Chinese player expected at Women's Am at Nassau CC
Fumie Jo made history and earned a trip to Long Island in one sweep. The 15-year-old last Saturday won the U.S. Women's Public Links, becoming the first golfer from mainland China ever to win a U.S. Golf Association championship. With the victory, she received an exemption to the U.S. Women's Amateur at Nassau Country Club in Glen Cove next week, and is expected to attend.
Jo, who also goes by the first name Alice, is a ninth-grader from Shanghai and is the second-youngest to win the Women's Public Links (Michelle Wie won at 13). "In China, I think everyone will be talking about it," Jo said after she defeated Eun Jeong Seong of Korea, 3 and 2, in Dupont, Washington.
The Women's Amateur will be Aug. 4-10 at Nassau. Annie Park of Levittown will be in the field. Lucy Li, 11, who galvanized the U.S. Women's Open last month, will not. While she did donate the red, white and blue top she wore in her first round to the USGA's museum, she did not file an entry. A USGA official said the California resident's parents didn't want to overtax her with more travel.
Saladino's 'real' trophy
Before the New York State Open was finished, Joe Saladino left with a trophy.
Saladino won the Long Island Amateur at Westhampton Country Club last month, having heard that the original, vintage 1930s trophy had recently been discovered in a Long Island clubhouse. During its absence, the Long Island Golf Association commissioned a replacement, which remained in the LIGA's possession.
During the tournament, Saladino joked that with two trophies, they ought to allow the winner to keep it for a year -- as the British Open does with the Claret Jug. It turns out that association officials were thinking the same way. So after the second round of the 54-hole State Open Wednesday at Bethpage, LIGA tournament director John McGrath presented the venerable, newly polished prize to Saladino.
Good and bad
Bad week for golf: Dicks' Sporting Goods, citing slow sales of golf equipment, fired all of the PGA pros working in its stores. Also, Golf World, a fabulous weekly magazine since 1947, stopped printing, though has gone to a digital edition.
Good week for golf: The Royal and Ancient announced it will hold a mail ballot on the issue of finally admitting women to St. Andrews, allowing all members to participate. Also, New York State Open champion Mike Miller said of winning his first title as a pro and having his dad on the bag, "It doesn't get any sweeter than that." Cool sight: Heading home to Westchester, even though Mike shot 65 on the Black Course and won $17,500, dad still drove.
Nearly two aces
Mark Iuvara of Mineola calls an episode at Cantiague Park last Sunday "17 million to one . . . almost." He was referring to the National Hole-In-One Registry's estimate of the odds of a pair of aces in one group on the same hole. On No. 7, he hit a shot within a foot of the cup and told his wife, Charo, that it looked like he had won the hole in their match. "I don't know if that sparked something inside of her," he said, adding that she stepped up and hit a 147-yard 5-iron shot right into the hole.
Fact of the week
Among the most prominent members at The Creek Club in Locust Valley was the late Joe Dey, who at different times headed the USGA, PGA Tour and R & A. The public will have a rare chance to see The Creek, a private C.B. Macdonald-Seth Raynor gem, this Thursday through Sunday during the Met Amateur. Admission is free.
