The club hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2013, and hosts three amateur tournaments each year. The U.S. Golf Association will make an official announcement at a press conference on December 1 at the club.
The U.S. Women’s Open, is coming to the Country Club of Charleston (S.C.) in 2019. The U.S. Golf Association will make the announcement at a press conference on December 1 at the club, the Charleston Live 5 News reported.
Club president Cordes Ford referred questions about the press conference to the USGA’s Christina Lance, only saying he was excited to host the press conference. “As we said (in the press conference announcement), it’s some exciting championship news between the USGA and Country Club of Charleston. We’ll have the full details next Tuesday. At this time, I have nothing further to confirm,” Lance said.
Thomas J. O’Toole Jr., president of the USGA, will be in attendance along with Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., Helen Hill of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Charleston County Council chairman Elliott Summey, News reported.
The club hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2013, and the success of that event drew the USGA into serious negotiations with the Country Club of Charleston, News reported.
The tournament further cements Charleston’s reputation as a major international golf destination. The 2021 PGA Championship will be played at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course. Previously, the Ocean Course was the site of the 1991 Ryder Cup Matches, the 2007 Senior PGA and 2012 PGA Championship, News reported.
The Country Club of Charleston hosts three major amateur tournaments—the men’s Azalea Invitational which dates to 1946, the men’s Senior Azalea and the Beth Daniel Junior Azalea. It was a founding member of the Carolinas Golf Association and also hosted a men’s professional tournament in the 1930s and ’40s, News reported.
The Seth Raynor-designed course that opened in 1925 measures 6,776 yards and plays to a par of 71, and when the idea of a Women’s Open was being considered there were some who felt it might be too short for a professional event, News reported.
Daniel, a World Golf Hall of Fame member who learned the game at the Country Club of Charleston, said that isn’t the case. “The Azalea (men’s amateur tournament) every year, that’s a good indication of how good the golf course is,” Daniel said at the 2013 Women’s Amateur. “The greens are what make it tough. It’s a second-shot golf course. It’s the greens, putting and chipping around the greens.”
Shannon Rouillard, the USGA’s director of the Women’s Amateur, said in 2013 that the Country Club of Charleston “definitely would be another wonderful venue for a USGA Championship, which one I’m not so sure” and praised the club’s efforts and hospitality, News reported.
“The bottom line is that the USGA does not go anywhere we are not invited, so to speak,” Rouillard said. “We get letters from clubs every year that are interested in hosting a USGA championship, and then we go through a very well thought-out procedure in learning and finding out more about the club and determining what is the best championship for that club to host. That’s not to say every club that expresses an interest gets an invitation, but a lot of them do.”
The U.S. Women’s Open has been played one time in South Carolina, in 1962 at The Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach. Future Women’s Open sites have been announced through 2018: CordeValle Golf Club, San Martin, Calif. in 2016; Trump National, Bedminster, N.J., in 2017; and Shoal Creek, Birmingham, Ala., in 2018, News reported.
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