New Zealand's First US Open Winner

Monday, November 7, 2005
A Sweet Victory For The Kiwi
Pinehurst, N.C. – This being NASCAR country, the folks around here are used to seeing plenty of thrills and spills.
That’s what the final round of the 2005 U.S. Open looked like: a race with pileups at every turn and enough dents to make an insurance adjuster go nuts. But in the end, one golfer navigated around the wreckage and through to the checkered flag. It just wasn’t the player most expected to cross the finish line first.
Michael Campbell, of New Zealand, who had not survived the weekend in his last four U.S. Open appearances and owned no top-10s in a major since the 1995 British Open at St. Andrews, navigated his golf game beautifully through every treacherous nook and cranny of the 7,214-yard, par-70 Pinehurst No. 2 layout on Sunday. His brilliant 1-under 69 gave him a two-stroke victory over world No. 1 Tiger Woods, making him the first player from his country to secure the U.S. Open title.

Glitch Tended To In First British Open Battle of Sexes

Following publication this morning of the entry form for the 2006 Open Championship, a clash of dates has come to light which will affect the availability of women eligible to play in Regional Qualifying, originally planned for July3.The final day's play in the 2006 US Women's Open at Newport CC, Newport, Rhode Island is scheduled for July 2 and it is clearly anticipated that the majority of women golfers eligible to enter Regional Qualifying will be competing at this event.Accordingly, The R&A will adjust the dates of the 2006 Regional Qualifying Competition to allow eligible women golfers to compete.The R&A apologises for this oversight and an announcement of adjusted Regional Qualifying dates will be made as soon as possible.

Sexual Equality First Time Ever At British Open

For the first time entry conditions for The Open include a qualification route into the Championship for women. The entry form for the 135th Open Championship, to be played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake in July next year, will be published on this website.R&A Chief Executive, Peter Dawson, said: "Our Championship Committee pledged to review entry conditions and to assess how women golfers might compete on equal terms with men for a place in The Open. As a result, I am delighted that a qualification route has now been established for the best women players to gain access to the Championship, competing alongside men on the same courses and from the same tees."Male professional golfers and male amateurs (whose playing handicaps do not exceed scratch) may now be joined at Regional Qualifying by the top five women and ties from each of the four major championships in the womens game. In addition, any women meeting the entry requirements for International Final Qualifying, Local Final Qualifying and The Open itself can enter at these stages directly.The new eligibility rules conform to two guiding principles set down by the Championship Committee - that entry to The Open should be based on playing ability irrespective of gender and that the strength and quality of the Championship and qualifying fields should be maintained at the highest level.Female golfers eligible to compete in Regional Qualifying for the 2006 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake (20-23 July 2006) are the top five and ties from the 2005 Weetabix Womens British Open Championship, the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship, the 2006 McDonalds LPGA Championship and the 2006 US Womens Open Championship.The Weetabix Womens British Open Championship is staged after The Open and therefore the 2005 top five and ties eligible to enter Regional Qualifying for the 2006 Open Championship are: 1st - Jeong Jang (Korea); 2nd - Sophie Gustafson (Sweden); tied 3rd - Young Kim (Korea) and Michelle Wie (USA); tied 5th - Cristie Kerr (USA), Liselotte Neumann (Sweden) and Annika Sorenstam (Sweden).Exemptions from Regional, Local Final and International Final Qualifying have been expanded to include the leading player who finishes in the first 10 and those tied for 10th place, not exempt, from the 2006 Open de France and the 2006 Buick Championship. As before, exemption is also given to the leading player, not exempt, in the 2006 Smurfit European Open, the 2006 Barclays Scottish Open, the 2006 Western Open and the 2006 John Deere Classic where the "first 10 and ties" requirement also applies.Closing dates for entries are: International Final Qualifying (IFQ) Africa - January 5, 2006; Australasia - January 19, 2006; Asia - March 23, 2006; and all other entries - June 1, 2006. The Open Championship entry fee is unchanged at £110.