Swinging Skirts Classic kicks off busy run of golf in No. California

 

If you're a local golf fan, you can't help but like what's coming up in the next few days and stretching into June.

 

There's not much going on, other than major events on the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours and the United States Golf Association. And all will be contested a short drive from home.

 

The spring fling starts Thursday with the LPGA's Swinging Skirts Classic at Lake Merced Country Club in Daly City. Teenage phenom Lydia Ko, top-ranked in the world, will defend her title against such stars as Stacy Lewis. Ko birdied the 18th hole a year ago to edge Lewis by a stroke.

 

The Swinging Skirts, which staged a successful inaugural in 2014, also will welcome Paula Creamer, Suzann Pettersen, Morgan Pressel, Beatriz Recari, Lexi Thompson and Michelle Wie. Also, there is rookie Sei Young Kim, who dramatically holed out from the fairway in a playoff to win the Lotte Championship in Hawaii last weekend.

 

Harding Park in San Francisco steps onto the stage next Wednesday for the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship. Worry not about the absence of Tiger Woods, because 21-year-old Masters champion Jordan Spieth will move the excitement needle.

 

A format change for the Match Play will extend excitement through the week before the title match May 3. Rather than the 1-through-64 seeding not unlike the NCAA Tournament – the Match Play's former set-up – the field will be divided into 16 four-player groups. Each group will compete in round-robin matches, much like soccer's World Cup, and the winner of each group advances to the round of 16 for single elimination.

 

While the Match Play nears its finish, the USGA unveils a new event, the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, on May 2 at the famed Olympic Club in San Francisco. The companion U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball will be held May 9-13 at Bandon Dunes in Bandon, Ore. This marks the first time the USGA has added championships to its roster since 1987.

 

To make room, the national golf organization axed two tournaments – the U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links. The reason is the growing trend at the regional and state levels toward four-ball competitions, where two-person teams compete. At the end of each hole, the player with the lowest score wins that hole for his or her side. Fans will relate to this format, given their familiarity with it back home at their clubs. It also encourages more aggressive play.

 

The starting field of 128 sides (256 players) will play two rounds of stroke play with the low 32 teams (64 players) advancing to match play.

 

SMU star Bryson Dechambeau, one of the country's top amateurs and a former Modestan, annexed one of the few exemptions from qualifying. His partner is SMU teammate Austin Smotherman, the 2012 Sac-Joaquin Section Masters medalist from Loomis.

 

And in Sacramento, construction on the 18th-hole grandstand is under way for the 36th U.S. Senior Open at Del Paso CC from June 25-28. Golden oldies such as Fred Couples, Tom Lehman, Vijay Singh, Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson and others will compete for $3.5 million.

 

Del Paso, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, has hosted four USGA events, the last one the 1982 U.S. Women's Open. It's never welcomed a major men's tournament, however, until now.

 

This article was written by Ron Agostini from The Modesto Bee and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.