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Chicago Golf Club awarded two USGA championships

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 05:33:10 +0000

By Joel Beall
The USGA has announced that Chicago Golf Club will host an upcoming US Women’s Open and Walker Cup.

The club, located on the western outskirts of the Windy City, was one of the five founding member clubs of the USGA in 1894. Chicago GC was established by CB Macdonald, who also built the original course before his protege Seth Raynor redesigned it in 1923. The course underwent a recent restoration that included the addition of 13 bunkers that were discovered as part of Raynor’s original design.

“The history of the USGA and American golf can’t be told without Chicago Golf Club, and just over 125 years after hosting its first USGA championship, we’re thrilled to announce our return for two additional significant events,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championships officer. “With the tremendous support of its members and some of the game’s most iconic architecture, we’re confident that Chicago Golf Club will deliver memorable moments and an opportunity for golf fans around the world to see one of America’s finest golf venues.”

The US Women’s Open will visit the course in 2033 with the Walker Cup following in 2036. Chicago GC has hosted 12 previous USGA championships, most recently the US Senior Women’s Open in 2018.

Minjee Lee was this year’s US Women’s Open at Pine Needles, with the US defeating Great Britain & Ireland last year at Seminole for the Americans’ third straight victory. In 2026 the Walker Cup will be moving to even-numbered years.

“Hosting the best players in the world — men, women, amateur and professional — for USGA events is a point of pride for our club and a significant part of our long history,” said Herb Getz, Chicago Golf Club president. “We very much look forward to building upon that history and continuing our valued partnership with the USGA on an even larger stage well into the future.”

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Laura Davies completes women’s senior slam by winning Senior LPGA Championship wire-to-wire

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 07:31:02 +0000

www.oquio.com.mx

By Keely Levins
This season, for the first time, the opportunity to win a senior slam on the women’s tour became possible. Thanks to the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open that was held at Chicago Golf Club in July, the women’s senior major count grew to two.

Laura Davies claimed the first major victory in dominant fashion, winning by 10 strokes. In the following major, the Senior LPGA Championship, Davies again proved that her game in major condition: She won at French Lick Resort in Indiana by four shots over Helen Alfredsson of Sweden on Wednesday.

In the first year, it was available, Davies won the women’s two-event senior slam.

Davies, 55, won wire-to-wire in her fifth time playing in the event. After opening with a 4-under 68 in the first round of the 54-hole event, Davies rounded out the event with back-to-back 70s.

“The wind made a difference, and it was still cold,” she said of the final round. “It was still tough, but I think two-under today was a pretty good round. There are some shots out there, on 16, I nearly hit a horrible 7-iron into the water, but I got lucky today when I really needed to on 11 and 16 when I didn’t hit great shots. It’s the sort of course where you’ve got to be careful, but you’ve got to be brave as well. Because you’ll make bogeys if you’re trying to play it safe.”

It’s not altogether surprising that Davies won both — and not simply because of her World Golf Hall of Fame pedigree. Sure, she’s she won 20 times on the LPGA Tour, but it’s what she did in March that proved she still has the game. Davies played in the Bank of Hope Founders Cup, one of 15 LPGA events she played in 2018. She finished T-2 in that event, five shots back of winner Inbee Park. In the tie for second was Marina Alex and Ariya Jutanugarn, both of whom went on to win in 2018 and Jutanugarn became world No. 1. The ability still to contend on the LPGA, Davies certainly is a favourite in the senior majors.

Davies adds winning the Senior LPGA Championship and the slam to the four majors she won on the LPGA. This victory was her 86th professional win.

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A field ranging from legends to amateurs prepared to take on the inaugural U.S. Women’s Senior Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 04:51:15 +0000

Juli Inkster hits her tee shot on the ninth hole during a practice round ahead of the 2018 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Ill. on Tuesday, July 10, 2018. (Copyright USGA/Chris Keane)

By Keely Levins
The inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open begins on Thursday, July 12th at Chicago Golf Club and this 120-woman field is stacked with U.S. Women’s Open champs, U.S. Women’s Amateur champs and a whole lot of names that are going to bring you back to the ‘80s and ‘90s. We’re talking Amy Alcott, Laura Davies, Pat Bradley, JoAnne Carner, Juli Inkster, Jan Stephenson, and many others.

While it’s been fun seeing women who were dominant on the LPGA Tour back on the golf course, some of the novelty fades as the actual event approaches. The business of competing takes over.

“That’s pretty much all we like to do is we like to compete,” said Inkster. “We’ve done it our whole life, and then you get to a certain point where you can’t, and you’ve got a big void left. All these women out here, they like to compete. A lot of them have brushed off their clubs and been practising. I think it’s great for women’s golf.”

The range of competitors is vast. The youngest competitor is 50-years-old, and there are two 79-year-olds in the field, one of whom is JoAnne Carner. More varied than just age, though, is the range of preparation.

Unlike the men’s PGA Tour Champions, which has a 29-event schedule, the women’s senior tour, the Legends Tour, has just five events on its schedule, including the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. There are only two events besides it that are multiple-round, individual stroke play events. One is before the U.S. Senior Women’s Open and one is after it. The lack of a consistent tour for senior women to compete on makes this field diverse in its preparation and could produce some surprises over the four rounds of tournament play.

Some players, including Inkster and Laura Davies, have played in LPGA events this season. Suzy Whaley, the PGA of America vice president who got her spot in the field via a local qualifier, told Golf World that she was preparing by practising and playing in a few events in her local section in Connecticut.

“Obviously the ones that play regularly on the regular Tour you would think would have an advantage,” said Davies, “but all bets are off when you stand on that first tee and you’re as nervous as any player out there. So that levels the playing field out a little bit.”

As for the hardest thing you face when you haven’t been consistently competing, Davies says it’s finding the groove where you’re scoring and keeping that feeling rolling through all four days.

“You just get in a rhythm with scoring and you just make the pars, easy pars, when sometimes if you’ve not been playing, you don’t make the easy par, and that’s where the pressure builds and that’s where the big numbers come from,” said Davies.

Whether you’ve been preparing by playing LPGA Tour events or small local events, there’s really no way to prepare for an “inaugural” anything. There’s never been a U.S. Women’s Senior Open before, so there’s no way to simulate just how much pressure there’s going to be or what exactly it’s going to take to win. In that regard, each player is prepared exactly the same.

“It’s up to us now,” said Davies. “The USGA has given us the platform, now we’ve got to prove that we’re worthy of this because it’s pretty amazing what they’ve given us.”

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