2021 Amateur Championship Oakmont Country Club pin flag open pga usga

Description

The
United States Amateur Championship
, commonly known as the
U.S. Amateur
, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the
United States Golf Association
and is currently held each August over a 7-day period.
In 1894 there were two tournaments called the "National Amateur Championship". One of them was played at
Newport Country Club
and was won by William G. Lawrence, and the other took place at
Saint Andrew's Golf Club
and was won by Laurence B. Stottard. This state of affairs prompted
Charles B. Macdonald
of the
Chicago Golf Club
to call for the creation of a national governing body to authorize an official national championship, and the Amateur Golf Association of the United States, which was soon to be renamed the
United States Golf Association
, was formed on December 22 of that year. In 1895 it organized both the first U.S. Amateur Championship and the first
U.S. Open
, both of which were played at Newport Country Club.
There are no age or gender restrictions on entry, but players must have a
handicap
index of 2.4 or less. Originally, entry was restricted to members of USGA-affiliated private clubs (and, presumably, international players who were members of private clubs affiliated with their nations' golf governing bodies), a restriction that was not lifted until 1979.
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The tournament consists of two days of
stroke play
, with the leading 64 competitors then playing a knockout competition held at
match play
to decide the champion. All knockout matches are over 18 holes except for the final, which consists of 36 holes, separated into morning and afternoon 18-hole rounds. Nowadays it is usually won by players in their late teens or early twenties who are working towards a career as a
tournament professional
. Before
World War II
more top-level golfers chose to remain amateur, and the average age of U.S. Amateur champions was higher.
Many of the leading figures in the history of golf have been U.S. Amateur Champion, including
Bobby Jones
five times,
Jerome Travers
four times,
Jack Nicklaus
twice and
Tiger Woods
three times (all consecutive; the only player to win three in a row). Woods' first win, as an 18-year-old in 1994, made him the youngest winner of the event, breaking the previous record of 19 years 5 months set by
Robert Gardner
in 1909. In 2008, New Zealander
Danny Lee
became the youngest ever winner, only to be eclipsed by 17-year-old
An Byeong-hun
the following year. Before the professional game became dominant, the event was regarded as one of the
majors
. This is no longer the case, but the champion still receives an automatic invitation to play in all of the majors except the
PGA Championship
. In addition, the runner-up also receives an invitation to play in the
Masters
and the
U.S. Open
. However, the golfers must maintain their amateur status at the time the events are held (unless they qualify for the tournaments by other means).
With the growth in professional golf through the latter half of the 20th century, the U.S. Amateur has become dominated by younger players destined to soon become professionals. In 1981 the USGA established a new championship called the
U.S. Mid-Amateur
for amateurs aged at least 25 years old in order to give players who had not joined the professional ranks, and those who had regained their amateur status, a chance to play against each other for a national title.