Shortly after the NCAA decided to allow athlete to benefit from their image, the USGA and R&A will review of the Rules of Amateur Status.
Weeks after NCAA policy makers voted to allow student athletes to “benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness in a manner consistent with the collegiate model,” the USGA and R&A announced they are reviewing their Rules of Amateur Status.
The USGA and R&A don’t reference the NCAA in their news release Monday announcing that golf’s governing bodies will continue the joint effort to modernize the Rules by making them easier to understand. But most who pay attention to golf will conclude the two are related.
The review process by the USGA and R&A began earlier this year with input being collected from elite amateur golfers, golf event organizers, national golf associations and other industry partners. The goal is to present a modernized set of the Amateur Status Rules in late 2021, with the Rules going into effect Jan. 1, 2022.
“One of golf’s greatest benefits is that it can be played by all ages and played for a lifetime,” Thomas Pagel, senior managing director of Governance at the USGA, said in a statement. “It is our goal to ensure that the fundamental concept of what it means to be an amateur golfer is clear and retained to promote fair competition and enjoyment for everyone, while still addressing many issues that seek to protect the game. This is a forward-thinking approach and engaging golfers is a key component of doing what’s best for golf.”
In a separate move, effective Jan. 1, 2020, the USGA and the R&A will introduce one change to Rule 3-2b of the Rules of Amateur Status, which regulates hole-in-one prizes. The Rules will no longer limit the prize an amateur golfer may win when making a hole-in-one outside a round of golf, including “stand-alone” and “multiple-entry” hole-in-one events. The change was made to help promote the game and cater to new audiences, and eliminate unnecessary restrictions for event organizers.
The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf gets.
The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf or even college competition gets. Despite that, the stories of underdogs, comebacks, record rounds and breakthroughs are seemingly never-ending.
The following list represents the most impactful moments in the game over the past decade, from players who accomplished meaningful things to opportunities that changed the amateur landscape forever.
10. The USGA calendar gets a makeover
T.J. Vogel with the U.S. Amateur Public Links trophy in 2012.
In 2013, the USGA announced that it would do something it had never done before: Retire a championship. The following year, the U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links were played for the final time. It was a big deal, considering that a Masters invitation was on the line for the winner of the APL. The hallmark of the Public Links championships was the opportunity they provided for the “everyman” golfer. Part of the USGA’s reasoning in ending them was the feeling that the tournaments ceased to serve their original purpose of creating opportunities for true public golfers.
The Public Links were replaced by the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in 2015, tournaments played in the late spring that overlap the college postseason.
A side effect of the Public Links retirement that’s worth noting is that it becomes that much harder for a player to win multiple USGA titles in one season. Eun-jeong Seong was the last player to do that in 2016 when she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur. For five of the eight players who have won multiple USGA titles in one season, a Public Links title accounted for one of those wins.
It’s worth noting that in 2017, the USGA also retired the State Team Championship, which had been played biennially since 1995.
The World Amateur Golf Ranking is to receive a major revamp for the 2020 season. The R&A and USGA is instituting a new system called the “Power Method” to try to improve the way amateurs are ranked. The governing bodies believe the new system will …
The World Amateur Golf Ranking is to receive a major revamp for the 2020 season. The R&A and USGA is instituting a new system called the “Power Method” to try to improve the way amateurs are ranked.
The governing bodies believe the new system will “better reflect the current performance of golfers by placing greater emphasis on current form and results by improving the algorithms used to determine the WAGR.
“In the new structure, every event in the world will earn a power number based on the strength of its starting field, which will then determine the total number of ranking points on offer to the field. This will extend to a maximum of 1000 for amateur events, with players also able to gain ranking points from playing in professional tournaments.”
It is the first major revision to the system since its inauguration in 2007.
“We are thrilled to introduce the Power Method which will significantly improve the World Amateur Golf Ranking,” said Jeff Holzschuh, chairman of the WAGR committee.
“We have listened to feedback about WAGR since its inception, and we believe this change addresses many of the challenges within the previous system.”
Professor Steve Otto, Director of Equipment Standards and Chief Technology Officer for the R&A, said: “The simplicity and elegance of the revised WAGR system will be of great benefit to competitive players at every level.”
“It will be easier for players to become ranked under the Power Method but, with the system recognizing current form and rewarding recent top results, it will be tougher to remain ranked compared to the previous system.
“The Power Method will make WAGR a true indication of the ranking of the world’s best and leading amateur golfers.”
There are currently just under 10,000 amateur golfers worldwide on the WAGR tables, over 6,500 men and in excess of 3,000 women.
Lauren Greenlief took a leave from her job to focus on competitive golf this year and earned her way onto the U.S. Curtis Cup practice squad
Lauren Greenlief looks at her golf career as having unfolded in reverse. Unless a player turns professional after graduation, her game typically does not get better with age and increasing work commitments.
“I took the non-conventional route to golf,” Greenlief said, “where I’ve actually improved tremendously since college.”
Greenlief’s scoring average has dropped by more than three shots a round since graduating from Virginia in 2012, where she played as a walk-on.
The 29-year-old is a fascinating study in what’s possible for a mid-amateur when work doesn’t get in the way. Since May, Greenlief has doubled down on her commitment to golf, taking a leave of absence from her day job as a principal at Boston Consulting Group to find out just how far she could go as an amateur.
Greenlief hoped that through that process, she could earn her way onto the U.S. Curtis Cup team as well as earn an invitation to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
“I think getting the call from the USGA to recognize, hey you’ve had a great summer, you’ve been working really hard, we want to give you a chance to earn this spot, that was really validating,” Greenlief said.
A long rankings climb
Two years ago, Greenlief reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur. It was the first time in six tries she had made match play in that event.
She was No. 1,288 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking at the start of that week in early August 2018. By the following May, she had moved inside the top 500.
The majority of the top 200 players in the world are juniors and college players, who have vastly more playing opportunities. Greenlief timed her leave to coincide with the summer amateur season. Since playing the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in May, she has made 10 major amateur starts, ending with a semifinal run at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, a tournament she won in 2015. She climbed as high as No. 115 in the WAGR, and currently checks in at No. 136.
Lauren Greenlief on the 15th hole during the round of 16 at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Ariz. (Copyright USGA/Darren Carroll)
Greenlief’s goal is the same as many of the mid-am contenders she goes up against in tournament play – to compete at the highest level while also balancing life commitments.
“I think there’s been a push from us the last couple of years to try to get more competitive events, try to have more to play for,” Greenlief said.
She has seen progress on that front, too. In 2017, the USGA created a U.S. Women’s Open exemption for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur winner. In South Florida, Tara Joy-Connelly, a player in her own right who has 30 USGA starts under her belt, has rallied the amateur community to create a women’s amateur event for post-college players that awards WAGR points.
More opportunities for mid-amateurs
Connelly wants mid-amateur women to have more opportunities to showcase their talents. It has been a two-year labor of love, but the inaugural Women’s National Amateur Championship, a three-day stroke-play event sponsored by the Amateur Golf Alliance, is scheduled for May 27-30 at Loblolly Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida.
Interestingly, it’s the same venue as the Curtis Cup practice session.
“The guys got their act together and did something for themselves,” Connelly said, citing top mid-amateur events such as the Coleman Invitational at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida and the George C. Thomas Invitational at Los Angeles Country Club.
So went the thinking for the Women’s National Amateur.
“Why don’t we just model it after one of the men’s tournaments?”
Connelly, who competes frequently in women’s amateur events, saw Greenlief’s selection to the Curtis Cup practice squad on Tuesday morning and flashed back to seeing her at tournaments throughout the summer season – not just competing but devoting time to the practice facilities afterward.
“She didn’t just do it, she really did it,” Connelly said.
Greenlief is now back to work at Boston Consulting Group. When she reflects on her summer, her decision was a good one.
“I try to do something every other year regardless just because the job I have is a lot of travel and it’s a lot of long hours,” she said. “For me it’s about finding my competitive edge in golf but it’s also a little bit about balance. Taking a step back to make this job sustainable.”
Age and experience
Among the 12 players on the practice squad, Greenlief brings perhaps the most experience in team golf, having played in the Virginia-Carolinas Women’s Team Matches each summer and appeared on three U.S. State Teams before the USGA retired that championship in 2017. She has also played the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball every year since its creation in 2015.
“That’s the place where I can add a lot of value to a team,” Greenlief said. “Post-college, there’s a lot of different opportunities to play team golf.”
A mid-amateur hasn’t played on a U.S. Curtis Cup team since 2008, when Meghan Stasi (nee Bolger) was part of the team that defeated Great Britain and Ireland at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland.
Greenlief’s selection to the practice squad certainly changes her life for the next month, bringing more Thursday- and Friday-evening range sessions into play, and perhaps an impromptu weekend trip to Florida for the warmer weather.
“I’m really happy that I’ll be able to represent the mid-am contingent,” Greenlief said, “and show that there are folks that can still play after college.”
The selection of the practice squad creates the first real picture of who might represent the U.S. when the matches go to Wales next summer.
The USGA’s International Team Selection Committee has chosen a 12-woman group for an initial Curtis Cup practice session next month, creating the first real picture of who might represent the U.S. when the matches are played in Wales next summer.
The Americans are coming off a lopsided victory over Great Britain and Ireland in 2018, but only one player on that team could potentially return. UCLA senior Mariel Galdiano, now 21, could potentially take her third turn on the U.S. team after compiling a 4-3 record over the last two matches.
Among the seven other women who played alongside Galdiano at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York, a year and a half ago, six have turned professional. Andrea Lee, who earned her LPGA card at Q-Series earlier this month, remains in limbo on her status, but turned down an invitation to the practice session citing plans to turn professional before the matches.
The following 12 players have accepted invitations to the session, which will take place Dec. 15-17 at Loblolly in Hobe Sound, Florida:
Allisen Corpuz, 21, of Honolulu, Hawaii (USC)
Mariel Galdiano, 21, of Pearl City, Hawaii (UCLA)
Lauren Greenlief, 29, of Ashburn, Virginia
Lauren Hartlage, 21, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky (Louisville)
Auston Kim, 19, of St. Augustine, Florida (Vanderbilt)
Gina Kim, 19, of Durham, North Carolina (Duke)
Emilia Migliaccio, 20, of Cary, North Carolina (Wake Forest)
Alexa Pano, 15, of Lake Worth, Florida
Kaitlyn Papp, 21, of Austin, Texas (Texas)
Aneka Seumanutafa, 19, of Emmitsburg, Maryland (Ohio State)
Natalie Srinivasan, 21, of Spartanburg, South Carolina (Furman)
Rose Zhang, 16, of Irvine, California
Five teenagers in the group
Among the 12 women are five teenagers, the youngest of them being Alexa Pano. The 15-year-old played the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last spring as a 14-year-old, and spent the majority of the year bouncing from junior to amateur to pro starts and back.
Nine of the 12 players are current collegians. Only Pano and Zhang – who has committed to play for Stanford beginning in 2021 – fall on the low side of that mark. Lauren Greenlief fits into the graduate category. Greenlief won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, and took a leave of absence from her job for much of the past year to focus on playing competitively. She climbed to No. 136 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking in that time.
Greenlief, who played her way to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, would be the first mid-amateur to make a U.S. Curtis Cup team since Meghan Stasi in 2008, should she be selected.
Veteran Curtis Cupper will be captain
The Americans will be captained by Sarah Ingram, a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion who also appeared as a player in three Curtis Cups.
“The talent level surrounding women’s amateur golf in this country is incredible, and I’m so excited to bring these 12 impressive players together for this practice session,” Ingram said. “My experience participating in three Curtis Cup Matches both fueled my competitive nature and formed lasting relationships. I am eager to help guide and be a part of that journey for a new group of young women.”
Invitation to the Curtis Cup practice session does not guarantee selection to the eight-player U.S. team that will compete in June. Players not invited can also still be considered for inclusion on the team.
Automatic qualifying spots are reserved for the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion – though Gabi Ruffels, as an Australian, is not eligible – and the Mark McCormack Medal winner – though Andrea Lee, of course, declined hers.
The USGA will automatically select the top three American players in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking on April 8, 2020. The remainder of the team will be selected the following week.
