Kinloch Golf Club, in Manakin-Sabot, Va., which was originally scheduled to host the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in 2020 but saw the event canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will now host the championship in 2024. The 43rd U.S.Mid-Amateur is scheduled to be conducted Sept. 21-26, 2024. Independence Golf Club, a nearby public facility in Midlothian, Va., will serve as the stroke-play co-host course.
Kinloch Golf Club’s only other USGA championship was the 2011 U.S. Senior Amateur, won by Louis Lee.
“The USGA is pleased to return to Kinloch Golf Club and appreciates the club’s support of amateur golf and their collaboration during these challenging times,” said Bill McCarthy, director of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship for the USGA. “Kinloch will require an international field of the best mid-amateur players to manage and execute their games at the highest level as they compete for the Robert T. Jones Memorial Trophy.”
Designed by Richmond-based architect Lester George and two-time USGA champion Marvin "Vinny" Giles III, Kinloch Golf Club opened in 2001. The course, which is located 20 miles outside of Richmond, Va., winds through a remote setting featuring a heavily wooded outward nine with an inward nine dominated by a 70-acre lake that factors heavily on the 18th hole.
“On behalf of the membership of Kinloch Golf Club, we are honored to host the 43rd U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship,” said Jonathan Ireland, the club’s general manager. “We are pleased to welcome the USGA back to Kinloch and look forward to hosting a world-class competition celebrating career amateur players.”
Louis Lee won the 2011 U.S. Senior Amateur at Kinloch, edging Philip Pleat, 1 up, in the final by making a 4-foot par putt on the 18th hole. Lee had defeated his brother, Stanford, the 2007 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, in the quarterfinal round. The club also hosted the 2003 Virginia State Amateur.
Independence Golf Club, 10 miles south of Kinloch, was designed by Tom Fazio and opened for play in 2001. The club hosted seven consecutive State Opens of Virginia, from 2007-2013, and a renovation by Lester George was completed in 2014.
The U.S. Mid-Amateur was first played in 1981. The championship is open to amateur golfers age 25 and older with a Handicap Index® not exceeding 3.4. The winner of the championship earns an exemption into the following year’s U.S. Open Championship and the champion and runner-up are also exempt into the next U.S. Amateur Championship.
Sankaty Head Golf Club, in Siasconset, Mass., and stroke-play co-host Miacomet Golf Course, in Nantucket, Mass., will host the 40th U.S. Mid-Amateur from Sept. 25-30, 2021. The 2022 championship will be contested at Erin Hills, in Erin, Wis., and stroke-play co-host Blue Mound Golf & Country Club, in Wauwatosa, Wis. In 2023, Sleepy Hollow Country Club, in Scarborough, N.Y., and stroke-play co-host Fenway Golf Club, in Scarsdale, N.Y., are the host sites. The 2025 championship will be played at Troon Country Club and stroke-play co-host Troon North Golf Club, in Scottsdale, Ariz.
