- photo courtesy Riviera CC
FAR HILLS, N.J. (May 21, 2012) –
The United States Golf Association (USGA)
today announced Riviera Country Club, in
Pacific Palisades, Calif., as the host site for
the 2017 U.S. Amateur Championship. This will
be the third USGA championship held at Riviera
Country Club. The dates of the championship
are Aug. 14-20.
“The USGA is excited to bring the
U.S. Amateur Championship to Riviera Country
Club, returning our oldest championship to
Southern California for the first time since
1976,” said USGA Vice President and
Championship Committee Chairman Thomas J.
O’Toole Jr. “Riviera has a rich and
varied championship history and will become
one of a select group of courses to host the
U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open and U.S.
Amateur. Riviera has known great USGA
champions in Ben Hogan and Hale Irwin, and
we are confident the club will stage a
successful national amateur
championship.”
Riviera Country Club was designed by
George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell and
opened for play in 1927. Ben Hogan defeated
Jimmy Demaret by two strokes to win the 1948
U.S. Open at Riviera, the first of his record-
tying four Open titles. In 1998, three-time U.S.
Open champion Hale Irwin sank a 12-foot birdie
putt on Riviera’s 18th hole to edge
Vicente Fernandez by one stroke and capture
the first of his two U.S. Senior Open titles.
“To be selected as the host site of
America’s most coveted amateur
championship is thrilling to all of us at Riviera
and the city of Los Angeles,” said
Riviera Country Club Corporate Officer Michael
R. Yamaki. “We thank the USGA for the
honor to put on the country’s oldest
and most prestigious amateur
championship.”
One of the world’s great
tournament sites, Riviera also hosted the 1983
and 1995 PGA Championships and has been the
site of the PGA Tour event in Los Angeles 50
times in its 86-year history, including 37 of the
past 39 years. The classic layout features a
distinctive par-4 finishing hole with a green
surrounded by a natural amphitheater that
provides a commanding view of the clubhouse.
Riviera continues its tournament tradition by
hosting the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s
Golf Championship this month.
Bel-Air Country Club, in Los Angeles, will
serve as the companion course for the stroke-
play rounds of the 2017 U.S. Amateur
Championship. Designed by Thomas, with
assistance from Jack Neville and Bell, Bel-Air
has hosted two USGA championships: the 1976
U.S. Amateur (won by Bill Sander) and the
2004 USGA Senior Amateur (won by Mark
Bemowski).
Many of golf’s legendary players
have won the U.S. Amateur Championship,
including Robert T. Jones Jr. (1924, 1925,
1927, 1928, 1930), Arnold Palmer (1954), Jack
Nicklaus (1959, 1961), Phil Mickelson (1990)
and Tiger Woods (1994, 1995, 1996).
In 2017, Riviera Country Club will become
the 11th course to have hosted the U.S.
Open, U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Amateur
championships. Winged Foot Golf Club, in
Mamaroneck, N.Y., Cherry Hills Country Club, in
Cherry Hills Village, Colo., and Oakland Hills
Country Club, in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., are
among that group.
The U.S. Amateur was first played in 1895
and is the USGA’s oldest championship.
The championship is open to amateur golfers
with a USGA Handicap Index® not
exceeding 2.4. In 2012, the U.S. Amateur
Championship will be played at Cherry Hills
Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo., from
Aug. 13-19. The 2013 championship will be
played Aug. 12-18 at The Country Club in
Brookline, Mass., while the 2014 championship
will be held at Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth,
Ga., from Aug. 11-17. In 2015, the U.S.
Amateur will be played at Olympic Fields (Ill.)
Country Club from Aug. 17-23. The 2016
championship will be conducted Aug. 15-21 at
Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills,
Mich.
ABOUT THE U.S. Amateur
The U.S. Amateur, the oldest USGA
championship, was first played in 1895 at
Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island. The
event,
which has no age restriction, is open to
those
with a Handicap Index of 2.4 or lower. It is
one
of 14 national championships conducted
annually by the USGA, 10 of which are
strictly
for amateurs. It is the pre-eminent
amateur
competition in the world.
Applications are typically placed online in the spring
at www.usga.org.
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