September, to get it away from the
Women’s British Open, making it
the final major of the year; and the
sponsors pledged the money needed
to get weekend exposure on network
TV. Perhaps most importantly, a $7.5
million redesign of Evian GC by Steve
Smyers will begin as soon as this
year’s tournament ends July 24.
The other obstacle was more about
perception in creating a fifth major
and moving beyond the traditional
four thought of as the Grand Slam.
“It took a while for me to kind of get
over that,” LPGA commissioner Mike
Whan told Golf World. “But when
you look at the history of the LPGA,
we have had one, two, three and
four majors in a year and there are
no asterisks.” There have been four
women’s majors since 1983 and as few
as two as recently as 1978.
“If you had asked me before I
was commissioner if I thought five
majors was a good idea, I would have
said no,” Whan said. “The thing that
changed is that I feel my mission now
is to elevate the exposure of the best
players in the world on the female
side of the game.”
Next year, the Ricoh Women’s Brit-
ish will be held in September because
the London Olympic Games begin
the last week in July, so this is the last
time the Evian and the Open will be
played consecutively. —Ron Sirak
The Evian Masters will get a new name, new dates and major status beginning in 2013.
equipment
usGA, R&A send out
equipment proposals
�� It may not be the most important
letter in the history of international
diplomacy, but a 12-page communiqué
sent July 8 from golf’s ruling bodies to
equipment manufacturers just might
be the most dramatic step toward
a more open and even collaborative
rulemaking process in the history of
the game.
The letter, obtained by Golf World,
provides a formal review of the landmark Vancouver Equipment Forum
held last November to discuss equipment rules and testing procedures.
The forum was framed by nine topics,
ranging from further publicizing the
ongoing equipment rules research
conducted by the ruling bodies, to adjusting the timing of concurrent rule
changes. The July 8 letter provides
both a summary of the discussions in
Vancouver, as well as detailed proposals for procedural changes. Throughout the document, the USGA seems
to be emphasizing a tone of enhanced
transparency in its procedures.
Typical is the language under Topic
9, which deals with the rulemakers’
currently broad but vague authority
to change equipment rules or deem
developed or existing equipment
lipouts
“Maybe they will stop fighting
each other.”
–Mark JaMes,
pro and BBC commentator, when
asked what effect Darren Clarke’s
British Open win, on the heels
of major championship titles
by Graeme Mc Do well and Rory
McIlroy, would have on Northern
Ireland. James, who is English,
later apologized for the remark.
“Whether we [Americans]
play well or not, they sure like
to talk about us. ... We always
wear the bull’s eye.”
–Ji M furyk,
on criticism about the talent level
of American golf in the wake of the
U.S.’s six-event drought in major
championships.
“Do you live eight years in
the past? None of us do. I’ve
moved on from there.”
–thoMas bJÖrn,
who shot 65 in the first round of
last week’s British Open at Royal
St. George’s, on being asked his
memories of losing a two-shot
lead in the final round of the 2003
championship on the same course.
“I’ve got my credentials for
here and it says no admission
to the course. That feels ter-
rible—absolutely the final dig.”
–colin MontgoMerie,
missing his first British Open as
a player since 1989, on arriving
at Royal St. George’s for an appear-
ance in a sponsor’s tent and being
given a credential that didn’t allo w
him access to the course.
“He’s going to be in some level
of discomfort for the rest of his
career, No w, it’s just a question
of whether or not he can
tolerate that.”
–hank haney,
on his former pupil Tiger Woods,
who has missed the last two
majors with a knee injury and
hasn’t hit balls since May.
Laurent Cipriani/ap photo; phiL ingLis/getty images; rob Carr/getty images;
matthew Lewis/r&a via getty images; Chris Condon/us pga tour; gary miLLer/FiLmmagiC
