The Crimson Tide continued to roll through Cherry Hills during the Thursday morning matches of the U.S. Amateur outside of Denver.

No. 1 seed Bobby Wyatt, a who will enter his junior year at the University of Alabama this fall, reached the tournament's Sweet Sixteen by beating Matthew Stieger of Australia 2 up.

Wyatt,who tied the Am's scoring record in stroke play qualifying to claim medalist honors, finished birdie-par to win the 17th and 18th holes of an up-and-down match, in which he found himself three-down through five holes.

The Mobile, Ala. native will see a familiar face in his afternoon match: Crimson Tide teammate Justin Thomas, who beat University of California senior Max Homa 3&1 to advance. The rising sophomore won 15, 16 and 17 to close it out, after trailing much of the match.

The Wyatt/Thomas match should get top billing Thursday afternoon. Although Thomas is seeded 16th this week, he actually ranks fifth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. And at sixth, Wyatt isn't far behind.

The Alabama golf team won the SEC Championship last season, and finished second in NCAAs, losing to Texas in the team finals.

For full match play results, head over to the official USGA Website.

Hear that? That faint ringing from the direction of Colorado? That might be the death knell for anchored putters leaking out from the USGA meetings at this week's U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.

That's the word from Sean Martin of Golfweek, at least, who sent this tweet from an anonymous source at the USGA meetings:

The Rules of Golf aren't set to change until 2016, so long-putter putters (that's you, Webb) should have some time to adjust if a ruling goes through. We'll see soon enough.

Amazing how far some people will go to secure Masters tickets. Consider the tale of Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols, who, using official Public Service Commission letterhead, “went straight to the Augusta National Golf Club to request two complimentary practice round tickets to this year's Masters, long after tickets had been distributed to one of the world’s most prestigious golf tournaments through a lottery system.” Kristi Swartz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the details:

After more than a week passed without a response, Echols informed the club that he planned to do some regulating.

Just what the Masters needs—more regulating.

Echols has since said that he should not have asked for the tickets because of the “appearance of impropriety.” Experts say Echols' letters broke no laws but agree there's a concern about appearances.

“It’s clear that he’s trying to use the office as if there’s some royal entitlement to complimentary tickets,” said Emmet Bondurant, an Atlanta lawyer whose specialties include ethics cases.

Wait, it gets better…

In [the] letter, Echols wanted access to the grounds of Augusta National during the early rounds of the tournament so he could, with an armed Department of Public Safety official, check limo drivers to see whether they were properly licensed with the state.

Augusta National denied Echols access, and he later called off the operation after pressure from other commissioners.

“I don’t know that there has been another public service commissioner to be so aggressive in the transportation sector with enforcement as I was trying to be, and my fellow commissioners were uncomfortable with me pursuing rogue companies so aggressively,” Echols said. “... I take my position as transportation chair of the Public Service Commission very seriously and want to serve these groups of people in the best way that I possibly can.”

People, Mr. Commissioner? They’re patrons.

Superstar amateur plays “craziest” match of his career

A pair of Walker Cuppers—Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley—squared off in the second round of the U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills in Wisconsin Thursday, and the results were explosive. Vincent Butler of The Los Alamitos-Seal Beach Patch paints the scene:

Henley birdied No. 16 and was 2-up going into the final two holes. Cantlay chipped in a shot for a birdie on the 17th hole. He putted another one in on No.18 to send the match into sudden death. And the fun was just getting started.

Both players eagled No. 1, which was the first hole of sudden death. “We both hit shots in the fairway,” Cantlay said. “We both hit shots pin high right on the putting green. I was 35 feet, and he was about 25 feet.”

Cantlay rammed in his shot and thought that might be enough to wrap up the match. But Henley followed suit and they went to the second hole. “We didn’t talk too much during the match,” Cantlay said. “But we both said ‘good putt’ to each other.” Both players got pars on the second hole, but Cantlay won with a par on the third hole.

“I will remember this match for sure,” Cantlay said. “It was the craziest match I have ever been a part of and if you told me all that stuff would have happened the way it did, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

Your 2017 Masters champion? Either of these guys is a good pick. 

Tweet of the day

The Bethany College golf team is in trouble because of an unofficial - and undressed - team photo. (We'll let you supply the double entendres.) Officials at the Kansas college suspended the team for three tournaments over the photo of naked players, which was posted on Facebook, according to The Wichita Eagle.

All 15 members of the team at the small, Lutheran school in Lindsborg posed naked for an unofficial team picture, with strategically placed golf clubs to cover their genitals.

Athletic director and golf coach Jon Daniels suspended the team for three tournaments - two that would have occurred on the same day - because of the picture...

Team captain Jack Hiscock told KAKE News that the team would appeal the suspension to school president .

And yes, it appears that is the player's real name.

Big names - Uihlein, Cantlay - off to good start at U.S. Amateur
The U.S. Amateur has some extra star power this year in Oklahoma State's Peter Uihlein, the defending champion, and UCLA's Patrick Cantlay, who followed his T21 finish at the U.S. Open with a second-round 60 at the Travelers Championship. According to Gary D'Amato of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, both Uihlein and Cantlay got off to a good start at the U.S. Amateur on Monday at Wisconsin's Erin Hills.

Uihlein's short-term goal is the same as the goal of the other 311 players in the field: Get through qualifying and earn one of 64 spots in match play.

He was in good shape after opening with a 4-under-par 68 at Erin Hills Golf Course on Monday.

"It was a good day," Uihlein said. "I felt very free, very relaxed out there. I made a couple really greasy pars, which I probably never should have, but then I missed a couple easy birdie putts.

"So, all in all, it was kind of what I felt like I should have shot."

Cantlay is also in decent position, D'Amato reports.

Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos, Calif., the top-ranked amateur in the world, wasn't among the leaders but was in good shape after shooting a 1-under 71 at Erin Hills.

Cantlay is the first amateur in history to finish among the top 25 in his first four starts on the PGA Tour. He shot a 60, the lowest score ever by an amateur on Tour, en route to a tie for ninth at the Travelers Championship.

Note: Cantlay actually tied for 24th at the Travelers.

Daly, Rocco to play Nationwide event in Pittsburgh
If Tiger Woods is serious about adding a pre-Presidents Cup event to his schedule, he should check out the Nationwide Tour's Mylan Classic in suburban Pittsburgh on Sept. 1-4. His old pals John Daly and Rocco Mediate will be there, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Now, in a career that has included two major championships but also any number of personal missteps, Daly will make a return appearance to the region when he plays in the Nationwide Tour's Mylan Classic Sept. 1-4 at Southpointe Golf Club, Canonsburg.

Daly, who won the 1991 PGA Championship and the '95 British Open, will compete in the 72-hole event. He will be joined by Greensburg native Rocco Mediate, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who played in the inaugural Mylan Classic a year ago.

"I love Pittsburgh," Daly said Monday from Knoxville, Tenn., where he is playing in a Nationwide Tour event this week. "Joe and Maggie [Hardy] have always been like family to me. I know I'm not represented by them anymore, but I still have 84 Lumber customers who come out and watch me play. So I feel like an adopted cousin back there."

Stray Shots: Some things we saw while trying to fit our new long putter into the trunk...

The New York Times' Lens Blog has a photo gallery of golf-course groundskeepers. Sadly, Carl Spackler is not involved. (Via The New York Times)

Tennis player Rafa Nadal considered a career in golf after a 2005 injury. He probably figured, "Hey, if Sergio can do it..." (Via The Guardian)

U.S. Amateur players to Erin Hills course: 7,700 yards, is that all you've got? (Via Golfweek) 

Tweet of the Day
From original tweeter Stewart Cink...

DQ'd and PO'd
The big story this morning is Jim Furyk getting bounced from the Barclays, the PGA's first FedExCup Playoff event, for sleeping through his alarm and missing his pro-am tee time. This is a pretty well-known rule, and it's very closely enforced--I distinctly remember when John Daly was disqualified for the same infraction at Bay Hill (which, in a bizarre turn of events, also got two other Tour players ejected from the tournament). So at least everyone's held up to the same standards, right? Waggleroom's Ryan Ballengee isn't so sure.

The PGA Tour has announced that Jim Furyk - currently sitting in third position in the FedExCup standings - has been disqualified from this week's first round of the Playoffs at The Barclays for missing his 7:30 pro-am tee time by five minutes. The disqualification is the set penalty for tardiness for these pro-am outings...

While I completely understand keeping non-members out of the Playoffs, this seems a bit unjust. Furyk will be impacted for four weeks because of this disqualification and his alarm clock not working. On a regular event, the penalty seems more appropriate - it has just a week's worth of impact (though longer for a guy who is on the verge of certain money list thresholds).

For a Playoff event - a major-lite Tour stop - to have a pro-am seems a little out of whack, but acceptable. To cause a guy to have such a severe penalty in his quest for $10 million, though, seems unconscionable.

Phil Mickelson missed his pro-am tee time for the Byron Nelson Championship in 2007 due to poor weather blocking his plane from making it from Alabama to Dallas-Ft. Worth's Love Field the night prior. Mickelson took his time getting to Las Colinas in time for the pro-am, but was not disqualified by Tour officials. That set off an uproar of anger about the exemption.

Somehow I had completely forgotten about that Phil exception (and how peeved a lot of Tour pros were about it). Unfortunately, I think this is a case where two wrongs don't make a right: the Tour was outrageously foolish to allow Phil to play in that tourney in 2007, and they'd be just as out of line letting Furyk play this week, because, as Dustin Johnson will tell you, a rule is a rule is a rule. That said, this rule is stupid, and they should figure out a way to change it...fast. The Tour relies on pro-ams for support, so I understand why they're so sensitive about players taking their responsibilities seriously, but there are options short of DQs that can keep the players in line. How about a fine, somewhere between $10,000-$100,000, or, even better, a percentage of their earnings from the tournament (so the better they do, the more they lose)? That way if players don't show they'll be plenty hurt, but they'll have the opportunity to earn their keep come the weekend. Still, Furyk might want to consider investing in a travel alarm clock.

Welcome back, Tiger
As a proud son (and current resident) of the Garden State, I take a lot pride in our most prized resources: overflowing cranberry bogs, copious lower-back tattoos and, of course, renowned championship golf courses. The PGA Tour returns to the jewel of Bergen County this week, Ridgewood C.C., and the local media has rolled out the welcome mat to all of the Tour's stars. Well, almost all of them...

Tiger Woods is back in New Jersey — which means certain people should be alerted. Women, in general. Perkins’ waitresses, strippers and porn stars, in particular. And, of course, given the condition of his golf game, any fans at the Barclays Classic standing near a tree along a fairway.

Woods is officially single now, with the price of his freedom — or was it Elin’s? — a reported $100 million. And while that, along with his struggle to right his career, might have the crowd at Ridgewood Country Club abuzz, forgive us if we’re not excited about his appearance in Paramus. After all, the guy has treated the state like it’s one big waste bunker.

When he was playing in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol in 2005, Woods was upset when a local golf pro accidentally parked in his reserved spot. Then at the height of his superstardom, he played most of his practice rounds at dawn, before fans were allowed on the course. When caddie Steve Williams committed an infraction during the first round of the tournament, Woods refused to disqualify himself.

He signed only a handful of autographs that week — when Phil Mickelson won the tournament and the hearts of New Jersey fans — and when his Sunday round was over, Woods high-tailed it out of town. Even though there was a chance he could have been in a Monday playoff, he couldn’t get out of New Jersey fast enough.

Last year, when the Barclays was played at Liberty National, Woods criticized the greens and called the course “interesting” — which is PGA-speak for “What a dump.” Again, autographs, or any interaction with fans, were rare.

And now, he’s back in the Garden State. Oh, joy.

It should be pointed out that the Star-Ledger, while a relatively well-respected journal, may hold a bit of a grudge against Mr. Woods. It was their reporter who tattled on Stevie Williams, saying the caddie stepped on Tiger's ball in the 2005 PGA Championship, an accusation that Woods and Co. vehemently denied. That having been said, there's no doubt that New Jersey is Mickelson territory at the moment, as is the entire Tri-State area. This week will be a good test for the "New Tiger" we've been hearing so much about. If he can keep a smile on his face, keep nodding his head and keep signing his name, he may win back the favor of some of the most boisterous fans in golf. Oh, and shooting under par wouldn't hurt.

Nothing Amateur About Chambers Bay
With all the attention the Barclay's is getting this week, the always fun U.S. Amateur is getting (typically) overlooked. While the tournament itself is great, there's some added excitement this year as it's being held at Chambers Bay, site of the 2015 U.S. Open. Here's a take on the course setup from Golfweek's Sean Martin, who sees danger for the amateurs this week...and the pros in the years to come.

Ten feet. That’s often the difference between a great shot and a bad one at Chambers Bay.

NCAA champ Scott Langley hit 4-iron to Chambers Bay’s par-3 15th hole during Tuesday’s second round of stroke play at the U.S. Amateur. The left-hander pulled it 10 feet right of his target, then watched his ball bound through the green and into a bunker. Had Langley hit his mark, his ball would’ve funneled down a slope and likely ended up close to the hole.

“It’s like playing golf in my driveway,” Langley joked about the firm conditions at Chambers Bay...

Chambers Bay’s fast, firm conditions, and extreme putting surfaces, are driving players wild at the U.S. Amateur. The conditions are exacerbated by the course’s extreme undulations and lack of rough, which can cause balls to bound more than 50 yards away from a player’s target.

Most players are paying the young course compliments, but some are leaving with a bad taste in their mouth. This is an important week for Chambers Bay, the three-year-old links-style course along the Puget Sound. This year’s U.S. Amateur, the first national championship here, is a dress rehearsal for the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.

The scoring average for the 156 players who played Chambers Bay on Monday was 79.87. Three players broke par at Chambers on Monday, with Augusta State’s Patrick Reed leading with 68. Seventy-nine players shot 80 or higher Monday at Chambers Bay. That’s more than 50 percent. Five shot in the 90s, including two 95s.

Martin is quick to point out that, while certainly tough, he's not ready to call the conditions unfair. So far it sounds like the players aren't doing too much complaining either (at least not outwardly), but I think we can all agree that amateurs tend to be a little less ornery than Tour pros when it comes to course conditions. Still, I'm excited about the possibility of a U.S. Open course that really fights back. It's not like Pebble and Bethpage Black are pushovers, but relying on weather and deep rough is old hat at the Open--fairways and greens so hard you can bounce a stone off them? Rough so thin it couldn't stop a feather? Now we're talking U.S. Open golf. Is it 2015 yet?

Even at his post-scandal lowest, Tiger Woods remains the most powerful man in sports, or at least the only one known to affect financial markets.

On Monday, when Woods’s divorce was finalized, the Swedish krona gained value against the U.S. dollar, and some Citigroup traders suggested that Woods’s divorce from Swedish Elin Nordegren might have been the reason, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The golfer’s divorce from his Swedish wife was finalized on Monday, just as the krona started to edge up against the dollar. Since then, it has sunk back down, with no obvious fundamental reason for either shift. The dollar has “bounced out of the rough” against the krona, Citi joked.

The Woods effect may be a spurious rumor, but “you never know,” it said.

It does make sense. The size of the divorce settlement is unknown, but it’s likely to be on the chunky side. Markets are generally quiet, and it doesn’t take much to move them around. A few million dollars’ worth of krona buying by Woods would certainly do it.

It wouldn’t be the first time the "Tiger Effect" was felt on Wall Street. During the 2008 U.S. Open Monday playoff between Woods and Rocco Mediate, Wall Street trading dropped more than 9 percent.

*In other Tiger news, Bloomberg News reports that golf fans no longer want the Nike shirt off Tiger's back.

Golf apparel sales overall are on the rise, signaling consumers are returning to the course, just not to Woods. Nike gets about 10 percent of its golf sales from the Woods brand, whose shirts, jackets and pants are among the most expensive clothing the sportswear maker sells.

“Apparel is hot right now,” said Laura Dowdy, the clothing buyer for Roger Dunn, which has more than 20 stores. “Everything -- Adidas, Puma, Nike, except the Tiger brand.”

Our men's style source cautions that this doesn't necessarily mean fans are turning on Woods. The Tiger Woods collection is a high-end line, and during a recession people might reasonably shy away from buying $80 golf shirts.

Then again, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Woods wearing the TW logo without irony.

Monty faces tougher Ryder Cup decisions than Pavin
In the United States, most of the Ryder Cup controversy centers on whether Team USA captain Corey Pavin will select Tiger Woods for the team with one of his captain's picks (if he hasn’t already), but the real controversy is happening overseas, where Colin Montgomerie’s comments earlier this year that he wants to use his captain’s picks on players who support the European Tour are being tested by top European players like Padraig Harrington and Paul Casey playing the Barclays this week in New Jersey instead of the Johnnie Walker Championship in Scotland despite having not qualified for Team Europe on points.

The Daily Mail’s Derek Lawrenson neatly outlines Monty’s dilemma:

How can he not be looking at Edoardo Molinari, Alvaro Quiros and Robert Karlsson, who will all be at the Johnnie Walker Championship, and all appear such obvious partners for Francesco Molinari, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Hanson respectively?

That's one side of the argument. Here's the other.

It's a Ryder Cup in the UK, the crowds are going to be rooting particularly for players from the UK, so why wouldn't you choose players from these shores?

How do you look your friends in the eye, men like Harrington and Casey, men who have won majors in the case of one and been in a fixture in the world's top 10 in the other, and tell them they will be sitting this one out?

How can you overlook Donald, the world No 10 and a man with a good Ryder Cup record? How can you not pick Rose, a star of the last Ryder Cup and one half of a partnership with Ian Poulter with the potential to be the team's heartbeat?

When Sir Nick Faldo stuck to his guns last time and chose Casey and Poulter rather than men who played the tour week in, week out, no-one fumed more than Monty. What's he going to do now?

Does he give the European Tour a huge shot in the arm by sticking with its footsoldiers or does he go for the glamour boys? Stay loyal to his instincts or stay loyal to his mates?

That’s a lot more troubling than having to explain to Rickie Folwer why you’re going with Tiger Woods for the team.

USGA penalizes 12 players for slow-play at U.S. Amateur
There are a lot of great stories to watch at the U.S. Amateur this week: Ben Hogan award winner Nick Taylor playing what amounts to a home game at Chambers Bay near his University of Washington fans, 47-year-old Californian Jeff Wilson’s opening 62, and defending champ Byeong-Hun An’s attempt to repeat.

But what caught our eye today was the USGA docking 12 players with one-stroke penalties (Via The Tacoma News Tribune):

Members of four groups – a combined 12 golfers – were assessed one-stroke penalties for failing to meet the pace-of-play standard at hole checkpoints through their round.

“That’s not necessarily abnormal for the U.S. Amateur,” said Mike Davis, the USGA’s senior director of rules and competition.

One of those groups was the first one out Monday morning – Ryan Peterson, of Eagan, Minn.; John Murphy, of Wilton, Conn.; and Colby Smith, of Auburn, Calif.

At the first checkpoint, the group was one minute behind and received a warning. At the second checkpoint – the ninth hole – the players lagged behind three minutes, and were given the penalty.

Another thing you won’t have to worry about when you turn pro, boys.