United States Golf Association

The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system for golfers, conducts 13 national championships, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Open, and tests golf equipment for conformity with regulations. In addition, the USGA is a leader in turfgrass research through its Green Section and it provides hundreds of grants to grass-roots programs through its Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The USGA Foundation has provided more than $59 million in grants to programs for underprivileged youth and individuals with disabilities. It is the largest contributor to The First Tee program. The USGA is currently led by Executive Director David B. Fay, and President Jim Vernon, and is headquartered at Golf House in Far Hills, New Jersey [cite web|author=Bill Pennington|title=Answers for Any Question, on Any Rule, Any Time|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/sports/golf/26pennington.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=USGA&st=nyt&oref=slogin|work=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times Company|date=2008-05-26|accessdate=2008-07-09] .

The Bob Jones Award is the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. The inaugural award was given in 1955.

History

The USGA was originally formed in 1894 to resolve the question of a national amateur championship. Earlier that year, the Newport Country Club and Saint Andrew's Golf Club, Yonkers, New York, both declared the winners of their tournaments the "national amateur champion." That autumn, delegates from Newport, St. Andrew's, The Country Club, Chicago Golf Club, and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club met in New York City to form a national governing body, which would administer the championship and also the Rules of Golf for the country. On December 22, 1894, the Amateur Golf Association of the United States was officially formed, and was shortly thereafter renamed the "United States Golf Association." Theodore Havemeyer was the first president, and the U.S. Amateur trophy is named in his honor.

The first U.S. Amateur Championship was held in 1895 at the Newport Country Club, with Charles B. Macdonald (who was runner-up at both of the previous year's tournaments) winning the championship. The first U.S. Open was held the following day, almost as an afterthought. It was not until 1898 that the two events were held at separate clubs. Today, the USGA administers 13 separate national championships; ten of which are expressly for amateurs.

The USGA gradually expanded its membership from the original five clubs. There were 267 club members in 1910, and 1,138 clubs by 1932. Membership fell off during the Great Depression and World War II, but recovered by 1947. By 1980 there were over 5,000 clubs, and today membership exceeds 9,700. [cite web|title=Club membership history|url=http://www.usga.org/aboutus/club_membership/history/history.html|work=United States Golf Association|accessdate=2008-10-01]

Competitions organized by the USGA

The USGA organizes or co-organizes the following competitions:

Open championships

An "open" golf championship is one which both professionals and amateurs may enter. In practice, such events are always won by professionals nowadays. The two leading opens in the U.S. are:

* U.S. Open - no age or gender restrictions, Handicap Index requirement of 1.4 or less. Established in 1895, it is one of the four major championships.
* U.S. Women's Open - females, no age restrictions, Handicap Index requirement of 4.4 or less. Established in 1946, administered by the USGA since 1953, one of the women's majors.

The USGA also conducts the U.S. Senior Open for competitors 50 and over. This is one of the five majors recognized by the world's dominant tour for golfers 50 and over, the Champions Tour. The overwhelming majority of the competitors play regularly on the Champions Tour. Many of the remaining players compete on the Champions Tour's European counterpart, the European Seniors Tour, which recognizes the U.S. Senior Open as one of its three majors. Although a women's senior tour (with a lower age limit of 45 instead of 50), now known as the Legends Tour, has existed since 2001, the USGA has not yet created a Senior Women's Open.

* U.S. Senior Open - no gender restriction, players age 50 & older, handicap index requirement of 3.4 or less, established in 1980.

Individual amateur championships

Professional golf in the U.S. is mainly run by the PGA Tour, the LPGA, and the PGA of America. However, the USGA is at the heart of amateur golf in the country and organizes the 10 national amateur championships. The leading events are open to all age groups, but are usually won by golfers in their early twenties who are working towards a career in professional tournament golf:

* U.S. Amateur - no age or gender restrictions, handicap index of 2.4 or less, established in 1895.
* U.S. Women's Amateur - no age restrictions, females with a handicap index of 5.4 or less, established in 1895.

There are two championships for players under age 18:

* U.S. Junior Amateur - no gender restriction, handicap index of 6.4 or less, established in 1948
* U.S. Girls' Junior - girls with a handicap index of 18.4 or less, established in 1949

And two for senior golfers:

* U.S. Senior Amateur - no gender restriction, players age 55 & older, handicap index of 7.4 or less, established in 1955
* U.S. Senior Women's Amateur - women age 50 & older with a handicap index of 18.4 or less, established in 1962

Because the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women's Amateur became increasingly dominated by future tournament professionals, two national championships were added in the 1980s for "career amateurs" who were 25 years of age & older:

* U.S. Mid-Amateur - no gender restriction, handicap index of 3.4 or less, established in 1981
* U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur - women with a handicap index of 9.4 or less, established in 1987

There are also two events for "public-course" golfers. Members of private golf clubs are excluded from these championships:

* U.S. Amateur Public Links – popularly known as the "Publinx"; no gender restriction, handicap index of 4.4 or less, established in 1922
* U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links – popularly known as the "Women's Publinx"; women with a handicap index of 18.4 or less, established in 1977

tate team championships

The USGA's two amateur state team championships are played biennially in odd numbered years. They were both established in 1995. College golfers are not eligible for the three-player teams.

*USGA Men's State Team Championships
*USGA Women's State Team Championships

International team competitions

The USGA co-organizes two biennial amateur team competitions between the United States and a joint team representing Great Britain and Ireland (in political terms, the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland):

*Walker Cup - 10-man male teams, played in odd-numbered years. The R&A is the co-organizer.
*Curtis Cup - 8-woman teams, played in even-numbered years. The Ladies' Golf Union is the co-organizer.

Through its membership of the International Golf Federation the USGA is involved in the administration of the two "World Amateur Team Championships", which are played biennially in even-numbered years.

*Eisenhower Trophy - for men
*Espirito Santo Trophy - for women

Multiple event winners

Only six golfers have won more than one USGA individual event in the same year:
* Chick Evans won the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in 1916.
* Bobby Jones won the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur as half of his historic Grand Slam in 1930.
* Jay Sigel won the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur in 1983.
* Pearl Sinn won the Women's Public Links and Women's Amateur in 1988.
* Ryan Moore won the U.S. Public Links and U.S. Amateur in 2004.
* Colt Knost won the U.S. Public Links and U.S. Amateur in 2007.

Five people have won three different USGA individual events in their careers:
* JoAnne Carner (née Gunderson) – Girls' Jr - 1956; Women's Am - 1957, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968; Women's Open - 1971, 1976
* Arnold Palmer – Amat - 1954; Open - 1960; Sr Open - 1981
* Jack Nicklaus – Amat - 1959, 1961; Open - 1962, 1967, 1972, 1980; Sr Open - 1991, 1993
* Carol Semple Thompson – Women's Am - 1973; Women's Mid-Am - 1990, 1997; Sr Women's Am - 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
* Tiger Woods – Jr Amat - 1991, 1992, 1993; Amat - 1994, 1995, 1996; Open - 2000, 2002, 2008

Forty-two other people have won two different USGA individual events in their careers:
* Francis Ouimet – Open - 1913; Amat - 1914, 1931
* Jerome Travers – Amat - 1907, 1908, 1912, 1913; Open - 1915
* Chick Evans – Amat - 1916, 1920; Open - 1916
* Bobby Jones – Open - 1923, 1926, 1929, 1930; Amat - 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1930
* Johnny Goodman – Open - 1933; Amat - 1937
* Lawson Little – Amat - 1934, 1935; Open - 1940
* Patty Berg – Women's Am - 1938; Women's Open - 1946
* Betty Jameson – Women's Am - 1939, 1940; Women's Open - 1947
* Babe Zaharias – Women's Am - 1946; Women's Open - 1948, 1950, 1954
* Louise Suggs – Women's Am - 1947; Women's Open - 1949, 1952
* Mickey Wright – Girls' Jr - 1952; Women's Open - 1958, 1959, 1961, 1964
* Gene Littler – Amat - 1953; Open - 1961
* Catherine Lacoste – Women's Open - 1967; Women's Am - 1969
* Gene Andrews – Publinx - 1954; Sr Amat - 1970
* Johnny Miller – Jr Amat - 1964; Open - 1973
* Jerry Pate – Amat - 1974; Open - 1976
* Dorothy Germain Porter – Women's Am - 1949; Sr Women's Am - 1977, 1980, 1981, 1983
* Hollis Stacy – Girls' Jr - 1969, 1970, 1971; Women's Open - 1977, 1978, 1984
* William C. Campbell – Amat - 1964; Sr Amat - 1979, 1980
* Lori Castillo – Girls' Jr - 1978; Women's Publinx - 1979, 1980
* Amy Alcott – Girls' Jr - 1973; Women's Open - 1980
* Billy Casper – Open - 1959, 1966; Sr Open - 1983
* Jay Sigel – Amat - 1982, 1983; Mid-Am - 1983, 1985, 1987
* Heather Farr – Girls' Jr - 1982; Women's Publinx - 1984
* Marlene Streit (née Stewart) – Women's Am - 1956; Sr Women's Am - 1985, 1994, 2003
* Billy Mayfair – Publinx - 1986; Amat - 1987
* Gary Player – Open - 1965; Sr Open - 1987, 1988
* Anne Quast (aka Decker, Wells, Sander) – Women's Am - 1958, 1961, 1963; Sr Women's Am - 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993
* Pearl Sinn – Women's Publinx - 1988, 1989; Women's Am - 1988
* Orville Moody – Open - 1969; Sr Open - 1989
* Pat Hurst – Girls' Jr - 1986; Women's Am - 1990
* Lee Trevino – Open - 1968, 1971; Sr Open - 1990
* Amy Fruhwirth – Women's Am - 1991; Women's Publinx - 1992
* Jill McGill – Women's Am - 1993; Women's Publinx - 1994
* Kelli Kuehne – Girls' Jr - 1994; Women's Am - 1995, 1996
* Dorothy Delasin – - Girls' Jr - 1996; Women's Am - 1998
* Hale Irwin – Open - 1974, 1979, 1990; Sr Open - 1998, 2000
* Juli Inkster – Women's Am - 1980, 1981, 1982; Women's Open - 1999, 2002
* Bruce Fleisher – Amat - 1968; Sr Open - 2001
* Ryan Moore – Publinx - 2002, 2004; Amat - 2004
* Colt Knost – Publinx - 2007; Amat - 2007
* Inbee Park – Girls' Jr - 2002; Women's Open - 2008

Note: Multiple winners of individual events can be found in that events article.

References

External links

* [http://www.usga.org/ USGA home page]