RORY SPEARS (L) Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf, and Len Ziehm (R) contributor to Golfers on Golf Radio on Am 820 WCPT-Saturday’s at 10 AM. _____________________________________________________________________
THE US OPEN at Winged Foot-September 14-20, The U.S. Women’s Open at the Champions Golf Club in Houston Texas December 10-13. Details at USGA.org.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) has made several changes to it’s 2020 championship schedule, due to fall out from the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur scheduled for August 3-9 at the Woodmont Country Club in Rockville Maryland, and the 120th U.S. Amateur, scheduled for August 10-16 at Bandon (Ore.) Dunes Golf Resort, will be conducted as scheduled, providing CDC guidelines make it possible to do so.
However the USGA has announced the remainder of the USGA amateur championship schedule has been cancelled for 2020. Those championships include the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur that was scheduled from Aug. 29-Sept. 3 at Berkeley Hall Golf Club in Bluffton S.C., the U.S. Senior Amateur (Aug 29-Sept. 3 at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms Mich.); the U.S. Mid-Amateur at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot Va., and Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, Va.); and U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (Sept.12-17 at the Lakewood in Point Clear, Ala.).
“Throughout this process, our primary focus has been the safety and well-being of everyone involved, including the players, volunteers, host club representatives and staff,” said John Bodenhammer, senior managing director of championships for the USGA. “We have not taken these decisions lightly and wish we had more options. But with a continued, keen interest in doing what is best for all involved, although we are extremely disappointed, this is the right decision.”
Six other championships were previously canceled, including the men’s and women’s Amateur Four-Ball, the boys and girls Junior Amateur’s and the men’s and women’s Senior Open’s.
The Men’s and Women’s U.S. Open’s and the two U.S. Amateur Championships will be held without qualifiers, and the entire fields will be filled through exemptions. For the health and safety of various golf associations across the country that conduct qualifiers, the USGA decided holding them was not seen as a viable option.
“As you can imagine, this was an incredibly difficult decision,as qualifying is the cornerstone of USGA championships,” said Bodenhamer. “We take great pride in the fact that many thousands typically enter to pursue their dream of qualifying for a USGA Championship and we deeply regret that they will not have that opportunity this year. But this structure provides the best path forward for us to conduct these championships in 2020.
Entrance applications for some 2021 USGA Championships have been delayed until the week of July 6th. More details at USGA.org.