Category: News

Iowans at USGA Senior Amateur

August 24, 20170 commentsNews, USGA

Gene Elliott, of West Des Moines, and Sam Billmeyer, of Ankeny, are in the field this weekend at the USGA Senior Amateur Championship, being played at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis.  This marks the first year Elliott was eligible to play in the 55 or older event.

While Billmeyer made it through the qualifying round held at Briarwood Golf Club, Elliott was exempt due to his top-500 ranking in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.  An additional Iowan has at least a chance of getting into the field as well – Joe Palmer, of West Des Moines, is first on the alternate list for the USGA and could possibly be asked to play if someone is forced to withdraw.  Palmer plans to be on-site and ready should that happen during the first day of play.

The championship begins with stroke play qualifying on Saturday, August 26th.  The top 64 after 36 holes of qualifying make the match play draw.

You can follow all the scoring by clicking here.

2017 Solheim Cup Breaks Previous Attendance Record

August 22, 20170 commentsNews

Above – Thousands cheering for their team at Des Moines Golf and Country Club on #17.

After a full week of incredible golf, celebration and patriotism at Des Moines Golf and Country Club, the official attendance for the 2017 Solheim Cup has been tallied. The global golf event attracted 124,426 fans from August 14-20, 2017. This number surpasses the last attendance record for the Solheim Cup, set in 2009 at Rich Harvest Farms in Illinois. Additionally, the large crowds on Friday broke the event’s single-day attendance record.

“Watching the crowds stream into Des Moines Golf and Country Club was a thrill,” said Chris Garrett, Tournament Director. “Running the Solheim Cup was a dream realized for me. Knowing we were able to bring in record crowds and create more fans of golf, the LPGA and the Solheim Cup make the success of the event even sweeter.”

The record-breaking crowd was comprised of thousands of ticket holders from around the globe. More than 50 percent of attendees came from outside of the state of Iowa including fans from more than 25 countries. Those patriotic fans were big spenders too. Fans purchased more than $2 million in merchandise – breaking yet another event record.

Click here for more on the 2017 Solheim Cup

Elliott birdies four holes coming in, qualifies for U.S. Mid-Amateur

August 22, 20170 commentsNews, USGA

West Des Moines’ Gene Elliott (pictured above) continued his great play this summer with a 69 (-3) at White Deer Run Golf Club, Vernon Hills, IL, to qualify for the U.S. Mid-Amateur.

Elliott’s score was good enough to tie for the final two qualifying spots. Elliott now moves on to the Atlanta area where the championship proper will be held (Capital City Club and Atlanta National Golf Club), October 7-12.

Elliott’s round at White Deer Run Golf Club included five birdies, with four of those coming in a five-hole stretch on his way in (#13-17).

Click here to see a recap of scoring from the qualifier.

What a week – Team USA wins 2017 Solheim Cup

August 21, 20170 commentsNews

Team USA won the 2017 Solheim Cup for a second year running, as they refused to let the European’s create history by not letting their five point lead slip.

Wins from Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Lizette Salas, Gerina Piller, and Danielle Kang, combined with halves from Lexi Thompson and Angel Yin and were enough to see USA win 16 ½ – 11 ½.

However, early in the day, there was plenty of blue on the board to cause Juli Inkster some concern, as the European’s looked to re-write the record books. However, Inkster’s team remained calm and ultimately Sorenstam’s side had left themselves too much to do heading into the singles.

Click here to read more

Five things you need to know about the Solheim Cup

August 14, 20170 commentsNews

 

Photo Credit: 2015 Getty Images

This week, the Solheim Cup returns to the United States for the 15th edition of the matches. This year, Des Moines Golf and Country Club hosts the matches between Teams U.S.A. and Europe as they square off for the coveted crystal that the Americans brought back to the States in 2015. In the last match up, Team U.S.A. mounted the largest comeback in the history of the event, overcoming a 10 – 6 deficit heading into Sunday’s single matches, to win 14 ½ to 13 ½. The Americans look to retain the cup for the first time since 2009 when they picked up their third consecutive win.

Click here to read more about you need to know this week.

Inkster announces Solheim Cup replacement for Jessica Korda

August 8, 20170 commentsNews

Photo courtesy of The Solheim Cup/LPGA Communications.

USA Solheim Cup Captain Juli Inkster announced today that six-time USA Solheim Cup veteran Paula Creamer will replace the injured Jessica Korda at the 2017 Solheim Cup, being conducted next week in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Inkster chose Creamer as her alternate when she selected her team on Sunday night and informed the European team as required by the captain’s agreement. However, she did not publicly reveal her choice until after Korda withdrew on Monday due to a forearm injury.

Click here to read more

A transcript of today’s announcement will be posted at https://asaptext.com/orgs/lpga/210

Billmeyer takes medal at U.S. Senior Am qualifying

August 7, 20170 commentsChampionships, News, USGA

Sam Billmeyer (pictured at left above, with USGA Senior Amateur Committee member John Webb), of Ankeny, shot a 2-under 70 on Monday at the Briarwood Golf Club in Ankeny to earn the lone qualifying spot into the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.  Billmeyer moves on to play the national event August 26-31 at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Billmeyer, who played in the first group out, didn’t get off to a great start, but closed with a flourish.  After a birdie at 3, he made bogey at 5, 6 & 9 to turn at 2-over par 38.  But then he tore up the back nine, firing a 4-under 32 with birdies at 10, 12, 14 and 16 against no bogeys.  That run was good enough for a one shot win over Joe Palmer of West Des Moines.

Palmer is the 1st alternate while Tom Norton, of Muscatine, is the 2nd alternate.  Norton shot even-par 72.

You can view complete results here.

IGA Women’s Club Team set to go at Elmwood CC

August 7, 20170 commentsChampionships, News

The 56th IGA Women’s Club Team Championship takes place Monday, August 7th at Elmwood Country Club in Marshalltown.  The format is similar to a college or high school event, in which an IGA Member Club submits a team of four women to play.  There is both a gross and net competition, with the best 3 of 4 18-hole gross or net scores counting for the team score, respectively.

Play gets underway with a 9:00 a.m. shotgun start.  Echo Valley CC is the defending gross champion while Wakonda Club won the net competition last year.

Click here to view scoring from the IGA Women’s Club Team

Meet the teams competing at the 2017 Solheim Cup

August 6, 20170 commentsNews

After the last putts dropped Sunday at the Ricoh Women’s British Open, the last calculations were made to finalized this year’s Solheim Cup teams. Captains Juli Inkster and Annika Sorenstam on-site at Kingsbarns Golf Links were on hand as their teams were confirmed and announced their captain’s picks for this year’s matches.

Click here to meet the 2017 U.S. Solheim Cup Team

Click here to meet the 2017 European Solheim Cup Team

IGA Director of Communications & Marketing Clint Brown spoke with Juli Inkster’s shortly after announcing her Captain’s Picks
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