USGA Announces 2021 and 2025 Walker Cup Match Sites
Far Hills, N.J. (PRWEB) December 15, 2016 -- The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced Seminole Golf Club, in Juno Beach, Fla., and Cypress Point Club, in Pebble Beach, Calif., as the host sites for the 2021 Walker Cup Match and 2025 Walker Cup Match, respectively.
The 48th Walker Cup Match is scheduled for May 8-9, 2021. It will mark the first time that the biennial team competition between 10 amateur players representing the United States and 10 amateur players representing Great Britain and Ireland will be held in the spring on U.S. soil. The dates of the 50th Walker Cup Match are Sept. 6-7, 2025. The international competition will return to Cypress Point for the first time since 1981, the club’s only previous USGA competition.
“The selections of Seminole Golf Club and Cypress Point Club as Walker Cup venues are emblematic of what George Herbert Walker intended when he helped create the first Match in 1922,” said Stuart Francis, USGA Championship Committee chairman. “To have two of the United States’ greatest courses as host sites will not only produce memorable competitions but reinforces the stature of amateur golf in this country.”
Seminole Golf Club will host its first USGA event and the first Walker Cup Match in the state of Florida. The course was designed by Donald Ross and opened for play in 1929. The course’s routing encompasses two dune ridges, one that peaks to the west and another along the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Members have included U.S. presidents, business and industry leaders and golf elite. Ben Hogan, a four-time U.S. Open champion, practiced and played there, while Henry Picard, who won two major professional titles, served as club professional for 26 years.
Seminole Golf Club has also been a friend to amateur golf and annually hosts the George L. Coleman Invitational. USGA champions and USA Walker Cup Team members Michael McCoy (2015) and Tim Jackson (1995, 1999) are recent Coleman champions.
“Seminole Golf Club is honored to host the 2021 Walker Cup Match and the best amateur players from both sides of the Atlantic,” said Jimmy Dunne, club president. “The club and its membership are proud to showcase Donald Ross’ architectural masterpiece to a worldwide audience.”
Cypress Point Club was designed by Alister MacKenzie in collaboration with Robert Hunter and opened for play in 1929. Beginning in coastal dunes, the course then enters the Del Monte Forest before remerging to rocky coastline along the Pacific Ocean. In addition to the 28th Walker Cup, the club hosted “The Match,” a 1956 four-ball competition between professionals Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson and amateurs Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, and was one of three courses used for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for more than 40 years.
The Walker Cup Match will be held in California for the third time and west of the Mississippi River for the fifth time. In 1981 at Cypress Point, the USA defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 15-9. Jodie Mudd, a two-time USGA champion, and Corey Pavin, who went on to win the 1995 U.S. Open, were the USA’s top point producers. GB&I’s Roger Chapman, the 2012 U.S. Senior Open winner, won twice in singles play and one foursomes match.
“The members of the Cypress Point Club are honored to give back to the game of golf and share our wonderful treasure with one of the world’s greatest amateur competitions,” said Peter K. Barker, club president. “We have been proud to host a number of notable match-play events throughout our club’s history. In all, the course and the competitors performed superbly. We enthusiastically look forward to the 2025 Walker Cup.”
The Walker Cup Match is played over two days and consists of 18 singles matches and eight foursomes (alternate-shot) matches. The USA leads the overall series, 35-9-1, but each side has won seven times since 1989. Four of those 14 matches have been decided by one point.
The 46th Walker Cup Match will be played at The Los Angeles (Calif.) Country Club’s North Course, Sept. 9-10, 2017, and the 47th Match will be held at Royal Liverpool Golf Club (Hoylake), in Merseyside, England, Sept. 7-8, 2019. The site of the 2023 Match has not been announced.
About the USGA
The USGA conducts the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open, as well as 10 annual amateur championships, two state team championships and international matches, attracting players and fans from more than 160 countries. Together with The R&A, the USGA governs the game worldwide, jointly administering the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, equipment standards and World Amateur Golf Rankings. The USGA’s reach is global with a working jurisdiction in the United States, its territories and Mexico, serving more than 25 million golfers and actively engaging 150 golf associations.
The USGA is one of the world’s foremost authorities on research, development and support of sustainable golf facility management practices. It serves as a primary steward for the game’s history and invests in the development of the game through the delivery of its services and its ongoing “For the Good of the Game” grants program. Additionally, the USGA’s Course Rating and Handicap systems are used on six continents in more than 50 countries.
For more information about the USGA, visit usga.org
Brian DePasquale, United States Golf Association, http://www.usga.org, +1 908-326-1884, [email protected]
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