Whistling Straits – Page 14 – Syndication Server

‘Dream come true’: Texas golfer with rare heart defect to play Whistling Straits

Tyler Lane will play Whistling Straits as part of the Round of a Lifetime Foundation, which those with heart defects such opportunities.

HAVEN, Wisconsin — Tyler Lane, a 20-year-old golfer from Stephenville, has never been to Wisconsin but is aware of two big things that go hand in hand.

A Dallas Cowboys fan, Lane admits he’s a Green Bay Packers fan as well because of Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams. He also wants to sample local cuisine.

“I’ve heard cheese is pretty big up there, right?” Lane joked.

Lane is set to play golf Saturday at Whistling Straits as part of the Round of a Lifetime Foundation, which gives golfers with heart defects a chance to play a course they’ve dreamed of playing.

Tyler Lane was diagnosed with a rare heart defect at age 14, which forced him to give up several of his favorite sports. He started playing golf and now the 20-year-old will play a “Round of a Lifetime” at Whistling Straits.

The electrical engineering major at Tarleton State University in Texas was diagnosed with Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, a rare type of cardiomyopathy, when he was 14.

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ARVD is caused when muscle tissue in the right ventricle dies and is replaced with scar tissue, which disrupts the heart’s electrical signals and causes arrhythmias, according to Heart.org.

As a result, the three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball was forced to give up all three before he had started high school.

“At the time it was extremely difficult,” Lane said of giving up the sports he’d always played, especially baseball. “I played on traveling baseball teams, as did my friends, so that was gone.”

Due to his condition, which resulted in a pacemaker being put in his chest, the only sport Lane could play competitively was golf after it was suggested by his cardiologist.

Up until his diagnosis, golf was discouraged by Lane’s father as to not ruin his baseball swing, but the duo quickly found a fondness for the sport.

“I never picked up a club before my heart condition,” Lane said. “After that first round, I asked my dad why we’d never done this before.”

When approached by Round of a Lifetime, Lane knew he had to visit the Badger State and swing his clubs at Whistling Straits, an iconic course along the shore of Lake Michigan.

“Always wanted to play the course,” Lane said. “The scenery looks awesome. Seems to me one of the most difficult courses on the (PGA) Tour, so I want to see for myself.”

Mike O’Reilly, director of golf operations at Whistling Straits, admits he never heard of Round of a Lifetime until a few months ago, but he thought the idea of hosting Lane was terrific.

“No brainer for us,” O’Reilly said. “It’s nice to do something for (Lane) and we’re just pleased we’re a facility that could do something special like this.”

Tyler Lane was diagnosed with a rare heart defect at age 14, which forced him to pick up golf. Now 20, the Texan will play a ‘Round of a Lifetime’ at Whistling Straits. (Photo courtesy Tyler Lane)

Another factor in Lane’s decision was Whistling Straits is scheduled to host the Ryder Cup in 2021 after it was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve watched the professionals play it on TV, so it was cool to be able to play a course that’s hosting the Ryder Cup,” Lane said.

Given how Lane’s love of golf began with his father on that first round, having him and an uncle along for the trip to the Badger State means everything.

“It’s super special,” he said. “Even more so I get to bring my dad and uncle to play with me. It’s an experience that’s like a dream come true. One of those once-in-a-lifetime deals.”

Before he heads back to Texas, Lane intends to drive past Lambeau Field then have a brat and deep-fried cheese curds in Sheboygan.

He might even leave with a foam cheesehead in tow.

Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Tom_Dombeck.

Players react to Ryder Cup postponement: “It’s the right decision”

DUBLIN, Ohio – No one loves the Ryder Cup more than Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard has been Europe’s heart and soul since he electrified the biennial tussle with the U.S. as a 19-year-old teenager in 1999. Since then, the Ryder Cup weeks have been his …

DUBLIN, Ohio – No one loves the Ryder Cup more than Sergio Garcia.

The Spaniard has been Europe’s heart and soul since he electrified the biennial tussle with the U.S. as a 19-year-old teenager in 1999. Since then, the Ryder Cup weeks have been his favorite of the given year, the event that stirs him more than any other. And he’s delivered on one of the game’s biggest stages as part of six winning teams in nine opportunities.

Despite all his passion for the Ryder Cup and his desire to play in this year’s bout at Whistling Straits along the Lake Michigan shores of Wisconsin, Garcia whole heartedly agreed with Wednesday’s decision to postpone the 2020 Ryder Cup to next year because of the COVID global pandemic.

“It’s a shame,” Garcia said in a phone call with Golfweek. “It’s obviously disappointing, but at the same time, it’s obviously understandable. There are some things that are more important than Ryder Cups.

“You have to respect this decision. There are a lot of bad things happening in the world and you have to settle everything down or you’re putting more people at risk. And a Ryder Cup without crowds is not a Ryder Cup. And a Ryder Cup with fans would potentially create a dangerous spike.”

Garcia’s take was universal.

“I certainly think it’s the right decision,” Luke Donald told Golfweek. The Englishman has never been on a losing team in five editions of the Ryder Cup and will be one of Padraig Harrington’s vice captains in 2021. That is, if he doesn’t play his way onto the team.

“I think the PGA of America looked at a lot of different options to try and make it happen, from a smaller number of fans, maybe 10,000, which still would have felt decent with only so many matches on the golf course,” Donald went on. “But I just don’t think they had any assurance they could pull that off. These are very uncertain times at the moment. And the Ryder Cup needs the energy, the crowds, to make it what it is. Ryder Cup’s deserve that energy.

“It would be so out of character for the Ryder Cup to play without fans.”

At Muirfield Village ahead of Thursday’s start of the Workday Charity Open, world No. 2 Jon Rahm, who was on the victorious European squad in 2018 in Paris, expected postponement was coming.

“I’m not that disappointed, because I’ve said it right away, when the quarantine and the whole outbreak started, if you can’t play the Ryder Cup with fans, I don’t want to play,” he said. “It’s not the Ryder Cup, it’s something else.

“So I believe the Ryder Cup being as big of an event as it is, being one of the biggest sporting events in the world, being such a big influence in the community of golf and hopefully making golf reach to different people and getting new players in the game, it’s important that it’s done the way that it’s supposed to be done. I think the venue deserves it, and both the European Tour and the PGA of America deserve to have the Ryder Cup run the way it’s supposed to be.

“And the fans deserve it.”

Justin Rose, who has played in the Ryder Cup five times, did envision seeing the matches played without spectators. But it just didn’t look right.

“I think for the Ryder Cup the fans do make that tournament,” he said at Muirfield Village. “I wasn’t against playing without fans just based on the fact that I still think there could have been a lot of intensity between the players, but the Ryder Cup is about the crowd.

“It’s the right call. As a European I think it would have been an advantage clearly to have played with no crowd, but I think it’s not about that, right. The Ryder Cup isn’t about that. I think it’s about a spectacle and I think the Ryder Cup is actually one of the events that we do have that’s bigger than the game of golf, attracts sports fans, so therefore I think it’s important to do it the right way.”

It’s official: Ryder Cup postponed to 2021

The Ryder Cup will not take place in 2020 because of the COVID-9 pandemic. The PGA of America and European Tour jointly announced that the Ryder Cup will be postponed to 2021. It will still be held at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. This pushes the 2021 Presidents Cup in Charlotte back to 2022. It also means the 2022 Ryder Cup in Italy will slide back to 2023. Starting in 2021, all Ryder Cups will shift to odd years.

Report: Ryder Cup to be postponed until 2021

COVID-19 grabs another casualty as the Ryder Cup won’t be played in 2020, but rather pushed back until 2021.

The 2020 Ryder Cup has been silenced.

Because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the PGA of America and European Tour are expected to jointly announce at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday that the Ryder Cup will not take place this year, according to ESPN.

The 43^rd biennial bout between the U.S. and Europe was scheduled for Sept. 25-27 along the Lake Michigan shores of Wisconsin at Whistling Straits. The two will meet instead Sept. 2021 at the same location. According to ESPN citing an anonymous source, the dates in 2021 will be Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, which was supposed to be the dates for the 2021 Presidents Cup.

The PGA of America and European Tour had been considering a variety of options, including playing this year without fans or with limited spectators. But high-profile players voiced concern over playing a Ryder Cup without fans.

“Not a Ryder Cup,” world No. 1 Rory McIlroy said in a TaylorMade podcast when asked what a Ryder Cup would be without fans. McIlroy has played in the Ryder Cup five times. “That’s from a European, going to America, knowing that I’m going to get abuse. Obviously it would be better for Europeans to play without fans because we wouldn’t deal with some of the stuff that you have to put up with, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be a great spectacle. There would be no atmosphere.

“So if it came to whether they had to choose between not playing the Ryder Cup of playing it without fans, I would say just delay it a year.”

Added four-time major champion Brooks Koepka, who has played in the past two editions: “The fans make that event. The fans make that special. If we’re not playing in front of fans, it’s just like us playing a game in Florida. There’s no fist pumping there. There’s no excitement. The fans create the excitement for the Ryder Cup.”

Koepka added that some players may have boycotted if the event was held in September without fans.

Travel restrictions also may have impacted the qualify of the teams if this year’s matches were to have been played as scheduled.

Ripple effect

The Ryder Cup postponement necessitated the PGA Tour to move the 2021 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte to 2022 at the same venue.

Also on the postponement list is the 44^th edition of the Ryder Cup, which was scheduled for 2022 in Italy at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome. That match will now be held in 2023 at the same venue.

The COVID pandemic will again alter the qualifying system. Because COVID shut down the qualifying system for three months, U.S. captain Steve Stricker was given two extra discretionary selections – from four to six, which is half the team.

Qualifying for the U.S. also had been extended through the BMW Championship August 27-30, the second of three FedExCup Playoffs events. That would have meant only one major championship – the Aug. 6-9 PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco – would have been included in this year’s segment of qualifying. The U.S. Open at Winged Foot in New York was postponed to the week before the original Ryder Cup date, and the Masters in Georgia was postponed to November.

PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 30: European fans celebrate during singles matches of the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National on September 30, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images) — European fans celebrate during singles matches of the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Europe revised its qualifying process, as well, with captain Padraig Harrington having his discretionary picks dropped from four to three. Europe would be comprised of three captain’s picks, four players from the Europe Points List, and five from the World Points List. The European Tour, however, hasn’t played since the Qatar Masters the first week of March and is set to resume in July, thus players could only accumulated points on the World list. Top players including Tommy Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood have not played since March.

Europe is in possession of the 17-inches tall, 4-pound gold trophy as a result of pasting the Americans, 17½-10½, at Le Golf National in Paris in 2018. Europe has won nine of the most recent 12 contests, with the U.S. victorious only in 2016, 2008 and 1999.

A Wisconsin cranberry festival might say something about the fate of the 2020 Ryder Cup

As for the Ryder Cup, many factors will go into the decision to play or postpone, from qualifying opportunities to financial implications.

Golf’s governing bodies have faced some major decisions regarding their marquee events over the past few months. The PGA of America seems to be under the current spotlight with the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup looming.

After a Monday report from the San Francisco Chronicle indicated the PGA Championship would be played at its original venue, TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, on its new date of Aug. 6-9 but without fans in attendance, focus turns to the Ryder Cup.

One barometer for the event’s fate could be the cancellation of the Warrens Cranberry Festival, annually held in Warrens, Wisconsin, the last weekend in September. As reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday, organizers decided to nix an event that would bring together as many as 45,000 people and 1,300 vendors. (For those wondering, Wisconsin is the No. 1 producer of cranberries in America as well as the No. 1 producer of cheese.)

The Ryder Cup is slated for Sept. 25-27 at Whistling Straights in Kohler, Wisconsin. Deeming it a no-fan event is not so easy. Without the fans, players and even captains have asked, can it really be the Ryder Cup? Unfortunately, postponing the Ryder Cup isn’t any easier.

Earlier this month, U.S. captain Steve Stricker said on a Madison, Wisconsin-based radio show that he hoped the event wouldn’t happen without fans, noting “it almost would be a yawner of an event,” if so. He indicated a decision was likely within two to three weeks.

Many factors will go into the decision, from qualifying opportunities for players (the PGA of America announced last week that Stricker would get six captain’s picks this year instead of four) to the financial impact for the PGA of America and PGA Tour (the latter of which reportedly is out millions after propping up some of its canceled tournaments to keep them from going under) to the potential impact on the 2021 Presidents Cup.

The Associated Press reported that top players were surveyed about possible options last week at Colonial. They were asked to prioritize these scenarios: a Ryder Cup this year with no fans, a Ryder Cup with half the fans or a Ryder Cup in 2022. Interestingly, one of the options wasn’t to delay until 2021 and push the Presidents Cup back to ’22, which is what happened the last time the Ryder Cup was postponed due to 9/11.

Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka, Nos. 1 and 4 in the world, respectively, are among those who have vocalized the importance of fans.

At this week’s Tour stop at Harbour Town, Webb Simpson, who has appeared on three Ryder Cup teams, also underscored the importance of a Ryder Cup fan presence.

“I feel like fans make the Ryder Cup,” he said. “Now, I would go play, obviously. I would be happy to be on the team, but I think they really do. Unlike any other event, fans make the Ryder Cup.”

Jim Furyk weighed in as a past player and past captain, acknowledging that there were several layers to any question of holding the Ryder Cup without fans.

As Furyk said, it’s strange to play a PGA Tour event with empty galleries and “it would be really strange – I mean, just exponentially at a Ryder Cup,” noting that the atmosphere is what players love about the event.

Furyk also pointed out how many organizations have a stake in the event, and that that must be considered.

“I would need to know more about what it means to the organizations – to the PGA Tour, to the PGA of America, to the European Tour for that matter and European PGA,” he said. “What’s the financial ramifications if we do and we don’t play?”

It seems that is the million-dollar question.

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Change in Ryder Cup selection criteria gives U.S. captain Steve Stricker two more picks

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker will receive an additional two captain’s picks for the 2020 Ryder Cup.

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker will receive an additional two captain’s picks for the 2020 Ryder Cup. The change comes as a result of so many tournaments being canceled these past three months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

All U.S. players had the opportunity to earn points beginning in 2019, and those points will still be recognized in the selection process. It’s just that six of the 12 players on the team will now be selected using the points system instead of eight players, as had previously been the case.

Potential U.S. team members will accrue points through the second FedEx Cup Playoff event (the BMW Championship), which concludes on Aug. 30.

The remaining six players that make up the Ryder Cup team will be selected and announced by Stricker in early September, ahead of the Sept. 22-27 event at Whistling Straights in Kohler, Wisconsin. Previously, the U.S. captain was only able to select four players.

“With all the various changes to the 2020 schedule, it quickly became apparent that we would need to amend our selection criteria,” said Stricker, who will be captaining in his home state of Wisconsin. “After many deliberate discussions, we collectively agreed that a smaller sampling of 2020 events — including just one major championship — would justify a one-week extension of the qualification window and an increase in the number of Captain’s selections from four to six. These changes were sparked by circumstance but conceived with integrity in mind. In the end, we believe they will allow us to put our best team together to compete at Whistling Straits in September.”

This change also assumes all schedule events – including the 2020 Ryder Cup itself – take place as currently planned.

A total of 11 events have been canceled since the pandemic took hold in mid-March. The Tour is back in action this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, but without fans.

There has been much talk about what an absence of fans – or even a limited fan presence – would do to the typically raucous Ryder Cup atmosphere. Those details remain under discussion.

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U.S. captain Steve Stricker says Ryder Cup without fans would be a ‘yawner,’ decision coming within weeks

U.S. captain Steve Stricker said this week a decision on the 2020 Ryder Cup scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin will be made in the “next two to three weeks.”

The biennial bout between the USA and Europe faces numerous obstacles created by the COVID-19 pandemic. It could be held as currently planned, could be held without spectators, or postponed until next year.

“We’re sure hoping we can play it,” Stricker said on “The Golf Affect,” a weekly Madison-based radio show where he is a regular participant. “So far we’re planning as it’s a go, that we’re going to have it.”

He just hopes it doesn’t happen without fans.

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“Personally, I would hate for that to happen,” Stricker said. “I mean, this event is made by the fans. To me, if it was without the fans it almost would be a yawner of an event. The passion, I don’t know if it would be there.

“The fans create all that unbelievable atmosphere that we play in front of. And without the fans, I don’t know. It still would be a nice event, but I think the fans make it everything. And to cheat out the fans of Wisconsin, I think would be a crime. So, I just hope that when we do have it, it can be up to its full potential.”

But time is of essence right now, because Stricker said construction of the infrastructure at Whistling Straits hard by Lake Michigan would have to start pretty quickly if the event is held in September.

“They’re going to have to make a decision here probably within the next two or three weeks because the buildup to put up all the stands and all the corporate tents, all that kind of stuff, has to happen in June,” Stricker said. “So, you’ve got to kind of look into a crystal ball and no one knows, really, no one knows what’s going to happen. It’s a wait-and-see for me, but we’re going ahead with planning as it’s going to happen, and hopefully it does.”

One option on the table is to postpone to 2021.

“I think they would just push everything back. That’s what happened at 9-11. When it happened back in 2001, they canceled that year’s Ryder Cup and moved it to 2002, and that’s how we got on the even years for having the Ryder Cup,” Stricker said. “That would be up to the PGA of America and the PGA Tour to hash that out. I’m sure Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, isn’t so keen on the push back of the Presidents Cup. They rely on the money they generate for that event. I don’t know if we could have two events in one year.

“You know, have the Ryder Cup in June. It’s also an Olympic year next year so I think there’s just so much going on and there’s so much movement and fluidity that no one can really make an informed decision at this time.”

Stricker is going to have to make a personal decision on his own in the next few weeks. He has a spot in next week’s Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. That’s the scheduled restart of the PGA Tour season, which came to a halt March 13 because of the coronavirus.

Stricker remains on the fence on whether or not he’s heading to Texas.

“We’ve been very cautious as a family,” he said. “My oldest daughter (Bobbi) has an autoimmune issue. So we’re a little bit more cautious than everybody else. The grandparents are still alive and we don’t want to be bringing (the virus) to any of them. So we go out and get our groceries and that’s about it.

“We’ll have a few driveway dinners with friends, but I haven’t been in anybody’s house, nor has anybody been in our house. We’ve taken it pretty seriously and we’ve been very cautious.

“I want to go play next week. I’m just struggling if that’s the right thing to do or not. There’s a lot of things. You know, taking a spot away from somebody else. There’s kids that could play instead of me. For me it would be about going out and seeing the guys on the Ryder Cup team and trying to play well. I’m still excited to play. But I’ve had a run and a good time of playing and my time has been. So, do I take that spot? Do I go and play or do I give it up? So those are the things that I’m constantly thinking over and trying to come up with the right decision.”

Top resorts including Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes announce reopen dates

Golfweek’s Best top resorts plan their reopenings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The top golf resorts in the country have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic. With revenues tied to accommodations and food services as well as to their golf courses, even the resorts that have been able to keep their courses operational have sustained more than a month of lost bookings throughout the properties.

Most states have reopened their golf courses – only Vermont, Maryland and Massachusetts have remained closed to golf with no announced plans to reopen. And now that many states are trying to restart businesses, several top resorts have announced reopening dates of at least some non-golf operations as they plan a return to normalcy.

As examples of how resorts around the country are trying to get things started as governors allow businesses to open, we offer the following look at Golfweek’s Best top resort courses and proposed timelines for the full resort operations to open. Each resort has stressed its efforts to provide sanitary playing opportunities with social distancing and other modifications such as leaving the flags in the hole while putting and using modified cups to prevent players from having to reach too deeply into the holes.

No. 1 Pebble Beach Golf Links

The famed course in Pebble Beach, California – host to six U.S. Opens – reopened Monday. Hotel operations are slated to begin June 1. Spyglass Hill at the resort, No. 11 on the Golfweek’s Best list, also reopened Monday. Tee times are typically reserved for resort guests with only limited non-resort public access, but during May the golf courses will be open for public-access bookings with reduced green fees: $495 for Pebble Beach, down from the normal $575, and $325 for Spyglass Hill, down from the normal $415.

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Only three states remain closed to golf with no announced plans to open soon

Only three states are still closed to golf without announced plans to reopen because of coronavirus, the National Golf Foundation reports

The National Golf Foundation reported Monday that only three states remained closed to golf with no announced plans of when courses might reopen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic: Maryland, Massachusetts and Vermont.

Washington’s courses are allowed to reopen May 5, and New Hampshire’s tracks are clear to start play May 11. Alaska is closed because of seasonality. The rest of the 50 states are open, albeit a few with some restrictions still in place at the city or county level.

The NGF reported last week that 58 percent of the courses in the U.S. were open as of April 26, and that is expected to pass 80 percent this week when numbers are updated.

Eight states – Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – have cleared their courses to open in the past 10 days. There also has been significant easing of local restrictions in New York, Hawaii and California.

For example, in California most southern counties with the exception of Los Angeles County have cleared golf. Six San Francisco Bay-area counties cleared golf May 4, the NGF noted in its report.

The rest of the industry is coming back to life after the coronavirus pandemic also. Off-course golf retail shops are reopening in several states such as Florida, and several top resorts have announced plans to restart the game and reopen accommodations after having been shuttered for more than a month.

For example, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon plans to reopen May 11, Destination Kohler in Wisconsin has opened several of its options for accommodations to go along with the recent seasonal opening of Whistling Straits, and Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina will begin accepting hotel guests on May 22 to play its courses, which did not close during the pandemic.

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European captain Padraig Harrington: No fans, no Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup veteran and 2020 European captain Padraig Harrington doesn’t think the event should be played without fans.

Remember the Rory McIlroy vs. Patrick Reed match from the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine?

It was an electric atmosphere, one in which you could feel the emotion of the players and the spectators through the TV.

Now, imagine that match without fans.

“Nobody wants to see the Ryder Cup played without the fans being there,” said 2020 European captain Padraig Harrington on BBC Radio. “There’s no doubt that it makes the tournament so much better. I think the common consensus now is the Ryder Cup will not be played unless the fans are there.”

“Non-golfers and golfers around the world watch the Ryder Cup because of the tension that’s created by the spectators,” he added.

The 2020 event is still slated for September 25-27 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, one week after the U.S. Open in golf’s revised schedule. The three-time major champion and six-time member of Team Europe also said discussions with Ryder Cup organizers about postponing the event took place before the plan was set in motion to keep its slot on the fall schedule.

Harrington still hopes the Europeans get the chance to defend their title later this year and he knows the joy the event will bring. That said, he also knows there’s a bigger picture to be seen and “there are bigger things, too, than the Ryder Cup.”

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