Sept. 25-30, 2010
Atlantic Golf Club, Bridgehampton, N.Y. 

PAR AND YARDAGE - Atlantic Golf Club will be set up at 7,044 yards and will play to a par of 36-36-72.  The second stroke-play course, The Bridge, will be set up at 7,352 yards and will play to a par of 36-36-72.

ATLANTIC GOLF CLUB HOLE BY HOLE  

ARCHITECTS - Rees Jones designed Atlantic Golf Club, which opened in 1992. Jones also designed The Bridge, which opened in 2002. 

COURSE LAYOUT - Approaches, collars around greens – .400 inch (22 inches in width, or one mower width, on collars)
Fairways, teeing grounds – .450 inch
Putting greens – Prepared firm and fast to measure approximately 11.5 feet on Stimpmeter
Intermediate rough – 1.25 inches
Primary Rough – 2.5-3 inches

COURSE RATING AND SLOPE - Based on the on the course setup for the championship, the Course Rating for Atlantic Golf Club is 74.8. Its Slope Rating is 146. The Course Rating for The Bridge is 76.5. Its SlopeRating is 140.  

WHO CAN ENTER - The championship is open to any amateur golfer who is 25 years old by Sept. 25 with a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 3.4. The deadline for entries is Aug. 4. 

ENTRIES - A total of 3,860 players entered the 2010 championship. The record of 5,271 entries was set in 1997. Entries closed Aug. 4.

SECTIONAL QUALIFYING - Sectional qualifying, played over 18 holes, was held at 68 sites from Aug. 23 to Sept. 9. 

CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD - The starting field of 264 golfers will be cut after 36 holes to 64 players, after which six rounds of match play are contested to determine the champion.

SCHEDULE OF PLAY - Eighteen holes of stroke play are scheduled for Sept. 25 and 26 after which the field will be cut to the low 64 scorers. Six rounds of match play begin on Sept. 27 and the championship concludes with a scheduled 36-hole final on Sept. 30. 

ADMISSION - Admission is free. Tickets are not needed for this USGA championship, and spectators are encouraged to attend.

2009 CHAMPION - Nathan Smith, 31, of Pittsburgh, Pa., won the 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship by defeating Tim Spitz, 33, of Rochester, N.Y., 7 and 6, at Cassique at The Kiawah Island Club in Kiawah Island, S.C. Smith also won the 2003 championship.

For more details, visit: www.usmidam.org/news/FridayFinal.html

 

EXEMPT PLAYERS --There are 16players fully exempt into the 264-player U.S. Mid-Amateur field, including seven USGA champions and six U.S. Mid-Amateur winners: 

Todd Burgan, Knoxville, Tenn. – 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinalist
Patrick Carter, Huntington, W.Va. – 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur semifinalist
Tripp Davis, Norman, Okla. – 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinalist
Austin Eaton III, North Sutton, N.H. – 2004 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
Robert Gerwin, Cincinnati, Ohio – 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur semifinalist
Tim Jackson, Germantown, Tenn. – 2001 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion; low amateur at the 2010 U.S. Senior Open
Sean Knapp, Oakmont, Pa. – 2008 U.S. Mid-Amateur semifinalist
Kevin Marsh, Henderson, Nev. – 2005 U.S. Mid-Amateur championGeorge “Buddy” Marucci Jr., Villanova, Pa. – 2008 USGA Senior Amateur champion
David McDaniel, Tucson, Ariz. – 2010 U.S. Amateur Public Links runner-up
Todd Mitchell, Bloomington, Ill. – 2008 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up
Nathan Smith, Pittsburgh, Pa. – 2003 and 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion; 2009 USA Walker Cup Team member; 2010 USA Copa de las Americas Team member
Tim Spitz, Rochester, N.Y. – 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up
Dave Womack, McDonough, Ga., 2006 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
George Zahringer, New York City, N.Y. – 2002 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion 

WHAT THE WINNER RECEIVES -- Among the benefits enjoyed by the U.S. Mid-Amateur winner are:

A gold medal and custody of the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy for the ensuing year
A likely invitation to the next Masters Tournament (has been issued since 1989)
An exemption from local qualifying at the next three U.S. Opens, if still an amateur
An exemption from qualifying at the next 10 Mid-Amateurs
An exemption from qualifying for the next two U.S. Amateurs 

THE TROPHY - The Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Mid-Amateur Trophy was presented in 1981 by the Atlanta Athletic Club and the Georgia State Golf Association. The most famous of all amateurs, Jones won five U.S. Amateur and four U.S. Open titles.

HISTORY - This is the 30th U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. The Mid-Amateur, for amateur golfers of at least 25 years of age, provides a formal national championship for the post-college amateur, for whom the game is truly an avocation.

Played at the Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Mo., in 1981, the first Mid-Amateur drew 1,638 entries. The field included three former Amateur champions: Gary Cowan (1966, 1971), Marvin “Vinny” Giles III (1972) and Fred Ridley (1975). Jim Holtgrieve, 33, of Des Peres, Mo., defeated fellow 1981 USA Walker Cup Team member Bob Lewis Jr., 37, of Warren, Ohio, in the final, 2 up.

Jay Sigel has captured the most Mid-Amateur titles with three (1983, 1985, 1987), while Jim Stuart (1990, 1991), Tim Jackson (1994, 2001), John “Spider” Miller (1996, 1998) and Nathan Smith (2003, 2009) have each won twice.

ATLANTIC GOLF CLUB AND THE USGA - The 2010 U.S. Mid-Amateur will be the second USGA championship conducted at Atlantic Golf Club. The club held the 1997 USGA Senior Amateur, won by Cliff Cunningham, who defeated Ed Bartlett in the final, 5 and 3.

USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN NEW YORK - The 2010 U.S. Mid-Amateur will be the 66th USGA championship held in the state of New York – the third-highest total of any state. The state most recently welcomed the 2009 U.S. Open, won by Lucas Glover. This will be the first U.S. Mid-Amateur in New York.

FUTURE SITES - In 2011, the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship will be played at Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Richmond, Texas, Sept. 17-22. The 2012 championship will be played at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill., Sept. 8-13.

PHOTO MEDIA SERVICE - The USGA will offer daily complimentary high-resolution photographs during the U.S. Mid-Amateur (Saturday-Thursday) for news use only. For more information and to register, contact John Mummert of the USGA at jmummert@usga.org. His office phone number is (908) 234-2300, ext. 1983.

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS - USGA Communications Department – (908) 234-2300

MORE INFORMATION - Please contact Pete Kowalski of USGA Championship Communications by cell phone at (908) 216-8435 or e-mail at pkowalski@usga.org. For more information on the USGA, please visit www.usga.org. Media specific information can be found at http://www.usga.org/press_room/Press-Room/.