After Quail Creek Country Club in Naples, Fla., was ravaged by Hurricane Irma, the Houston, Texas club stepped in to be the site of the USGA event, which begins November 11. Champions Golf Club sustained 30 inches of rain from Hurricane Harvey in August, but the water subsided quickly.
When Hurricane Irma ravaged Florida in September, the destruction extended to Naples and Quail Creek Country Club, postponing the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship scheduled for October, the Houston (Texas) Chronicle reported.
Representatives from several golf clubs offered to help. One text message directed to the United States Golf Association stood out. It was from Robin Burke, the Vice President of Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, noted for its history of staging big events and a long-time supporter of amateur golf, the Chronicle reported.
Despite its famed Cypress Creek Course having been deluged and sustaining more than 30 inches of rain from Hurricane Harvey two weeks before, Champions Golf Club was available and its staff was willing to assist. It didn’t take long after that for the USGA to announce that Champions would be the site of the national championship that starts Saturday, the Chronicle reported.
“I saw on the internet that the USGA had to cancel the Mid-Amateur because of Hurricane Irma, and I thought wow, we just got hit by a hurricane and knew the devastation,” said Burke, a member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame. “This club is about championships and about mid-amateur play, and our members have embraced this event and we’re all excited it’s here.”
The Texas Golf Association and Houston Golf Association assisted in getting the championship site ready as well as more than 200 volunteers and members of Champions, which was co-founded by World Golf Hall of Fame members Jack Burke Jr. and Jimmy Demaret in 1957, the Chronicle reported.
“I knew it was going to take Houston to help and Houston has stepped up,” said Burke, an accomplished amateur who has won the women’s Houston city amateur eight times and was the 2016 USA Curtis Cup team captain.
At Champions, the water subsided quickly and course superintendent Chris Ortmeier had the layout playable in short order. When Burke contacted the USGA, it just made sense to bring the championship to Champions and Houston, the Chronicle reported.
“It was a win-win. Everything aligned perfectly for a club like Champions to step up,” U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship director Rachel Sadowski said. “We had a long-standing relationship with Champions, and having hosted a championship before and being in our family with hosting a Women’s Open in 2020, it was a club that we felt will be able to really take on this task at such short notice.
“And so being able to go to a club that knows the drill was very helpful, and it’s such a fantastic golf course,” Sadowski said.
Champions has been the site of the 1967 Ryder Cup, 1969 men’s U.S. Open, five PGA Tour Championships, five Houston Opens, the 1993 U.S. Amateur as well as the 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, the Chronicle reported.
“We’ve done this before,” Burke said. “This will be a great tune-up for us and it’s a good thing because it prepares your staff, and we can look at our course through championship eyes again and this is a national championship. We’re ready.”
The 31st annual U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship will come three years before Champions will host the U.S. Women’s Open. Spectators are encouraged to attend the Mid-Amateur, which will boast a field of 132 golfers age 25 and over, the Chronicle reported.
“It’s a working woman’s tournament,” Jarrett said. “These women are working for a living or raising families. They’re not in high school or college playing golf every day.”
There’s even more at stake this year. The winner of the Mid-Amateur will be exempt for the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open. “You play in a USGA event, you have arrived,” Burke said.
Mark Hill, USGA senior director of championships, was heavily involved in the team decision to bring the 2017 Mid-Amateur to Champions. One of the club’s selling points is its history, the Chronicle reported.
“You look at its history and the championship golf that this club has hosted over the years, it’s impressive,” Hill said. “And it supports women’s golf, hosting this championship in the past and hosting the Women’s Open in a few years, it certainly made it stand out for us.
“Folks at Champions are USGA family,” Hill said. “We appreciate Champions stepping up on short notice and giving us the opportunity to crown a national champion.”
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