Two of the most beloved golf resorts in the world – Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C., and Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, in Bandon, Ore. – will be the host sites for the 2019 and 2020 U.S. Amateur Championships, respectively.
Diana Murphy, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman, unveiled the two future sites while appearing on-air with host Shane O’Donoghue during Fox Sports 1’s broadcast of the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball quarterfinals on Tuesday. The championship is being conducted at Bandon Dunes.
“The USGA is thrilled to continue the strong and cherished tradition of the U.S. Amateur Championship at both Pinehurst and Bandon Dunes, two proven partners in supporting and advancing amateur competition,” said Murphy. “We are confident these renowned courses will once again provide a worthy test and an enjoyable experience for all when they host the world’s top amateur players in 2019 and 2020.”
Pinehurst No. 2 and Bandon Dunes joins a venerable group of future U.S. Amateur sites, including 2015 at Olympia Fields Country Club, in Olympia Fields, Ill.; 2016 at Oakland Hills Country Club, in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; 2017 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.; and 2018 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Scheduled for Aug. 12-18, the 2019 U.S. Amateur will be the 10th USGA championship and third U.S. Amateur Championship conducted at Pinehurst, including the 1962 and 2008 U.S. Amateurs, won by Labron E. Harris Jr. and Danny Lee, respectively. Both championships were played on Course No. 2, a Donald Ross design that opened in 1907 and was restored by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw in 2010. The Coore-Crenshaw Restoration shined on the world stage in 2014, when it hosted the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open in back-to-back weeks.
Course No. 2 will host both stroke-play and match-play rounds in 2019, while Course No. 8 will serve as the stroke-play companion course.
Pinehurst No. 2 will also host the 2017 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, May 27-31, with Course No. 4 serving as the companion course.
“We are pleased to welcome the USGA’s oldest championship to Pinehurst once again in 2019,” said Robert Dedman Jr., Pinehurst Resort & Country Club CEO and owner. “As long as there has been golf at Pinehurst, we have celebrated the contributions amateurs have made to the game. To serve as the site of the U.S. Amateur will be an especially proud moment for Pinehurst, and it reflects the passion for amateur golf we share with the USGA.”
The 2020 U.S. Amateur, to be held Aug. 10-16, will mark the sixth USGA championship held at Bandon Dunes, all since 2006, including this week’s Women’s Four-Ball Championship, which will crown its first champions on Wednesday after the final match on the Pacific Dunes course. This will be the first U.S. Amateur held at Bandon Dunes, which is home to four courses, all of which have previously hosted USGA championships.
The Bandon Dunes course, the first of four 18-hole courses at the resort, opened in 1999 and hosted the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur, won by Trip Kuehne. Pacific Dunes, designed by Tom Doak and opened in 2001, hosted the 2006 Curtis Cup Match, as well as this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball. Bandon Trails, designed by Coore and Crenshaw and opened in 2005, and Old Macdonald, opened in 2010 and designed by Doak and Jim Urbina, were the host courses for both the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links, won by Corbin Mills, and 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, won by Brianna Do. The courses to be used for the 2020 U.S. Amateur will be announced at a later date.
“We are honored and delighted to host the 2020 U.S. Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort and look forward to adding to the storied history of this special championship,” said Mike Keiser, owner and founder of Bandon Dunes. “Amateur golf – both competitive and recreational – has been at the heart of Bandon Dunes since its inception, particularly the Old Macdonald course, which was constructed as homage to Charles Blair Macdonald who fittingly won the very first U.S. Amateur Championship at Newport Golf Club in 1895.”
The U.S. Amateur Championship is open to amateur golfers with a Handicap Index® not exceeding 2.4. Throughout its history, the U.S. Amateur has been the most coveted of all amateur titles, with notable champions such as five-time champion Bob Jones, three-time champion Tiger Woods, two-time winners Jack Nicklaus and Francis Ouimet, Gene Littler, Arnold Palmer, Lanny Wadkins, Craig Stadler, Jerry Pate, Mark O’Meara, Hal Sutton and Phil Mickelson.
