N.j.'s Dot Paluck Named Usa Captain For 2016 World Amateur Team Championships
Dot Paluck of Bernardsville, N.J., and Paul Caruso will serve as USA captains for the 2016 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship and Men’s World Amateur Team Championship, respectively, the United States Golf Association (USGA) announced on June 11.
The championships will be contested Sept. 14-17 (women) and Sept. 21-24 (men) at El Camaleón Golf Club and Grand Coral Riviera Maya Resort in Cancun, Mexico.
“We are proud to have Dot and Paul as our World Amateur Team captains,” said Skip Gist, USGA vice president and chairman of the International Team Selection Committee. “They have each served the USGA for many years and will do a wonderful job representing the United States at these championships. This renowned international competition will be a great experience for Dot, Paul and their teams.”
Paluck served as the chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee in 2013 and 2014 after serving as vice chairman in 2011 and 2012. She first became involved with the USGA in the 1980 U.S. Open at Baltusrol Golf Club, where she was in charge of junior volunteers. From 2005-2009, Paluck served as chairman of the USGA Women’s State Team Championship, and she has also served on the USGA Regional Associations and Regional Affairs committees. Paluck is a former president of the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association and the Garden State Women’s Golf Association. She and her husband Tom, former NJSGA president and sponsor of the NJSGA Mixed Pinehurst Championship, live in Bernardsville.
The Palucks are lifetime sustaining donors to the NJSGA Caddie Scholars Foundation and help organize the annual New Jersey Evans Scholar Outing, which takes place Monday, June 15, at Hawk Pointe G.C. in Washington, N.J.
The Palucks were co-honored with the Distinguished Service Award by the NJSGA and New Jersey Section of the PGA at the seventh Celebration of Golf Dinner in 2010.
Paluck is in her 17th year of service with the USGA where she is completing a two-year term as head of the Women’s Committee. She has also been chair of the U.S. Women’s State Team Championship and Regional Affairs Committee.
She began with the WMGA in 1979 on the Board of Directors and was WMGA president in 1997-98 and again in 2005. She also serves as New Jersey course rating district chair. She is also a former president of the Garden State Women’s Golf Association (2002-03). She has also been club champion at both Baltusrol and Somerset Hills. She is on the Bernardsville Planning Board and is Commissioner of Golf for the Somerset County Park Commission.
“I am truly excited for this opportunity to serve as captain,” said Paluck. “This is one of the best amateur championships in the world and will be a rewarding experience for everyone involved.”
Caruso served on the USGA Executive Committee for nine years, including three years as an officer (vice president in 2004 and 2005, treasurer in 2003). Caruso’s service to the USGA began in 1986 when he served on the Green Section Committee. A member of the Montana State Golf Association Hall of Fame, he also chaired the USGA Rules of Golf Committee for four years and worked with the USGA Foundation. Caruso is the president and chief executive officer of First Security Bank of Helena (Mont.) and president of First Security Bank Holding Company. He and his wife Lenette live in Helena.
“I am looking forward to the extraordinary opportunity to serve as captain of the United States at the World Amateur Team Championship,” said Caruso, who worked as a Rules official in 103 USGA championships and 20 other major golf championships between 1988 and 2005.
Both championships consist of 72 holes of stroke play (18 holes for four days). In each round, the total of the two lowest scores by the three players from each team constitutes the team score for that round. The four-day total is the team’s score for the championship.
The World Amateur Team Championships were last played in 2014 at Karuizawa 72 Golf East (Iriyama and Oshitate courses) in Karuizawa, Japan. The USA captured the Eisenhower Trophy in the 29th men’s championship, while Australia won the Espirito Santo Trophy in the 26th women’s championship. Among the players who have competed in the championships are Jack Nicklaus, Nick Price, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak, Lorena Ochoa and Yani Tseng.
The World Amateur Team Championship was founded in 1958, and the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship began in 1964. The International Golf Federation (IGF) was founded in 1958 to encourage the international development of golf through friendship and sportsmanship. Today, the IGF consists of 135 national governing bodies of golf representing 129 countries, and is the international federation of golf for the International Olympic Committee. One of its main functions is to conduct the biennial World Amateur Team Championships for men and women.
The championship is rotated biennially among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe-Africa. The 2016 championships in Cancun will be hosted by the Mexican Golf Federation and the 2018 championships will be hosted by the Golfing Union of Ireland and the Irish Ladies Golf Union and played at Carton House Golf Club, in Maynooth, Ireland.
