Golfweek

• International Final Qualifying (Final round)

Northwestern sophomore Eric Chun qualified for the British Open Thursday at International Final Qualifying in Asia. It was an event of international golf significance, and not just because it involved a Korean native who attends an American college qualifying for a tournament in Scotland (at the Home of Golf, nonetheless) via a tournament in Malaysia.

Chun shot 67-71 to grab the fourth and final spot at Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur. Seung-yul Noh, an 18-year-old Korean who bettered K.J. Choi to win last week’s Malaysian Open, Malaysia’s Danny Chia and Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita will join Chun at St. Andrews for this year’s British Open.

“I have never been so nervous in my life and I’m just happy it worked out well,” said Chun, who turned 20 Monday.

Chun’s accomplishment can soothe the nerves of the Asian Amateur’s organizers because it adds credibility to the event, just weeks before Chang-Won Han tees it up at Augusta National as the inaugural Asian Amateur champ.

Chun earned his spot in the Open qualifier by finishing second to Han at the inaugural Asian Amateur. Han shot 73-68 at ...

There are many amateur golfers playing the game who have impressive stories to tell.

Do you know of a “Local Legend”?

Golfweek wants to hear about golfers with impressive amateur records on the state and local scene. Several will be highlighted in our annual Amateur Issue on April 30.

Send nominations by March 5 with brief credentials to news@golfweek.com or fax to 407-563-7077 (Attn.: Local Legends). Please include name, address and contact numbers for the nominee.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Odds and ends from a cold, rainy day at the Jones Cup Invitational.

• Brad Benjamin, the U.S. Amateur Public Links champ, shot 79, but had the line of the day. When asked if he’s becoming impatient as he waits for his Masters start, Benjamin said, “I wish there were more days, to be honest. You’re teeing it up with the best players in the world.”

Benjamin, who’s from Rockford, Ill., and went to Memphis, is staying at a family friend’s house in Bluffton, S.C., and practicing at Belfair as he prepares for the Masters. He’s played Augusta National twice, shooting rounds of 71 and 75.

Benjamin has been to the Masters once, to watch a practice round in 2006.

“It was just so inspiring to be there. I remember standing on the 10th tee, watching a couple of guys tee off, and thinking to myself how cool it’d be to hit that shot in the tournament,” he said. “You just hope it’s you one day. You don’t know if it’ll be when you’re 25 or 45. That it came this quick is so surreal ...

Estanislao Guerrero, an amateur from Tijuana, Mexico, Monday-qualified for the Farmers Insurance Open. Guerrero, 24, graduated from Old Dominion in ’08 with a degree in finance and economics. He spoke with Golfweek before shooting 74-80 and missing the cut:

Golf isn’t the first thing people think of when they hear Tijuana. Where did you develop your game?

For me, (golf) is very accessible. It’s the same as here in San Diego. I play at Tijuana Country Club. It has lots of history. (It’s) designed by Alister MacKenzie. A lot of people don’t know that. It’s a really nice track. There’s nothing that really can hold me back.

Your hometown was listed as San Diego for the qualifier, but you’re playing the tournament out of Tijuana. Where do you live?

I have a P.O. Box in San Diego. That’s where I get my mail. . . . Once I made the big tournament, I really wanted them to put Mexico, because that’s where I live. It’s just a P.O. Box so I can get mail a lot quicker.

What have you been doing since you graduated from college?

I’ve just dedicated ...

The Kraft Nabisco Championship has extended invitations to seven of the nation’s top amateurs, one more than is usually given. 

“It just seemed like we had a bigger selection of deserving players,” said Terry Wilcox, the longtime tournament director who now serves as a consultant. The extra amateur player will not have any effect on the number of professionals who get into the field.

Jennifer Song and Alexis Thompson highlight the list, which also includes Cydney Clanton, Jennifer Johnson, Kimberly Kim, Jessica Korda and Candace Schepperle. 

Thompson, Golfweek’s top-ranked amateur and junior, tied for low amateur honors at the Kraft last year with Tiffany Joh (T-21). Johnson and Schepperle missed the cut. 

Kimberly Kim missed the cut in 2007. Song and Korda will be making their Kraft debuts. 

With Alexis Thompson’s 15th birthday not coming until Feb. 10, it’s safe to say the pro game is still a couple years away for the young phenom.

But Thompson recently made a change that should help her when she does start playing for play, and in the handful of LPGA starts she’s expected to make this year. Thompson switched to irons and wedges with the new, conforming grooves the week of the Junior Orange Bowl, which she won.

Players competing in LPGA events (including amateurs) have to use the new grooves starting this season, but the new grooves won’t be mandatory for elite amateur events (like the U.S. Women’s Amateur) until 2014. Everyone else has to switch in ’24.

Thompson, Golfweek’s female junior amateur player of the year for ’09, could use the old grooves in amateur events this year, but hopes the full-time switch will put her ahead of the curve when she competes against professionals.

Thompson will likely be one of the amateurs invited to the Kraft Nabisco Championship (she shared low-amateur honors last year), and has qualified for the past three U.S. Women’s Opens.

Thompson’s success hasn ...

If Friday was any indication, then the final installment of the South Atlantic Amateur Saturday could be one for the ages.

Scores plummeted in the third round of the Sally, and 16-year-old Jessica Korda led that charge. A week after representing the United States in the Copa de las Americas in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Korda shot 10-under 62 to take a 3-shot lead on Alexis Thompson at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla. She had 10 birdies in her bogey-free round Friday, and carded just one bogey on the par-3 16th on her way to a 69 Thursday. If she continues at this rate, Korda could truly light up the course in her final round.

Though Thompson is currently in the No. 2 spot, her Friday performance was none too shabby. Thompson shot 7-under 65, putting her at 7-under 209 for the tournament. Thompson has finished second twice in her last three tournaments (including a playoff loss to Kyle Roig at the Harder Hall last weekend), which could serve as an excellent motivator.

Throw Auburn senior Candace Schepperle into the mix – she’s tied with Thompson after a third-round 68 – and things could really get interesting.

Here’s an easy golf prediction for 2010. If you haven’t yet heard of Italian golf sensation Matteo Manassero, you soon will.

The 16-year-old Italian national golf team standout, who vaulted to the top of the Golfweek/amateurgolf.com World Rankings with a win at the British Amateur and a tie for 13th at the British Open -- plans to play the Masters as an amateur in April. He will be the youngest-ever contestant in that tournament, just as he was the youngest-ever (and first Italian) winner of the British Amateur.

Manassero, who friends call “Manny” (after an Italian cartoon character) has been on the kind of ride that can only lead to one place.

Manassero told amateurgolf.com that he will turn pro after the Masters and take advantage of the seven allowed sponsor’s exemptions on the European Tour.

“I really want to live the pro life,” he said in a phone interview from his home in the Northeastern Italian city of Verona, less than two hours from Milan.

His parents are supportive of the decision, as they have been since he started golf at age 4 and through his whirlwind last three years, starting at age 14 ...

Glancing down the list of confirmed entries for this year’s Harder Hall Invitational, one name was notably absent: Carol Semple Thompson.

The amateur golf legend broke her left wrist five weeks ago and must skip this year’s event. Thompson believes she has played the Harder Hall at least 30 times, playing her first in 1970. She now serves as chair of the tournament committee and will be on hand this week in chilly Sebring, Fla. The event starts Jan. 6, and Candace Schepperle also will be there to defend her title.

“The plate and screws are going to give me the perfect putting stroke and 15 more yards - guaranteed,” Thompson wrote in an e-mail. 

She won the champions division three consecutive years, from 1990-92.

Nigel Edwards will captain the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team at Royal Aberdeen, Scotland in 2011.

The 41-year-old was tipped by Golfweek to take over from Colin Dalgleish to try to wrestle the cup back after two successive defeats. The GB&I Walker Cup selectors agreed, and announced Edwards as the man to lead GB&I in two years time.

Edwards played in four successive Walker Cup matches from 2001-07, winning two and losing two. In that time he posted a record of four wins, five losses and three halves.

The Welshman was leading points earner when GB&I won at Ganton Golf Club in 2003. He ensured GB&I won the cup outright when he halved his singles match with Lee Williams in the final singles sessions, as GB&I won the match 12 1/2-11 1/2.

Director of Player Development and Coaching at the Golf Union of Wales, Edwards was widely tipped to play at Merion this year. However, the GB&I selectors went for youth over experience and suffered a third straight loss.

“The goal is to win back the Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen and I will lead the team with great pride and ...

The Copa de las Americas – a biennial amateur team competition for countries in North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean – is quickly approaching, and the U.S. players have been selected.

Nathan Smith, U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion, and Peter Uihlein, a sophomore at Oklahoma State, have been named to the men’s team. Both players also represented the U.S. in the Walker Cup in September, and Uihlein went undefeated in his matches.

Mike McCoy, co-medalist with Smith at the U.S. Mid-Amateur, was chosen as an alternate.

On the women’s side, Jennifer Song, who won both the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links this summer, and Jessica Korda, a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, will represent the U.S. Song is a sophomore at USC, and Korda is a 16-year-old from Bradenton, Fla.

Kimberly Kim, who was the runner-up at this year’s U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, is the women’s team alternate.

Teams were selected by the USGA's International Team Selection Committee.

The tournament will be played Jan. 6-9 at Buenos Aires Golf Club ...

SHENZHEN, China – Barely missing out on a spot in the Masters has to be a tough pill to swallow. But Eric Chun’s runner-up finish at the Asian Amateur gives him a chance for redemption.

Chun played his final three holes 1 under par to finish runner-up and earn a spot in International Final Qualifying for the 2010 British Open. Chun two-putted for birdie on the par-5 16th, made a 6-foot par putt on No. 17 and a routine par on the difficult par-4 18th.

Chun advanced to sectional qualifying for this year’s U.S. Open. He was leading his qualifier in Grayslake, Ill., by two shots with three holes to play, but made bogey on two of his final three holes, then lost a playoff to Western Illinois’ Kyle Peterman.

“That is a bad memory, so I am hoping to get a little payback,” Chun said.

SHENZHEN, China – Matt Giles made one final push Sunday to try to claim the Asian Amateur title, but came up short. Giles, a first-team All-American at USC, started the final round nine strokes off the pace, but made birdies on seven of his first 11 holes.

He was 8 under par for the tournament before hitting a 7-iron into the water on the par-3 13th for a double bogey, then made bogey on the par-5 16th. He finished with a 68 (31-37) for a 5-under 283 at Mission Hills’ World Cup Course.

Now that the Asian Amateur is over, Giles embarks on a hectic schedule.

After a brief stop at school in Los Angeles, Giles will head to Sydney for the Australian Masters.

Giles will leave China on Monday afternoon, go to class Tuesday and Thursday, then leave Thursday evening for Sydney.

“My schedule’s a joke,” Giles said Sunday. “I have to go to class. If I didn’t, my professors would kill me. I get in Sydney Saturday morning, so it gives me a couple days to get over jet lag and get some practice in, then try and battle Tiger.”

SHENZHEN, China – The Asian Amateur will be televised live at 2 a.m. EST on Sunday morning. While most Americans won’t be awake, there will be a captive audience in Evanston, Ill., the home of Northwestern University.

Northwestern sophomore Eric Chun is in second place at the Asian Amateur, two shots behind leader Chang-won Han with 18 holes.

The winner will earn a ticket to the 2010 Masters, and Chun’s teammates want to be awake to view the action as it happens.

“I think I’m going to have a few guys over at my apartment and order some pizza and watch it tonight,” Northwestern junior Josh Dupont said in an e-mail. “We’re super pumped for him!”

It's not unusual for college students to be awake at 2 a.m. Sunday. But what about a college golf coach?

“My plan is to watch it live, but 2 a.m. is not an hour I see often!” Northwestern coach Pat Goss said in an e-mail.

SHENZHEN, China – Scoring has been low at the Asian Amateur. Ten under par is leading after three rounds at Mission Hills’ World Cup Course, which is playing 7,149 yards, and 21 players are under par through 54 holes.

But how difficult is the course playing? I asked two players who compete at U.S. colleges to tell me how these red numbers would stand up if other top collegians were in the field.

Said USC’s Matt Giles, a first-team All-American last season: “The greens are relatively slow. You can be pretty aggressive with them. There is a little bit of rough on some holes, but generally the fairways are relatively wide. You get some tangly lies here and there, but it’s not like NCAA rough. It’s not playing too difficult out there.”

Signs posted near the first tee said greens were running 10.5 on the Stimpmeter, relatively slow compared to high-level amateur competition in the United States. Giles estimated a score of about 16 under par would be needed to win a four-round college event at the course.

Said Northwestern’s Eric Chun, the reigning Big Ten champ: “I would say it’s probably the ...