Union League's Palmer honored by PGA of America as its Golf Executive of the Year

 

   The Union League turned some heads in the Philadelphia golf community when it took over the operation of Torresdale Golf Club, the classic Donald Ross design that was one of just two private golf courses inside the city limits, Bala Golf Club being the other, in 2014.

   But that was just the beginning for the Union League’s impact on the Philadelphia region’s golf scene.

   In this decade, the Union League has turned its golf footprint into a little golf empire, taking over The ACE Club and turning it into The Union League Liberty Hill in Lafayette Hill, Montgomery County, and then, quite literally, moving the earth to turn Sand Barrens Golf Club into Union League National in Cape May Court House, N.J., just a few miles away from the Jersey shore.

   In the middle of all of it has been Sean Palmer, officially the chief executive officer for The Union League of Philadelphia.

   It’s a big title for a big job, but at his heart, Palmer is a club professional. Last week at the 73^rd PGA Show in Orlando, Fla., the PGA of America announced that Palmer would receive its Golf Executive of the Year Award for 2026.

   Palmer and his fellow PGA of America honorees will be recognized at the 110^th PGA of America Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nev. in November.

   The Golf Executive of the Year Award recognizes a PGA of America member with outstanding service in an executive management position who displays leadership, vision, courage, moral character and who has a substantial record of service to the Association and the game.

   A caddy as a youngster, Palmer now oversees more than 1,400 employees and seven properties at one of the nation’s largest and most respected private clubs.

   Palmer graduated from Penn State’s Professional Golf Management program and learned from industry leaders at top clubs before The Union League tabbed him as the head pro at Torresdale, its first property, in 2014.

   Palmer was starting at ground zero at Torresdale with no golf members or staff. In the ensuing 12 years, Palmer has led the creation of three golf properties, growing the golf membership to 1,200 and annual golf revenue to more than $22 million.

   In the last decade, Palmer has overseen more than $64 million in capital property projects and played a lead role in the acquisition and development of additional golf properties.

   The transformation that resulted in the creation of Cape May National was particularly ambitious with tons of earth brought in to facilitate the redesign of architects Dana Fry and Jason Straka.

   The Union League membership has grown from 3,700 to 4,700 and annual revenue has increased from $34 million to $117 million.

   As chief operating officer, Palmer manages all Union League operations, including golf, hospitality and business functions with a focus on innovation, culture and team development.

   Palmer leads Union League University, a staff training and internship program that has become a model that other clubs have followed.

   Union League University provides golf interns and employees across all departments with a structured curriculum, mentorship and career development opportunities. More than 25 assistant pros, caddie masters and retail associates have advanced to leadership roles under Palmer’s guidance.

   Palmer has made community engagement a priority as he has led The Union League’s support of PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere), hosted the 2022 PGA Works Collegiate Championship and raised more than $1.4 million for HBCU golf programs.

   The club is also a proud partner in The First Tee of Philadelphia, providing facilities, fundraising support and enrichment programs for youth.

   Palmer also created the UL Caddie Scholarship Program and has expanded access to golf for juniors, women and families by removing traditional barriers and offering innovative membership and instruction models.

   Palmer serves on four Philadelphia Section committees and is active in the PGA REACH mentorship program. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has served on the Penn State PGM Alumni Board for nine years, including a stint as president.

   Palmer earned the Philadelphia Section’s highest honor when he was named its Golf Professional of the Year in 2021. He also earned the Philly Section’s Professional Development Award in 2024 and was the Assistant Golf Professional of the Year in 2014.

   He received Penn State’s Frank B. Guadagnolo Award for Mentoring Excellence in 2021 and the Lions Alumnus of the Year Award in 2019.

   Palmer will be among 13 PGA professionals who will be honored at the PGA of America Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.

   Another of the top honorees will be Brian Crowell, president of Bally’s Golf and general manager of Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx, N.Y. who will receive the Golf Professional of the Year Award.

   Bernie Najar, the director of instruction at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md., will receive the Teacher & Coach of the Year Award.

 

 

 

 

 

Florida edges Duke to capture team title in Sea Best Intercollegiate, but the Blue Devils' Malixi puts on a show to take individual crown

 

   It was the unofficial opening of the spring portion of the wraparound 2025-2026 college golf season and, despite getting a little taste of winter, Florida and Duke put on a pretty good show with the defending champion Gators edging the Blue Devils by a shot to capture the title in the Sea Best Intercollegiate, which wrapped up Tuesday at the San Jose Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla.

   The bitter cold that is here to stay for a while up here in the Northeast, stretched its tentacles all the way to North Florida Tuesday. When I checked the temperature in Jacksonville in the middle of the afternoon it was in the mid-40s, so I’m sure it was probably in the high 30s when the field teed off Tuesday morning.

   Cold-weather gear was very much in evidence in the picture on the Florida website of the Gators celebrating their second straight title in the Sea Best and third straight tournament title for the season, dating back to last fall.

   Florida, runnerup in the Southeastern Conference a year ago and Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke didn’t seem too bothered by the chilly conditions. Florida moved up two spots from No. 8 to No. 6 in the latest Scoreboard, powered by clippd, rankings with its victory in the Sea Best Intercollegiate and Duke improved from No. 16 to No. 12 in the Scoreboard rankings with its runnerup finish.

   They were probably pretty psyched to be out competing in the golf course again after a long midseason pause.

   Duke’s Rianne Malixi, the freshman phenom from the Philippines who is No. 24 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), really went off Tuesday, closing with a brilliant 9-under-par 63 over the 5,948-yard, par-72 San Jose layout to overtake Florida’s Paula Francisco, a senior from Spain and No. 94 in the Women’s WAGR, for the individual title.

   Malixi’s heroics weren’t quite enough to enable the Blue Devils to get by Florida for the team crown.

   The Gators opened with a solid 11-under 277 and then added a 9-under 279 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round. That gave them a seven-shot edge on Duke going into Tuesday’s final round.

   Florida closed with an 8-under 280 and that was just enough to hold off the Dookies by a shot with a 28-under 836 total.

   It was the 39^th career team title for Emily Glaser, Florida’s veteran head coach.

   Florida reached the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. last spring by finishing in a tie for third place in the Charlottesville Regional. The Gators, however, failed to earn a spot in the match-play bracket at La Costa.

   Florida closed out its fall campaign with victories in the OU Intercollegiate at the demanding Prairie Dunes Golf Club in Hutchinson, Kan. and in The Ally at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., site of the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.

   Duke struggled a little in the opening round with a 2-over 290 while likely shaking off a little rust. The Blue Devils then ripped off a 15-under 273 in Monday afternoon’s second round, the low team round of the tournament, to get themselves in Florida’s rear-view mirror.

   Duke, behind Malixi’s tremendous 63, was nearly as good in the final round, closing with a 14-under 274 to finish a shot behind Florida with a 27-under 837 total.

   Malixi was unable to duplicate her sizzling summer of 2024 when she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. in 2025.

   I’m sure it was a busy year for the kid, who qualified for several major championships on the LPGA Tour by virtue of her victory in the U.S. Women’s Am in addition to having a bulls-eye on her back as the defending champion in the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Women’s Am.

   Malixi’s freshman fall was disrupted when she represented the Philippines in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in Singapore in October, finishing second in the individual standings at Tenah Merah Country Club. I suspect she’s something of a rock star in her home country of the Philippines and really throughout golf-mad Asia.

   But after adding a 6-under 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round to her opening-round 71, Malixi announced to the world of NCAA Division I women’s golf that she might be starting to settle in at Duke.

   Malixi’s final round started off relatively quietly as she made a birdie on the first hole before an eagle at the par-5 third. She stumbled briefly with back-to-back bogeys at the fourth and fifth holes and then got back to 2-under with a birdie at six.

   She proceeded to open the incoming nine with five straight birdies at the 10^th, 11^th, 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes. After a par at the 15^th hole, Malixi went back-to-back with birdies at 16 and 17. It was a scintillating seven-birdie 29 on San Jose’s back nine that delivered her first college victory with a 16-under 200 total.

   Malixi’s 63 tied the program record for a par-72 course and her 200 total was a Duke record for 54 holes over a par-72 course. The seven-time NCAA champion Dookies have had some pretty good players over the years. Oh yeah, the back-nine 29, that was a Duke record as well.

   It was a rare NCAA Championship without Duke in the field last spring as the Blue Devils failed to advance out of the Norman Regional as a five seed.

   Francisco actually had the individual lead going into the final round as she added a sparkling 6-under 66 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round to her opening-round 69. Her final round of 5-under 67 left her two shots behind Malixi with a 14-under 202 total that probably would have easily earned her the individual title in any other year.

   It was 56 shots back to Stetson, No. 122 in the Scoreboard rankings, in third place in the Sea Best as the Hatters, who lost in a playoff to Florida Gulf Coast for the ASUN title last spring, finished up with a 29-over 893 total.

   Stetson opened with a 4-over 292 and added an 11-over 299 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 302.

   Richmond, which won the Atlantic 10 team crown last spring in its first year in the league, was another 10 shots behind Stetson in fourth place with a 903 total.

   The Spiders, No. 149 in the Scoreboard rankings, opened with a 301 and added a 305 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with their best round of the tournament, a 9-over 297.

   Middle Tennessee State, a Conference USA representative, finished six shots behind Richmond in fifth place in the 11-team field with a 45-over 909 total.

   The Blue Raiders, No. 119 in the Scoreboard rankings, added a 303 in Monday afternoon’s second round to their opening-round 302 before closing with a 304.

   The Sea Best Intercollegiate was pretty much a dual match between the two perennial college powers in Florida and Duke.

   Backing up Francisco for the Gators was Siuue Wu, a sophomore from Hong Kong who finished five shots behind Francisco in the individual standings with a 9-under 207 total.

   Wu was the picture of consistency, rattling off three straight 3-under 69s.

   Graduate student Megan Propeck, a Leawood, Kan. native and No. 62 in the Women’s WAGR who was a solid performer in the ACC at Virginia before joining the Gators, finished in a tie for sixth place with Duke’s Andie Smith, a graduate student from Hobe Sound, Fla. and No. 47 in the Women’s WAGR, finished in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 4-under 212.

   Propeck, who claimed her first individual collegiate victory in the OU Intercollegiate at Prairie Dunes in her native Kansas in the fall, opened with a 2-under 70 and added a 1-over 73 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a solid 3-under 69.

   Katelyn Huber, a freshman from Gainesville, Fla., finished in ninth place with an even-par 216 total.

   Huber, coming off a fourth-place finish earlier this month in the South Atlantic Women’s Amateur Championship, better known by its shorthand name, The Sally, at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla., got off to a solid start with a 3-under 69 and matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 72 before struggling a little in the final round with a 3-over 75.

   Rounding out the Florida lineup was Elaine Widjaja, a sophomore from Indonesia who finished in 11^th place with a 3-over 219 total. Widjaja opened with a solid 2-under 70 and matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 72 before struggling to a 5-over 77 in the final round.

   Florida’s depth was on display as there was no dropoff with the two players Glaser brought along to compete as individuals.

   Ines Archer, a junior from France, rounded out the top 10 in the individual standings as she finished alone in 10^th place, two shots behind Huber with a 2-over 218 total. Archer bounced back from an opening round of 4-over 76 with a 4-under 68 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 74.

   Sophie Stevens, a junior from Highland, Mich., finished a shot behind Widjaja in 12^th place with a 4-over 220 total. Stevens added a 1-over 73 in Monday afternoon’s second round to her opening-round 75 before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Backing up Malixi for Duke was Katie Li, a junior from Basking Ridge, N.J. who finished alone in fourth place with a 6-under 216 total, three shots behind Florida’s Wu.

   I suspect Li has evolved into a leadership role at Duke. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Li posted back-to-back 3-under 69s to help the Blue Devils surge into contention.

   Anna Canado Espinal, a talented sophomore from Spain competing as an individual, finished a shot behind her teammate Li in fifth place with a 5-under 211 total for the Blue Devils.

   After opening with a 1-over 73, Canado Espinal ripped off a sparkling 6-under 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Smith was another shot behind Canado Espinal for Duke in the tie for sixth place with Florida’s Propeck at 4-under 212.

   Smith, who reached the round of 16 in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coastline before falling to Oregon’s Kiara Romero, the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, added a 3-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round to her opening-round 71 before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Malixi isn’t the only talented freshman in the Duke lineup. Avery McCrery, the pride of Wilmington, Del. who played some of her scholastic career at the Tower Hill School, has been steady during her rookie season. She finished three shots behind Propeck and Smith in eighth place in the Sea Best with a 1-under 215 total.

   After struggling a little in the opening round with a 4-over 76, McCrery settled in nicely with a 3-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round and a solid 70 in the final round.

   McCrery wasn’t the only Delawarean in the field at the Sea Best Intercollegiate.

   Richmond’s Hannah Lydic, a senior who was a scholastic standout at Sussex Academy, finished in a tie for 25^th place with a 12-over 228 total.

   Lydic, who captured the individual crown to lead the Spiders to the team title in the A-10 Championship last spring, opened with a 3-over 75 at San Jose and added a 77 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 76.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smith's Walker Cup experience will take him to Ireland and Lahinch in 2026

 

   When teams from the United States and Great Britain & Ireland raise the flags before the start of the 51^st Walker Cup Match in early September at Lahinch Golf Club along the Atlantic Ocean on the Emerald Isle’s West Coast, it will mark 17 years since U.S. captain Nathan Smith’s first Walker Cup experience as a player at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course.

   I was there, too, in my previous life as a golf writer at the Delaware County Daily Times and covering that Walker Cup remains one of my most cherished memories of a 38-year career in the newspaper business.

   Merion lies in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township in Delaware County, a golf community that, four years after that 2009 Walker Cup, joined forces to stage a U.S. Open in the relatively tiny footprint of a busy Philadelphia suburb that many golf purists feared could no longer rise to that kind of logistical challenge.

   It was a neighborhood I grew up in and I had been a Merion looper into young adulthood, capping my 12 years there by grabbing a bag in the 1981 U.S. Open.

   Since expanding this blog a decade ago, upon my forced exile from the newspaper biz, I’ve always taken the opportunity provided by the January gloom and cold to see what some of the guys from that 2009 U.S. team that claimed a 16.5-9.5 victory over GB&I are up to.

   And for the second year in a row, the most interesting moment in those disparate golf journeys for 2026 belongs to Smith, the pride of Allegheny College who has earned a lofty perch in the storied tradition of western Pennsylvania golf, as he prepares to captain the U.S. team in a Walker Cup for the second year in a row.

   Smith, the high school state champion in Pennsylvania as a sophomore at Brookville in 1994, had first made his mark on the national scene when he won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in 2003 as a mid-am “rookie.”

    He was a dominant player on the Pennsylvania amateur scene and had won the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at Waynesborough Country Club earlier in the summer of 2009 when he was selected to join captain George “Buddy” Marucci’s U.S. Walker Cup team being played at Marucci’s home course at Merion.

   That Walker Cup at Merion proved to be a springboard in the amateur career of Smith. He won a second U.S. Mid-Am crown a few weeks later and would add two more U.S. Mid-Am crowns in 2010 and 2012.

   He would represent the United States in the next two Walker Cups, a loss in 2011 at the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club and a victory in 2013 at the National Golf Links of America, the C.B. MacDonald classic on Long Island.

   It wasn’t a question of whether Smith would take his rightful turn as the U.S. Walker Cup captain, but when.

   The call came at just the right time as Smith was the captain last summer in the 50^th Walker Cup Match, special because the Walker Cup is always special, but extra special because it was contested at the Cypress Point Club, the Alister MacKenzie masterpiece on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.

   GB&I was, as always, tough early, building a 3-1 lead following Saturday morning’s opening session of foursome matches.

   But by the end of the weekend, the U.S. would flex its considerable muscle, sweeping to a dominant 8-1-1 run in the Sunday singles to pull away for a deceiving 17-9 victory.

   Not sure when this decision was made, but the USGA and the Royal & Ancient got together at some point and agreed to have Walker Cups in back-to-back years and synch up the Walker Cup with the Curtis Cup, the women’s series of U.S. vs. GB&I matches, in even years, to avoid conflicts with the World Amateur Team Championship, which will now be played in odd years.

   Bottom line, the normally biennial Walker Cup Match will come right back this year at Lahinch. It made perfect sense to bring Smith back as the captain again.

   Smith gathered with 18 candidates for this year’s U.S. team last month at three courses in the Jupiter, Fla. area, seven of whom were on the team that defeated GB&I at Cypress Point.

   At some point in the summer, the top three Americans in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) will be automatic qualifiers for Smith’s team headed for Lahinch.

   There will be a lot of warm memories for Smith when he returns to the Hugh Wilson design at Merion for this summer’s U.S. Amateur Championship. The winner of the U.S. Am, should he be an American, will also be an automatic qualifier for the U.S. Walker Cup team.

   Right after the U.S. Amateur, the USGA Team Selection Committee will announce the remainder of the 10-man team Smith will take to Lahinch.

   All of which means that 2026, regardless of the outcome of the Walker Cup Match, will be, much like 2025 was, a very good year for Smith, one of the alumni of that U.S. Walker Cup team at Merion in 2009.

   Not sure if Smith could have imagined when he had his first Walker Cup experience at Merion 17 years ago what a big part of his life the series would become.

   Rickie Fowler, who was the unquestioned leader of that U.S. Walker Cup team at Merion, remains the most successful alumni of that group as a professional.

   The 37-year-old Fowler had something of a bounce-back year in 2025, making 18 cuts in 21 starts, coming up just short of a trip to the Tour Championship, despite finishing in a tie for seventh place in the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland.

   Fowler’s $3.4 million in earnings last year has him entering 2026 with more than $54 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour. His season gets under way with this week’s stop in The American Express – it will always be the Bob Hope Desert Classic to me – in LaQuinta, Calif.

   Fowler has six career PGA Tour wins, but none since the Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2023.

   Fowler famously finished in the top five in all four major professional championships in 2014, but he has had trouble getting to the first tee in majors lately.

   He missed the cut in last spring’s PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., but finished in a tie for 14^th place in The Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland. He was unable to earn a spot in the field for The Masters or the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.

   Fowler remains one of the most popular members on the PGA Tour and he will no doubt have a nice following when he comes to Aronimink Golf Club, the Donald Ross gem in Newtown Square, for this the PGA Championship in May.

   The latest issue of Golf Digest just arrived in my mailbox the other day and Fowler was the magazine’s choice to receive its Arnie Award, which salutes golfers who give back with their time, money, skill and passion.

   If you get a chance to read the story, you will see why Fowler remains such a popular figure in the golf world. It also chronicles the relationship Fowler developed with the award’s namesake in The King’s final years.

   Only one player from either the U.S. or GB&I sides at Merion in 2009 owns a major professional championship and that would be Brian Harman, who captured the title in The Open Championship in 2023 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

   The 39-year-old left-hander, a collegiate standout at Georgia, had another strong showing across the pond last summer, finishing in a tie for 10^th place in The Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

   Harman earned his fourth career PGA Tour title in April in the Valero Texas Open. He was typically consistent in 2025, making 20 cuts and 24 starts. Harman was one of the elite 30 players who teed it up in the season-ending Tour Championship at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

   It added up to more than $5.5 million in earnings that boosted the Georgia Bulldog’s career winnings on the PGA Tour to more than $43.6 million.

   Harman made the cut, because of course he did, and finished in a tie for 61^st place in opening his 2026 season in last week’s Sony Open.

   The real Bud Cauley finally reappeared in 2025 as it seemed the former Alabama standout was really back to himself after seven years of an agonizingly slow recovery from injuries he suffered in a car accident after he had missed the cut in The Memorial in Dublin,  Ohio in June of 2018.

   The 35-year-old Cauley made several comeback attempts following the accident, even making the FedEx Cup Playoffs in the wraparound 2019-2020 season. Buit he always knew he wasn’t right.

   Cauley had multiple surgeries in 2021 and 2022 in an attempt to repair the damage done to his body in the grinding accident.

   In 2025, Cauley made 17 cuts in 22 starts, earning in excess of $3.3 million. That raised his career winnings to just more than $13 million.

   Cauley had four top-10 finishes, including a tie for sixth against the toughest field in golf at The Players Championship at the Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Cauley reached the BMW Championship at Caves Valley in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Playoffs.

   I’m not even sure it’s the money that motivates Cauley. It’s more he knows what a good player he has always been. The money just validates that belief.

   Cauley opened his season by finishing in a tie for 24^th place in last week’s Sony Open. He’s become one of those guys whose name I always look for on PGA Tour leaderboards.

   When I did this update of the 2009 U.S. Walker Cup team early in 2019, it was the courageous battles being waged by Cauley, as he tried to recover from his devastating car accident, and Morgan Hoffmann, who had been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in 2016, that I focused on.

   It took a year before the 36-year-old Hoffmann, a Franklin Lakes, N.J. native, revealed his diagnosis to the world after fighting through an atrophying chest wall to make the FedEx Playoffs.

   Hoffmann was the subject of tremendous story in Golf Digest, authored by Dan Rapaport, who found Hoffmann off a beaten trail in Costa Rica taking a holistic approach to battling a disease that has no cure.

   Hoffmann briefly returned to the PGA Tour in 2022 and made a couple of cuts, a tribute to his indomitable spirit.

   Hoffmann does not show up on the PGA Tour the last few years. He had started the Morgan Hoffmann Foundation to raise money in the search for a cure for muscular dystrophy.

   The guy has been an absolute inspiration in the way he has battled against as big a curveball as an athlete can be dealt in the prime of his career.

   Two members of the 2009 U.S. Walker Cup team, Peter Uihlein and Cameron Tringale, went the LIV Golf route.

   The 36-year-old Uihlein, the son of Wally Uihlein, the retired president and CEO of the Acushnet Company – you know, Titleist – is the third of a trio of Oklahoma State representatives on that U.S. Walker Cup team, along with Fowler and Hoffmann.

   I came away from that Walker Cup thinking Peter Uihlein possessed the most talent on the U.S. side. His victory in the 2010 U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay seemed to validate that impression.

   Uihlein, though, has marched to beat of his own drummer in his professional golf journey. He played for several years on the European Tour before gaining status on the PGA Tour with a Korn Ferry Tour victory. He made more than $4 million on the PGA Tour.

   Uihlein was one of the first players to bolt for LIV. It seems Uihlein never wanted to be No. 1 in the world in golf, he just wants to see the world as a professional golfer.

   I’m not going to get into the pros and cons of LIV Golf, but it certainly seems to be a circuit made for Uihlein, who will once again be a member of the Range Goats along with Bubba Watson, Ben Campell and Matthew Wolff, another former Oklahoma State standout.

   The 38-year-old Tringale was a college standout at Georgia Tech. He was a successful on the PGA Tour, earning more than $17 million, he just couldn’t win. For a while he had the tag nobody wants: Most money won without a victory.

   Looks like Tringale’s HyFlyers, captained by Phil Mickelson, got a talented addition when Michael La Sasso, who captured the NCAA individual crown while with Mississippi last spring at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., decided to turn pro and join LIV Golf.

   Brendan Steele is the fourth member of the HyFlyers.

   By the way, La Sasso was one of those seven returning players from captain Smith’s winning U.S. team at Cypress Point who accepted an invitation for the practice session last month at Jupiter, Fla. Obviously, La Sasso is no longer a candidate for this year’s U.S. Walker Cup team.

   It appears Drew Weaver, the Virginia Tech standout who captured the title in the Royal & Ancient’s Amateur Championship in 2007 just weeks after being on campus during the deadliest mass shooting in American history, has moved on to the world of finance after many years laboring in professional golf’s minor leagues.

   Weaver, who captured the British Amateur crown at the Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s Golf Club, had been the last American to capture that prestigious title until Oklahoma State’s Ethan Fang won it last summer at Royal St. George’s Golf Club.

   Rounding out the 2009 U.S. Walker Cup side were Adam Mitchell, a teammate of Harman’s at Georgia, and Brendan Gielow, who was a collegiate standout at Wake Forest. Both moved on after brief forays in professional golf.

   Keep thinking one of those guys who didn’t make it in pro golf will show up as a reinstated amateur at a U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, but it hasn’t happened yet.

   But, as I concluded this post a year ago, I’m sure Nathan Smith’s Walker Cup teammates at Merion will be rooting on him and his U.S. team in September.