BANDON, ORE.—It wasn’t the American walkover that some anticipated, a fiery Great Britain and Ireland side coming out Sunday looking as much for redemption as a win in the 34th Curtis Cup. Yet ultimately the U.S. lead in the biennial matches was too much to overcome, as the eight-woman, red, white and blue squad continued a decade of dominance in the biggest international competition for female amateur golfers with a 11½-6½ triumph at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

“It’s very satisfying,” said Carol Semple Thompson, a 12-time Curtis Cup participant now victorious in her debut as U.S. captain. “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t very nerve-wracking at the same time.”

Indeed, while entering the final day of the two-day competition with a lopsided 7-2 advantage—sparked by uncharacteristically solid play the first go around in foursomes—the Americans saw their edge cut to just two points in the early afternoon. Only then did they take control of the final four singles matches and watch Duke sophomore-to-be Jennie Lee close out Melissa Reid, 3 and 2, for the Cup clinching point on the Pacific Dunes course

“You have to take your hat off to [the Americans]. They outclasses us again this afternoon over the finishing holes,” noted GB&I captain Ada O’Sullivan, who at the start of the week thought it was her team that had the “home-course” advantage by playing a links-style layout, only to see the 30-mph winds that poured off the coast during the practice rounds unexpectedly—and disappointingly from her perspective—disappear on the weekend.

With the victory, the U.S. claimed the Cup for the fifth straight time and raised their overall record in the 74-year-old event to 25-6-3. (For day-by-day scoring, click here.)

Given their gloomy position on the leader board after Day 1, the GB&I squad not surprisingly took to attacking pins and playing aggressive golf during the second morning foursomes session on the 6,172 yard, par-71 course, hoping to put at least a bit of a scare in the U.S. side much less restore a little of their own pride. “They owe it to themselves to actually reach their full potential,” noted O’Sullivan the previous evening.

Turned out there was some life left in them as the GB&I team proceeded to win 2½ out of a possible three points, a far cry from the 3-0 drubbing they got the previous day. Even the half point felt  like a victory, as Tricia Mangan and Tara Delaney twice saw American counterparts Jane Park and Taylor Leon lining up short putts to close out the match only to flinch.

“We were coming out to win,” said Breanne Loucks, the GB&I’s top player in the matches with a 3-0 record. “We were really up for the afternoon.”

Said Thompson afterward: “I can say that I thought there was a slight momentum shift, but I don’t think it was enough to worry me a great deal.”

True enough, rather than hold any furrowed-brow meeting to get her charges re-focused, Thompson let them relax as they watched the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith on a big-screen TV in the motor coach that doubled as a team locker room before the start of the afternoon session. Ultimately, by the captain not hinting that there was anything to be nervous about, her crew seemed not to feel any additional pressure while needing to win just two of the final six singles matches for the team victory, even as their two lead-off players, Virginia Derby Grimes and Amanda McCurdy, struggled to early losses.

A decisive 5-and-4 victory over Naomi Edwards by Leon, who along with Park finished with the best individual records on the American side (3-0-1), put the U.S. within one point of victory with three matches to be decided. Lee, meanwhile, had gone 3 up on Reid with four holes remaining before losing the 15th with a par.

On the par-4 16th, though, Lee hit her approach on the green 30 feet above the hole while Reid landed hers in the back greenside bunker. Lee’s birdie try rolled two feet by, and when Reid failed to hole her 25-footer to save par, the match—and Cup—was decided.

“I actually knew that we were really, really close ... and then I forgot after we finished 16. Then I was going, ‘Wait, 8½ plus my match is 9½,’ ” said Lee, who had help propel her college team to the NCAA title with a T-2 finish at nationals in May. “It just hit me. I had to double check with [teammate] Jenny Suh, and I was like, ‘Wow, we won.’ I was shocked.”

Moments later Paige Mackenzie, a stalwart for the U.S. squad on Day 1, closed out Mangan on the 18th hole for a 1-up win, and Park beat Delaney, 3 and 2, in the anchor match for the final margin.

“I felt very confident in my teammates,” added Mackenzie, who carded a 3-1 record overall. “I think everyone felt the same way. This was something we weren’t going to let get away.”

Mackenzie had some personal incentive, too, after having watched her brother, Brock, go 3-0 for the American side in the 2003 Walker Cup. “I hadn’t been playing well going into this, but when the matches started I was ready to play,” she said. “I’m not sure if Brock was thinking about how I’d do [in comparison], but I know I was.”

“I’m just proud of our little team,” said Park, the lone holdover from the victorious 2004 Curtis Cup squad. “It’s a great opportunity to show what you’re made of and be prideful in your country and play you’re heart out for your country … I’m sure everyone feels that.”

NOTES: Beginning in 2008 at St. Andrews, the Curtis Cup matches will be played over three days and will expand to include four-ball competition in addition to foursomes and singles play. The new structure will have three alternate-shot matches in the mornings of the first two days and three better-ball matches in the afternoons. The final day will be exclusively singles with all eight players on each team competing.

“We felt that there was so much preparation leading up to the Curtis Cup, but then only two days of play,” said Marcia Luigs, chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee. “Another day of competition will only add to the excitement of the Match. And it will be wonderful to have all team members playing in the singles matches.”

Since 1964, the Match has been played over two days, with three foursomes (alternate-shot) matches and six singles matches each day.

*** Except for McCurdy, the entire U.S. squad will compete in next week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Pumpkin Ridge GC outside Portland. The tournament will be amateur event for Mackenzie, who graduated from Washington last spring, and Park, who will forgo her final three years at UCLA and turn professional.

BANDON, ORE.—Strange occurrences seemed to be the norm Saturday at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort as the 34th Curtis Cup matches began on the picturesque Pacific Dunes course. After a week’s worth of 30 mile-per-hour gusts, there was hardly any wind to speak of. And after years of American foursomes futility, the U.S. team managed to sweep the three morning alternate-shot matches, confounding their Great Britain and Ireland foes en route to a lopsided 7-2 lead by day’s end.

“I am just in awe of my team,” said U.S. captain Carol Semple Thompson, a group that equaled  the second-largest first-day advantage in the competition’s 74-year history. “I think that they played great golf today, and I am shocked that we’re ahead 7-2. But thrilled.”

Out leading the charge for the U.S. side was Paige Mackenzie, a recent University of Washington graduate who shot the equivalent of four under par in her 5-and-4 singles’ victory over Melissa Reid after teaming with Amanda Blumenherst to post a 5-and-4 triumph in foursomes a few hours earlier. On the day, Mackenzie missed just one fairway while joining Taylor Leon and Jane Park in earning two points.

“It was good to get off to a nice start with Amanda,” Mackenzie said. “And this afternoon I just played really well.”

With nine matches remaining Sunday—three morning foursomes and six afternoon singles—the U.S. needs to win just two to retain the Cup it has won every year since 1998 and 2½ points to win it outright.

During a week that started with much debate on whether the Americans had squandered a home-course advantage by playing the biennial event on links-style 6,217-yard, par-71 course, Mother Nature stepped in and provided her own answer to the question. Bright sun and calm conditions greeted players on the first tee, playing into the hands of the U.S. side and confusing their GB&I competitors

“The no-wind definitely caught us with regards to clubbing,” said GB&I captain Ada O’Sullivan, who only a day earlier confidently suggested her team felt right at home on the southwest coast of Oregon. “We made a lot of judgment errors. We had been practicing all week … a lot of punch shots thinking that the wind was going to get up.”

Forecasts for Sunday look to be similar with sunny skies and light breezes.

More unpredictable, though, than the benign breezes was the Americans sudden disposition toward foursomes. In recent years, the format had been about as appealing to U.S. squads as a plate of brussel sprouts (losing five of six matches at Formby in 2004) and left an equally bad taste in their mouths. So it was then that Thompson force-fed the format to her players during their pre-event visit to Bandon earlier this month, having them play it in four of five practice rounds to become more comfortable with the alternate-shot competition.

Even so, when Park and Leon rallied to win the morning's last match 1 up and give the U.S. all three points, no one was more surprised than Thompson herself. “I’m sure that [the GB&I players] were rattled by that,” she said. “We have almost always been thrilled if we were 1½ to 1½ after the morning foursomes.”

“We didn’t play to our full potential,” noted a disappointed O’Sullivan, searching for a way to rally her players. “They owe it to themselves to actually reach their full potential.”

NOTES: The GB&I's lone bright spot turned out to be Breanne Loucks, an 18-year-old from Wrexham, Wales, who defeated NCAA national player of the year Amanda Blumenherst 5 and 4 in their afternoon singles' match. After going 1 up on the fourth hole with a par, Loucks proceded to win the sixth with a birdie, and the seventh, eighth and ninth with pars to make the turn 5 up. "The main thing was to just stick to your game plan and go out there and just knuckle down and keep it straight down the fairway, on the green and two putt," said Loucks, who did not play in the morning foursomes but will be paired with Melissa Reid in Sunday morning's second alternate shot match. "So that's what I did."

BANDON, ORE.—It says on the Curtis Cup schedule that this year the United States gets to host the biennial competition pitting the best eight American female amateurs and their Great Britain & Ireland counterparts. Sounds good, except that while technically speaking Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is on U.S. soil—actually on one of the truly most beautiful parcels of land in North America—the links-style Pacific Dunes course and the stout 30 mile-per-hour afternoon winds that have blown through it this week make the place feel as much like you’re on the southwest coast of Ireland as you do the southwest coast of Oregon.

So much for any “home-course advantage,” huh?

“I’ve only had [U.S. captain] Carol Semple Thompson say that to me about 50 times,” joked Mike Davis, the USGA’s senior director of rules and competitions.

Seriously, though, instead of taking the event to a parkland layout where Americans familiarity with hitting the ball high and far—and the GB&I’s lack there of—is best exploited, this weekend’s 34th playing of the matches will occur on a course where hitting stingers low and true off the tee is paramount.

And right up the sweatered sleeves of the visiting side.

“We feel very much at home,” said GB&I captain Ada O’Sullivan. “For our players, most of our training has been done on links golf courses, and a lot of them would have grown up on those kind of golf courses. So when you ask, do we feel at home, we do. We don't believe for one moment, absent the clubhouse and the American accents, that we're actually some place different.”

So happy with the venue was O’Sullivan that she went on to suggest during her pre-tournament press conference Friday that it was her squad that has the course-familiarity edge. “The Americans I know are going to offer a very tough challenge to us,” she said. “But I just feel that with the way we have prepared, if we play the course the way we have or administer it the way we want to play the course, then I do believe we are unbeatable.”

Bold words for a team that last won the Curtis Cup in 1996, has beaten the U.S. on the road just once (1986 at Prairie Dunes) and trails overall in the competition 24-6-3.

No doubt, O’Sullivan is looking for a little revenge, having captained the GB&I team to a near miss at England’s Formby GC in 2004, when her side lost four of the final six singles matches Sunday to fall 10-8. Claire Coughlan is back from that team, along with three other Irish players, Tara Delaney, Tricia Mangan and Martina Gillen, specifically chosen for this trip thanks to their prowess on the links land. (Also keep your eye on Kiran Matharu, a 17-year-old from Leeds, England.)

Before handing over the cup to the GB&I team during Friday night’s opening ceremony, however, understand this. Thompson’s U.S. crew might not have grown up practicing how to hit shots below the wind on a regular basis, but they certainly know how to do it. Moreover, in former U.S. Women's Amateur champion Jane Park, 2006 NCAA player of the year Amanda Blumenherst, three-time college All-American Paige Mackenzie and 2006 North and South Amateur champion Jenny Suh, they have a foursome that’s playing as well as any amateur golfers in the world.

To try and gain some local knowledge, Thompson took her team to Bandon earlier this month to scout out the course. While there, they faced much milder conditions, something Thompson at first was disappointed with but now suggests might have been a blessing.

“It was probably a good thing that we didn't have severe conditions then because it really gave the players a chance to realize that they could play the course relatively easily,” said the 12-time Curtis Cup player who is captaining her first team. “It wasn't unplayable. And they could hit the ball a little off line and maybe not be totally unplayable. So this week of practice has been much better because the wind has come up and still they feel comfortable on the golf course.”

“It was a great week to get to know your teammates,” added Park.

Park and mid-amateur Virginia Derby Grimes are the only Americans who have previously played in the event, but it’s Thompson’s vast experience that’s most important, and something that has already been put to good use. With players on-site a full five days before the two-day event begins Saturday, the risk of playing too much golf early and peaking before the competition actually begins is great. To counter that, Thompson hasn’t pushed for a lot of practice, leaving it up to the players regarding how best they spend their time.

“When she’s talking, we’ll listen and hear what she has to say and definitely take her advice,” Blumenherst said.

Critical to the GB&I squad’s chances will be to start off well in Saturday’s morning foursomes, a format that they’ve dominated in year’s past. At Formby, GB&I went 3-0 and (5-1 for the two days). A repeat performance will put them in position to make-up for a dismal showing in singles in 2004 and end a decade of Curtis Cup disappointment.

Still, expect the Americans to hang tough this week. The squad is just too deep, with two players missing from the team (Irene Cho and Ashley Knoll) that might be as good as the eight that are here. Yes, they might not have the home-course advantage. But there’s little doubt they have the golfers to win this, and a captain with plenty of know how to get the job done.

U.S. wins 34th Curtis Cup 11½ to 6½

Saturday morning foursomes
Match 1—Paige Mackenzie and Amanda Blumenherst (U.S.) df. Tricia Managan and Kiran Marharu (GB&I), 5 and 4.
Match 2—Virginia Derby Grimes and Amanda McCurdy (U.S.) df. Martina Gillen and Naomi Edwards (GB&I), 2 up
Match 3—Jane Park and Taylor Leon
(U.S.) df. Claire Coughlan and Melissa Reid (GB&I), 1 up

U.S. leads 3-0

Saturday afternoon singles
Match 4—Kiran Matharu (GB&I) df. Jenny Suh (U.S.), 2 and 1
Match 5—Jennie Lee (U.S.) df. Martina Gillen (GB&I), 4 and 3
Match 6—Breanne Loucks (GB&I) df. Amanda Blumenherst (U.S.), 5 and 4
Match 7—Paige Mackenzie (U.S.) df. Melissa Reid (GB&I), 5 and 4
Match 8—Jane Park (U.S.) df. Tara Delaney (GB&I), 3 and 2
Match 9—Taylor Leon (U.S.) df. Claire Coughlan (GB&I), 5 and 4

U.S. leads 7-2

Sunday morning foursomes
Match 10—Tricia Mangan and Tara Delaney (GB&I) halved Jane Park and Taylor Leon (U.S.)
Match 11—Melissa Reid and Breanne Loucks (GB&I) df. Jennie Lee and Jenny Suh (U.S.), 7 and 5
Match 12—Martina Gillen and Naomi Edwards (GB&I) df. Paige Mackenzie and Amanda Blumenherst (U.S.), 1 up

U.S. leads 7½ to 4½

Sunday afternoon singles
Match 13—Martina Gillen (GB&I) df. Virginia Derby Grimes (U.S.), 3 and 2
Match 14—Breanne Loucks (GB&I) df. Amanda McCurdy (U.S.), 3 and 2
Match 15—Paige Mackenzie (U.S.) df. Tricia Mangan (GB&I), 1 up
Match 16—Taylor Leon (U.S.) df. Naomi Edwards (GB&I), 5 and 4
Match 17— Jennie Lee (U.S.) df. Melissa Reid (GB&I), 3 and 2
Match 18—Jane Park (U.S.) df. Tara Delaney (GB&I), 3 and 2

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Great Britain & Ireland
Player, Overall (Foursomes/Singles)
Claire Coughlan, 0-2 (0-1, 0-1)
Tara Delaney, 0-2-1 (0-0-1, 0-2)
Naomi Edwards, 1-2 (1-1, 0-1)
Martina Gillen, 2-2 (1-1, 1-1)
Breanne Loucks, 3-0 (1-0, 2-0)
Tricia Mangan, 0-2-1 (0-1-1, 0-1)
Kiran Matharu, 1-1 (0-1, 1-0)
Melissa Reid, 1-3 (1-1, 0-2)

United States
Player, Overall (Foursomes/Singles)
Amanda Blumenherst, 1-2 (1-1, 0-1)
Virginia Derby Grimes, 1-1 (1-0, 0-1)
Jennie Lee, 2-1 (0-1, 2-0)
Taylor Leon, 3-0-1 (1-0-1, 2-0)
Paige Mackenzie, 3-1 (1-1, 2-0)
Amanda McCurdy, 1-1 (1-0, 0-1)
Jane Park, 3-0-1 (1-0-1, 2-0)
Jenny Suh, 0-2 (0-1, 0-1)

For past Curtis Cup results, click here.

Player, Age, Hometown
Amanda Blumenherst, 19, Scottsdale, Ariz.
*Virginia Derby Grimes, 42, Meridian, Miss.
Jennie Lee, 19, Henderson, Nev.
Taylor Leon, 19, Dallas
Paige Mackenzie, 23, Yakima, Wash.
Amanda McCurdy, 22, El Dorado, Ark.
**Jane Park, 19, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Jenny Suh Jenny Suh, 20, Fairfax, Va.
* played in 1998, 2000 Curtis Cups; 3-1-2 overall record (3-0-1 foursomes, 0-1-1 singles)
** played in 2004 Curtis Cup; 1-2 overall record (0-1 foursomes; 1-1 singles)

For more detailed bios, click here.

U.S. CAPTAIN CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON – Seven-time USGA champion Carol Semple Thompson, 57, of Sewickley, Pa., has competed on a record 12 USA Curtis Cup teams, including the 2002 squad in her home area of Pittsburgh, Pa., when she holed a 27-foot putt from just off the 18th green at Fox Chapel Golf Club to retain the Curtis Cup for the American side. Thompson owns an overall Curtis Cup match-play record of 18-15-4, including 9-8-1 in singles competition.

Thompson's first USGA title came at the 1973 U.S. Women's Amateur when she defeated Anne Quast Sander in the final, 1 up, at Montclair (N.J.) Golf Club. She has since gone on to win two U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur titles (1990 and 1997) and four consecutive USGA Senior Women's Amateur crowns (1999-2002). In August of 2005, Thompson became the first person to ever compete in 100 individual USGA competitions when she played at the U.S. Women's Amateur at Ansley Golf Club's Settindown Creek Course in Roswell, Ga.

In addition to her Curtis Cup experience, Thompson also played in five Women's World Amateur Team Championships for the USA. Thompson's father, Harton S. Semple, was president of the USGA from 1974-75, and her mother, Phyllis, has been active on various USGA committees.

Player, Age, Hometown
*Claire Coughlan, 26, Cork, Ireland
Tara Delaney, 20, Carlow, Ireland
Naomi Edwards, 22, Yorkshire, England
Martina Gillen, 24, Dublin, Ireland
Breanne Loucks, 18, Wrexham, Wales
Tricia Mangan, 32, Limerick, Ireland
Kiran Matharu, 17, Leeds, England
Melissa Reid, 18, Derbyshire, England
* played in 2004 Curtis Cup; 3-0 overall record (2-0 foursomes; 1-0 singles)

For more detailed bios, click here.

GB&I CAPTAIN ADA O’SULLIVAN – Ada O’Sullivan is serving as captain of the Great Britain & Ireland team for the second consecutive Match. She also served as captain of the GB&I team at the 2002 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in Malaysia.

O’Sullivan had a long career in Irish amateur golf and gained experience of a captain’s duties with Irish teams at both junior and national levels. She won the 1994 European Masters and the Irish Under-23 Stroke Play Championship three times.

She serves as director of Phil O’Sullivan Electrical Ltd., a family business. In addition, she has been honored with several awards for fundraising for organizations such as Hospice of Cork and Irish Guide Dogs.

BREMERTON, WASH.—At the risk of sounding like I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth (see blog entry about how collegians are ruining the APL), Casey Watabu is a pretty fitting winner of the 81st U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. Living five minutes from Wailea GC, a very junior friend public course on the island of Kauai, the 21-year-old used to spend any number of summer afternoons whileing away the hours thinking about a moment like the one he had Saturday afternoon, when he defeated Anthony Kim 4 and 3 in the 36-hole final at Gold Mountain’s Olympic Course and earned himself an invitation to the Masters come next Monday.

After the end of the tournament, I tracked down Mary Bea Porter-King on her cell phone to ask her about Watabu. Fittingly the former USGA executive committee woman and grand dame of junior golf in Hawaii, knew Watabu well as her own son was in the same grade as Casey and played together. Porter-King also helped launch the program that got Watabu hooked on the game at age 7.

“I already have spoken to him and I couldn’t be more proud,” Porter-King said Saturday evening. “He was just always a really happy guy. He’s always had a great attitude.”

While you constantly here of solid junior golfers coming out of Hawaii these days (Michelle Wie only the most famous name), this is a testament to the work Porter-King put in to building the junior programs in the Aloha State and giving kids the opportunities to develop their games and he in shape to play alongside kids from the mainland.

It’s a credit too, to courses that support junior golf. Victor Watabu, Casey’s father who flew in on a red-eye to see the final match, recalled that when Casey was making the decision whether to focus on baseball and golf as a pre-teem, it was much easier given that juniors could play Wailea for free. Victor says that now the cost is still minimal—50 cents for nine holes, $1 for 18.

Casey, meanwhile, recalled traveling to Georgia with his fellow Hawaii juniors to play in a competition against junior golfers from Atlanta, a friendly Ryder Cup style match held at Peachtree CC. Now he’ll no doubt be returning for a few reconoscence visits to Augusta National before teeing it up in 2007’s first major.

One other person who deserves credit for Watabu’s surprise victory last week: teammate and caddie John Cassidy. The 24-year-old lives in Yelm, Wash., and roomed with Watabu during the week as he too played in the championship. Having played the course numerous times, he imparted lots of advice beforehand and then did the same after losing his second-round match when he carried Watabu’s bag the rest of the tournament. Might not seem like much, but considering the cold Watabu just couldn’t seem to shake all week, Cassidy was likely the best medicine.

BREMERTON, WASH.—Admittedly we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Still, with the field at the 81st U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship now down to eight (here is a glimpse at the quarterfinalists), and soon-to-be professional Anthony Kim the favorite, the question emerges: if the 21-year-old three-time All-American at Oklahoma should win this thing and receive the accompanying invitation to play in the Masters, does he stay amateur and accept it or continue with his idea of making his play-for-pay debut after next month’s U.S. Amateur?

The answer seems obviously, of course, at least to any golf-crazy fan who sees Augusta National as the holy land: Be a good boy, Anthony, head back to Norman, Okla., for your senior year of college. (Heaven forbid being a senior on a college campus!) While there, stay on the straight and narrow and you’re likely to be a player-of-the-year candidate and have other chances at other accolades that could help increase your stock even further.

Step back for a moment though and understand why Kim told me a few days ago when he announced he was going to turn pro, and why he told the local media here the same thing yesterday, that the decision is not so clear cut. It literally requires putting his life on hold for nine months, an eternity for a college student, particularly one who sees many of his friends out there right now heading to the pro ranks and feels he has as good a shot as any to earn a PGA Tour card this fall at Q school.

He’s not the only one who believes that as well; talk to college coaches and other golf cognoscenti and they suggest he’s the most talented player of any coming out of college this year and should have the easiest time making the jump to the pro level. Unlike many of today’s young players, Kim not only bombs the ball 320-plus yards off the tee but he has a pretty strong short game, giving him a more solid platform to gain his PGA Tour card.

A few years back, Brandt Snedeker faced the same situation when he won the 2003 PubLinks. Even worse for Snedeker was the fact he has already finished up school at Vanderbilt and had no place to go back to in the fall. He stayed amateur and reveled in the experience at the Masters, but you could argue that his momentum was halted by the decision to remain an amateur and that if he made the jump immediately after winning the APL he might be on the PGA Tour now rather than still on the Nationwide Tour.

The real issue, I believe, is that mentally Kim has checked out of college and the actual thought of returning to Norman would become difficult for everyone. Kim wouldn’t really want to be there and likely would be going through the motions. It’s not a knock on Kim here, it’s just that keeping someone truly interested in playing the Jerry Pate Collegiate—or practicing to play in the Jerry Pate Collegiate—when he thinks he should be teeing it up on the tour would be tough for anyone.

Having not asked Kim about this scenario just yet, here is what I could see happening if he were to win: Kim would remain an amateur this fall, but not return to college. He then enters PGA Tour Q school as an amateur and if he were to advance to the final stage and guarantee himself some type of status on the Nationwide Tour, he would turn pro and forego the Masters invite. At least then, there is a real justification for an RSVP in the negative to the folks at Augusta National; having a place to play year round might just be more important than having a place to play the first week in April.

BREMERTON, WASH.—It says on the spectator programs they’re handing out here at Gold Mountain GC that the finals of the 81st U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship is set for Saturday, but don’t be fooled. The true Public Links champion has already been decided, and it's down to either Derek Berg, who defeated Ryan Keeney in 19 holes during today’s matches, or Jeff Daniels, who beat Derek Tolan, 4 and 2.

You see Berg, a 25-year-old caddie from nearby Duvall, Wash., and Daniels, a 32-year-old realtor from Harrisburg, Pa., are the last two players remaining in the field, now shrunk to 32, that didn’t attend either high school or college this past spring.

Perhaps that’s not that surprising a fact, considering of the 156 players who began play this week at the Olympic Course, 123 were students as opposed to working-class folks, the group of golfers this tournament originally was designed to celebrate when it was first established in 1922.

Since the inception of the USGA’s fourth oldest event, the APL has tried to turn its fair share of nobody-dreamers into somebody-folk heroes. In its heyday, winners included WPA workers (Al Leach, 1938), steelworkers (Andy Szwedko, 1939), trucking-company representatives (James Buxbaum,1956), tavern owners (Verne Callison, 1960 and 1967) and electrical engineers (Gene Towry, 1968). Yet, with all due respect to 1994 champ Guy Yamamoto, a golf course operations manager in Hawaii, the last time a true “blue collar” golfer won the APL was back in 1984 when then-29-year-old truck driver Bill Malley defeated Dirk Jones.

Indeed, today the APL has about as much romance as a Stephen King novel. Teenage and twenty-something golfers have turned the event into just another collegiate, bomb-and-gouge tournament. Consider that in 2001, the number of collegians and high schoolers was just 92.

Five years ago I spoke with long-time USGA historian Bob Sommers, who summed things up best about the APL: “There was something special about the event. It had such a noble mission and had success in achieving it.”

It’s hard to make that argument now, however.

If you ask me, it’s time that the APL return to being a true grass-roots competition for public players. I know it’s a radical idea, but it’s time the USGA get rid of the college kids from the event. Sure many of them embody the spirit of public golf, but with the resources and facilities available to today’s college players while in school at all Divisions, it’s hard to say they don’t have privileges that far surpass those of everyday public players.

USGA officials have said they've considered this option in the past but haven’t made such a drastic change because they didn’t want a “skewed” version of the best public links player in the United States. (Instead, they instituted a handicap limit for qualifying for the tournament in 2000.) And what about the U.S. Mid-Amateur, many say? Don’t non-collegians have their own tournament already?

Maybe but even many of these players are well-healed golfers who have the time and resources to play far more frequently that the “bona fide” public player.

Bottom line to me is there’s something to be said for a tournament where the majority of the field consists of golfers that have real day-jobs and other face other hurdles that make playing golf a luxury. Seeing these players go head-to-head might not be the prettiest golf in the world, but would make for an equally exciting national championship.

And arguably a more meaningful one.

BREMERTON, WASH.—No matter where you turn at Gold Mountain GC it seems like you run into a player on the University of Oklahoma men’s golf team. Indeed, five Sooners are in the field this week at the 81st U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. However, you won't be able to include Anthony Kim among that group this fall. The 21-year-old from La Quinta, Calif., told Golf World he will turn professional after next month’s U.S. Amateur, ending speculation about whether the top-ranked college golfer entering the 2005-06 season would be back in Norman, Okla., this fall for his senior season.

“I’m ready to go,” Kim said after posting a 72 on the Olympic Course for a one-under 143 total, easily advancing to the match-play portion of the tournament beginning tomorrow. “I feel like when I focus and work toward a goal, or a tournament, I play my best. In college you’re at the mercy of everybody else. You’re at the mercy of the coach, you’re at the mercy of the program, whatever. Golf is an individual sport, and that’s the way I prefer.”

Kim, who has spent the summer in Traverse City, Mich., between playing a handful of amateur tournaments and rehabbing an ankle injury, said he told Oklahoma coach Jim Ragan of his decision a few weeks ago. The outward signs of his departure were evident here outside of Seattle, as Kim failed to list being at school at Oklahoma on his media information sheet and used a black Ping bag rather than his OU issued stand bag.

A member of the victorious 2005 U.S. Walker Cup team and a semifinalist at the 2005 U.S. APL, Kim's playing credentials are outstanding. A 71.94 stroke average his first year at OU helped him earn national freshman of the year honors. His sophomore season he went on to claim the Big 12 player of the year award after posting five top-five finishes and two wins.

But entering his junior year, tensions between Kim and Ragan that arose the previous season re-surfaced with Ragen deciding to keep Kim out of the starting line-up of two of the team's first three events. Once the "internal issues" had been addressed, Kim returned to action and won his first two tournaments (the Ashworth Invitational and the Hall of Fame Invitational). Neither Kim nor Ragan would discuss the specifics of their rift. However, the likelihood that Kim was going to not only
finish his junior year but return for his final season became slim even with his strong play.

Yet to be decided is just who he might sign with as his management company once he officially turns pro. Speculation is that Hambric Sports Management has the inside track.