Rules Crew at the U.S. Amateur

It's Mike Sweeney, Director of Rules and Competitions for the SCGA. I’ll be working as a Rules Official from Monday through Wednesday at the U.S. Amateur Championship, and will be taking photos, reporting on rulings and talking to Southern California’s finest amateurs about their experience at Chambers Bay Golf Links in Washington, a beautiful Robert Trent Jones II design that opened in 2007. Check back daily for my inside-the-ropes reports!

View my photo gallery at scga.fototime.com. There's lots of pictures in there, including some great-looking views of the course, players, course markings and more.

Also, follow along with your favorite Southland players at the U.S. Amateur official website. You can read more about Chambers Bay, watch live scoring and learn about the players competing. The U.S. Amateur runs Aug. 23-29.

My stay at the U.S. Amateur is complete. The match I refereed was a breeze for 2009 U.S. Amateur Public Links Champion Brad Benjamin. He defeated Penn State junior Tommy McDonugh 6 and 5. Benjamin is a great player as he played in The Masters and the PGA's John Deere Classic this year. He has a chance to win it all. After my match I was able to bounce around and follow all of our SCGA players in their matches. It's great to see Patrick Cantlay, Alex Kim and Max Homa advance. I'm really happy for Homa, who defeated local favorite T.J. Bordeaux (from Tacoma). Homa had to deal with the large gallerly of more than 150 specators all rooting and cheering loudly for all of Bordeaux's shots! Harry Rudolph made a great comeback (3 down with four holes to play) only to lose on the 19th hole to University of Georgia stud Hudson Swafford (keep an eye out for this kid's name on the PGA Tour in a couple years). NCGA member Randy Haag was following Harry's match and blogging about it; check out Randy's blog now! 

The big news of the day is that the USGA finally allowed the grounds crew to water the place. On Tuesday night, Mike Davis, the USGA’s senior director of rules and competition, came to course superintendent Dave Wienecke with a short and succinct message: "Soften this thing up.” The irrigation system was turned on for the first time in almost two weeks (the crew had been just lightly hand-watering greens over those two weeks). More than 600,000 gallons hydrated 75 acres of turf.
“Today, during the first few holes, (the ball) was holding on the greens,” said University of San Diego player Alex Ching, who won his opening match. “I looked at my sister and said, ‘There is actually green grass on these greens.’ It was nice. It was fun.”

The USGA also had some fun with the course set-up by moving a lot of tees up, as the course played the shortest it will likely play all week – 7,042 yards. These conditions gave the golfers the green light to fire away at the hole locations and make a lot birdies. Unfortunatley the softer conditions hurt medalist Jeff Wilson, as he was playing a fearless bomber (from University of Virginia) that was able to use his length as an advantage as he had 8- and 9-irons into greens, while Jeff had 5- and 6-irons.

Click here to read a story in the Tacoma News Tribune about the USGA's pace of play issues during the stroke play rounds.

Let's root on our SoCal golfers in hopes that one can bring home the title! Thanks for reading my entries all week, and we hope to see you on the course soon.

Once the match I refereed this morning ended, I was able to head out on the course and survey how some of our SCGA members in contention were doing. It was great to see Valencia's Max Homa win his match, and at this point, all of the other Southlanders are still out on the golf course. Here's some of the things I saw out there.

The Match Play scoreboard is set for lots of SCGA winning names.	The match of the championship: UCLA's Patrick Cantlay vs. USC's Brad Shaw, both SCGA members!	Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos tees off on the first hole. He missed medaling by one shot.
SCGA member and U.S. Amateur medalist Jeff Wilson tees off on the first hole. He has one of the last matches of the day.	Max Homa of Valencia stands victorious with his dad after winning his first match.	La Jolla's Harry Rudolph tees off on 12. Rudolph was the California State Amateur runner-up.

I spent another 12 hour day posted up at the ninth green and it was a busy one. Lots of errant shots and rulings that kept me busy all day. I’ll touch on the rulings I had a little later. Congrats to SCGA members Jeff Wilson (who was the medalist), Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Alex Kim and Harry Rudolph III as they all made match play. Also making match play were two University of San Diego players, Gunner Wiebe and Alex Ching. Brad Shaw, from Los Angeles, is in a playoff this morning that starts at 7:15. He is one of 16 players vying for the last six spots into match play. The playoff will play on holes 10-11-17-18.

I’ll be the referee for the first match of the morning at 9 a.m. between Brad Benjamin from Rockford, Ill. and Tommy McDonagh from Norwalk, Conn. Stay tuned to see how the day goes!

It's an exciting day at the U.S. Amateur Championship with SCGA and NCGA member Jeff Wilson atop the leaderboard with a whopping seven-shot lead at 10-under 62. I took a few pictures this morning and will recap my day as Rules Official tonight. Check back for more photos!

It's great seeing Jeff Wilson's name at the top of the leaderboard after the first round!	A view from the ninth tee. It's a 227-yard downhill par 3.	There are lots of Southland names on the leaderboard, including Los Alamitos resident and CIF-State champion Patrick Cantlay.
Two-time SCGA Amateur champion and past U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Kevin Marsh tees off on 10.	Here's La Jolla's Bucky Coe, also teeing off on 10.

Today was a marathon of a day, for players and officials. I arrived at the course at 7 a.m. and did not leave until 10 p.m.! I was stationed on at the ninth green the entire day monitoring the pace of play checkpoint and assisting players with rulings. The ninth hole is a downhill 227-yard par 3 with a rock-hard green that takes a perfect shot (the perfect shot in this case being a high, soft fade to the front of the green or a high, soft fade to the mound on the left side of the green that kicks everything directly toward the back right hole location) to keep it on the green. I’m pretty sure that I only saw two birdies on this hole the entire day.

Here are the four rulings I had: Two players asked me about small pebbles that were embedded in the green on their line of putt. They are loose impediments if they are not solidly embedded. These two were not solidly embedded as I had the players flick them away and move them. I had one player ask me whether he could move a cigarette butt next to his ball in the bunker. A cigarette butt is a manmade object and therefore a movable obstruction. Movable obstructions (such as rakes, a Coke can, cigarette butts, etc.) can be moved anywhere on the golf course. The final ruling was cart path relief from the gravel road located behind the green (the USGA this week has deemed all gravel roads to be immovable obstructions).

The pace of play at Chambers Bay was extremely slow. The USGA set the expected pace at 4 hours and 46 minutes. However, the combination of over-the-top firm and fast conditions, a 7,700-yard golf course (that is a challenging walk) and a lot of deliberate players (especially around these challenging greens) led to rounds of 5 hours and 35 minutes (first groups off) to 5 hours and 55 minutes (last groups off). The USGA did issue 12 pace of play penalties at Chambers Bay and nine pace of play penalties at The Home Course (the other stroke play course). The USGA uses a four-checkpoint pace of play system which requires each pairing group to finish the fourth, ninth, 13th and 18th greens within 14 minutes behind the group in front of them. If the pairing group misses one checkpoint, they are issued a warning. If they miss a second checkpoint, the group is liable to a one-stroke penalty, if they miss a third checkpoint, liable to a two-stroke penalty. Some players made an effort to play faster, others did not and were issued the appropriate slow-play penalties. We had to suspend play for darkness at 8:15 p.m. with 15 players still on the course with one or two holes to play. They will resume tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. and then have to travel over to The Home Course to start their second round. Now that’s a tough draw.

I probably should have told the USGA about George “The Rocket” Downing from Santa Barbara. The Rocket (left) is easily the fastest playing player on the SCGA circuit and in the tournament today and could have been a great pace setter. Today was The Rocket’s birthday so let’s all wish him a happy birthday. I was hoping to get a photo of him draining a birdie on 9 but this tap in for a solid par will have to do.

Congrats to 2008 SCGA Mid-Amateur Champion Jeff Wilson on his 62 today. He is leading the tournament by 7 strokes!! He had 8 birdies, 1 bogey and finished his round with back to back eagles. What a round! I sent a congratulations text to him and he said, “It was a crazy day, I was 10 strokes lower than I expected.” Wilson has been a stroke play medalist at four USGA Championships (2000 U.S. Amateur and 2000, 2001 and 2004 U.S. Mid-Amateur) before so he is in familiar territory positioning himself for another run through the match play bracket.

Other Southern Californians in the hunt are UC Berkeley Sophomore, Max Homa from Valencia (-3, 69 at the Home Course), Gunner Wiebe, who is from Colorado but attends the University of San Diego (-2, 70 the Home Course) and incoming UCLA freshman and State High School Champion, Patrick Cantlay from Los Alamitos (-1, 70 at Chambers Bay).

I took several photos this morning on my Motorola Droid during course set-up and while players warmed up, as well as some other candids of Chambers Bay and the surroundings. Have a look at a few below, and visit the SCGA photo gallery to see even more. I'll be updating everyone on the event later today!

It takes a lot of strength to cut the hole locations on each green.	The greens are all tested for both firmness and speed. The ninth green is an 11.7 on the Stimpmeter.	The scoreboard is set for some stellar rounds. There are several Southern California names on here!
Players are warming up on another beautiful Pacific Northwest morning.	La Jolla's Harry Rudolph tees off on 17 during his practice round yesterday. The hole runs adjacent to the train tracks.	There are some spectacular views at Chambers Bay, like this shot from the 17th hole.

Tonight we had our Rules Committee meeting where USGA Senior Director of Rules and Competitions Mike Davis reviewed all the course conditions and specific local rules with us. Davis, who is in charge of setting up the U.S. Open as well, has covered every blade of grass on this course and is excited to see how it will challenge the words best amateurs. In a way, he is using this course set-up as a test for what he may do during the 2015 U.S. Open which will be held here at Chambers Bay. Davis mentioned how much he enjoys setting up a course with fescue grass as it allows you to do a lot of different things. Fescue is unique in that when starved from water, it doesn’t die but just goes dormant and is still very playable. He mentioned how a number of players were telling him how the ball is not stopping when they fly it to the hole, and his response was with links golf, “it’s not supposed to; you need to roll it up.” The USGA did syringe the greens on Saturday night as a few were getting too firm, and now the golf course is right where they want it.  

Here are some interesting local rules that apply to Chambers Bay:

Movable Obstructions: Stones in bunkers are movable obstructions.

Immovable Obstructions Close to Putting Green: The local rule in Appendix I is in effect allowing players to take line of play relief for a sprinkler head within two club lengths of the putting green (and also within two club lengths of their ball).

Putting greens: White paint dots have been placed around the perimeter of putting greens to help determine the perimeter of the putting greens. A player in doubt about where his ball is on the course should consult with a Rules Official. If a Rules Official is not available, proceed as if the ball is through the green.

Sandy Areas: Sandy areas that are prepared (i.e. raked) and generally do not contain vegetation are bunkers (Rule 13-4). Unprepared, natural sandy areas that have not been regularly raked and generally have vegetation are though the green. A player in doubt about the status of a sandy area should consult a Rules Official. If an Official is not available, proceed as if the area is a hazard.

Another thing to note is that there are no cart paths on this course and cart traffic on the fescue is discouraged. Therefore, most rules officials will patrol a hole on foot and rovers have to patrol on gravel roads that run adjacent to a number of the holes.

My rules assignment for Monday and Tuesday will be stationed on the ninth hole to monitor the pace of play checkpoint at that hole. If players finish the hole over their expected finish time for that hole, and more than 14 minutes behind the group ahead of them, I will notify them of a group pace of play warning or potential penalty. On Wednesday, I’ll be the referee for the first match of the morning. 

At the players dinner I sat with 2009 U.S. Amateur Semifinalist Bhavik Patel, 2007 California State Amateur Champion Josh Anderson, Anderson’s teammates at Pepperdine Andrew Putnam, and Andrew Widmar and Rob Savarese from Pennsylvania. The guest speaker was 2011 Walker Cup Captain Jim Holtgrieve. Holtgrieve has played in five Masters and 42 USGA championships so he commanded everyone’s attention.  He mentioned how important and special it is to play for your country. Hopefully we see some of the participants at this year’s championship on next year’s Walker Cup team.

Best of luck to all the participants! We are looking forward to a great championship.

This morning I walked the back nine with a number of our SCGA players during their practice rounds. The back nine is probably even more spectacular than the front nine and equally as hard. I’m a 7-handicap and I doubt I could break 90 (and maybe even 100!) out here. I’m not sure how long the USGA will play it during the stroke play rounds but the scorecard maxes out at par-71, 7,742 yards long, making it the longest championship venue in the entire history of the U.S. Golf Association – exceeding Torrey Pines South, home of the 2008 U.S. Open, by 99 yards. There are only four par 4s at 436 yards or less and the other seven averaging 507 yards, including the 11th hole at 539 yards. I think the toughest hole will be the 512 yard par 4, 13th hole. It is normally played as a par 5 so the green is extremely difficult to land long iron and woods onto. I expect to see a lot of bogeys and doubles on this hole.

I walked along with Tim Hogarth of Northridge (left) and Jeff Wilson from Fairfield for a few holes. Tim and his caddie (and good friend) Jeff Freedman are staying with a host family.
Tim is one of the most decorated amateurs in the Southland and his most recend SCGA win was this spring: his fourth SCGA Mid-Amateur victory.

Do you have any superstitions before a tournament?
“None.”

What did you think of the Dustin Johnson ruling?
“It was the right ruling, very unfortunate though.”

How often do you read the rules sheets we give to you at SCGA events?
“That’s what the rules officials are there for. Just call them over if you have a question.”

What Southern California golfers do you see going far in this tournament?
“Jeff Wilson and Kevin Marsh!”

What do you think of Chambers Bay?
“I like it; there is nothing like it in California. It’s a type of golf that we are not accustomed to, but I’ve played well at Bandon Dunes so I think I can play well here.”

Wilson is staying at a local hotel with his caddie and friend Bobby Pereira. Pereira was on his bag when he made a great run at the 2009 California State Amateur before losing in the final match. “We go way back, we used to pick the balls up for the Vallejo driving range as kids, he’s the only guy that will put up with me for an entire week!”

Do you have any superstitions before a tournament?
“None.”

What did you think of the Dustin Johnson ruling?
“It stunk!”

How often do you read the rules sheets we give to you at SCGA events?
“Every time!” (he said with a chuckle)

What Southern California golfers do you see going far in this tournament?
“Timmy Hogarth!”

What do you think of Chambers Bay?
“I like it, you don’t necessarily have to be a bomber here. There aren’t 280 yard forced carries. Even though these holes are long you get a lot of roll and you can run the ball up to the greens. The greens are great!”

I caught up with La Jolla’s Bucky Coe and Harry Rudolph for a few holes as well. Bucky’s father and La Jolla Country Club Head Professional Pete Coe will be his caddie this week. His mother is flying up to join them.

Do you have any superstitions before a tournament?
“Not really. I did sign up for this tournament using my real name, William, but everyone calls me Bucky. The USGA asked me if I wanted to change it when I arrived and I thought about it and decided not to. I played well at the qualifier as William so I’m going to stick with it this week.”

What did you think of the Dustin Johnson ruling?
“It was partly his fault and partly the rules officials as well, they needed better crowd control as the spectators were way to close."

How often do you read the rules sheets we give to you at SCGA events?
“I’ll give it a glance.”

What Southern California golfers do you see going far in this tournament?
“Harry Rudolph and any of the University of San Diego players that are here.”

What do you think of Chambers Bay?
“I like it, really smooth greens, you have to be patient and give each shot a lot of thought.” We’re rolling and throwing balls on all the slopes around the putting green during our practice round to see how they finish.”

The 2010 California State Am runner-up Harry Rudolph is spending the week with his caddie and friend, Skip Redford. They are sharing a four-bedroom condo with fellow U.S. Am participant Randy Haag from Burlingame and his caddie.

Do you have any superstitions before a tournament?
“None; as I get older I tend to get to the golf course earlier to get warmed up.”

What did you think of the Dustin Johnson ruling?
“First of all, he kept calling the bunker a sand trap!” (Rules-savvy individuals know that “sand trap” is a misused term as the proper term under The Rules of Golf is “bunker”) “It was obvious that it was a violation, he should have known better, and his caddie should have known too!”

How often do you read the rules sheets we give to you at SCGA events?
“If I’m playing a course I’ve never played I’ll take a look at it. Otherwise I’ll keep it in the bag and it’s available if I need it."

What Southern California golfers do you see going far in this tournament?
“Everyone has a chance.”

What do you think of Chambers Bay?
“I like it. It’s a different kind of golf than we are used to. I’m trying to use the slopes around the greens a lot on my approach shots.”

On the 15th hole a downhill, into the wind 246 yard par 3, Harry hit a 3-wood that landed on the green and stated “that’s the first time I’ve had to use a 3-wood on a par 3 in a long time.” On the 16th hole, he had 110 yards into the green and decided to punch a low 8-iron that he rolled to within 8 feet. “You have to have a lot of different shots out here.”

Spectacular, breathtaking, impressive and flat-out hard. Those are the thoughts that have come to mind after playing Chambers Bay Golf Links in University Place, Washington. And the players that will be playing on this links-style masterpiece all agree: Par will be a great score this week.

I walked the front nine on Saturday and a few things stand out.

1. It is an all fescue course (greens, fairway, tees, and rough). Fescue is the grass found on traditional British links courses. And they haven’t watered out here much. The USGA loves fast and firm championship conditions. Players will get a ton of roll on their tee shots and on their approach shots to the green. The fairways and greens have a dry brownish look to them but the roll beautifully and our in perfect shape to play off.

2. These are easily the firmest greens I have ever seen (or heard…it’s a different sound when approach shots hit these things). There is no need for players to fix ball marks as there are none! 

3. You will have to think your way around this course as it gives you many options and allows players to be creative with their shot-making. The fairways are intentionally wide so you can take many different routes off the tee. There are all kinds of mounds and slopes around the greens so you can take many different routes to try to stop your ball close to the hole. 

I ran into a few players on and around the course and asked them some questions. Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach (left), a sophomore at USC, was one of them. Stewart is here with his father, John, and will have a local caddie (Don) on the bag this week.

Do you have any superstitions before a tournament?
 “Never touch the trophy and I always listen to country music or Jimmy Buffet before.”

What did you think of the Dustin Johnson ruling?
 “That was a bummer, but it was a fair ruling.”

How often do you read the rules sheets we give to you at SCGA events?
“Every time,” (he said with a wink and a smile) “the starter usually tells us what we need to know.”

What Southern California golfers do you see going far in this tournament? 
 “Sihwan Kim, he has an amazing short game. Patrick Cantlay, he’s a great putter.”

What do you think of Chambers Bay?
“It is beautiful, but tough. The greens are rock hard, fast and undulating. It’s going to come down to putting and chipping, you gotta get up and down here and make putts.”

Ryan Indovina from Costa Mesa (shown left with me) is here with his friend, Bryce Sheridan, who will caddie for him this week. They are staying with a host family, Mike and Joyce Martin, from Fircrest.

Do you have any superstitions before a tournament?
 “I always mark my ball with this coin I have from the 1960s. Other than that, I just smile and have fun.”

What did you think of the Dustin Johnson ruling?
“It was fair, but spectators should never be in a bunker!”

How often do you read the rules sheets we give to you at SCGA events?
“When I need to.”

What Southern California golfers do you see going far in this tournament?
“Stewart Hagestad, Amit Chopra, Josh Anderson.”

What do you think of Chambers Bay?
“It looks amazing but I haven’t played it yet.” (his practice round is scheduled for Sunday afternoon). “I know local knowledge will be important so I’m going to have a local club caddie walk with us during the practice round. I played the Home Course today and there will be a lot more birdie chances out there.”

Bhavik Patel of Bakersfield (center), a junior at Fresno State, is here with his father, Bobby (left), and family friend Larry Cook. He is staying in Dupont with a host family, Mike and Patti Milcec. After his practice round on Saturday afternoon I talked to Bhavik and he was raving about the Milcec’s home cooking and looking forward to the spaghetti he was going to have for dinner.

Do you have any superstitions before a tournament?
“Everyone always asks me that, nope.”

What did you think of the Dustin Johnson ruling?
“At first I thought he got robbed, but once I heard about the notices being posted in the locker room and Watney and him not reading the rules sheet I realized it was his fault.”

How often do you read the rules sheets we give to you at SCGA events?
“Never, I probably should start.”

What Southern California golfers do you see going far in this tournament?
“All of those guys are so good that any one of them can go far.”

What do you think of Chambers Bay?
“It is so hard (firm) and so fast, I heard that they turned the water off 10 days ago. There’s no ball marks on the greens, it’s the firmest greens I’ve ever played on. It is going to be tough to get the ball close to these hole locations because the greens are so fast with a lot of slope.”