ChAmpionShipS mediA GUide - USGA

Amateur12 U.S. AmateurChampionship HistoryThe U.S. Amateur Champion ship was born in 1895 becauseof a controversy. In 1894, two clubs — Newport (R.I.) GolfClub and New York’s St. Andrew’s Golf Club — had conductedinvitational tournaments to attract the nation’s top amateurplayers.Newport’s stroke play tournament was won by club memberW.G. Lawrence, who triumphed over a field of 20 competitors.The match-play competition at St. Andrews attracted 27golfers and was won by Laurence Stoddart of the host club.Both clubs proclaimed their winners as the national champion.Clearly, golf needed a national governing body to conductnational championships, develop a single set of rules for allgolfers to follow and promote the best interests of the game.With that, representatives from five clubs founded the USGAon Dec. 22, 1894.As a result, in 1895, its first full year of operation, theUSGA conducted Amateur, Open and Women’s AmateurChampion ships. The Amateur and Open Championships wereconducted at Newport Golf Club during the same week ofOctober and Charles B. Macdonald became the first U.S.Amateur champion.The Amateur Championship is the oldest golf championship inthis country — one day older than the U.S. Open. Except foran eight-year period from 1965-1972, when it was stroke play,the Amateur has been a match-play championship.Over the years, as interest in the game grew and the numberof quality players increased, it became necessary to establish anational handicapping system to determine who was eligible tocompete in the Amateur. The USGA’s first national handicap list,which was published for the 1912 championship, was the forerunnerof the present-day USGA Handicap System.Throughout its history, the U.S. Amateur has been the mostcoveted of all amateur titles. Many of the great names ofprofessional golf, such as Gene Littler, Arnold Palmer, JackNicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Craig Stadler, Jerry Pate, MarkO’Meara, Hal Sutton, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, gracethe Havemeyer Trophy.It was, however, longtime amateur Robert T. Jones Jr. who firstattracted media coverage and spectator attendance at theAmateur Championship. Jones captured the championshipfive times (1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1930). His 1930 victory was astunning moment in golf history when, at Merion Cricket Clubin Ardmore, Pa., Jones rounded out the Grand Slam, winningthe four major American and British championships in one year.Sixty-six years later, in 1996, Woods attracted similar interestand enthusiasm when he won a record third consecutive U.S.Amateur at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore. In1994, Woods, at 18, entered the record book as the youngestever to win the Amateur Championship. In 1996, he brokeanother record when he won, having registered 18 consecutivematch-play victories. In 2008, Danny Lee of New Zealandbecame the youngest winner at 18 years and one month;this record was again broken in 2009 by Byeong-Hun An ofKorea, who won the title at 17 years, 11 months and 13 days.