Tag: U.S. Women’s Amateur

Briana Chacon claims medalist honors at U.S. Women’s Amateur in record fashion

Briana Chacon rewrote the record books.

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LOS ANGELES — Briana Chacon did something Tuesday morning that no golfer in the history of the U.S. Women’s Amateur has ever accomplished.

She finished stroke play at 9-under 131, a gross scoring record in the championship. In the 122 editions of the event before this year, no golfer has ever shot better than 133 in the 36-hole stroke-play format. During the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club, Chacon rewrote the record books.

Chacon, a fifth-year player at Oregon, will be the top seed in match play, which begins Wednesday morning. Ole Miss fifth-year Andrea Lignell had a chance to tie Chacon with a par on the 18th hole, but she made double bogey after hitting her tee shot in a fairway bunker. Lignell was 7 under before the blunder, but she carded a 5-under 65 on Tuesday.

“I didn’t really play in too many events this summer,” Chacon said of her prep for the U.S. Women’s Am. “But I worked really hard on my putting the past few months. That’s always been my missing piece. I got a coach, worked really hard and it paid off.”

U.S. Women’s Amateur: Photos

Chacon shot 5-under 65 on Tuesday morning to follow up with her opening 4-under 66 Monday, when she shared the lead with fellow Californian Caroline Canales, who is playing a true home game this week. Canales, who tied for fifth in stroke play at 4-under 136, plays collegiately at UCLA.

“I think the greens are faster than normal,” said Canales, who mentioned she plays the course about twice a week during the season. “I didn’t expect them to be this fast. On the flip side, I do think they’ve cut the rough a bit, which evens it out.”

Lignell will be No. 2 seed come match play, but her and Chacon will have to wait to see their opponents.

2023 U.S. Women's Amateur
Briana Chacon shares a laugh with her caddie Greg Puga after hitting her tee shot on hole 18 during the second round of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)

Come Wednesday morning, there will be a 10-for-9 playoff for the final match play spots. Charlotte Cantonis birdied her final hole, meaning 65 players were inside the cut line and forcing a playoff.

The playoff will begin at 7 a.m. Wednesday on No. 10, the 205-yard par-3 over a canyon. The scoring average on the hole this week is 3.35.

Gianna Clemente, who won the Junior PGA Championship last week in Arkansas, continued her strong play with a 5-under 65 performance Tuesday afternoon, giving her the third seed for match play. At last month’s U.S. Girls’ Junior, Clemente was the 18th seed and made the semifinals, losing to eventual champion Kiara Romero, an incoming freshman at Oregon.

Clemente said she’s not worried about burning out with her recent busy stretch and is looking forward to match play.

“I love playing competitive golf and never get sick of it,” Clemente said. “I knew I had a busy schedule coming into the summer, but it has been really fun to travel to a lot of new places, and I’ve got a lot of golf left in me.”

Romero and Clemente were paired together the first two rounds, with Romero also making match play after shooting 2-under 138. 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Jensen Castle, a fifth-year at Kentucky, will be a part of the playoff.

Photos: 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club

Here’s a look at some of the best photos from the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club. 

LOS ANGELES — The best women’s amateur golfers in the world are in California for the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Play began Monday at Bel-Air Country Club, which is near UCLA’s campus in Los Angeles. The field of 156 players will compete in two rounds of stroke play before a cut is made for the top 64 players. Any ties will be resolved, and match play begins Wednesday.

The championship final is set for Sunday and will be contested over 36 holes.

Jensen Castle, the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, is the lone winner in the field. Last year’s winner, Saki Baba, isn’t teeing it up.

Here’s a look at some of the best photos from the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club.

Check out photos of every hole at Bel-Air for the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur

See the challenges the best women amateurs in the world will face at Bel-Air.

Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles is a longtime host to Hollywood A-listers. This week, they will stand aside for the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

The elite private club has served as the main course for USGA events before: the 1976 U.S. Amateur won by Bill Sander and the 2004 U.S. Senior Amateur won by Mark Bemowski. But this will be the first chance for a top event at the course for women, some of whom likely will return for the 2026 Curtis Cup. Bel-Air also will be the site for the 2030 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship for men.

Bel-Air ranks No. 10 in an incredibly stacked California on Golfweek’s Best ranking of top private courses in each state, and it ties for No. 56 in Golfweek’s Best ranking of top classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S.

This Women’s Am is a continuation of a big year for the architecture of George Thomas, who also laid out Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, site of the 2023 U.S. Open won by Wyndham Clark. Thomas also designed Riviera, site of the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational.

Thomas’ design – actually a co-design alongside William P. Bell – at Bel-Air opened in 1926, playing through canyons on a small parcel of land adjacent to UCLA. The course required the use of a famed swinging bridge and even an elevator as players traverse the sometimes extreme terrain.

Architect Tom Doak restored much of Thomas’ design in 2018, removing extraneous bunkers that had been added over the decades and angling to have the course play much more as it did when it opened. The restoration has drawn rave reviews and led to the USGA planning more events at the club.

The course is slated to play to 6,187 yards with a par of 70 for the Women’s Am.

Photographer Bill Hornstein captured beautiful shots of each hole at Bel-Air for the USGA.

Players to watch at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club

It’s bound to be an exciting week at Bel-Air.

It’s time for one of the premier women’s amateur championships.

The 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur begins Monday at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, as the field of 156 players will vie for their chance to capture the oldest trophy in women’s amateur golf, the Robert Cox Trophy.

This will be the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur, which began in 1895. There were a record 1,679 entries accepted for the championship.

Although the top three players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking aren’t in the field, including defending champion Saki Baba, there’s no shortage of star power who will be teeing it up near Beverly Hills.

Here’s a look at 10 players to watch at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club.

Everything to know about the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club

The first U.S. Women’s Amateur was in 1895.

It’s time for the best women amateurs in the world to battle it out for one the oldest trophies in golf.

The 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur tees off Monday at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles. The field of 156 will play 36 holes of stroke play before the top 64 make match play, which begins Wednesday.

This will be the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur, which began in 1895. There were a record 1,679 entries accepted for the championship.

The final is set for Sunday, Aug. 13.

Saki Baba won in dominant fashion last year at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. She beat Monet Chun, 11 and 9.

Here’s everything you need to know for the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

U.S. Women’s Amateur helped shape the future of golf for women

The United States Golf Association had a big hand in the growth of women’s golf in the U.S.

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The United States Golf Association had a big hand in the growth of women’s golf in the U.S.

In 1894, then called the Amateur Golf Association, the USGA was formed. A year later, it hosted the first U.S. Women’s Amateur. It was first conducted in 1895, shortly after the inaugural U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open. The Women’s Amateur has been conducted every year since, except 1917-18, when it was suspended due to World War I, and 1942-45, when it was suspended due to World War II.

That means the U.S. Women’s Amateur is one of the oldest USGA championships and first major golf tournament for women in the country.

The U.S. Women’s Amateur will contest its 123rd championship beginning Monday at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles. A field of 156 golfers will vie to take home the Robert Cox Trophy, which has its own unique history.

The Robert Cox Trophy remains the oldest surviving trophy awarded for a USGA championship. It’s also the only USGA trophy donated by someone from another country, coming from Scotland’s, you guess it, Robert Cox.

The first U.S. Women’s Amateur tournament attracted a field of 13 and was played over 18 holes. As in the case of the men’s U.S. Amateur, entry was originally restricted to members of USGA-affiliated private clubs (and, presumably, international players who were members of clubs affiliated with their nations’ golf governing bodies); this policy remained in place until the 1979 tournament.

The most decorated U.S. Women’s Open champion is Glenna Collett Vare, a lifelong amateur who won the Cox Trophy a record six times. Second to Vare is JoAnne Gunderson Carner, who won five U.S. Women’s Amateurs. Combined with her two wins in the U.S. Women’s Open and one victory in the U.S. Girls’ Junior, Carner’s eight USGA titles are tied with Jack Nicklaus and eclipsed only by Bob Jones and Tiger Woods, who have each won nine.

There have been no shortage of repeat winners at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, either. Beatrix Hoyt, Alexa Stirling, Vare, Virginia Van Wie and Juli Inkster have all won the U.S. Women’s Amateur three straight times. Another seven – Genevieve Hecker, Dorothy Campbell, Margaret Curtis, Betty Jameson, Kay Cockerill, Kelli Kuehne and Danielle Kang – have gone back-to-back.

The U.S. Women’s Amateur has long identified some of golf’s greatest female players, many of whom have gone on to successful professional careers. Along with the champions listed above, Patty Berg (who won the first U.S. Women’s Open in 1946), Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Louise Suggs, Marlene Stewart Streit, Anne Quast Sander, Barbara McIntire, Catherine Lacoste, Carol Semple Thompson, Beth Daniel, Morgan Pressel and Lydia Ko have secured a place in golf history, and plenty of them started their rise at the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

In the history of women’s golf in the United States, no tournament has been more important for amateurs than the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Come next week in Los Angeles, it will add another historic chapter to its books, and there’s a chance the next star will begin to shine after hoisting the Robert Cox Trophy.

Rachel Heck is going from ROTC field training to the U.S. Women’s Amateur

“I have a great perspective on the game and on life after everything that has happened this past two years.”

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Rachel Heck doesn’t have any expectations before her final U.S. Women’s Amateur. And she has good reason.

Last week, Heck earned her Prop and Wings after graduating from the Air Force’s grueling ROTC field training at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. Heck spent 17 days going through rigorous training, drills and more, all a part of her journey to becoming a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force once she graduates from Stanford.

“I didn’t have my phone, and there was no golf,” Heck said. “We woke up at 4 a.m. every day, and they even took our watches so we didn’t know what time it was.”

Come Monday, she’ll tee it up alongside 155 of the world best women’s amateur golfers at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles. It will be her seventh appearance in the oldest women’s amateur championship in the world.

And it was those 17 days in Alabama that will help prepare her for the Women’s Amateur as well as the rest of her life, whether that’s on the golf course or serving her country.

“It was definitely the biggest mental and physical challenge I’ve ever faced,” Heck said. “It was also by far the most rewarding and transformational. I learned so much. I left with new family.”

Heck has long been known as one of the greatest amateur golfers in the United States. She reached the semifinals of the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur and won medalist honors after stroke play in 2020. In her freshman year at Stanford, Heck swept championship season, winning the Pac-12 title, the NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship en route to earning the 2021 ANNIKA Award for women’s college golfer of the year.

In the midst of all of that, she was a student at one of the most academically prestigious universities in the country while participating in the Air Force ROTC program.

Rachel Heck recently received her Prop and Wings after graduating from the Air Force’s ROTC field training. (Photo provided)

She joined the ROTC program her freshman year, deciding to give it a try. The original plan was to do it for a year and feel it out. She fell in love.

“I realized very quickly I needed something else in my life besides golf,” Heck said. “I didn’t feel like I was going to live a fulfilling life by putting all of my eggs into one basket.”

Heck had plenty of people tell her she couldn’t handle the duties of being a Division-I athlete, let alone at Stanford, and be in an ROTC program.

That made the feeling even sweeter when she earned her Prop and Wings last week. She described the feeling to what she felt riding from the 17th green to the clubhouse at Grayhawk Golf Club after winning the team national title in 2022.

“It was really special because there were so many times where I’ve doubted myself and I’ve gotten overwhelmed and everything piles up and I’m just drowning in work and can’t handle it all,” Heck said, “but every time I managed to push through and was able to do it on my own.”

Heck credits the support system around her, especially her family, teammates and coaches, for supporting her in her journey, which hasn’t been easy this year.

In March, Heck had surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, which involved removing her first rib. She didn’t play a round of competitive golf because of the injury from October until the first round of the NCAA Championship. Heck shot an 82 and was emotional in the moment after her round.

The rest of the championships, however, she embraced her role as a leader and helped Stanford capture the stroke-play title, even if she wasn’t playing.

Now, Heck is back healthy and heads to Los Angeles to end her summer trying to capture the Robert Cox Trophy for the first time. She knows that may be difficult, considering she has likely had the least amount of practice as anyone in the field thanks to her field training. However, Heck said the benefits of being in the Air Force ROTC have outweighed the sacrifices she has made in her golf game.

“I feel super blessed. I feel so much gratitude to be playing golf,” Heck said. “But it has been a very, very rewarding few years culminating in a very, very rewarding 17 days.”

Heck has one more year in ROTC, this one being a freshman squadron commander, where she’ll get to showcase her leadership.

She hasn’t played Bel-Air before but gets practice rounds Saturday and Sunday before her afternoon tee time come Monday. She said her final amateur USGA event has given her a chance to reflect on her incredible amateur career.

“They do such an incredible job with this event,” Heck said. “I’m just excited. I’m full of gratitude. I have a great perspective on the game and on life after everything that has happened this past two years.”

Here’s what you need to know about the USGA’s changes to qualifying for premier amateur events starting in 2024

The U.S. Amateur will see the most significant changes.

Want to get into one of the United States Golf Association’s premier amateur events in 2024? The qualification process is going to look a bit different than the past.

The governing body announced Wednesday “significant modifications” to its qualifying model for the first time in 20 years. Beginning in 2024, the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior will adjust the number of players who are exempt into the championships and expand exemption categories and adjust how it fills the remainder of the fields.

The U.S. Amateur will see the most significant changes, which will move from a one-stage, 36-hole qualifying format to a two-stage qualifying format with 45 18-hole local qualifying sites and 19 18-hole final qualifying sites to fill out the 312-person field.

The changes will allow events to retain their openness while ensuring that high-caliber players are provided ample opportunity to earn a spot in the field and that qualifying can be conducted at the highest level among growing entries and field sizes.

The USGA will increase the number of players fully exempt off the World Amateur Golf Ranking from 50 to 100. In addition, the top 600 players in the WAGR will be exempt from local qualifying.

“The openness and aspirational nature of our championships is a defining characteristic of USGA championships,” Brent Paladino, senior director of Championship Administration, said. “As the number of entries and qualifying sites have continued to increase on a yearly basis, we looked at ways to evolve our structure to ensure the long-term sustainability of qualifying without excessively burdening Allied Golf Associations (AGAs) and host clubs. These revisions will provide players with additional pathways to our championships through traditional qualifying, expanded exemption categories and performance in state, AGA, regional and national amateur championships.”

For the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the number of players exempt into the championship will increase to 50 from 25. There will be no change in qualifying structure, but the number of qualifying sites will be reduced.

For the junior championships, both exemption categories have been adjusted (top 100 from 80 for boys and top 50 from 40 for girls). In addition, the qualifying-event structure will encourage conducting join or concurrent qualifiers.

In 2022, the USGA accepted 44,737 total entries and collaborated with AGAs to conduct a combined 678 qualifiers across 15 championships. There will be a reduction of 94 qualifying sites next year.

The USGA will also lower the Handicap Index limits across all four championships and modifications to the performance policy that will be announced later.

Entries for 2024 USGA amateur championships will open next spring. The 2024 U.S. Amateur will be held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, with the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur coming at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 2024 U.S. Junior will be at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and the 2024 Girls’ Junior will be at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, California.

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More than 50 years removed from winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur, this accomplished player got another day in the spotlight

In the early 1970s, few women golfers could match the accomplishments of Mary Budke of Oregon State University.

In the early 1970s, few women golfers could match the accomplishments of Mary Budke of Oregon State University. From a 1972 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion to a 1974 year that included the national collegiate individual championship and a winning record on the U.S. Curtis Cup team, Budke was a key figure in women’s golf.

And she never wanted to turn pro.

“I am so delighted that I didn’t try to make a living playing golf,” said Budke, retired for more than a decade from a career as an emergency medical doctor and now a resident at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. “I thought I was good enough to be a mediocre tour player. And I was never a very good putter.”

Budke may have never made a mark in the pro game, but her achievements as an amateur at Oregon State have earned her another in a long list of golf honors over the last five decades. Budke was inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor, which since 2002 has honored excellence by athletes from conference schools as well as coaches and athletic administrators.

“Very surprised,” Budke said of the news of her induction. “Frankly, I didn’t really know it existed. So I was surprised but also surprised that Oregon State selected me to be going in.”

Each of the 12 conference schools selects one person for induction, but this year all 12 are women in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

“Budke laid the foundation for the Oregon State women’s golf program,” the university said in announcing Budke’s induction. “As she said, there were no more than four players on the team during her college career, practice wasn’t organized; it was on the individual. Budke also played volleyball and basketball during her time at Oregon State, but golf is where she thrived.”

A career full of honors

Budke’s career goes beyond her USGA championship or her win for the 1974 title in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which ran women’s college sports before the NCAA took over later in the 1970s. A state high school individual champion, Budke also won three consecutive Oregon Junior Girls Championships and advanced to the semifinals in the 1970 and 1971 U.S. Girls Junior Championship.

She was an eight-time Oregon Amateur champion and won the Bill Hayward Award as Oregon’s top amateur athlete in 1972. She is in the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Oregon Golf Hall of Fame, the National Golf Coaches Association Player Hall of Fame and the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame. But Budke’s pull was toward pre-med studies, not pro golf. Budke enjoying playing with top amateurs like Laura Baugh, Jane Bastentury Booth and JoAnne Gunderson, a five-time U.S. Amateur winner known better as a pro named JoAnne Carner.

“When I was really tied into golf, all of my goals were in amateur golf, really, and some of the best players were amateurs then,” Budke said. “It’s certainly not true now, the women’s tour is so good now. But back then I felt like the 10 best amateurs could really take on the 10 best pros.”

Budke eventually did become a doctor, working at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center into the 1980s, then in Granada Hills into the 1990s before moving back to Oregon to work in Eugene for 15 years.

Dr. Mary Budke during her playing days at Oregon State University. Budke represented that university in the Pac-12 Hall of Honor in Las Vegas.

During her days as a doctor, with a focus on medicine and not golf, Budke somehow lost what had been a championship game.

“I thought, well, it’s not a problem, I can pick it up,” she said. “Well, it was a problem.”

She even shot a 39-59 score in the Oregon Amateur tournament she had dominated in the past.

“It was bad for a while. It was really bad,” she admits.

But being named the captain of the 2002 Curtis Cup, the international competition she had played 28 years earlier, sparked Budke’s love of the game.

“To be the captain and see all of these college players, other than Carol Semple, who was a contemporary of mine and who was on my team, then I wanted to start learning again. Anytime you are learning, that’s what keeps you going. I have really loved learning about golf again.”

Budke’s game returned so strong that she has continued to play competitively, even playing in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in Anchorage, Alaska last July. She reached the match-play bracket of 64 players.

“Then I ran into the three-time defending champion Laura Tennant,” laughed Budke, who lost that first-round match 4 and 2.

After years of coming to the desert for spring break to see her snowbird parents and visiting the desert more often as she prepared to retire from medicine, Budke moved to the desert after that 2011 retirement, met her current partner and lived in Palm Springs until moving inside the gates of Mission Hills two years ago. At 69, Budke says she has shot her age three times and hopes to continue playing competitively.

“I hit the ball pretty good,” she said. “It was fun to learn. That is true with medicine, too.”

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U.S. Women’s Amateur: Japan’s Saki Baba routs Canada’s Monet Chun in final at Chambers Bay

What a weekend for Japan’s Saki Baba at the 122nd U.S. Women’s Amateur.

What a weekend for Japan’s Saki Baba at the 122nd U.S. Women’s Amateur.

On Saturday, Baba, 17, routed fellow 17-year-old Bailey Shoemaker of Dade City, Florida, 7 and 6, in Saturday’s semifinal at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. It was the largest margin of victory in the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Am since Annika Sorenstam won by that same score in 1992.

In Sunday’s final, Baba won going away once again, this time earning an 11-and-9 win over Monet Chun, 21, of Canada, to win her first USGA title. Baba is the second golfer from Japan to win the Robert Cox Trophy. Baba was 7 up through 14 holes and held that same lead after the 18 holes of the 36-hole final. The U.S. Golf Association reports it was the biggest lead after 18 holes in 60 years.

U.S. Women’s Amateur: Scoring | Photo gallery

After a lengthy break, the pair only played nine more holes. Chun cut the lead to 5 up through 21 holes, but Baba then won the next six holes to end the match after 27 holes.

“It’s just amazing. I just can’t believe it,” said an emotional Baba through a translator. “I was able to [play] my kind of golf. Yeah, everything just went smoothly.”

It’s the largest margin of victory in a U.S. Women’s Amateur final since Anne Sander in 1961.

By virtue of reaching the final, Baba and Chun are each exempt into the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in July 2023.

Golfers from eight countries (U.S., Australia, Canada, China, England, Ireland, Japan, Korea) have now won USGA titles in 2022.

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