Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2019 - 37

MGA NEWS
Li Retains Amateur Status
In February, the USGA
Amateur Status Committee
ruled that amateur golfer
Lucy Li from California
breached Rule 6-2 of the
Rules of Amateur Status by
participating in an Apple
Watch " Close Your Rings "
advertisement campaign.
The USGA reviewed the
situation and conferred with Li, her family
and Apple and " confirmed that Ms. Li
has neither received, nor will receive in the
future, any monetary or non-monetary
LUCY LI
compensation for her appearance
in the advertisement, "
according to a USGA press
release. As a result, the USGA
has issued Ms. Li (who never
intended to forfeit her amateur
status) a one-time warning-and
she will retain her
amateur status.
To protect their amateur
status, the USGA recommends golfers
engage with their local governing body (in
Minnesota, the MGA) early in the process.
RICHIE RAMSAY
Two Is Better Than A One
In January, multiple amateur
champion Claudia
Pilot was playing in a weekly
ladies-day golf event at the
Apache Course of Desert
Mountain in Scottsdale,
Ariz., with her friends Kathy
Henderson, Gina Woodruff
and Anita Wallace. The foursome
reached the 78-yard
third hole where something
remarkable happened.
Pilot, who teed off secKATHY
HENDERSON
CLAUDIA
PILOT
all
cheering and high-fiving.
Then Kathy said, 'that's so
cool-I want one, too!' And
she gets up and drops it in
the hole on top of mine! It
was so surreal. "
Friends had a bottle of
champagne waiting for
them in the clubhouse, and
the group celebrated while
calculating the odds of such
a feat. The chances of a foursome
scoring two holes-inond,
hit her drive with a 54-degree Mack
daddy wedge into the hole for a one. Not
that extraordinary considering it was the
sixth ace of her career. But the fun was only
beginning. Henderson hit next with a gap
wedge and matched Pilot's ace.
" Mine was first, " Pilot says. " It looked
like it was on the lip, but it was actually
being held on the inside edge of the cup
with the flagstick. I was a little bummed,
thinking it was on the lip, but a gust of
wind came up and it disappeared. We were
one in a round have been set at 1.3 million
to 1, but for two in a foursome acing the
same hole they are 26 million to 1. Those
odds might be a little high, however, when
you consider Pilot and Henderson's playing
partners.
" Gina had witnessed a hole-in-one two
days earlier-so she witnessed three of
them in two rounds, " Pilot says. " And Anita
had witnessed back-to-back aces in 2016 at
the Desert Mountain Chiricahua course.
They were definitely good luck charms! "
Corrections >> In the Directory issue's 2018 Club Champions' listings, Golden Valley Country Club's
champions were omitted by error. They are: Jesse Bull (men's), Brad Swanson (senior men's), Maggie Masica
(women's), and Stuart Handzel (junior boys'). In the Editor's Letter, " Trending Topics, " Kapalua, home to the
PGA Tour's Tournament of Champions, was incorrectly identified as being on Hawaii's Big Island. It is on
Maui. In a tribute to Minnesota Valley Country Club's history, architect Seth Raynor was incorrectly listed
as having designed the University Golf Club/Les Bolstad golf course. Tom Vardon deserves credit for the
Bolstad course. We regret the errors.
U.S. Amateur
Returns to
Hazeltine
National
The USGA announced a number
of future sites for the U.S.
Amateur championship, and
Hazeltine National Golf Club,
the site of the 2006 Amateur,
is among them. Hazeltine
will host the 2024 Amateur
(along with the Chaska Town
Course), and it will become
the club's 10th USGA championship,
as the course will also
be the site of the 2020 U.S.
Junior Amateur.
In 2006, Hazeltine was
home to an exciting Amateur
championship in which Richie
Ramsay, the first player from
Scotland to win the title since
1898, defeated John Kelly,
4 and 2, in the championship
final.
Changes >>
Nick Klinkhammer is the new
superintendent at Faribault
Golf Club. Scott Peterson is the
senior men's club champion at
Tanners Brook Golf Club.
mngolf.org
Spring 2019 MINNESOTAGOLFER
37

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Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2019

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