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"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch
May 25, 2004
When the USGA announced recently that it had chosen the East
Course at Merion Golf Club to host the 2009 Walker Cup Match, I
couldn’t help but wonder why it has continued to bypass The Honors
Course to serve as host for that event.
Nothing against Merion, mind you. The storied course in
Ardmore, Pa. has played host to 16 previous USGA championships,
the most of any club, including four U.S. Opens and five U.S.
Amateur championships, and has been the venue for some of golf’s
most memorable tournaments. Ben Hogan won the 1950 U.S. Open at
Merion after battling back from injuries received in a serious car
accident. And Bobby Jones retired from competitive golf after
winning the 1930 U.S. Amateur, giving him the Grand Slam after
he’d already won the U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Amateur and
British Amateur that year.
Still, it was no secret that for years, Honors Course chairman
Jack Lupton, one of the USGA’s most generous benefactors, would
have loved to see the Walker Cup played in Chattanooga.
Considering the 2005 Walker Cup is scheduled for Chicago Golf Club
and the ’07 event will be played in Ireland, Lupton may never see
his dream become a reality.
That’s too bad. The Honors was a worthy and universally praised
venue for the 1994 Curtis Cup, and before that the 1991 U.S.
Amateur.
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Teen sensation Michelle Wie has been given a special exemption
from qualifying for the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open Championship, which
will be played from July 1-4 at the Orchards Golf Club in South
Hadley, Mass.
Wie’s invitation is the first for an amateur into the Women’s
Open and puts the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links winner in
rare company. Only three male amateurs have been given exemptions
in the U.S. Open or U.S. Senior Open.
Jay Sigel received a special exemption into the 1980 U.S. Open
and Aaron Baddeley was given one for the 2000 U.S. Open. In 2003,
Vinny Giles received a special exemption into the 2003 U.S. Senior
Open.
Chattanooga golf fans would love to see May Wood, who’s playing
in this week’s LPGA Corning Classic, earn her way to the Women’s
Open through qualifying. The golfing media has already foretold of
future LPGA duels between Wie and Wood, both tall, long-hitting
talents who could re-energize the women’s tour. Perhaps the debut
of that rivalry will come in July.
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Congratulations are in order for Chattanooga teaching pro Zeb
Patten, who earned his way, yet again, to the PGA Tour’s FedEx St.
Jude Classic at the TPC at Southwind in Memphis. Patten has played
in the tournament three of the last four years. Though he’s yet to
make the cut, Patten remains hopeful of a good week and would
dearly love to stay around for the weekend.
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Three Chattanooga amateurs have advanced in U.S. Open
qualifying. UTC sophomore Bryce Ledford and former Middle
Tennessee State player Patrick Williams both moved to the second
stage of qualifying at Knoxville’s Cherokee Country Club. Each
shot a 1-under-par 69 as they began their quest to play in the
Open at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island June 17-20.
Steve Johnson, a member of The Honors Course, has also advanced
to the second round of qualifying. He’ll head to Houston for the
next stage, while Ledford and Williams will endure their 36-hole
test at Atlanta’s Settindown Creek, a demanding course built by
Council Fire designer Bob Cupp.
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