A view of No. 14 on Bandon Trails
at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort
Keiser Suggests Bandon Role In Rota
BANDON, OREGON | This was the first
time the men’s and women’s U.S. Public
Links Championships were played concurrently, and the event was judged by
the USGA and host Bandon Dunes resort
to be a great success. Bandon owner
Mike Keiser has offered to become a
rotating host for the Publinks Championships if the USGA can find other sites
that will join the rota. He remains interested in hosting almost any tournament
the USGA wants to send his way.
Another event Bandon Dunes is
looking closely at is a national speed
golf championship, with a $50,000
purse. This event could begin in 2012.
Keiser began the festivities by hosting a dinner for 900 people on Saturday
evening. He got a standing ovation
when he informed the players that anyone who missed the cut could play as
much golf as they wanted, with a guest,
for the rest of the week at no cost on
the non-tournament courses.
The Publinks, on both sides, is unlike any other USGA amateur event.
Mothers and fathers are on hand to
watch their offspring, but you also will
see sons and daughters in the gallery,
watching a parent.
The youngest player in the women’s
field was Angel Yin, 12, of Arcadia,
Calif., while the oldest player was Kim
Everett, 58, of Anchorage, Alaska.
On the men’s side, the youngest
player was 15-year-old Kyle Bray from
Farmingdale, N. Y., while the oldest was
Dick Wenzel, 58, from Sparks, Nev.
Walt Disney World claims to be the
happiest place on earth, but the field at
the Public Links events may disagree.
Player after player from both fields
remarked constantly about just how
friendly the resort staff was. They also
applauded impeccable transportation
logistics that made getting to and from
the golf course very easy.
The Bandon Preserve, the much
discussed par- 3 course that
owner Keiser has planned, is
now 13 holes. Keiser said,
simply, that designer Bill
Coore “found another hole.”
The course is slated to open
on June 1, 2012.
The story of the week, other
than the sheer joy of Bandon
Dunes, was Cheyenne Woods.
Woods, who won the ACC Cham-
pionship this spring, and shot 141 to
claim the stroke-play medal. Until Fri-
day morning, Woods, a senior at Wake
Forest, had experienced few problems
along the Scottish-inspired links at
Bandon Trails and Old Macdonald. Calling Friday’s match the worst golf she’d
played all summer, Woods pointed to
her ongoing swing struggles as her
ultimate downfall.
Woods, the niece of nine-time USGA
champion Tiger Woods, said, “I wasn’t
hitting it well this morning, so when I was
out on the course, I was trying to find that
one swing thought that would click and
make me feel comfortable out there. But
I never really was comfortable.”
Defending men’s champion Lion
Kim chose not to defend his 2010
championship. He joined a private club
in preparation for turning pro after the
U.S. Amateur.
The 1996 Publinx champion, Tim
Hogarth, withdrew after 17 holes into
the first round. He has not sufficiently
recovered from a wrist injury suffered
in March.
Three Walker Cup candidates were
at Bandon Dunes last week.
Andrew Yun, thought by many to be
closing in on a team berth, caught a bad
draw and missed the cut by two shots.
Harris English finished T3 in the stroke-play qualifying and went all the way to
the semifinals before falling to eventual
winner Corbin Mills. John Peterson
finished T27 in the stroke play portion A
