USGA to end Publinx; new Four-Ball Championship

[Howard Riefs]

The USGA’s two championships for public-links players will cease after 2014, replaced by two national championships for a format new to the national scene: the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, which will begin in 2015.

http://mobile.golfweek.com/news/2013/feb/11/exclusive-usga-end-public-links-championships-2014/

http://www.usga.org/news/2013/February/Changes-Made-To-USGA-Championship-Roster/

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Great move forward - the Public Links didn't make sense anymore and the four ball will be an exciting new championship.

[Scott Warren]

I wonder who (if anyone) The Masters willl invite instead of the Public Links Champion.

[Don_Mahaffey]

I like the move as well.
The line distinguishing a publinx player from a private club player was getting very blurred. When you see college players showing up at publinx qualifiers and you know their teams have privileges at some of the best privates in town, it's no longer a publinx event.

[jeffwarne]

As Don states, there were certainly blurred lines about eligibility for the Publinx, and no doubt there were abuses, whether unintentional or not.
That said, there were also players legitimately eligible who no doubt looked forward to the event.
Is this yet another example of Mike Young's statement on another thread about the USGA doing less and less for public golf?
The Masters felt it a legitimate enough tournament for an invite-

The Four ball Championships sound like great fun for the Buffy and Hamilton Hearst III set

[Jerry Kluger]

I can only imagine how long a round of four ball qualifying or match play will take.  I have been to US Open qualifiers where they have threesomes and seen how long those rounds take and to have four balls with partners consulting each other on shots and strategies can only lead me to believe that the norm for a round will be in excess of 5 hours. Now I would have been impressed if the USGA said that as part of the new championships they will implement whatever rules they need to guarantee that no round takes more than 4 hours and 15 minutes.

[John McCarthy]

To unify the threads, would a new and exciting 36 hole resort course near central Florida be a nice place to hold a 4-Ball national championship in late spring?  Having 36 holes would speed things up.  

on edit:  36 holes medal play to begin so no course would be favored over another.

[Jim Colton]

Wanted: Steady +4 (or better) handicap to pair with a wild erratic player at/near the handicap cut-off line. I promise to contribute at least once or twice per 18 holes. And I'll pay for the trip to 2015 championship at Bandon if we make it past sectionals.

It will be cool to see Nathan Smith and Sean Knapp take on the field of young college teammates.

[Ronald Montesano]

Jim...is the point then to just crown some more collegiate champions? It won't be fun at all to watch Sean and Nathan take the college kids on. They would get their burros smacked.

I watched Smith pair with Uihlein at Merion. Smith is erratic but somehow gets it in the hole. He has the intimidation factor on his side versus the mid-ams, but not so much with the ams (spotty US Amateur record.)

Unless the USGA restricts qualification in some way, they will have done nothing to help the career amateur. Isn't this just another tryout for the Curtis and Walker Cup teams?

[Chris Roselle]

Wanted: Steady +4 (or better) handicap to pair with a wild erratic player at/near the handicap cut-off line. I promise to contribute at least once or twice per 18 holes. And I'll pay for the trip to 2015 championship at Bandon if we make it past sectionals.

It will be cool to see Nathan Smith and Sean Knapp take on the field of young college teammates.

Jim, might be tough for the college group to play in this event as it is scheduled for early spring according to the presser I received from the USGA this morning...

"The addition of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, which will be played annually between mid-March and late May with the inaugural events scheduled for 2015, reflects the Association’s continued commitment to supporting and growing amateur competition well into the future."

[Jeff_Brauer]

I guess Sand Creek Station makes a small bit of history, hosting the last one.....

[Jeff Evagues]

I've been waiting for this for years. The Publinx had already turned into the NCAA tournament part 2. The Mid-Am isn't what its supposed to be anymore, either. Except for Smith and a handful of others, its the "reinstated  amateur" championship.

[jeffwarne]

I've been waiting for this for years. The Publinx had already turned into the NCAA tournament part 2. The Mid-Am isn't what its supposed to be anymore, either. Except for Smith and a handful of others, its the "reinstated  amateur" championship.

Jeff,
How about a "Neverpro" Amateur Championship?

[Dustin Ferrell]

This is great news.  I think the Publinx was outdated and not very interesting at all.  As a 2 index, I've never had much interest in trying to qualify for any USGA events as I'm not close to being good enough to compete, but this format would make me think hard about maybe getting a good partner and at least having some fun with it.

Great move USGA!

[Brent Hutto]

I've been waiting for this for years. The Publinx had already turned into the NCAA tournament part 2. The Mid-Am isn't what its supposed to be anymore, either. Except for Smith and a handful of others, its the "reinstated  amateur" championship.

Jeff,
How about a "Neverpro" Amateur Championship?

Make it "never pro, not currently on scholarship" and you have yourself a deal!

But seriously, as the USGA reaches the late stages of evolving the meaning of "Amateur" to "not currently playing on a professional Tour" we will eventually need a neologism such as "Neverpro" to represent what was formerly known as "Amateur".

It's like the saying occasionally attributed to Lincoln...

If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? Four. Plus a tail that's called a leg.

[Garland Bayley]

I like the idea of creating another team championship, but wouldn't they be more likely to attract pairs that regularly play together, instead of Jim Coltons and random +4 partners, if they created a foursomes championship?

[Mike_Trenham]

I bet the ability to get two good non-private venues a year was a driver on this change as well.

[jeffwarne]

I bet the ability to get two good non-private venues a year was a driver on this change as well.

Given that the clubs/courses fund much of the costs of the events themselves, finding 2 public willing to
A. pay the expenses associated with hosting ( I know the Mid-Am hosts lay out significant expenses to host-don't know if Publinx hosts do)
B.Give up a revenue stream during the event
may well have been tough.
With the USGA's cash stash dwindling to just $250 million , it's not like there's any money available given the high costs of fighting the evil belly putter

[Mike_Trenham]

I bet the ability to get two good non-private venues a year was a driver on this change as well.

Given that the clubs/courses fund much of the costs of the events themselves, finding 2 non privates willing to
A. pay the expenses associated with hosting
B.Give up a revenue stream during the event
may well have been tough.
With the USGA's cash stash dwindling to just $250 million , it's not like there's any money available given the high costs of fighting the evil belly putter

Back in the late 90's they hosted a Publinx in HI and provided a stipend to each contestent.

I never understood why competitors were allowed to play in both championships.  Does anyone know when that came about?

[Cameron DeVries]

Sounds like a business decision; especially after hearing the USGA announcement on morning drive.  I understand the need to grow the game and bring events to different levels of players - but I am personally disappointed.  Entering the Publinks qualifying when I was in high school and college was one of the best opportunities I had.  The entry fee was low and the venues for qualifying & tournament proper were outstanding.  But you can't please everyone, there are many sides to every issue.  I am happy for the guys who will now have a realistic chance of playing in a USGA event.  At least I had my shot; I feel bad for the guys a generation younger than me who aspire to play professionally.  This would be maybe the only inexpensive tournament on most players' tournament schedules.  This was a chance to play Augusta (one former champion was Trevor Immelman, others Ryan Moore and B. Snedeker).  PGATour is becoming more and more of a closed shop even as there are more and more bright young players.  I will be interested in hearing the perspective(s) of players like Snedeker and Moore.

[Tim_Cronin]

Have no idea if the four-ball will work. The WGA tried it in the 1950s and it died after two years from lack of interest.

Have no idea why, if the USGA was disappointed with the college crowd in the two Publinx, it didn't first move the tournament date into the college season, or institute an age limit similar to the Mid-Amateur.

The addition and subtraction of the tournaments are now connected. They need not have been.

Idea: PGA of America, why not call the USGA and offer to take over the Publinx tourneys?

[Tim Gavrich]

Mid-spring time frame for this one, huh? Non-private venues? I bet it'll be held at Streamsong in or before 2020.

[Chris Roselle]

Torrey Pines or Bandon would be my guess.  You would think the USGA would like a high profile facility to help attract a quality field.

[Wade Whitehead]

The Public Links had become a complete joke.  It was a tournament for college players who pretended not to have access at private clubs.

I'll be interested to see if the new format brings in younger players or if the demographic shifts upward.  My guess is that members of winning teams will pretty much be former winners of USGA events.

WW

[Howard Riefs]

Torrey Pines or Bandon would be my guess.  You would think the USGA would like a high profile facility to help attract a quality field.

Smart pick. Via Matt Ginella:

USGA told me they're talking to former Open venue for '15 debut of US Four-Ball. It'll be played between March & May. I'm thinking Torrey.

https://twitter.com/MattGinellaGC/status/300969926057934848