"To be more precise, the selection of one Peter Uihlein over someone called Dan Woltman has many close observers reaching for their anti-cynicism pills."

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I've received a few more emails from folks I'd call USGA fans who are disheartened by the recent Walker Cup selection process, which Sean Martin wrote about and now John Huggan has touched on in previewing the matches.
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USGA Makes Final Two Walker Cup Picks...

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Anyone who follows this stuff have anything to add about the committee's choices?

 

TRINGALE AND UIHLEIN ADDED TO USA TEAM FOR 2009 WALKER CUP MATCH
 
Far Hills, N.J. (Aug. 30) – Cameron Tringale, 22, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., and Peter Uihlein, 20, of Orlando, Fla., have been named to the 2009 USA Walker Cup Team by the International Team Selection Committee of the United States Golf Association.
 
Tringale and Uihlein are the final two players selected to the USA Team that will compete against 10 amateurs representing Great Britain and Ireland in the 42nd Walker Cup Match, to be played Sept. 12-13 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.
 
Tim Jackson, 50, of Germantown, Tenn., has been named as the first alternate for the team. Ben Martin, 22, of Greenwood, S.C., will be the second alternate.
 
The eight players previously named to the USA Team on Aug. 9 are Bud Cauley, Rickie Fowler, Brendan Gielow, Brian Harman, Morgan Hoffmann, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Smith and Drew Weaver. The captain of the USA Team is George “Buddy” MarucciJr.
 
The USA Team has won the last two Matches, posting one-point victories at Chicago (Ill.) Golf Club in 2005 and at Royal County Down in Newcastle, Ireland, in 2007. The USA leads the series overall, 33-7-1.
 
For the first time, the Walker Cup Match will comprise 18 singlesmatches and eight foursomes (alternate shot) matches in 2009. Ten singles matches will be played on Sunday.
 
This change marks only the second time in the 87-year history of the Walker Cup that the format has been altered.
 
From 1963 to 2007, the Match comprised 16 singles matches and eight foursomes matches. From 1922 to 1961, the Match comprised four foursomes matches on the first day of play and eight singles matches on the second day of play.

"The club recently purchased a home that it has coveted for more than a decade. That will allow them to stretch the dogleg right par-4 to more than 450 yards."

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In reading Dave Shedloski's preview of Merion for the Walker Cup and beyond, I couldn't help thinking how fun it would be if Merion sent the USGA and R&A a bill for this:

For instance, a new sixth tee has just been installed that takes the 420-yard par-4 to more than 470 yards, and it might be used during the Walker Cup Sept. 12-13. Behind the 12th tee, which is currently 371 yards, the club recently purchased a home that it has coveted for more than a decade. That will allow them to stretch the dogleg right par-4 to more than 450 yards.

Then there is the famous 18th, where a plaque commemorating Hogan's famous 1-iron at the end of regulation, sits in the left half of the fairway. Even with a new tee in place, most of today's players easily could fly drives past the Hogan marker and down the hill, leaving a short iron into the elevated green. That's why the club is considering cutting a new tee into a hill some 30-40 yards farther back, which would make the par-4 more than 500 yards.