Another golf championship coming to the South Sound. Is a U.S. Open on the horizon?
Another golf tournament is coming to the South Sound soon. No, not that one.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) announced Monday morning that The Home Course in DuPont will host the 8th U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in 2023, from May 13 to 17.
It will be the second USGA championship to be held at The Home Course, which also hosted the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. The course also served as the stroke-play co-host for the 2010 U.S. Amateur and 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, each of which was contested at Chambers Bay. The U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship returns to the Pacific Northwest for the first time since the inaugural event was played in 2015 at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, in Bandon, Oregon.
“The USGA is pleased to return to the Pacific Northwest, a region and community that we know will once again be supportive of women’s amateur golf, which is central to the Association’s mission,” stated Rachel Sadowski, director of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, in a release. “The championship’s format provides spirited team competition and the kind of risk-reward play that is exciting for both players and fans.”
The Home Course, which opened in 2007, is a public course designed by Mike Asmundson.
“Since our beginning, we have proudly fulfilled our promise and mission to provide a public golf course that is welcoming to all golfers along with showcasing the top amateurs on a local, regional and national level,” said Troy Andrew, CEO of The Home Course and executive director of Washington Golf and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA). “As one of the few Allied Golf Associations that own and operate a golf course, we are especially excited to host our second women’s national championship and further strengthen our long-standing partnership with the USGA.”
The U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball was first played in 2015. The championship is open to two-player sides (or teams) of female amateurs with individual Handicap Indexes not exceeding 14.4. There are no age restrictions, and partners are not required to be from the same club, state, or country. The 2022 championship will be played at Grand Reserve Golf Club, in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, from April 20-24.
Basically, Four-Ball works like this: It’s a team format where a team of two golfers each play their own ball. The teammate with the lower score on each hole provides that team’s score for the hole.
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball will be the 27th USGA championship conducted in Washington. Chambers Bay will have the next USGA championship when it hosts the 122nd U.S. Women’s Amateur this August 8-14.
So when’s the U.S. Open coming back to Chambers Bay? That remains to be seen, but the Pierce County-owned course — which hosted the 2015 U.S. Open — is hoping the major returns at some point. Chambers also wants to host a U.S. Women’s Open. The U.S. Open has venues booked through 2027. The future sites are:
- 2022: The Country Club — Brookline, Massachusetts
- 2023: The Los Angeles Country Club — Los Angeles, California
- 2024: Pinehurst Resort & Country Club — Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina
- 2025: Oakmont Country Club — Oakmont, Pennsylvania
- 2026: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club — Southampton, New York
- 2027: Pebble Beach Golf Links — Pebble Beach, California
Pierce County and Chambers opted not to try to pursue the 2022 PGA Championship after the PGA of America pulled out of Trump National Golf Club Bedminster after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. Chambers already has an existing working relationship with the USGA and maintaining that relationship was a priority, according to Don Anderson, senior counsel to Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier.
“I don’t think we would move forward (on a bid) without the USGA’s concurrence,” Anderson told The News Tribune in January last year. “Our relationship with them is great. They’ve expressed interest in holding future events at Chambers. We wouldn’t want to do damage to that relationship, which is a real and ongoing one.”
Realistically, Chambers Bay is likely looking at the 2030’s before the course would be considered to host another U.S. Open. The course has plenty going for it: the sweeping views of Puget Sound — which played out spectacularly on TV — the unique, links-style architecture of the course and a devoted, golf-hungry fan base in the region. Tickets for the 2015 U.S. Open sold out quickly and the tournament set records for merchandise sales.
But the 2015 U.S. Open generated negative headlines because of the condition of the greens. Since then, the issue has been addressed by installing poa annua greens on all the holes from 2018 to 2019.
“The issue with the greens is not an issue now,” Anderson said. “They were replaced. The leadership of the USGA has been here, played the course and has used very complimentary adjectives to describe its condition and the condition of the new greens.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 9:00 AM.
