By Ryan Herrington
There was really just one thing lacking about the inaugural Celebration of Champions: the golf itself. The winning two-player teams of Taylor Totland/Frankie Capan and Judith Kyrinis/Matt Parziale tied with a two-over 17 score. Blame it on Shinnecock Hills, where the wind began to howl on Tuesday afternoon and the course showed its brutish side.

Then again, for USGA officials it was never really about the competition. It was about giving the association’s winners from the previous calendar year a unique event to honour their accomplishments.

And from that standpoint, the first edition of the four-hole alternate-shot team event was a genuine success.

“It surpassed my wildest dreams,” said Kyrinis, the reigning U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion. “Getting to practice on the range and being around the players [in the U.S. Open]. It was one of a lifetime experience.”

“It was a blast,” Parziale said. “To have an event like this, it’s pretty special.”

Joining the winning teams were the pairings of Alice Chen (Women’s Amateur Four-Ball) and Kenny Perry (Senior Open), Noah Goodwin (Junior Amateur) and Sean Knapp (Senior Amateur), Sophia Schubert (Women’s Amateur) and Ben Wong (Men’s Amateur Four-Ball), and Kelsey Chugg (Women’s Mid-Amateur) and Doc Redman (men’s Amateur).

Perry, Goodwin and Parziale are all playing in the Open. The others jumped at the chance to come to the event.

“It was so much fun,” Chen said. “A few nerves out there, but just to play in front of folks like this was a treat.”

Perry, the U.S. Senior Open champion, and Chen, a Women’s Four-Ball winner, got into the team spirit. (Copyright USGA/Darren Carroll)

Redman could have been a U.S. Open participant this week as well, thanks to his U.S. Amateur triumph, but he decided to forgo the exemption to get a jump on his professional career. While no longer having a Thursday tee time, he didn’t want to give up his Tuesday one.

Capan, who along with Wong won the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, had been excited to get a look at Shinnecock Hills ever since he found out about the event in early April. The 18-year-old who’ll play at Alabama in the fall got into town on Monday and hung out with Wong and Goodwin the previous evening before getting to the course on Tuesday.

“It was cool seeing the test out here,” Capan said. “It’s really just a neat honour. And I’m excited to watch a little of the Open, too. It’s such an incredible environment.”

Adding to the pomp and circumstance of the event was the presence of Jack Nicklaus, an eight-time USGA champion, greeting players off the tee, along with reigning U.S. Open winner Brooks Koepka. And when play ended, the participants gathered once more for a reception in the Shinnecock Hills clubhouse.

“I’ve never played in a pro event my whole life,” said Kyrinis, who’ll officially play in her first at next month’s inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club. “So I wasn’t really sure what to expect. This has been a really good experience to try and manage how I’m going to feel playing in that event.”

Said Parziale: “It’s something that I think future USGA champions are going to look forward to.”

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By Ryan Herrington
NEW YORK — Officials at the USGA had been looking for some time to collectively recognise the golfers who win their 14 national championships beyond just having their names engraved in the Wall of Champions at the Arnold Palmer Museum in Far Hills, N.J. And with Wednesday’s announcement of a new event held in conjunction with the U.S. Open, they feel they’ve found an appropriate way to do it.

On Tuesday of U.S. Open week, the USGA will hold the inaugural Celebration of Champions, a four-hole exhibition at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., that will pair 2017 USGA champions in a two-player, mixed-team event.

“It really is all about saying with all these champions what can we do more to celebrate them,” said USGA executive director and CEO Mike Davis. “To win a USGA championship is to have reached the pinnacle, whether it’s junior golf, amateur golf, professional or seniors. … And we felt we weren’t quite doing enough to celebrate them. So this is a great chance to give them a place to honour their accomplishments.”

The players will compete in an alternate-shot format over Shinnecock Hills’ 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th holes, with the action to be televised beginning at around 4:45 p.m. on FoxSports 1.

Who will be paired with whom is still to be determined, but the diversity of ages and backgrounds, according to Davis, ensures a unique experience.

“We thought alternate shot would be really fun because you’re pairing female with a male, and players from different generations,” Davis said. “That experience will just be unique.”

Adding to the occasion, Jack Nicklaus, an eight-time USGA champion, will preside at the honorary starter.

It took Sean Knapp more than 20 years and 43 USGA events until he finally claimed a championship last August when he won the U.S. Senior Amateur title. He’ll try to qualify for the U.S. Open later this spring—his victory advances him through Local Qualifying—but the chance to get to Shinnecock for this new event will be a sweet consolation.

“It’s a privilege to be a USGA champion and then to have the opportunity to be honored along with all these other great players is something special,” said Knapp, 56, who was on hand for the announcement, along with the launch of the U.S. Open Trophy Tour, at Konnect Golf in midtown Manhattan.

After the Tuesday exhibition, the USGA champions will also come together for a special dinner to honour them once again that evening.

The event’s participants include: Frankie Capan (U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion), Alice Chen (U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion), Kelsey Chugg (U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion), Noah Goodwin (U.S. Junior Amateur champion), Sean Knapp (U.S. Senior Amateur champion), Judith Kyrinis (U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion), Matt Parziale (U.S. Mid-Amateur champion), Kenny Perry (U.S. Senior Open champion), Doc Redman (U.S. Amateur champion), Sophia Schubert (U.S. Women’s Amateur champion), Taylor Totland (U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion) and Ben Wong (U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion).

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