R&A

The R&A has announced that Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club will host the 45th Walker Cup Match, in 2015.

10 March, 72 players from 18 nations will tee-off at Saujana Golf and Country Club on Wednesday 10 March.

A preliminary 18-man squad has been selected for for this August's match agains the Continent of Europe.

 

To mark the occasion, the British Golf Museum is inviting the public into the museum for free on 20 special free entry days.

Last weekend, eight players from the R&A-supported Japeri Project played in the first phase of the Rio State Junior Championships.

The British Golf Museum opened its doors for free on Saturday 27 February, to kick start a year of celebrations.

Uros Zvonc and Igor Blaskovic both studied at Elmwood before returning to Central Europe to help develop the game.

Ganesh Chand is now working on St Andrews Castle Course while Daniel Harley is making waves in Iceland.

The R&A has contributed towards the greenkeeping education of 77 students from countries all over the world.

In 2014, Royal Liverpool Golf Club will host The Open Championship for the 12th time.

Rules officials from as far afield as Chinese Taipei were in St Andrews for The R&A’s annual Referees School.

Patrick Reed took victory at the Jones Cup Invitational, defeating former WAGR Number One Victor Dubuisson in a play-off.

The R&A has announced venues for the 2013 Championship season.

Since 2004, the Ryder Cup European Development Trust has funded junior golf programmes all over the continent.

David Rickman: It’s a good question and one we are looking at. This Rule came into sharp focus at Birkdale. The winds there were extreme and, with fast putting surfaces, this sort of thing can happen. In particular, it’s where players address the ball – get their feet in position and ground the club – but are then worried it’s going to move before they play.

David Rickman: It’s a fundamental principle that the ball is played as it lies. There are exceptions to this, but these are limited in number, and restricted to circumstances where relief is considered appropriate and necessary: immovable obstructions, casual water, ground under repair – that sort of thing. Course conditioning has improved considerably over the years to the extent that some golfers now feel they have an entitlement to a perfect lie.

Peter Dawson: Because you hit it in there!

The R&A has made its first official visit to Qatar in recognition of the Qatar Open Amateur becoming a WAGR counting event.

Director of Golf Development, Duncan Weir, recently returned from Bangladesh after he visited with a group from St Andrews.

I write this from the departure lounge at Melbourne Airport heading back to Scotland after a nine-day Rules stint in Melbourne.