One of the many issues raised last year by Kenny Perrys three-win season, in which he played in just one round of one of the four major championships, was the USGAs qualifying standards for its national Championship.
Currently a player must win twice on the PGA Tour in the 12-month period leading up to the U.S. Open to get an exemption into the U.S. Open. The exact wording for the 2008 U.S. Open on this was: Any multiple winner of PGA Tour co-sponsored events whose victories are considered official from April, 2007 through June 1, 2008.
Not long ago The Masters eased its qualifying standards to allow players with just one official PGA Tour victory in the last 12 months into its field.
Perry won The Memorial last year two weeks prior to the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. But he chose not to attempt to qualify through sectional play. He later won twice more and starred in the U.S. teams rousing victory over Europe in the Ryder Cup.
He took a lot of heat from a lot of people for skipping the British Open and then had to withdraw after one round of the PGA because of an eye ailment.
Anyway, the word started going around that the USGA might follow suit with the Lords of Augusta and lower the standard from two wins to one. That word, apparently, was wrong.
One win wont do and I doubt seriously if that position will change in the foreseeable future (assuming my crystal ball is reasonably clear), USGA executive director David Fay informed Golf Channel.com in an e-mail.
Fay said the USGA wont finalize anything on this matter until its annual meeting in February. GolfChannel.com has learned that there is some sentiment to making a change on the USGAs executive committee but that Fays position represents the majority.
The good news as it relates to Perry and the U.S. Open is that he has already qualified for this year and has said he plans to play at Bethpage Black in June.
Award Winner: Northern Trust Open tournament director Tom Pulchinski expects to name the recipient of the first Charlie Sifford Exemption by the end of this week.
The tournament recently announced it would extend an exemption in honor of Siffords trail-blazing efforts on behalf of African-American golfers.
The exemption will go to the player who represents the advancement of diversity in golf but who wouldnt otherwise be eligible.
Sifford is 86 now and didnt earn his Tour card until he was 39 because of doors that werent open in golf for African Americans.
Pulchinski said the exemption wont be restricted to professionals but did say this years recipient will be an African-American. Other minorities, in future years, will receive consideration.
The Northern Trust Open will be played Feb. 19-22 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Ca.
GOLF BOOKS: There are so few really good ones. And there are way too many overly sentimental ones. James Dodson struck all the right notes in his tome, Final Rounds, more than 10 years ago.
In May, we will get the release of his latest major work, A Son of the Game.
Its a memoir, the publisher says about finding new meaning through an old sport.
And Dodson does this better than most. A quick perusal of an advance copy confirms that Dodsons cleanly-carpentered prose still has all the familiar beveled edges.
A sample from the early pages: During the spring of 1948, cheered on by his rowdy fraternity brothers from Chapel Hill and wielding a wooden-shafted putter hed found as a kid on a bench in the locker room of his fathers nine-hole golf club in tiny Tarboro, (Harvie) Ward came out of nowhere to win the coveted North and South Amateur Championship at Pinehurst, making himself a star overnight.
Thats a long sentence that reads short. Doing that takes talent. My sense is the 289 pages will go by quickly, too. I am looking forward to it.
PET PEEVE OF THE WEEK: This will be a new semi-regular feature of this mid-week golf notes column. Nit-picking, by the way, is allowed.
And this weeks pet peeve is the word trajectory. More specifically, its the seeming inability of most players ' and even some announcers ' in golf to pronounce it correctly.
Listen closely and you will hear chadrectory and chajecory, but rarely trajectory. Even the great Jack Nicklaus struggles with this one.
It all reminds me of how Lee Trevino still pronounces Baltusrol. He puts an extra t in there and says, Baltustrol.
Somehow, coming from Trevino though, its not a pet peeve.
