US Senior Amateur At Country Club of Detroit Aug. 28 – Sept. 2

The US Senior Amateur will be played at the Country Club of Detroit August 28 – September 2, 2021.

Admission to the Senior Amateur is free, tickets are not needed, and both the USGA and the Country Club of Detroit encourage people to come enjoy watching the competition.

Practice rounds will be held Aug. 26-27. The starting field of 156 players will play two rounds of stroke play, with the low 64 scorers advancing to match play. Here’s the schedule:

Aug. 28 (Saturday): First round, stroke play
Aug. 29 (Sunday): Second round, stroke play
Aug. 30 (Monday): Round of 64, match play
Aug. 21 (Tuesday): Round of 32 and Round of 16, match play
Sept. 1 (Wednesday): Quarterfinals and semifinals, match play
Sept. 2 (Thursday): Championship match (18 holes)

There were a record 2,565 entries for this year’s championship. Eighteen hole qualifiers were held between July 19 and Aug. 12 at 50 sites in 40 U.S. states.

USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT COUNTRY CLUB OF DETROIT

The U.S. Amateur Championship has been contested twice at the Country Club of Detroit. In 1915, Robert A. Gardner won the second of his two U.S. Amateur titles, defeating John G. Anderson, 5 and 4, in the final on the club’s original course. Gardner was also a U.S. Amateur runner-up in 1916 and 1921. Arnold Palmer defeated Robert Sweeny, 1 up, to win the 1954 U.S. Amateur. The 24-year-old Palmer birdied the 32nd and 33rd holes to go ahead for good in the match. Palmer, who later called the victory a turning point in his career, went on to win seven major professional titles, including the 1960 U.S. Open, and was the 1981 U.S. Senior Open champion.

• 1915 U.S. Amateur: Robert A. Gardner def. John G. Anderson, 5 and 4
• 1954 U.S. Amateur: Arnold Palmer def. Robert Sweeny, 1 up

PAR AND YARDAGE
Country Club of Detroit will be set up at 6,901 yards and will play to a par of 36-36–72. Based on this setup, the USGA Course Rating™ is 73.8 and the Slope Rating® is 136. The yardage for each round of the championship will vary due to course setup and conditions.

Country Club of Detroit Hole By Hole
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total
Par	4	4	5	4	3	4	4	3	5	36
Yardage	380	427	511	405	195	387	415	138	478	3,336
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Total
Par	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	4	36
Yardage	600	399	444	182	435	360	208	517	420	3,565

ABOUT COUNTRY CLUB OF DETROIT

Founded in 1897, the Country Club of Detroit’s current course was designed by British golf architects Harry Colt and Charles Hugh Alison and opened for play in 1927. Robert Trent Jones Sr. supervised a redesign in 1952 and Robert Trent Jones Jr. followed with another redesign 44 years later. In 2011, Michigan native Tom Doak restored the course, which features bluegrass fairways and bentgrass greens, to its original Colt/Alison design. The club, a 212-acre venue located 12 miles north of Detroit, also features a recently renovated Tudor Revival-style clubhouse.

2019 CHAMPIONSHIP  

Bob Royak, 57, of Alpharetta, Ga., captured the 65th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C., with a hard-fought, 1-up victory over Roger Newsom, 55, of Virginia Beach, Va. Royak became the second player in the last three U.S. Senior Amateur finals to claim the title without a birdie in the championship match, joining Sean Knapp in 2017 at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, Minn., when he denied Paul Simson a third title, 2 and 1. Royak, who was making his fourth start in the championship and playing in his 16th USGA championship, also became the third player from Georgia to win the Senior Amateur, joining Jackie Cummings (1999), of Columbus, and Doug Hanzel (2013), of Savannah, Royak’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball partner. The match came down to the 18th hole. Royak negotiated a chip shot from left of the green to within 5 feet and sank the winning par putt.

USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN MICHIGAN

This will be the 33rd USGA championship and third U.S. Senior Amateur contested in Michigan. In 1984, Robert Rawlins was the champion at Birmingham Country Club, and in 1991, Bill Bosshard won at Crystal Downs Country Club, in Frankfort.

U.S. SENIOR AMATEURS IN MIDWEST REGION        

Years, Courses and Winners

1956: Somerset Country Club, St. Paul, Minn. (Frederick J. Wright)

1962: Evanston Golf Club, Skokie, Ill. (Merrill L. Carlsmith)

1969: Wichita Country Club, Wichita, Kan. (Curtis Person Sr.)

1972: Sharon Golf Club, Sharon Center, Ohio (Lewis W. Oehmig)

1973: Onwentsia Club, Lake Forest, Ill. (William Hyndman III)

1979: Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill. (William C. Campbell)

1983: Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Ind. (William Hyndman III)

1984: Birmingham Country Club, Birmingham, Mich. (Robert Rawlins)

1986: Interlachen Country Club, Edina, Minn. (R.S. “Bo” Williams)

1988: Milwaukee Country Club, Milwaukee, Wis. (Clarence Moore)

1991: Crystal Downs Country Club, Frankfort, Mich. (Bill Bosshard)

1995: Prairie Dunes Country Club, Hutchinson, Kan. (James Stahl Jr.)

1998: Skokie Country Club, Glencoe, Ill. (Bill Shean Jr.)

2001: Norwood Hills Country Club, St. Louis, Mo. (Kemp Richardson)

2006: Victoria National Golf Club, Newburgh, Ind. (Mike Bell)

2007: Flint Hills National Golf Club, Andover, Kan. (Stan Lee)

2009: Beverly Country Club, Chicago, Ill. (Marvin “Vinny” Giles III)

2016: Old Warson Country Club, St. Louis, Mo. (Dave Ryan)

2017: The Minikahda Club, Minneapolis, Minn. (Sean Knapp)

OTHER CHAMPIONSHIPS AT COUNTRY CLUB OF DETROIT

Michigan State Amateur (1908, 1910, 1912, 1914, 1929, 2018)

Michigan State Women’s Amateur (1914, 1920, 1925, 1935, 1949)

WHAT THE CHAMPION RECEIVES     

Among the benefits earned by the 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur champion are:

►A gold medal and custody of the Frederick L. Dold Trophy for one year

►An exemption from local qualifying for the 2022 U.S. Open Championship

►An exemption from qualifying for the 2022 U.S. Senior Open Championship (if still an amateur)

►An exemption from qualifying for the 2022 and 2023 U.S. Amateur Championships

►An exemption from qualifying for the 2021 and 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships

►An exemption from qualifying for the next 10 U.S. Senior Amateur Championships

CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY       

The U.S. Senior Amateur Championship trophy was first presented in 1955 by Frederick L. Dold, of Wichita, Kan., who had retired from the USGA Executive Committee after five years of service. The art-deco trophy, produced by Rogers Brothers, features a gold-plated stem with blue enamel and a distinctive hand-hammered bowl. Mr. Dold donated the trophy, which serves as an iconic representation of the championship and a fitting tribute to its champions.

CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY      

This is the 66th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship. The Senior Amateur, for amateur golfers at least 55 years of age, was inaugurated in 1955.

The addition of the U.S. Senior Amateur gave the USGA twice as many championships as it had conducted before World War II, when there were just four: the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open, and U.S. Women’s Amateur, all started in 1895, and U.S. Amateur Public Links (1922). From World War II through 1955, the USGA added four championships: the U.S. Junior Amateur (1948), U.S. Girls’ Junior (1949), U.S. Women’s Open (1953) and U.S. Senior Amateur (1955). The USGA now conducts 14 national championships, 10 of which are exclusively for amateurs.

The first U.S. Senior Amateur, at Belle Meade Country Club, in Nashville, Tenn., received 370 entries from 30 states and the District of Columbia. J. Wood Platt, 56, an eight-time Philadelphia Amateur champion, defeated George Studinger, of San Francisco, Calif., 5 and 4, in the final.

In 1959, J. Clark Espie, who had won in 1957, became the U.S. Senior Amateur’s first two-time champion. Lewis W. Oehmig, a record six-time finalist, is the only three-time champion (1972, 1976, 1985). Oehmig is also the oldest U.S. Senior Amateur champion, winning the title in 1985 at age 69.

A total of 14 players have won the championship multiple times, most recently Paul Simson (2010, 2012). Three players have won the championship in consecutive years, including William C. Campbell in 1979 and 1980.

The 2020 US Senior Amateur was cancelled due to COVID.

FUTURE U.S. SENIOR AMATEURS

Aug. 27-Sept. 1, 2022: The Kittansett Club, Marion, Mass.

Aug. 26-31, 2023: Martis Camp Club, Truckee, Calif.

Aug. 24-29, 2024: The Honors Course, Ooltewah, Tenn.