| SCGA members Rickie Fowler and Jamie Lovemark named to 2007 U.S. Walker Cup team | ||||
By Robert D. Thomas Fowler, 18 (the youngest player on the team), was one of the last two players named today (Kyle Stanley, 19, of Gig Harbor, Wash, a rising junior at Clemson University, was the other). Lovemark, 19, a sophomore at USC, had been named to the team earlier this month. Fowler and Lovemark are the 27th and 28th SCGA players to play in the Walker Cup, which began in 1922. Counting multiple appearances by Phil Mickelson, Dr. Frank "Bud" Taylor and George Von Elm, the total is 33 appearances. Fowler, now a freshman at Oklahoma State, was the 2006 California state high school champion and the 2004 and 2007 CIF-SCGA Southern Regional High School champion, just the second player to win that title twice. As a 14-year-old freshman, he shot a 10-under-par 62 at The SCGA Golf Course in winning the 2004 Southern Regional title. Following his 2007 Southern Regional win, Fowler won the 2007 Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown, Penn., by one stroke, finishing at 8-under-par 272 for his four rounds. He followed that with a win at the 2007 Players Amateur in Bluffton, S.C., where he was 24 under par for 72 holes. At the Sunnehanna, he was in the 60s for three of the four rounds. At the Players, his four rounds in the 60s included a 63 and 64. He was also a quarterfinalist at the 2006 U.S. Amateur, a quarterfinalist at this year's Western Amateur, and the 2005 Western Amateur Junior champion. Lovemark won the Pac-10 individual championship and then shot 64-64 in the final two rounds to win the NCAA Division I individual title. He also made the cut in the PGA Tour's Buick Invitational in San Diego and the AT&T National in Washington, D.C. He was also runner-up at the 2007 Nationwide Tour's Rochester Area Charities Showdown event, where he lost in a two-hole playoff to another former SCGA player, Chris Riley.
Stanley won the 2006 Sahalee Players Championship and the 2006 Southern Amateur in Birmingham, Ala. as part of a resume that includes five top-10 finishes in highly regarded amateur events over the past two summers. In winning the Southern Amateur, he posted a 9-under-par total of 275 for 72 holes to win by a single stroke. He reached the second round of match play at the 2007 U.S. Amateur. He was individual runner-up at the 2007 NCAA Championship, where he had a 65 in the third round. He was invited to play in the PGA Tour's 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Fla. The USGA had earlier announced eight members of the team. In addition to Lovemark, they are: 2007 U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Colt Knost, 22, of Dallas, Texas; Billy Horschel, 20, of Grant, Fla.; Dustin Johnson, 23, of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Trip Kuehne, 35, of Irving, Texas; Jonathan Moore, 22, of Vancouver, Wash.; and Webb Simpson, 21, of Raleigh, N.C. All but Kuehne are collegians or recent graduates, who are playing on their first Walker Cup team. The alternates to the team, in rank order, are Michael Thompson, 22, of Tucson, Ariz.; Drew Weaver, 20, of High Point, N.C., and 2005 Pacific Coast Amateur champion Alex Prugh, 22, of Spokane, Wash. The Walker Cup Match consists of 16 singles and eight foursomes (alternate shot) matches. The USA reclaimed the Cup with a one-point victory at Chicago (Ill.) Golf Club in 2005. Great Britain and Ireland's team had won the three previous Matches, in 1999, 2001 and 2003, twice by scores of 15-9 and by 12 -11 in 2003. The USA leads the series overall, 32-7-1. George "Buddy" Marucci, 55, of Villanova, Penn., who played on the USA Walker Cup teams of 1995 and 1997 and was runner-up to Tiger Woods at the 1995 U.S. Amateur, will serve as team U.S. captain.
|
