Field Watch · Four-Ball
A USGA Four-Ball field is built in two phases. The exempt list — past champions, recent semifinalists, top-WAGR allocations — gets stamped on the bracket months in advance. The rest is decided across 18-hole sectional qualifiers spread from late summer into early winter the prior year. With both 2026 championships now inside three weeks, the picture is mostly drawn.
U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball — Daniel Island Club, May 2 – 6
Field size: 64 sides. Entries received: 382 sides (764 players). Cap: 14.4 USGA Handicap Index for both partners.
Eight exempt sides:
| Savannah Barber / Alexa Saldana — 2021 champions, riding their 10-year exemption |
| Athena Singh / Keira Yun — 2025 runners-up; the partnership that pushed Yen and Young at Oklahoma City |
| Savannah Cherry / Lauren Slatton — 2024 semifinalists, two-year exemption |
| Bella Dovhey / Sophia Dyer — 2025 semifinalists |
| Kate Tilma / Meg Tilma — 2025 quarterfinalists, sisters playing as a side |
| Mary Miller / Sophie Linder — top-400 WWAGR allocation |
| Jude Lee / Nikki Oh — top-400 WWAGR allocation |
| Lara Tennant / Ellen Port — top-400 WWAGR; the most decorated mid-am partnership in the field |
The eight exempt sides leave 56 spots to fill from sectional qualifiers. Defending champions Natalie Yen and Asia Young are not on the exempt list under the standard categories (the 10-year champions' exemption belongs to the same partnership returning together) — confirm directly with the USGA whether they will return as a side or with new partners.
U.S. Amateur Four-Ball — Desert Mountain Club, May 16 – 20
Field size: 64 sides. Cap: 2.4 USGA Handicap Index for both partners — the tightest in any USGA team championship.
Headline exempt sides:
| Will Hartman / Tyler Mawhinney — defending champions; first male U.S. National Junior Team players to win a USGA title |
| Evan Beck / Dan Walters — 2025 runners-up; three-year exemption |
| Charlie Forster / Steen Zeman — 2025 semifinalists; the Long Beach State pairing |
| Carson Looney / Hunter Powell — 2025 semifinalists; the Congressional Country Club pairing |
| [Past champions in window] — multiple sides hold remaining champion exemptions [CONFIRM full list] |
Sectional qualifying for the men's event ran across regional sites from late summer through mid-winter, and full results have been published at usga.org. The men's bracket carries a higher proportion of mid-am and college sides than the women's, and Desert Mountain's altitude (roughly 2,500 feet) and two-course rotation will reward partnerships that can ride out a hot day from one player while the other carries the conservative card.
What to Track Through Match Play
Three things historically separate Four-Ball winners. First, par-5 conversion: the format rewards aggression on the only holes where two birdies are realistic, and tournament-winning sides convert at well above field average. Second, complementary tendencies: the most successful pairs play different shapes off the tee, which keeps one ball in play on the holes that ask for it. Third, match-play patience: a five-day grind with stroke play, then a six-round bracket, has a way of identifying the partnership that doesn't try to win every hole.
Of the past ten men's champions, four have been teenage sides, two college-aged, and four mid-amateur. The women's bracket has tilted younger over its first decade, but the 2024 final at Cherokee Town and Country Club proved how thin the margin remains.
Field Watch will update through match-play eligibility checks. Confirm final fields with the USGA Championship office in the days leading into each event.