The Inquirer's Joe Juliano takes you around famed Merion Golf Club as preparations are underway for this summer's U.S. Open.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Fourteen-year-old Guan Tianlang, the youngest player ever to compete in the Masters, was in danger of missing the 36-hole cut Friday after being assessed a 1-stroke penalty for slow play.
Guan, of China, finished with a 3-over-par 75 in the second round, giving him a two-day score of 4-over 148. When he finished, he stood in a tie for 62nd place; the Masters allows the low 50 players and ties plus anyone within 10 strokes of the lead to continue to the weekend.
Guan received a warning for slow play at No. 12. After he finished play at 17 with a par, a rules official walked up to him and told him he was being penalized one stroke for being out of position, giving him a bogey on the hole.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Billy Payne, the chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, announced changes Wednesday concerning the 36-hole cut for the Masters and eligibility criteria for the tournament. He steered clear of taking a position on whether anchored putting should be banned.
At his annual press conference, Payne said the 36-hole cut had been expanded from the low 44 players to the low 50. Anyone within 10 strokes of the leader would continue to be included.
Payne said every player who wins a PGA Tour event that offers full FedExCup points will continue to receive an invitation to play in the Masters. This year, that will include tour events in the fall that previously had not offered full points – nor a free pass to Augusta National.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Fifty years after the first of his six Masters Championships, Jack Nicklaus arrived Tuesday at Augusta National Golf Club and said he still felt that Tiger Woods would break his record of 18 career major championships.
Nicklaus, 73, came to town to attend Tuesday night’s Champions Dinner, and to hit the ceremonial first tee shot to start the tournament on Thursday with Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
Nicklaus said this is an important Masters for Woods, who is seeking to win here for the first time since 2005, given the fact that he’s already won three times this year.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – When Tiger Woods slipped on a green jacket in 2005 to mark his fourth title at the Masters, he had to figure that he might be featured in at least one more victory ceremony at Augusta National Golf Club over the next seven years.
And if someone had suggested to him then that wouldn’t have happened?
“I wouldn’t have been happy with that,” Woods said Tuesday at his pre-Masters press conference.
Tiger Woods will begin his quest for his fifth Masters championship right in the middle of the pack, teeing off at 10:45 a.m. Thursday in the 15th group of the day.
Woods, who will have the next-to-last tee time (1:41 p.m.) for Friday’s second round, will be playing with Luke Donald and Scott Piercy.
Defending champion Bubba Watson gets the traditional pairing with reigning U.S. Amateur winner Steven Fox at 10:34 a.m., with Ian Poulter as the third member of the group.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rory McIlroy feels that his last-minute decision to play in last weekend’s Valerio Texas Open has prepared him well for what he hopes will be a successful week at the Masters.
But he regrets that to get his game to this point, he had to cancel a scheduled humanitarian visit last week to Haiti as an ambassador for UNICEF.
“It was tough, because golf sometimes is a selfish sport, and sometimes you have to do what’s right for yourself,” McIlroy said Tuesday at his pre-Masters press conference.
Former President George W. Bush is scheduled to be one of the guests at an evening in June honoring the 10th anniversary of The First Tee of Greater Philadelphia.
The event will take place June 15 at the ACE Conference Center in Lafayette Hill. It coincides with the U.S. Open, which is being contested at nearby Merion Golf Club.
Also attending the evening are PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and Joe Louis Barrow, the CEO of The First Tee. Other prominent guests are scheduled to be announced at a later time.
Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., has been named as the site of the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, the United States Golf Association announced Wednesday.
Hidden Creek, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, opened in 2002 and has hosted qualifying for three USGA championships, the latest being the U.S. Open in 2011. The dates for the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur are Sept. 26 through Oct. 1.
"Our members and staff are very pleased and proud that the USGA has selected our club to play host to this prestigious championship," Hidden Creek owner Roger Hansen said in a statement. "This is a fitting and welcome next step in our relationship with the USGA. We look forward to providing the Senior Amateur participants and spectators with a memorable experience."
The first round of qualifying for the 113th U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore will take place at 111 sites from May 3 through May 16, the U.S. Golf Association announced Tuesday.
The area covered by the Golf Association of Philadelphia will host four local qualifiers: May 9 at Waynesborough Country Club in Paoli, May 13 at Whitford Country Club in Exton, May 15 at the Country Club of Scranton in Clarks Summit, and May 16 at Applebrook Golf Club in Malvern.
All local qualifying events are 18 holes.
