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The Sports Illustrated Golf Group team has blanketed the Golf.com World Am with coverage. SI’s talented team of writers have provided editorial, photo and video coverage of the tournament on Golf.com.

David Dusek chronicles Maggie Collins’ inspiring return from breast cancer.

The origins of the Mark & Cory Lemke Parent-Child Championship. 

Your playing partner, the Rocket? Two guys discuss playing the second round with Roger Clemens.

Ouch! Competitor finishes round after getting hit in head!

Sandbagger’s hell at Golf.com World Am.

It took less than two holes to determine the toughest player in the 2010 Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship.

When you get clunked between the eyes by an errant shot from your playing partner, endure 12 stitches, and return to finish your round, all at the age of 68, there can little doubt about one’s fortitude.

Jim Stryker, playing in his 13th World Am, proved his mettle in the Golf.com World Am’s opening round. Stryker parred his first hole at Quail Creek and thought he caught a break on the second, getting a good lie on a shot he thought had gone in the woods.

That’s where his good fortune ended.

“Just as I was starting to feel good and get my perspective on where I was on the golf course, somebody yelled, ‘Jim.’ I saw a ball for just about one second coming right at me. It hit me square in the glasses. The glasses, because of the steel rim, cut my face and knocked me down.”

It took less than two holes to determine the toughest player in the 2010 Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship.

 

The 27th annual Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship teed off this morning. More than 3,000 golfers from 48 states and 18 foreign countries came to Myrtle Beach to compete in an event that has become known as the “Every Man’s Major.”

The Golf.com World Am is a 72-hole tournament that is open to all golfers – young and old, male and female – with a verifiable handicap. Players are separated by age and gender – there are six different divisions – and placed in tightly grouped flights based on the game’s most comprehensive and accurate handicap system.

Each flight, which includes approximately 48 players, plays a different Myrtle Beach area course everyday and after four rounds, all flight winners and ties advance to the World Championship Playoff on Friday at the TPC-Myrtle Beach, the area’s only 5-star layout.

Thanks to its handicap system, the Golf.com World Am provides players the opportunity to compete on a level playing field, something the list of past world champions bares out. Players with handicaps as low as two and has high as 34 have hoisted the trophy.

While competition is an integral component of the event, it’s far from the only attraction. Each night players gather at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center to enjoy the World’s Largest 19th Hole, the event’s social hub. The World’s Largest 19th Hole provides three hours of free food from some of the area’s finest restaurants, free top shelf drinks, live entertainment and a golf expo that features instructional clinics from some of the game’s leading names.

The 27th annual Golf.com World Am is less than 24 hours away and the skies (and forecast) in Myrtle Beach are devoid of rain! More than 95 percent of the field has gone through registration and now players are trying to get in one last practice round. 

With anticipation reaching a fever pitch, we went to Myrtlewood for the International Challenge to talk to players about what they are most looking forward. With the start of the tournament just hours away, here is what your fellow players had to say:

Do you have a question you’ve always wanted to ask about your favorite golfer? Do you want an insider’s perspective on the state of Tiger’s game?

Tuesday is the night all your PGA Tour related questions will be answered.

Sports Illustrated Golf Group has some of the world’s most talented golf writers in its stable, and they will be among the headline entertainers at the 19th Hole Tuesday night.

Some of SIGG’s most prominent writers, including Alan Shipnuck, Gary Van Sickle, Michael Bamberger, Farrell Evans, Jim Herre and Mark Godich will take the convention center stage at 7:30 on Tuesday night for an exclusive edition of PGA Tour Confidential. They will discuss the first week of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and share their insights into covering the Tour. The panel will also take questions from the crowd, so get ready!

At 8:20 Tuesday evening, Kevin Cook, David DeNunzio, John Garrity, Bamberger, Shipnuck and Van Sickle will be on stage for a special SI Golf Author’s Edition. They have written some of the game’s most popular books (see the list below), and will take you behind the scenes in discussing their work. Following the Author’s Edition discussion, all six guys will participate in a book signing.
 

With an eye on making sure the World Championship Playoff is played under optimal conditions, the final round of this year’s Golf.com World Am is being moved to TPC-Myrtle Beach, the area’s only 5-star golf course.

The Championship round was slated to be held at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club, but with the stress put on the course’s greens by the summer heat, a preemptive decision was made to move it, insuring an outstanding putting surface for players and the health of the Dunes Club heading into the fall season.

TPC, which hosted the Senior PGA Tour Championship in 2000 – an event won by Tom Watson – will provide Tour level conditions from the bag drop to the 19th Hole for Golf.com World Am players. TPC has hosted the World Championship Playoff in 2002.

 “Flight winners have always looked forward to playing the Dunes Club, but TPC is as good a course as we have in Myrtle Beach and will again make for a great World Championship host,” Dave Macpherson, the Golf.com World Am’s tournament director, said. “We want flight winners to compete for the World Championship on a course that is in impeccable condition, and the TPC is the facility that will provide that environment.”
 

We sent out a call for questions regarding the rule of golf, and you obliged. While many ask the same type of questions (is the one ball rule being used?), we had a surplus of orginal queries. We took your questions to our Rule Co-Chair Lew Gach and graciously answered all of them.

Without further ado, here are the answers to your questions:

Is the one ball rule enforced at the World Am?
No, we do not play the “One Ball Rule” in the World Am.  However, you must hole out with the ball played from the teeing ground unless the ball is substituted under an applicable Rule (i.e. water hazard, out-of-bounds, unplayable ball, etc.).  No “Putting Balls”.

What is the best way to call a rule violation on another golfer and should we? Jim
Yes, you should inform your fellow competitor on the course that you suspect they may be breaching a Rule.  You should also inform the Committee as you could be subject to penalty if you are their marker and knowingly attest a wrong scorecard.

We had many requests to post yesterday's Rules Webinar PowerPoint presentation online. Enjoy all 77 pages of the presentation! If you have any questions in follow up, please don't hesistate to ask.

2010 RULES WEBINAR.pdf

 Just as we did last year, we will have a rules webinar on
Tuesday August 17th at 5 p.m.

Play real golf indoors? Impossible. Not with aboutGolf? aboutGolf will provide the most realistic indoor golf experience in the world for participants of the GOLF.com World Amateur Handicap Championship.

aboutGolf, makers of the world’s most technologically advanced golf simulators, are bringing a pair of simulators to the World’s Largest 19th Hole, one that will be positioned on the main stage for long drive exhibitions and the other on the floor. World Am participants will be able to compete in a closest to the pin contest on the simulator on the convention center floor at the Know Your Score experience.

What distinguishes aboutGolf’s simulators from the competition is its machine vision technology. Translated into laymen’s terms, aboutGolf uses a 3-D photography system and a complex set of physics algorithms to provide a level of accuracy and realism that is exceeded only by an actual golf course.