ARCHITECT: Dick Wilson, whose works include the Blue Monster at Doral Resort & Spa Miami (2013 Copa de las Americas) and the Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill (1997 U.S. Amateur), designed both courses at NCR Country Club. The courses opened in 1954.
COURSE/SLOPE RATING: The USGA Course Rating for the championship will be 74.7 and the USGA Slope Rating will be 146.
WHO CAN ENTER: All states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico may enter teams of three players. The only golfers ineligible to participate are those currently on a college team, per NCAA rules.
SCHEDULE OF PLAY: Eighteen holes of stroke play are scheduled for Sept. 17-19 (Tuesday-Thursday) with two lowest scores of the three individual rounds counting as the team’s score for the round. The team with the lowest aggregate score through 54 holes is the champion. If there is a tie after the final round, the score from the team’s non-scoring player is used to break the deadlock. If the score remains tied, the second-round score from the non-scoring player is used.
ADMISSION: Admission is free and spectators are encouraged to attend.
2011 CHAMPION: Defending champion Georgia, behind the stellar performance of 14-year-old Rachel Dai, of Suwanee, rallied from as much as a five-stroke deficit in the final round to register a two-stroke victory over Texas and Tennessee on the 6,067-yard, par-72 Palmetto Course at The Landings in Savannah, Ga. Dai, along with veteran Laura Coble, of Augusta, and 17-year-old Amira Alexander, of Alpharetta, posted a 54-hole total of 16-over-par 448 in the 3-count-2 team format.
Georgia joined the Texas men as the only state to have registered three USGA State Team Championships. Georgia won its first title in 2005. The biennial State Team Championships began in 1995.
Dai carded an even-par 72 in a final round that included four birdies over the last nine holes to secure low individual honors at 2-under 214, edging Tennessee’s Calle Nielson by one stroke.
Coble, a member of the winning 2005 and 2009 teams, added a 5-over 77 for Georgia, which discarded the 79 by Alexander, her best score of the 54-hole competition.
HISTORY: This is the 10th USGA Women’s State Team Championship. The competition, as well as the Men’s State Team Championship, grew out of the Association’s centennial celebration 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 Women’s State Team Championship drew teams from 43 states. The District of Columbia started competing in 2001. A record 51 teams participated in 2007 at The Club at Carlton Woods. That number was matched in 2011.
In 2010, the USGA decided to alternate years for the Men’s and Women’s State Team Championship, with the men playing in even-numbered years and the women in odd years.
OHIO AND THE USGA: This will be the 37th USGA championship held in the Buckeye State and fourth to be conducted at NCR Country Club. The club hosted the 1986 U.S. Women’s Open, 1998 U.S. Mid-Amateur and 2005 U.S. Senior Open. The last USGA event conducted in Ohio was the 2011 U.S. Senior Open at Inverness Club in Toledo.
USGA Events At NCR Country Club
1986 – U.S. Women’s Open (Jane Geddes, 287; won playoff over Sally Little)
1998 – U.S. Mid-Amateur (John “Spider” Miller defeated Chip Holcombe, 1 up)
2005 – U.S. Senior Open (Allen Doyle, 274)
PHOTO MEDIA SERVICE: The USGA will offer daily complimentary high-resolution photographs during the USGA Women’s State Team Championship (Tuesday through Thursday) for news use only. For more information and to register, send an e-mail request to photorequests@usga.org. The Photo Archives department can be reached by calling (908) 234-2300.
IMPORTANT NUMBERS
USGA Communications Department – (908) 234-2300
Women’s State Team Media Room – TBD
MORE INFORMATION: Please contact Rhonda Glenn of USGA communications by cell phone at (352) 347-1932 or e-mail at rglenn@usga.org. Glenn will be on-site at the championship beginning Sept. 15. 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/.