09dunbar wins yank-lite british am
the reasons so few americans play in the british amateur are
real and justifiable. flying across the atlantic is costly, and the
stay can be short given the unfamiliar style of golf they’ll encounter. still, the satisfaction northern ireland’s alan dunbar
(shown) felt when he knocked off austria’s matthias schwab,
1 up, in the 36-hole final at royal troon should give those
who passed on playing in scotland pause. that only 12 of the
288 in the field were from the u.s. is embarrassingly paltry.
although top americans are considered for entry based on
the world amateur golf ranking, the r&a gives automatic
spots to winners of 50 different college and amateur events,
37 of which are played in the states. yet only three american
winners went to scotland and just three of the 12 overall made
match play, uc davis’ senior tyler raber reaching the round
of 16. with the winner getting into next month’s british open
and next year’s masters and u.s. open, there are incentives to
make the trip. ask drew weaver, who was the first american
in almost 30 years to win in 2007, what he thought of heading
overseas? maybe the event will never draw big numbers, but
for those who have qualified, not to consider playing seems
like an opportunity wasted. —R.H.
richard heathcote/r&a/r&a via getty images
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