Prior to the Pros

The United States Golf Association has revealed eight of the ten young men who will attempt to defend the Walker Cup against the Great Britain-Ireland squad Sept. 12-13 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, PA.

Oklahoma State's Rickie Fowler and the University's of Georgia's Brian Harman, who are the only members of the team to have previously competed in the Walker Cup competition, headline the team that will be lead into battle by Buddy Marucci. 

LAKE FOREST, Ill.  - The turning point of Saturday afternoon's final match of the 107th Western Amateur came on the ninth hole at the blustery, sun-drenched and humid Conway Farms Golf Club.

Zach Barlow, a senior at the University of Illinois, had a downhill four-foot putt  that, if converted, would slow the momentum of Kent State junior John Hahn, who led Barlow 2-up and had a three-footer for birdie to restore a three-hole lead he had built earlier in the match but had seen slip the hole before. 

Lake City's Blayne Barber tamed the tough Stadium Course and dominated a talented field to take home the 92nd Florida State Amateur Championship.

The 19-year-old Barber finished the four-day event with an 11-under-par total of 277, nine strokes better than his nearest competitor.

Playing in her final AJGA event, Kimberly Kim of Pahoa, Hawaii, won the 18th annual Rolex Girls Junior Championship on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff at Rancho Sante Fe Golf Club in California.

Kim got the better of Jessica Korda of Bradenton, Fla., thanks to a terrific lag putt from 65 feet that settled just two feet from the hole. While Kim made par, Korda three-putted for an untimely bogey.