The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced qualifying sites for the 41st U.S. Senior Open Championship, to be conducted at Newport Country Club, June 25-28. Newport is hosting its first U.S. Senior Open and fifth USGA championship.
Conducted over 18 holes, qualifying will be held at 34 sites across the United States between May 11 and June 4. Online entry applications are available now and continue through Wednesday, May 6, at 5 p.m. EDT (usga.org/champs/apply).
“Newport Country Club and its co-founder Theodore Havemeyer were instrumental in the formation of the United States Golf Association more than 125 years ago and we are pleased that senior golf’s most prestigious championship will be played at the club for the first time,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director, Championships. “We are also grateful to the dozens of Allied Golf Associations that provide the structure for a process that allows thousands to compete in U.S. Senior Open qualifying, and ultimately in the awarding of the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy to the champion.”
Qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open will be held on The Omni Homestead Resort’s Cascades Course, in Hot Springs, Va., for the 17th time and seventh consecutive year. The club is the site of eight USGA championships, including the 1967 U.S. Women’s Open and 1988 U.S. Amateur. Sam Snead, a four-time U.S. Open runner-up, was The Homestead’s golf professional for nearly six decades.
Wai’alae Country Club, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Wedgewood Golf and Country Club, in Powell, Ohio, are each hosting a qualifier for the 14th time. Wai’alae has played host to a PGA Tour event since 1965. Indian Hills Country Club, in Mission Hills, Kan., will host qualifying for the 10th time, while Wynlakes Golf and Country Club, in Montgomery, Ala., will host for the seventh time.
U.S. Senior Open qualifying will be contested for a fifth time at Fiddlesticks Country Club, in Fort Myers, Fla., Goose Creek Golf Club, in Jurupa Valley, Calif., and Corral de Tierra (Calif.) Country Club. Fiddlesticks hosted the 2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. Indiana (Pa.) Country Club is joined by Turlock (Calif.) Golf and Country Club and The Woodlands (Texas) Country Club (Gary Player Course) as qualifying sites for a third time.
Tacoma Country and Golf Club, in Lakewood, Wash., which will host the first 2020 qualifier on May 11, is a site for the third time. Four USGA championships have been held at Tacoma C. & G.C., including the 1961 U.S. Women’s Amateur, won by seven-time USGA champion Anne Quast Sander, and the 1994 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, won by Sarah Lebrun Ingram, the 2020 USA Curtis Cup Team captain.
Thorny Lea Golf Club, located in Brockton, Mass., about 50 miles northeast of Newport Country Club, will host a U.S. Senior Open qualifier for the first time since 2010. Thorny Lea was the site of the 1988 Massachusetts Amateur, won by Kevin Johnson, who captured the 1987 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and was a member of the 1989 USA Walker Cup Team.
California has the most qualifying sites with five. Three U.S. Senior Open qualifiers are scheduled in Florida, while Pennsylvania and Texas will host two qualifiers. There are qualifying sites in 26 states.
Don Pooley (2002) is the lone player to win the U.S. Senior Open after advancing through qualifying. Last year, 10 players who played in a qualifier made the 36-hole cut in the Senior Open at the Warren Course at Notre Dame, in South Bend, Ind. Fran Quinn and Doug Garwood, who both tied for 14th, were the top finishers from that group. Quinn and Garwood were medalists in their respective qualifiers.
The 2020 U.S. Senior Open will be the 10th USGA championship contested in Rhode Island. To be eligible, a player must have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 3.4 or be a professional, and be 50 years of age at the start of championship play.
Newport Country Club is one of the five founding member clubs of the USGA and was the site of the first U.S. Amateur and first U.S. Open in 1895. The U.S. Amateur returned to the club in 1995 as part of the USGA’s centennial celebration, and Tiger Woods claimed the second of his three consecutive Amateur titles. In 2006, Annika Sorenstam won her third U.S. Women’s Open Championship in an 18-hole playoff.
2020 U.S. Senior Open Qualifying Sites (34)
Monday, May 11 (1)
Tacoma C. & G.C., Lakewood, Wash.
Tuesday, May 12 (3)
Cherokee Town & C.C., Atlanta, Ga.
Knollwood C.C., West Bloomfield, Mich.
Arrowhead G.C., Molalla, Ore.
Wednesday, May 13 (1)
Fiddlesticks C.C. (Long Mean Course), Fort Myers, Fla.
Thursday, May 14 (1)
Leewood G.C., Eastchester, N.Y.
Monday, May 18 (5)
Arizona C.C., Phoenix, Ariz.
Turlock (Calif.) G. & C.C.
Wai’alae C.C., Honolulu, Hawaii
Indian Hills C.C., Mission Hills, Kan.
Wedgewood G. & C.C., Powell, Ohio
Tuesday, May 19 (1)
C.C. of the Rockies, Edwards, Colo.
Wednesday, May 20 (2)
Indiana (Pa.) C.C.
The Wilds G.C., Prior Lake, Minn.
Thursday, May 21 (2)
Temple Hills, C.C., Franklin, Tenn.
The Woodlands (Texas) C.C. (Player Course)
Monday, May 25 (1)
Coldwater G.L., Ames, Iowa
Tuesday, May 26 (3)
Riverside G.C., North Riverside, Ill.
The Club at Las Campanas (Sunset Course), Santa Fe, N.M.
Diamond Oaks C.C., Fort Worth, Texas
Monday, June 1 (7)
Big Canyon C.C., Newport Beach, Calif.
Monarch Dunes G.C., Nipomo, Calif.
Black Diamond Ranch (Ranch Course), Lecanto, Fla.
Corral de Tierra (Calif.) C.C.
Orchard Ridge C.C., Fort Wayne, Ind.
Highland C.C., Fayetteville, N.C.
St. Davids G.C., Wayne, Pa.
Tuesday, June 2 (2)
Goose Creek G.C., Jurupa Valley, Calif.
The Omni Homestead Resort (Cascades Course), Hot Springs, Va.
Wednesday, June 3 (3)
Wynlakes G. & C.C., Montgomery, Ala.
Thorny Lea G.C., Brockton, Mass.
Green Valley C.C., Greenville, S.C.
Thursday, June 4 (2)
The Bear’s Club, Jupiter, Fla.
Washington County G.C., Hartford, Wis.
