• Wie able to accept expense money
• Gooden to be held without bail.
• Nebraska sweeps Hawai‘i
Wie able to accept expense money
By The Garden Island
FAR HILLS, N.J. — Michelle Wie and other U.S. amateur golfers will be able to accept expense money in a rule change announced Friday by the U.S. Golf Association (USGA) and set to begin on Jan. 1, 2006.
The move is part of a number of revisions made as part of a two-year review of the rules of amateur status undertaken by the USGA and Royal and Ancient Golf Association in St. Andrews, Scotland, hoping to create fewer differences.
Only junior golfers are currently allowed to accept help from outside families for expenses to play in individual events.
The change allows players of any age to accept outside financing for such tourney expenses as meals, transportation, lodging, entry fees and caddie fees — provided reimbursement comes through a state or regional golf association.
Starting next year, juniors will be able to receive financial aid from outside their families for all competitions, as opposed to merely amateur ones, opening the door to aid for the Masters and U.S. and British Opens.
This would allow sponsors to finance trips to major tournaments for such well-known amateurs as Wie, who regularly plays in women’s golf major events and has tried to qualify for such men’s events as the Masters and U.S. Open.
The USGA said junior golfers would not have to go through state or regional associations for reimbursement to expenses for junior events but would for such events as the U.S. Amateur or U.S. Open.
The USGA wants the associations to act as watchdogs, ensuring reimbursements are merely for expenses and players receive no additional payments, such as from sponsors, for more than the cost of journeys to elite events.
“This is a major advance,” USGA president Fred Ridley said. “It gives amateurs who do not have access to substantial family resources the opportunity to receive help from friends and supporters so they can compete against their peers.”
Another USGA code amendment allows an amateur golfer to accept a prize of any value for a hole-in-one in the only area where the U.S. group could not find agreement with the Royal and Ancient.
The aces must come during a round of golf rather than in a specialized hole-in-one contest, the USGA noted, with closest-to-hole prizes not included in the new revision.
The R-and-A prohibits hole-in-one prizes about $750 in the United States and 500 pounds or the equivalent in the remainder of the world.
Streamlining of the process to regain amateur status was also made. Most cases will require a one-year wait if a player has been professional for less than five years, twice that if the pro term has been longer than five years.
Gooden to be held without bail.
TAMPA, Fla. — Dwight Gooden will be jailed without bail until an October hearing, a judge ruled Friday, three days after the former star pitcher fled police during a DUI traffic stop. Gooden, dressed in an orange jail outfit and shackled at the wrists and ankles, looked gaunt in court as he was flanked by his mother and lawyer. He didn’t speak during the brief hearing except to acknowledge the judge’s questions with a “yes, sir” or “no, sir.”
Nebraska sweeps Hawai‘i
OMAHA, Neb. — The University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team opened the season on the road Friday night with 30-23, 30-26, 30-21 loss to Nebraska at the AVCA/NACWAA Volleyball Showcase.
The Rainbow Wahine are ranked fourth in the preseason CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Cornhuskers are ranked No. 1.
Hawaii was set to play No. 5 Penn State on Saturday.
Alicia Arnott had nine kills for Hawaii, while Victoria Prince added eight. Kamanao Kanoe led the Rainbow Wahine with 12 digs.
