Category: USGA

2021 IGA Championship, USGA Qualifying Schedule announced

November 13, 20200 commentsChampionships, News, USGA Qualifiers

The Falls, in Larchwood, will host the IGA Four-Ball Championship in 2021.

The 2021 IGA Championship calendar has been released. The schedule includes a wonderful lineup of IGA Member Clubs that will serve as host sites for next year’s IGA championships.

In 2021, the Iowa Amateur will be conducted at Wakonda Club in Des Moines, July 12-14. This coming year will mark the sixth time the Iowa Amateur will be held at the club, with the first time being in 1926. The last time the classic venue hosted the Iowa Amateur was in 2005 when Brian Verudyn captured the title with a two-over par total of 218. Since 2013, the club has been home to the Principal Charity Classic on the PGA Tour Champions. The William Langford-designed golf course will provide a great stage for the state’s best amateurs.

The Iowa Women’s Amateur will be played at Dubuque Golf & Country Club in Dubuque, July 26-28. It has been over five decades since the club first hosted the Iowa Women’s Amateur in 1970, when Corkey Nydle of Ottumwa earned the title. The club has hosted the Iowa Amateur in 2001, 1988, 1968, 1962, and the Iowa Mid-Amateur in 1994. While not exceptionally long, the course requires precision shot making and good course management. It’s natural terrain and mature tree-lined fairways will challenge the experienced golfer, while providing a playable experience for many.

The men’s and women’s IGA Match Play Championship will return to Talons of Tuscany in Ankeny, June 29-July 2. Talons of Tuscany, is a privately-owned course routed between beautiful rock walled streams and covered bridges. In 2020, the men’s and women’s IGA Match Play Championship was held at Talons of Tuscany for the first time, when 2020 Men’s Player of the Year Connor Peck and IGA veteran Leanne Smith took home the hardware.

In 2021, The Preserve on Rathbun Lake in Moravia will host the Iowa Senior Amateur. The dates of the championship are Thursday-Saturday, August 19-21. The Preserve has hosted numerous IGA Championships in the past and hosts the Southeast Iowa Amateur, an Additional Sanctioned Point Event, each year.

The Iowa Wife-Husband Championship is set to return to Sunnyside Country Club in Waterloo. The championship is set for Sept. 17-19. The tournament will remain a 3-day format in which couples choose to play their two rounds on Friday & Saturday, Friday & Sunday or Saturday & Sunday.

The Herman Sani Tournament will return to Johnston’s Hyperion Field Club in 2021. The ‘Sani’ has a long and storied history at Hyperion Field Club, as the event was held there every year from 1953 – 2012. Since 2013 the event rotates between Echo Valley Country Club and Hyperion Field Club and continues to feature the state’s best amateur and professional golfers vying for the trophy. The 2021 edition of The Sani was slated to be held at Echo Valley CC, but due to anticipated course projects at Echo Valley CC, Hyperion Field Club has agreed to host again next year with plans of Echo Valley CC hosting in 2022.

Elmwood Country Club, in Marshalltown, has agreed to host the 2021 Iowa Cup, with dates of that event still to be finalized at this time.

In addition to those championships already listed, the IGA will conduct events at the following venues – Finkbine Golf Club (Iowa Mid-Amateur), The Falls (IGA Four-Ball), Geneva Golf & Country Club (IGA Senior Match Play), Hillcrest Golf & Country Club (Iowa Forever 39 Match Play), Jester Park Golf Course in Granger (Father/Son, Parent/Child), Coldwater Golf Links (Iowa Junior & Girls’ Junior Amateur), Sioux City Country Club (IGA Women’s Four-Ball), Elmcrest Country Club (Women’s Club Team), Indianola Country Club (Iowa Senior Women’s Amateur) and The Meadows Golf Club (IGA Club Team).

The IGA Women’s Mid-Am Series events and IGA Member Play Days will be scheduled and announced at a later time.

The IGA will also conduct and administer several USGA Qualifiers throughout the state in 2021. Here are the sites for this year’s qualifying events:

  • Beaver Hills Country Club, Cedar Falls – U.S. Open Local Qualifier
  • Briarwood Golf Club, Ankeny – U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifier
  • Lake Panorama National Golf Course, Panora – U.S. Amateur Qualifier
  • Stone Creek Golf Club, Williamsburg – U.S. Senior Amateur Qualifier
  • Stone Creek Golf Club, Williamsburg – U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Qualifier
  • Otter Creek Golf Course, Ankeny – U.S. Mid-Amateur Qualifier
  • Blue Top Ridge, Riverside – U.S. Four-Ball Qualifier

Entries to all IGA Championships will be available in March. Entries will be available for USGA Championships at a later date, which will be determined by the USGA and announced on their website.

 

 

Follow those with Iowa ties at the 2020 U.S. Amateur

August 10, 20200 commentsUSGA

The par-4 eighth hole at Bandon Dunes golf course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore. on Saturday, June 15, 2019. (Copyright USGA/Steven Gibbons)

The first two rounds of stroke play qualifying for the 120th U.S. Amateur Championship begin today, Monday (Aug. 10) and Tuesday (Aug. 11), at 7,214-yard, par-72 Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon Dunes) and at 6,850-yard, par-71 Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon Trails), in Bandon, Ore.

Below are players with Iowa ties and their tee times (PST).
Monday (Aug. 10), BT, Hole #1 / Tuesday (Aug. 11), BD, Hole #1 – 8:39 a.m. / 12:52 p.m. – Tripp Kinney, Des Moines (Iowa State University)

Monday (Aug. 10), BD, Hole #1 / Tuesday (Aug. 11), BT, Hole #1 – 9:23 a.m. / 1:36 p.m. – Eugene Elliott, West Des Moines

Monday (Aug. 10), BD, Hole #1 / Tuesday (Aug. 11), BT, Hole #1 – 9:56 a.m. / 2:09 p.m. – Lachlan Barker, Australia (Iowa State University)

Monday (Aug. 10), BD, Hole #1 / Tuesday (Aug. 11), BT, Hole #1 – 11:13 a.m. / 7 a.m. – Alex Schaake, Omaha, Neb. (University of Iowa)

Also – Indianola’s Jake Marvelli will be caddying for Tanner Owens this week in Oregon.

The U.S. Amateur consists of 36 holes of stroke play on Aug. 10 and 11, after which the 264-player field will be reduced to the low 64 scorers. There will be six rounds of match play, starting Aug. 12. The quarterfinals and semifinals are slated for Friday, Aug. 14 and Saturday, Aug. 15, respectively. The championship is scheduled to conclude with a 36-hole final on Sunday, Aug. 16, starting at 9:30 a.m. PDT.

Click here for more information on this year’s event

2020 USGA PJB Interns are familiar faces

February 3, 20200 commentsNews, USGA

The 2020 USGA P.J. Boatwright Interns will be familiar faces.

2019 interns Karli Kerrigan (above left) and Reilly Smidt (above right) have agreed to each do another 6-month term as a Boatwright intern in 2020. Both proved to be valuable assets to the IGA team last year and we look forward to keeping them on hand throughout most of 2020.

Karli is finishing up her senior year at Grandview University in Des Moines and will graduate in May. She will finish her 2019 internship at the IGA on February 15, 2020 and then will begin her 2020 stint on May 15, 2020, working for six months to fulfill her internship, which will end on November 15, 2020.

In addition to her work with the IGA, Karli has continued to excel on the golf course for Grandview. This fall, she won three of the five events she played, and finished runner-up in another. Her break from the IGA from February 15 to May 15 will coincide nicely with her final semester of collegiate golf.

Reilly will complete his sophomore year at Iowa State University this spring, where he majors in Finance. His internship schedule will be a bit more haphazard than Karli’s, due to school commitments, including the opportunity to study abroad in Italy.

Reilly also finishes his 2019 internship on February 15, 2020. However, he will immediately begin his 2020 internship. He will work ½ time from February 15 thru May 15, then will take time off to study abroad in Rome for a month. He will return and work a full-time schedule from June 15 to September 15 before going back to a ½ time schedule from September 15 to December 15, rounding out his six-month internship.

Unfortunately, we do know that 2020 will be the final year for internships for both Karli and Reilly, as the USGA limits an individual to 12 total months (each did six months in 2019 and 2020).

In 1991, the USGA established the P.J. Boatwright Jr. Internship Program. This program is designed to give experience to individuals who are interested in pursuing a career in golf administration, while assisting state and regional golf associations in the promotion of amateur golf, on a short-term, entry-level basis. At the IGA, Clint Brown, Katelynn Hogenson, Nate McCoy and Chad Pitts are all former Boatwright interns.

2020 IGA Schedule, USGA Qualifying venues announced

November 22, 20190 commentsChampionships, News, USGA

We are excited to release the 2020 IGA Championship schedule. Many great venues will be featured this year across the state. A link at the bottom of the page will allow you to view the entire schedule, including USGA Qualifiers.

In 2020, the Iowa Amateur makes its return to Davenport Country Club (pictured above), July 27-29. This coming year will mark the sixth time the Iowa Amateur will be held at the club. The last time Davenport Country Club hosted was in 2008 when eventual champion Mike Oimeon of Clear Lake won in a playoff. Since then the golf course underwent a major renovation beginning in 2014.  The goal was to restore the course to its original design as well as uncover some of the hidden features that were once covered up by trees. Davenport Country Club has received national notoriety for being one of the best courses in Iowa according to Golf Digest and currently sites at #159 in the recent GolfWeek list of top 200 Classic Courses.

The Iowa Women’s Amateur will be hosted by Elmwood Country Club in Marshalltown, July 6-8. Elmwood Country Club last hosted the Iowa Women’s Amateur in 2004, when eventual champion Jennie Arsenault won her first of three consecutive Iowa Women’s Amateur titles. Along with hosting the Iowa Women’s Amateur, Elmwood CC has also hosted an Iowa Amateur, IGA Women’s Club Team Championship, Iowa Senior Women’s Amateur and Iowa Mid-Amateur.

Talons of Tuscany in Ankeny, will host the men’s and women’s IGA Match Play Championship, June 29-July 2. Talons of Tuscany, is a privately owned course routed between beautiful rock walled streams and covered bridges.  In recent years the course has been lengthened to more than 6,400 yards making it a formidable but fair test. The opportunity to compete for a championship at this unique venue doesn’t happen every day.

The Herman Sani Tournament, presented by Coppola Enterprises, will be played at Hyperion Field Club in Johnston, August 7-9. The championship features professional and amateur golfers with proceeds from the tournament going to support the IGA Foundation Scholarship Fund.

The 2020 Iowa Senior Amateur will be contested at Crow Valley Golf Club in Davenport. The dates of the championship are Monday-Wednesday, August 24-26. This will mark the first year that the Iowa Senior Amateur will be contested at Crow Valley GC and first year ever that this championship will be played in the Quad Cities.

The Iowa Wife-Husband Championship will return to Sunnyside Country Club in Waterloo. The championship is set for Sept. 18-20. The tournament will remain a 3-day format in which couples choose to play their two rounds on Friday & Saturday, Friday & Sunday or Saturday & Sunday.

In addition to those championships already listed, the IGA will conduct events at the following venues – Sunnyside CC (Iowa Mid-Amateur), Whispering Creek GC (IGA Four-Ball), Veenker Memorial GC (IGA Senior Match Play), Urbandale G&CC (Iowa Forever 39 Match Play), Jester Park GC in Granger (Father/Son, Parent/Child), Spirit Hollow GC (Iowa Junior & Girls’ Junior Amateur), Carroll CC (Iowa Senior Women’s Amateur), Jones GC (IGA Women’s Four-Ball), Elmcrest CC (Women’s Club Team) and Hyperion FC (IGA Club Team).

IGA Women’s Mid-Am Series events and IGA Member Play Days will be scheduled and announced at a later time.

The IGA will also conduct and administer several USGA Qualifiers throughout the state in 2020. Those are as follows:

  • Beaver Hills Country Club, Cedar Falls – U.S. Open Local Qualifying
  • Coldwater Golf Links, Ames –  S. Senior Open Qualifier
  • Finkbine Golf Course, Iowa City – U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifying
  • Lake Panorama National Golf Course, Panora – U.S. Amateur Qualifying
  • Lake Panorama National Golf Course, Panora – U.S. Senior Amateur Qualifying
  • Wakonda Club, Des Moines – U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Qualifying
  • Otter Creek Golf Course, Ankeny – U.S. Mid-Amateur
  • Firethorn Country Club, Lincoln, Nebraska (Nebraska Golf Assoc.) – U.S. Four-Ball Qualifying.

Entries to all IGA Championships and Member Play Days (TBD) will be available on March 3, 2020. Entries will be available for USGA Championships at a later date, which will be determined by the USGA and announced on their website.

Click here to view the entire schedule, including USGA Qualifiers 

Iowa’s Snyder, partner Beqaj qualify for 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball

October 11, 20190 commentsUSGA, USGA Qualifiers

Britta Snyder (above left), of Ames, and Sarah Beqaj, of Toronto, ON, teamed up to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball on Monday, Oct. 7, at Blackberry Oaks Golf Course, Bristol, IL. The duo posted 69 (-3) to earn the second qualifying spot. Their round consisted of four birdies and a lone bogey. This marks the third time Snyder and Beqaj have qualified for the championship and the sixth time Snyder will participate in an USGA championship.

The 6th U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball will be played at Quail Creek Country Club, Naples, Fla., April 25-29, 2020.

Click here to see a scores from the qualifier

Clark / Christensen earn medalist honors, McCoy / Herrera advance in playoff

September 10, 20190 commentsUSGA, USGA Qualifiers

Brad Clark (Durham, NC) and Michael Christensen (Minneapolis, MN) earned medalist honors at Monday’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Sectional Qualifier held at Des Moines Golf & Country Club. The side of Clark / Christensen (pictured right) posted a round of 65 (-7), which included seven birdies and no bogeys.

A quartet of sides finished at 66 (-6) but would have to wait almost 24 hours to determine the second qualifying spot due to severe weather that rolled through West Des Moines on Monday evening into Tuesday morning.

The side of Nathaniel McCoy (Ankeny) / Ben Herrera (Adel) would make birdies on the first two playoff holes on Tuesday to earn the final spot into the championship. The First Alternate position went to the side of Ben Pettitt (West Des Moines) / Nate Pettitt (Urbandale) and Jon Brown (Adel) / Jon Olson (Ankeny) took Second Alternate.

“We punched our ticket,” McCoy said. “Ben is one of the best there is.”

The 2020 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship with be held at Philadelphia Cricket Club, May 23-27.

Click here for a recap of scoring from the Sectional Qualifier

Tennant repeats as U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion

August 30, 20190 commentsUSGA

When Lara Tennant (right) arrived at Cedar Rapids Country Club to begin her title defense in the 58th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, a repeat performance was not on her radar.

“When I shot 70 in the first round of stroke play, I said I’m so glad I played OK, so that people won’t think my victory was a fluke,” said Tennant, 52, of Portland, Ore.

Tennant backed up her 2018 triumph in remarkably similar fashion: she earned the No. 5 seed in stroke play (No. 10 last year), then marched through the bracket, ultimately meeting her co-finalist from last year, Sue Wooster of Australia, and prevailing by the exact same 3-and-2 margin on Thursday morning. But it was not a repeat performance in golf terms.

“This week, my swing wasn’t as crisp as it was last year,” said Tennant. “There were times I was confident this week and I played well, but I would say mentally you just have to grind it out, play against par instead of your opponent. That’s what I continued to do throughout the week, to stay calm.”

Tennant lost the second hole after a poor drive, but she rebounded to win No. 4 with a par and took her first lead of the day when she parred the 183-yard par-3 eighth hole after Wooster found the water with her tee shot for a double bogey. Wooster then missed three consecutive fairways, and Tennant captured both the 10th and 11th holes with pars to Wooster’s bogeys to take firm control.

“You know what? Sue is a tough competitor and a fabulous golfer,” said Tennant, who played at the University of Arizona. “Last year I honestly apologized to Sue for beating her because at this point in the game, when you’ve played 10 rounds in eight days you’re both exhausted, you both worked hard, you both played well. I really had to not be distracted and just focus on my game. You don’t get many opportunities to be in the finals of a USGA championship.”

Wooster, who won three matches on the 18th hole, including her quarterfinal and semifinal wins on Wednesday, cut into the lead on the par-4 13th when she made a gritty up-and-down and Tennant three-putted. Leading 2 up, Tennant got a crucial break on the next hole. With both players on the plateau green of the par-4 14th in two, Tennant hit the flagstick with her putt from 45 feet away, with the ball stopping a few inches from the hole. Had it not hit the stick, it would have rolled several feet past.

Click here to read more from the USGA

The Rematch: 2018 Finalists Tennant, Wooster Return at CRCC

August 29, 20190 commentsUSGA

Defending champion Lara Tennant (pictured above), of Portland, Ore., and Sue Wooster, of Australia, will square off in consecutive years for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. Both won a pair of matches on Wednesday at Cedar Rapids Country Club: Tennant in comfortable fashion, while the 2018 runner-up Wooster survived two nail-biters that went to the final green.

This is the first time in 58 playings of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur that the finalists from the previous year will meet again in the championship match. Tennant defeated Wooster, 3 and 2, last October at Orchid Island Golf & Beach Golf Club in Vero Beach, Fla. The last time the same two players met in back-to-back USGA finals was in 2013-14, when Julia Potter-Bobb and Margaret (Shirley) Starosto played in U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur finals, with Potter-Bobb winning the first and Starosto the second.

Tennant, the No. 5 seed, topped No. 13 Lynne Cowan, of Rocklin, Calif., 5 and 4, in the morning quarterfinals, and No. 24 seed Patricia Ehrhart, of Honolulu, Hawaii, 4 and 2, in the afternoon semifinals. Ehrhart, 53, was playing in her third USGA semifinal since 2016, but was unable to dent Tennant, who won holes 2-3 with birdies and played even-par golf in winds that gusted to 25 miles an hour on the 5,732-yard, Donald Ross-designed layout.

“The wind was swirling, so it was even difficult to predict which direction it was going, so club selection was tough,” said Tennant, who improved to 11-1 in match play in three years of this championship and once again had her father, George Mack Sr., as her caddie. “But I think we did a pretty good job of it.”

Click here to read more from the USGA

2018 Runner-up Wooster Leads Quarterfinal Charge

August 28, 20190 commentsUSGA

Sue Wooster, of Australia, the runner-up last year to Lara Tennant, posted a pair of match-play victories in breezy conditions on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinal round of the 58th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Cedar Rapids Country Club (pictured above).

Wooster, the No. 34 seed, edged No. 2 seed and three-time champion Ellen Port, 1 up, in the morning Round of 32, then held off Tara Fleming, of Jersey City, N.J., 2 and 1, in the afternoon Round of 16 after building an early 4-up lead.

“It was a real battle in the morning; to beat Ellen Port, I’m just stoked,” said Wooster, 57, of Lysterfield, a suburb of Melbourne. “She’s got game, you know? I played good again this afternoon, and Tara played some good golf to catch me back to 2 up. I got it up and down on 16 and 17 to halve those holes, so that was nice. I’ve got the speed of the greens down; hopefully that will last.”

Port led, 1 up, through 16 holes in the morning, but Wooster took the par-4 17th and 18th holes. No. 18, a green that has given the players fits this week, proved to be decisive as Port four-putted from a precarious spot above the hole after hitting the green in regulation to lose to Wooster’s bogey.

“I’m not sure if I’m over last year,” said Wooster of her 3-and-2 loss to Tennant at Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club in Vero Beach, Fla., last October. “I’m just taking one step at a time, but I’ve got a chance. I feel pretty proud of myself for getting this far and that gives me some confidence going forward.”

Click here to read more from the USGA

Defending champion, 7 Other USGA Champs Into Round of 32 at CRCC

August 27, 20190 commentsUSGA

Defending champion Lara Tennant, of Portland, Ore., rolled in a nerve-wracking 4-foot bogey putt to halve the 18th hole on Monday and seal a 1-up victory over Susan West, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., in the 58th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Cedar Rapids Country Club.

Tennant birdied the par-5 15th hole for a 3-up lead with three holes to play, but she was bunkered on No. 16 and three-putted No. 17 for bogeys to West’s pars, bringing the match to the uphill, 320-yard, par-4 18th. Tennant’s approach shot left her with a daunting putt from the left side of the green, and she left it 18 inches from the hole. Tennant barely tapped the sliding, sidehill putt, but it missed the hole and ended up 4 feet past. She made the comebacker for bogey to halve the hole and win, 1 up.

“It’s one of those greens that I don’t think anybody is going to figure out,” said Tennant, 52, of the closing hole on the Donald Ross-designed course. “Maybe my goal the rest of the week should be to try to finish my matches before 18.”

No. 1 seed Martha Leach, of Hebron, Ky., completed her opening match on the 14th hole, notching a 6-and-4 victory over Jane Curtin, of Silver Spring, Md., after earning medalist honors in stroke play for the first time in her 71 USGA championship starts.

Click here to read more from the USGA

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