U.S. Open: What could be finer than to be in Carolina?
+ Are we in store for another first-time major champion?; U.S. Open robs The Cradle for a spell; reimagining Cotton Bay Club and more.
THE STARTER
🏌️ Scottie Scheffler just wants to move on from his arrest in Louisville, in which the charges were subsequently dropped. “That mug shot, I’m sure is not going anywhere anytime soon," he said.
🏌️ Scheffler’s lawyer was, however briefly, willing to sue the city of Louisville over the incident. Scheffler wasn’t so willing. Was his attorney looking for an easy payday?
🏌️ Grayson Murray was memorialized by his fellow players at the Memorial Tournament. Do you think the players will try harder to look after each other?
🏌️ Scotland’s Robert McIntyre won the RBC Canadian Open but then withdrew from this week’s Memorial Tournament. Did he realize the Memorial is Jack Nicklaus’ tournament?
🏌️ The PGA Tour, R&A and the DP World Tour created something called the Global Amateur Pathway to give a DP World Tour card to the highest-ranked male amateur — who is not playing NCAA Division I golf. Think Stewart Hagestad really wants to play the DP World Tour?
🏌️ Adam Scott lost a playoff for the final qualifying spot in Springfield, Ohio, for the U.S. Open next week in Pinehurst, North Carolina, which puts his streak of 91 straight majors in jeopardy of coming to an end. Think Scott will turn up in Pinehurst as an alternate?
🏌️ Ian Poulter, Tyrrell Hatton, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson traveled to Houston for the LIV Golf event — but their clubs and luggage were not completely in tow as Poulter reveals.
🏌️ Yuka Saso became the youngest player, at age 22, to have two U.S. Women’s Open titles when she won at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania. Did you watch?
🏌️ Fifteen-year-old Miles Russell will make his PGA Tour debut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic next month. Russell was the youngest player ever to make the cut at a Korn Ferry Tour event. Is the PGA Tour going to any lengths to get some attention?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Hey non-major winners, time to step up
Gary Van Sickle's crystal ball was pretty stout in 2015, so on the eve of the U.S. Open he's taking another shot at predicting who is primed for a major breakthrough.
:: Gary Van Sickle | Read
Home, home on The Cradle range
Pinehurst Resort and Country Club's young, but fabled, par-3 course has been turned into a practice range for this year’s U.S. Open. But don't fret, the course will return.
:: Ward Clayton | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 Inside the savage, surreal, booming world of professional slap fighting
Propelled by its viral moments of violence, the combat sport—in which combatants take turns smacking each other in the face—is soaring in popularity online and off.
:: Ander Monson | Esquire | 05.23.2024
📖 ‘Forrest Gump’ turns thirty: An oral history of the unexpected blockbuster
Three decades after the release of the film, a collective story of its making reveals ‘Gump’ still looms large in the lives of the stars and the locals who helped turn a movie no one wanted into an Oscar-winning smash.
:: Monte Burke | Garden & Gun | 06-07.2024
📖 25 years later: Remembering Payne Stewart’s dramatic U.S. Open title
:: David Shefter | USGA | 01.23.2024
SUBSTACKED
📖 The point of fishing may not be fishing
And sometimes schools of mackerel laugh at you.
:: Jack Brown | Frog’s Glen | 06.02.2024
BUSINESS
WEEK IN REVIEW
1️⃣8️⃣ The industry’s names, news and notables that are making the headlines. | Read
PERFECT PUTT
Women's golf: The bullish opportunities
Publisher Jared Doerfler takes a look at from where golf’s increased participation numbers coming.
:: Jared Doerfler | Read
Each Monday, Jared Doerfler breaks down the business of golf. Subscribe to Perfect Putt here.
ICYMI
This week’s editions of The First Call:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
LIFESTYLE
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Billy Mayfair, five-time PGA Tour winner: “I love Mexican food, so maybe a couple of cheese enchiladas, a burrito and a daiquiri … that's a perfect meal for me."
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
HOME FRONT
Willowbend | Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Listing: 19 Willow Circle.
Stats: 3,811 square feet | 4 beds | 3.5 baths.
Price: $2,450,000.
About: This new construction home is ready for spring / summer occupancy and includes a golf initiation fee at Willowbend valued at $85,000. Part of a new six-lot subdivision at Willowbend with easy access to the club amenities, this offering is a striking gambrel with high-end finishes. Features include wood floors throughout, beautiful cabinetry and custom trim work, designer tile, a first and second floor laundry room, a whole-house generator, a private backyard with room for a pool (upgrade option) and a golf cart access path for easy access to the club’s amenities.
For more golf real estate listings, go to GolfLifeNavigators.com.
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN NOTES
Robert Trent Jones II to rediscover Cotton Bay Club
Robert Trent Jones II has been awarded the commission to design a new golf course for Cotton Bay Club on the island of Eleuthera in The Bahamas.
The original Cotton Bay Golf Club was part of Pan Am Airlines founder Juan Trippe’s ambitious Cotton Bay Club. In 1959, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Trippe created a new golf destination on a remote stretch of pristine sand and sea on the island’s southern shore. Very quickly, the club was a hit, becoming a favorite for golf in the islands and hosting "Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf." The course and resort closed following a hurricane in 2005, but the same adventurous spirit has been rekindled by the Cotton Bay Holdings Group, which has assembled a global team, including RTJ II, to create a brand-new world-class golf destination.
RTJ II is currently in the detailed design stage of the course, with construction to start in November 2024.
"We are collaborating closely with Cotton Bay Holdings and their partners, to craft an exciting, adaptable golf course experience, echoing the original inspiration of my grandfather and Juan Trippe," said Trent Jones Jr., chief operating officer of Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects.
The sand-base core golf course will also feature unique amenities that all guests will enjoy, including a large Himalayas-style "social green" that seamlessly connects to the golf clubhouse, a flexible family course and comprehensive golf practice facilities. Along with the golf course, the project will include a world-class hotel, residences, spa and restaurants.
"One of our goals is to craft a fun and flexible golf course reminiscent of iconic sand-belt courses utilizing the onsite sand as our canvas," said Mike Gorman, senior project architect for RTJ II. "The course will offer seamless fairways providing many different playing-loop options, which are ideal for match-play golf. The routing will give golfers the flexibility to choose their own adventure during matches. This is the first-of-its-kind design in the Caribbean — a match-play golf course that promises both excitement and fun."
"It’s a thrilling opportunity to help bring the Jones spirit of adventure back to Cotton Bay," said Robert Trent Jones Jr., chairman and master architect of Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects. "The next generation of Jones architects is dedicated to continuing the tradition of providing outstanding golf experiences, and I’m proud to see them keeping elements of my father’s genius and combining them with a more modern, sustainable outlook. And so, the legacy moves forward."
READ: This week’s complete Design Notes
RELATED: Design Notes archive
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Robert McIntyre played 5 straight events on a foreign continent. He's been homesick - his mother was in the States preparing meals for him and his father caddied for him in Canada. In the light of what happened to Grayson Murray, don't you think his mental health is more important the Jack's tournament?
Where are the American stars on the LPGA leaderboard? A trend of not showing up!