PAR AND YARDAGE: Galloway National Golf Club will be set up at 6,932/6,963 yards and will play to a par of 35-36-71.

GALLOWAY NATIONAL GOLF CLUB HOLE-BY-HOLE –   

COURSE AND SLOPE RATING: The USGA Course Rating for Galloway National for the Men's State Team Championship is 74.7 and the USGA Slope Rating is 146.

WHO CAN ENTER: All states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico may enter teams of three players.

SCHEDULE OF PLAY: Eighteen holes of stroke play are scheduled for Sept. 19-21  (Wednesday-Friday) with the two lowest of the three individual scores counting as the team’s score for the round. The team with the lowest aggregate score through 54 holes is the champion.

ARCHITECT: A Tom Fazio design, Galloway National Golf Club opened in 1993 on rolling topography and sandy soil ideal for drainage. The club is located not far from Atlantic City and club founders Vernon Hill and John Silvestri visited some 80 clubs and consulted with numerous individuals within the golf industry before choosing Fazio as the architect.

2010 CHAMPIONS: Bryan Norton, 51, of Mission Hills, Kan., carded a 3-under-par 68 in the final round to lift Kansas to a four-stroke victory over Rhode Island, Florida and North Carolina at Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa, Calif. Norton, the 2003 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up, was aided by a pair of 74s from 41-year-old Charlie Stevens of Wichita and Tyler Shelton of Fairway, as Kansas posted a 54-hole team total of 423 (three under) in the biennial competition. The lowest two scores from each three-man team counted in the team scoring each day. Kansas had started the final round sharing the 36-hole lead with Georgia, which shot a 10-over 152 in the final round and finished tied for ninth.

For more details, please visit: www.stateteam.org/mens/news/FridayFinal.html.

WHAT THE WINNER RECEIVES: The winning team receives custody of the James R. Hand Trophy for the ensuing two years. Members of the team receive gold medals.

TEAMS ENTERED: A total of 52 teams, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have entered the 2012 championship.

NEW JERSEY TEAM: Host New Jersey has never won the Men's State Team Championship; its best finish was a tie for fourth in 2011 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. The 2012 team consists of Niall Handley (West Caldwell), Brian Komline (Bridgewater) and Michael Stamberger (Brielle).

USGA CHAMPIONS/WALKER CUP MEMBERS: A total of three USGA champions and two past USA Walker Cup Team participants are in the field. They are:

Tim Jackson (Tennessee): 1994 and 2001 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion; 1995 and 1999 Walker Cup Team
Paul Simson (North Carolina): 2010 USGA Senior Amateur
Nathan Smith (Pennsylvania): 2003, 2009, 2010 and 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion; 2009 and 2011 Walker Cup Team

STATE TEAM CHAMPIONS: Four players in the field have participated on winning teams at the State Team Championship:

Keith Decker (Virginia, 1995)
Tim Jackson (Tennessee, 2003)
Sean Knapp (Pennsylvania, 2009)
Nathan Smith (Pennsylvania, 2009)

WORLD AMATEUR: Raul Rivera represented Puerto Rico in the 2004 World Amateur Team Championship.

A PERFECT TEN: Keith Decker (Virginia) is the only golfer in the field to have participated in all 10 USGA Men's State Team Championships.

HISTORY: This is the 10th USGA Men’s State Team Championship and the first USGA Championship to be conducted at Galloway National Golf Club. The competition, as well as the Women’s State Team Championship, grew out of the Association’s centennial anniversary in 1995. USGA officials believed that a new championship, one in which each state could be represented by amateur, non-college golfers, was an appropriate way to cap the USGA’s year-long birthday celebration. The competition proved to be such a success that the Association decided to continue conducting the championship biennially.

The format was fashioned after the biennial World Amateur Team Championship, which involves three-person teams in a 3-count-2 stroke-play format. State associations were given a variety of options in which to select its team members. The inaugural Men’s State Team Championship drew teams from all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The District of Columbia has also been added in recent years.

In 2009, the USGA decided to hold the Men’s State Team and Women’s State Team competitions at separate sites, and beginning in 2010, the schedule was changed to have the competitions alternate years, with the Men’s State Team Championship conducted in even years and the Women’s State Team in odd years.

NEW JERSEY AND USGA   This will be the 56th USGA championship held in the state of New Jersey and first Men's State Team Championship. Galloway National is one of three New Jersey sites hosting USGA competitions in 2012. The Women’s Amateur Public Links, the 55th USGA event to be played in the Garden State, was conducted June 18-23 at Neshanic Valley Golf Course in Neshanic Station, while the USGA Senior Amateur (Sept. 29-Oct. 4) will be held at Mountain Ridge C.C. in West Caldwell a week after the State Team.

PHOTO MEDIA SERVICE  The USGA will offer daily complimentary high-resolution photographs during the U.S. Open (Monday-Sunday) for news use only. For more information and to register, contact Nicole Ciaramella of the USGA at nciaramella@usga.org. Her office phone number is (908) 234-2300, ext. 1294.

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

MORE INFORMATION: Please contact David Shefter of USGA communications by cell phone at (908) 566-5691 or e-mail at dshefter@usga.org. Shefter will be on-site at the championship beginning Sept. 17. Brian DePasquale from the USGA communications staff will also be on site at the championship. He can be reached at bdepasquale@usga.org.  For more information on the USGA, please visit www.usga.org. Media specific information can be found at http://www.usga.org/MC_Home.aspx.