SITE INFORMATION
www.usga.org/senioram
Sept. 17-22, 2016
Old Warson Country Club, St. Louis, Mo. (oldwarson.com)
Twitter: @USGA; facebook.com/USGA; Instagram: @USGA; #USSeniorAm
PAR AND YARDAGE
Old Warson Country Club will be set up at 7,061 yards and will play to a par of 35-36–71.
OLD WARSON COUNTRY CLUB HOLE BY HOLE
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
Par 4 4 3 4 4 5 3 4 4 35
Yards 385 384 195 388 444 533 203 460 406 3,398
Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Total
Par 4 4 5 3 4 4 5 3 4 36
Yards 419 435 555 178 359 440 615 212 450 3,663
ARCHITECT
Old Warson Country Club was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened for play in 1954. The history of the property dates back to The War of 1812, when Irish adventurer John Mullanphy acquired the land through his cotton-trading fortune.
WHO CAN ENTER
The U.S. Senior Amateur Championship is open to amateurs who will have reached their 55th birthday by Sept. 17 and have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 7.4. The deadline for entries was Aug. 3.
ENTRIES
A total of 2,382 entries were accepted by the USGA for the 2016 U.S. Senior Amateur, besting the 2015 mark by one entrant. The record for U.S. Senior Amateur entries is 2,498, which was set in 2005 when the championship was held at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga.
SECTIONAL QUALIFYING
Sectional qualifying, played over 18 holes, will be conducted from Aug. 15-Sept. 1. Qualifying will be held at 50 sites in 41 states.
CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
A field of 156 golfers will compete in the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, including defending champion Chip Lutz.
The following 21 players are exempt into the championship:
- Stewart “Buddy” Alexander (1986 U.S. Amateur champion)
- Mike Bell (2006 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
- Tom Brandes (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur runner-up)
- Kevin Cahill (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur quarterfinalist)
- Rick Cloninger (2014 U.S. Senior Amateur semifinalist)
- Marvin “Vinny” Giles (2009 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
- Doug Hanzel (2013 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
- Tim Jackson (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur semifinalist)
- Louis Lee (2011 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
- Stanford Lee (2007 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
- Randal Lewis (2014 U.S. Senior Amateur semifinalist)
- Steven Liebler (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur semifinalist)
- Chip Lutz (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
- George “Buddy” Marucci (2008 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
- Patrick Murphy (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur quarterfinalist)
- Bryan Norton (2014 U.S. Senior Amateur runner-up)
- Pat O’Donnell (2013 U.S. Senior Amateur runner-up)
- Fred Ridley (1975 U.S. Amateur champion)
- Gary Robinson (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur quarterfinalist)
- Paul Simson (2010 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
- Patrick Tallent (2014 U.S. Senior Amateur champion)
SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Saturday, Sept. 17 – First round, stroke play
Sunday, Sept. 18 – Second round, stroke play
Monday, Sept. 19 – First round, match play
Tuesday, Sept. 20 – Second and third rounds, match play
Wednesday, Sept. 21 – Quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, match play
Thursday, Sept. 22 – Championship match (18 holes)
2015 CHAMPION
Chip Lutz, of Reading, Pa., defeated Tom Brandes, of Bellevue, Wash., 5 and 3, to win the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, held at the 6,864-yard, par-71 Hidden Creek Golf Club. Lutz, 60, who made it to the U.S. Senior Amateur semifinal round in 2010, 2011 and 2013, took home his first United States Golf Association victory and earned custody of the Frederick L. Dold Trophy for one year. The win complements Lutz’s back-to-back wins in both the 2011 and 2012 Canadian Senior Amateur and Seniors Amateur Championships, conducted by The R&A. He clinched his spot in the final by defeating 1994 and 2001 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Tim Jackson, 1 up, in the semifinals.
WHAT THE WINNER RECEIVES:
Among the benefits enjoyed by the U.S. Senior Amateur winner are:
- A gold medal and custody of the Frederick L. Dold Trophy for the ensuing year
- An exemption from local qualifying at the next U.S. Open Championship
- An exemption from sectional qualifying at the next U.S. Senior Open Championship, if still an amateur
- An exemption from sectional qualifying at the next two U.S. Amateur Championships
- An exemption from sectional qualifying at the next two U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships
- An exemption from sectional qualifying for the next 10 U.S. Senior Amateur Championships
ADMISSION
Admission to the 2016 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship is free and the public is encouraged to attend.
HISTORY
The U.S. Senior Amateur was inaugurated in 1955. Entries were open to golfers age 55 and over who had a Handicap Index not exceeding 10. The addition of the U.S. Senior Amateur gave the USGA twice as many championships as it had conducted before World War II, when there were just four: the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open, and U.S. Women’s Amateur, all started in 1895, and U.S. Amateur Public Links (1922). From World War II through 1955, the USGA added four championships: the U.S. Junior Amateur (1948), U.S. Girls’ Junior (1949), U.S. Women’s Open (1953) and U.S. Senior Amateur (1955). The USGA now conducts 13 national championships, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
The inaugural U.S. Senior Amateur, at Belle Meade Country Club, in Nashville, Tenn., received 370 entries from 30 states and the District of Columbia. J. Wood Platt, 56, an eight-time Philadelphia Amateur champion, defeated George Studinger, of San Francisco, 5 and 4 in the final.
In 1959, J. Clark Espie, who had won in 1957, became the Senior Amateur’s first two-time champion. Lewis W. Oehmig, a record six-time finalist, is the only three-time winner (1972, 1976, 1985). Oehmig is also credited as the oldest Senior Amateur champion, winning the title in 1985 at age 69.
Carts have been allowed since 1969, a condition not permitted when the championship was first played. Traditionalists who believed walking the course was vital to a valid national title finally allowed carts because the championship is contested in the fall, when fewer caddies are typically available.
CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY
The U.S. Senior Amateur Championship Trophy was first presented in 1955 by Frederick L. Dold, of Wichita, Kan., who had retired from the USGA Executive Committee after five years of service.
USGA AND OLD WARSON COUNTRY CLUB
This is the third USGA championship to be conducted at Old Warson Country Club.
1999 U.S. Mid-Amateur (Danny Green def. Jerry Courville Jr., 2 and 1)
2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Jennifer Song def. Jennifer Johnson, 3 and 1)
USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN MISSOURI
This will be the 20th USGA championship and second U.S. Senior Amateur contested in Missouri. The last Senior Amateur contested in the Show Me State was in 2001 when Kemp Richardson defeated Bill Ploeger, 2 and 1, to win the championship at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis.
USGA Championships in Missouri
1921 U.S. Amateur: St. Louis C.C., St. Louis (Jesse P. Guilford
1925 U.S. Women’s Amateur: St. Louis C.C., St. Louis (Glenna Collett)
1929 U.S. Amateur Public Links, The Courses at Forest Park, St. Louis (Carl F. Kauffmann)
1947 U.S. Open: St. Louis C.C., St. Louis (Lew Worsham)
1960 U.S. Amateur: St. Louis C.C., St. Louis (Deane Beman)
1965 U.S. Open: Bellerive C.C., St. Louis (Gary Player)
1972 U.S. Women’s Amateur: St. Louis C.C., St. Louis (Mary Budke)
1972 U.S. Girls’ Junior: Jefferson City C.C., Jefferson City (Nancy Lopez)
1981 U.S. Mid-Amateur: Bellerive C.C., St. Louis (Jim Holtgrieve)
1999 U.S. Mid-Amateur: Old Warson C.C., St. Louis (Danny Green)
2001 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: Fox Run G.C., Eureka (Laura Shanahan)
2001 U.S. Senior Amateur: Norwood Hills C.C., St. Louis (Kemp Richardson)
2004 U.S. Senior Open: Bellerive C.C., St. Louis (Peter Jacobsen)
2005 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links: Swope Memorial G.C., Kansas City (Eun Jung Lee)
2007 U.S. Junior Amateur, Boone Valley G.C., Augusta (Cory Whitsett)
2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur: Old Warson C.C., St. Louis (Jennifer Song)
2009 Men’s State Team, Country Club of St. Albans, St. Louis (Pennsylvania)
2014 Curtis Cup: St. Louis C.C., St. Louis (USA)
2015 Women’s State Team, Dalhousie G.C., Cape Girardeau (Georgia)
U.S. SENIOR AMATEURS IN MISSOURI
Year, Course and Results
2001: Norwood Hills Country Club, St. Louis (Kemp Richardson def. Bill Ploeger, 2 and 1)
OTHER EVENTS AT OLD WARSON COUNTRY CLUB
1957 Western Amateur (Ed Updegraff)
1962 Trans-Mississippi Amateur (Bob Ryan)
1971 Ryder Cup (USA)
WINNERS OF U.S. AMATEUR & U.S. SENIOR AMATEUR
Winners, Years of Championships
William C. Campbell (1964 Amateur; 1979, 1980 Senior Amateur)
Marvin “Vinny” Giles III (1972 Amateur; 2009 Senior Amateur)
FUTURE U.S. SENIOR AMATEURS
Aug. 26-31, 2017: The Minikahda Club, Minneapolis, Minn.
Aug. 25-30, 2018: Eugene (Ore.) Country Club
MEDIA CREDENTIALS/PHOTO MEDIA SERVICE
There is no deadline for obtaining media credentials for this championship. Please register for credentials at mediacredentials.usga.org/media. The USGA will offer daily, complimentary high-resolution photographs during the U.S. Senior Amateur strictly for editorial use. For more information and to register for the USGA’s digital photo archive, email photorequests@usga.org.
MEDIA OPERATIONS/SERVICE
Please contact Joey Flyntz for more information regarding your U.S. Senior Amateur coverage plans. His contact information is:
Joey Flyntz: jflyntz@usga.org, (O) 908-326-1935, (C) 443-472-0846
For more information about the USGA, visit usga.org. Media-specific information can be found in the USGA’s Online Media Center: www.usga.org/onlinemediacenter.