite a prize fund offering €1.25 million to the winning two-man team — a sum which defies the current global economic doom and gloom — the pity is that most of the really big guns in the sport have opted to stay away. Again!
Indeed, most of golf's superpowers will be fielding weakened teams. The one exception, it must be said, are Sweden who have their two top-ranked players, Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, flying the flag.
Elsewhere, though, it is a case of the sport's top players turning their backs on an event that in recent years has failed to capture their imaginations for whatever reasons. Slow play? Faraway venues? Who knows?
What is certain is that the United States, Spain, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, England and Korea, are all competing without their top players, while Argentina are not represented at all after both Andres Romero and Angel Cabrera made themselves unavailable.
In the case of the USA, no fewer than eight players passed up on the opportunity to represent their country before Ben Curtis - who will team up with Brandt Snedeker, and could conceivably win the four-day tournament which is no longer a part of the World Golf Championships - accepted the challenge.
Who's missing?
The USA have no Tiger Woods (who admittedly has a valid excuse given his injury), but Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry and Justin Leonard all opted not to take up their options to play as the chance was handed down the order like a hot potato.
Declining to play in the World Cup is not just an American trait: Sergio Garcia decided not to play for Spain. Pádraig Harrington opted out for Ireland. Geoff Ogilvy for Australia . . . Ernie Els for South Africa . . . Lee Westwood for England . . . KJ Choi for Korea . . . Mike Weir for Canada. All of which would indicate something is awry with its timing, coming as it does when most players have put away their clubs (at least competitively) for the winter.
With so many of the sport's top exponents missing, it all means a very open contest.
And, certainly, the winners of this event in recent times - Wales in 2005, Germany in 2006 and Scotland in 2007 - would indicate that it is more wide open for the fact so many of the top players are staying away.
Nobody could accuse Paul McGinley of lacking desire when it comes to the World Cup. This will be McGinley's 11th time to represent Ireland in the competition (having teamed up with Harrington to win in 1997), and he will partner Graeme McDowell on this occasion. The pair will play alongside Philippines duo Mars Pucay and Angelo Que for Thursday's opening round.
The McGinley-McDowell partnership is one that could very well contend, but, given his recent form, the real pity is that Rory McIlroy's burst up the world rankings came too late to secure an automatic place on the team. Ironically, the rules governing team selection were changed this year which meant that McDowell - once Harrington gave up his option - was obliged to ask the next available player off the world rankings at the time (early October).
Since then, McGinley has slipped to 100th in the world rankings while McIlroy has improved with each passing week to his current career high position of 50th.
These are exciting times for the 19-year-old Northern Ireland player and, given the structure of the world rankings, he is unlikely to fall out of the top 50 by December 31st when the initial invitation list for the US Masters is drawn up.
"Rory's a very nice guy with a mature head on his shoulders and has the game to be a serious contender on tour for a long time . . . he is certainly on the right track. We all know that this guy is a serious talent," observed McDowell.
McIlroy, runner-up in the Hong Kong Open on Sunday, is now into a two-week break before finishing his year's work by playing the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open before Christmas.
To remain in the world's top 50 and earn an early invite to Augusta, the mathematics indicate that two top-30 finishes in the South African events would be sufficient.
Given his recent form, though, his expectations are likelier to be loftier than that.
Elsewhere this week, Gareth Maybin is the only Irish player in the field for the Australian Masters in Melbourne.
WORLD CUP TEAMS
Australia: Richard Green, Brendan Jones.
Canada: Graham Delaet, Wes Heffernan
Chile: Felipe Aguilar, Mark Tullo.
China: Liang Wen-tang, Lu-Wen-the.
Denmark: Soren Hansen, Anders Hansen.
England: Ian Poulter, Ross Fisher.
Finland: Roope Kakko, Mikko Korhonen.
France: Gregory Havret, Gregory Bourdy.
Germany: Martin Kaymer, Alex Cejka.
Guatemala: Pablo Acuna, Alejandro Villaviecencio.
India: Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa.
Ireland: Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley.
Italy: Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Molinari.
Japan: Ryuji Imada, Toru Taniguchi.
Korea: Bae Sang-moon, Kim Hyung-tae.
Mexico: Daniel De Leon, Oscar Serna.
New Zealand: Mark Brown, David Smail.
Philippines: Mars Pucay, Angelo Que.
Portugal: Tiago Cruz, Ricardo Santos.
Scotland: Alasdair Forsyth, Colin Montgomerie.
South Africa: Rory Sabbatini, Richard Sterne.
Spain: Miguel Angel Jimenez, Pablo Larrazabal.
Sweden: Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson.
Thailand: Prayad Marksaeng, Thongchai Jaidee.
Venezuela: Miguel Martinez, Raul Sanz.
USA: Ben Curtis, Brandt Snedeker.
Wales: Bradley Dredge, Richard Johnson.

Asia v Europe match returns at Bankok
venue from January 9 to 11

PRESS RELEASE
The Royal Trophy will return onto the Schedules of the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour and European Tour in 2009 when Europe’s eight-strong team seeks a hat-trick of victories over Asia at Amata Spring Country Club, Thailand, from January 9 to 11.

It will be the third edition of The Royal Trophy and replaces the contest planned for January 2008, which was postponed when Thailand entered a period of mourning over the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana, the elder sister of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Europe’s attempt to win the match-play tournament for a third consecutive time will now take place at the exclusive Bangkok golf course at the start of 2009.

The Royal Trophy features eight-man teams from Asia and Europe, led by non-playing captains, competing in 16 matches for stewardship of the Royal Trophy, which was graciously donated by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Europe won the inaugural contest 9-7 in January 2006 and retained The Royal Trophy with a convincing victory last year.

Thoughts, of course, will be with Seve Ballesteros, who led Europe to victory on both occasions, in his ongoing battle following surgery to remove a brain tumour.

The Royal Trophy will once again see four foursomes matches open proceedings on Friday January 9, with four four-ball matches following on Saturday January 10. The contest will close with eight singles matches on Sunday January 11.

A team requires eight-and-a-half points for an outright victory