Golf Links: Saturday, July 29 news and notes

Whoops!

The RBC Canadian Open tournament director, Brent McLaughlin, was suspended Friday. Laurence Applebaum, Golf Canada CEO confirmed McLaughlin’s suspension but declined to comment further on an internal personnel matter. One is left to speculate about what might have gone wrong between the guy the New York Times described as “a tattooed, leather-clad, Harley Davidson-driving, guitar-picking former roadie” and Golf Canada management.

Rule 18-2 claims another victim

Elizabeth Moon ran smack dab into Rule 18-2 on her way to defeat at the U.S. Junior Girls Championship. Moon was positioned to win her match against Erica Shepherd but missed a short birdie putt. Before Shepherd could concede the shorter par putt, Moon rolled her ball back for another attempt.

Shepherd explained to an official that she would have conceded the putt, but the official advised her that putts couldn’t be conceded after the fact.

Moon was penalized a shot for moving a ball in play, lost the hole and the match. Shepherd advanced to the finals.

On their way to the Ladies Scottish Open

Joanna Klatten, Mel Reid, and Caroline Masson stopped off at Wentworth Golf Club on their way to Dundonald Links to help Branden Grace, Bernhard Langer, and Jamie Donaldson raise some money for The Player Foundation. Who says we can’t have mixed team play as an Olympic golf format? If the format is good enough to raise money for Gary Player’s charitable outreach efforts, surely it is good enough to showcase the game of golf at its finest in Olympic competition.

That’s just my thought on the matter.

Next: FedEx Cup rankings update - Spieth grabs the lead!

Golf Links will be back Sunday morning to get you ready for the final rounds at the pro events and catch you up on news notes around the golf world.