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Fact Sheet

Oct. 3-8
Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club
Ocala, Fla.

 

PAR AND YARDAGE – Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club will play at 6,173 yards and a par of 35-37—72 for stroke-play rounds. For match play, the course will play at 6,193 yards.

HOLE BY HOLE

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total
Yards	322	378	295	522	124	392	349	175	368	2,925
Par	4	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	35

Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Total
Yards	374	145	497	368/388	190	491	450	380	353	3,248/3,268
Par	4	3	5	4	3	5	5	4	4	37

COURSE SETUP – The USGA Course Rating® for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club is 76.5 and USGA Slope Rating® is 134.

Tees, fairways, approaches and collars, height of grass – 0.425 inches

Putting greens – 0.120 inches with a speed of 10.5 to 11 feet on the USGA Stimpmeter

Intermediate Rough – 0.75 inches (6-foot width)

First Cut, Primary Rough – 1.5 inches (15- to 20-foot width)

Second Cut, Primary Rough – 2.5 inches

ARCHITECTS – Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club was designed by Charles Pace and Lee Popple and opened in 1964. The course was redesigned by Rees Jones in 2005.

THE USGA AND FLORIDA – The 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship will be the 17th USGA championship conducted in the state of Florida. It will be the seventh national women’s championship and the third U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur to be conducted in the state of Florida. In 1988, the championship was held at Amelia Island Plantation in Amelia Island, and in 1992 it was played at Old Marsh Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens.

Florida also hosted the 1963 and 1970 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, the 1995 Women’s State Team Championship and the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. The 1969 U.S. Women’s Open was played at Scenic Hills Country Club in Pensacola.

This is the first USGA championship for Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club.

GROUPINGS AND STARTING TIMES – Groupings and starting times will be distributed in the middle of September. They will also be posted on the official U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Web site, www.uswmidam.org.

CHAMPIONSHIP WEB SITE – Please visit the USGA’s official Web site, www.usga.org, or the Women’s Mid-Amateur site, www.uswmidam.org, for the latest news and scores during the championship.

ADMISSION – Admission is free. Tickets are not needed for this USGA championship and spectators are encouraged to attend.

SCHEDULE OF PLAY – Championship competition will be in two stages. The 132 eligible players, including exempt players, will compete in 36 holes of stroke play to determine 64 qualifiers for match play.

• Saturday (Oct. 3) — First round, stroke play (18 holes)

• Sunday (Oct. 4) — Second round, stroke play (18 holes)

• Monday (Oct. 5) — First round, match play (18 holes)

• Tuesday (Oct. 6) — Second round, match play (18 holes); Third round, match play (18 holes)

• Wednesday (Oct. 7) — Quarterfinals, match play (18 holes); Semifinals, match play (18 holes)

• Thursday (Oct. 8) — Final, match play (18 holes)

WHO CAN PLAY – The U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship is open to female amateur golfers who will have reached their 25th birthday by Oct. 3, 2009, and who have a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 9.4.

QUALIFYING – Sectional qualifying (18 holes stroke play) was held at 23 sites Aug. 20-29.

ENTRIES – A total of 411 contestants entered the 2009 championship. The record of 533 entries was set in 2000.

EXEMPT PLAYERS – There are 18 players fully exempt from sectional qualifying for the 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship:

Meghan (Bolger) Stasi, Oakland Park, Fla. – 2006 and 2007 champion; 2008 USA Curtis Cup Team

Lynne Cowan, Davis, Calif. – 2008 semifinalist

Carolyn Creekmore, Dallas, Texas – 2008 quarterfinalist

Amber Marsh Elliot, Jamestown, N.C. – 2003 champion

Virginia Derby Grimes, Meridian, Miss. – 2006 USA Curtis Cup Team

Mina Hardin, Fort Worth, Texas – 2008 quarterfinalist

Kathy Hartwiger, Birmingham, Ala. – 2002 champion

Joan Higgins, Glendora, Calif. – 2008 champion

Diane Lang, Jamaica – 2008, 2009 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion

Lisa McGill, Philadelphia, Pa. – 2007 semifinalist

Noreen Mohler, Bethlehem, Pa. – 2008 semifinalist

Ellen Port, St. Louis, Mo. – 2000 champion, 2007 semifinalist

Kerry Postillion, Burr Ridge, Ill. – 2007 runner-up

Thuhashini Selvaratnam, Sri Lanka – 2006 runner-up

Lynn Simmons, Phoenix, Ariz. – 2008 runner-up

Corrie Tayman, Bethesda, Md. – 2008 quarterfinalist

Corey Weworski, Carlsbad, Calif. – 2004 champion

Claudia Pilot, Austin, Minn. – USGA Special Exemption

HISTORY – The U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship originated in 1987 to provide a national competitive arena for amateurs age 25 and older. It was the 13th USGA championship.

By 1987, it had become increasingly difficult for women amateurs beyond college to compete equitably with their collegiate counterparts, for whom golf was nearly a full-time vocation. In fact, the last career amateur to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur was Carol Semple Thompson in 1973.

Women amateurs responded to the new championship with enthusiasm. The first Women’s Mid-Amateur attracted 320 entries, only 22 fewer than the number of entrants to the 1987 U.S. Women’s Amateur. The inaugural championship was played at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., and won by Cindy Scholefield, 27, of Malibu, Calif.

The championship has since been won by a number of USA Curtis Cup Team members, including Scholefield, Carol Semple Thompson, Martha Lang, Robin Weiss and two three-time winners, Sarah LeBrun Ingram and Ellen Port. Thompson and Meghan (Bolger) Stasi have each claimed the championship twice.

2008 CHAMPION – Joan Higgins, 52, of Glendora, Calif., defeated Lynn Simmons, 40, of Phoenix, Ariz., 1 up, at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Mich., to become the oldest winner of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship. With the victory, Higgins supplanted Carol Semple Thompson, who won the championship at age 48 in 1997. Higgins won the first hole and never trailed in the 18-hole match. In the semifinals, Higgins defeated Lynne Cowan, 45, of Davis, Calif., on the 21st hole. Simmons beat Noreen Mohler, 54, of Bethlehem, Pa., 2 and 1. Two-time defending champion Meghan (Bolger) Stasi was defeated in the second round.

Higgins will defend her title this year.

FOR THE WINNER – The champion receives:

• A gold medal and custody of the Mildred Gardiner Prunaret Trophy for the ensuing year
• An exemption from sectional qualifying for the next 10 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships, if otherwise eligible
• An exemption from sectional qualifying for the next two U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships, if otherwise eligible
• An exemption from sectional qualifying for the next two USGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championships, if otherwise eligible
• An exemption from sectional qualifying for the next U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, if otherwise eligible

THE TROPHY – The Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship trophy was presented in 1987 by Mildred Prunaret, who was chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee from 1959 through 1963.

FUTURE SITES – In 2010, the championship will be played Sept. 25-30 at Wichita (Kan.) Country Club. The 2011 championship will be played Sept. 17-22 at Bayville Golf Club in Virginia Beach, Va.

USGA MEDIA CONTACT – Rhonda Glenn will be the USGA media relations representative on-site. Prior to the championship, she can be reached at (352) 347-1932 or by e-mail at rglenn@usga.org.