This will be a big year for amateur golf in Georgia, as the U.S. Amateur Championship will be played Aug. 11-17 at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
The last time the U.S. Amateur was played in Georgia was 2001, when East Lake Golf Club hosted the event, which began the day after the 2001 PGA Championship concluded at the Athletic Club.
Atlanta Athletic Club, which last hosted the PGA Championship in 2011, has also been the site of four previous USGA championships – the 1976 U.S. Open, 1990 U.S. Women’s Open, 1984 Mid-Amateur and 2003 Junior Championship.
Both the Highlands and Riverside courses will be used for stroke play qualifying the Monday and Tuesday of tournament week, with five days of match play following on Highlands, the course used for both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. Each of the two match play finalists will earn invitations to the 2015 Masters.
Having the U.S. Amateur in Georgia will likely increase the attention for the Dogwood Invitational at Druid Hills Golf Club, the state’s most prominent annual amateur event. The tournament is scheduled for June 25-28, two weeks after CC of Columbus hosts the venerable Southeastern Amateur June 11-14.
Two qualifiers for the U.S. Amateur will be held in the state in July. Piedmont Driving Club will host the first of the two July 15-16, with Great Waters at Reynolds Plantation the site of a qualifier July 21-22.
The two U.S. Amateur qualifiers will directly follow the Georgia State Golf Association Amateur Championship, which returns to Macon’s Idle Hour Club and is scheduled for July 10-13.
This will be the eighth time Idle Hour has hosted the Georgia Amateur, the most of any club in the state. The last three winners at the Macon club were Russell Henley (2008), Tim O’Neal (1997) and Allen Doyle (1978), all multiple winners as professionals.
Kennesaw State golfer Jimmy Beck won last year’s Georgia Amateur at Pinetree Country Club, the home course for the Kennesaw State team. Beck is one of a number of Georgia collegiate golfers who has his sights set on the U.S. Amateur at Atlanta Athletic Club, along with the Georgia Tech trio of Ollie Schniederjans, Anders Albertson and Seth Reeves.
The GSGA opens its championship season for the state’s top amateurs with the Four-Ball Championship, which will be played April 25-27 at Cartersville Country Club. The Mid-Amateur is scheduled for May 16-18 at the highly-regarded GC at Cuscowilla, with the Public Links Championship set for Sept. 13-14 at Nob North, located just south of the Georgia/Tennessee border.
The Atlanta Amateur Match Play Championship moves from its recent home at Rivermont Country Club to Druid Hills Golf Club, which will be the site of the 2014 event Sept. 25-28. The Team Championship will again be played at the Georgia Club Nov. 1-2.
The GSGA’s senior schedule begins April 2-3 with the Super Senior Championship at Barnsley Gardens, followed by the Senior Match Play May 5-8 at Governors Towne Club. The Senior Championship heads south to Albany’s Doublegate CC Aug. 26-28, with the GSGA season concluding with the Senior 4-Ball Nov. 12-14 at Wilmington Island Club and Savannah Quarters.
GSGA women’s events include the Match Play May 29-June 1 at Canongate-on-White Oak, the Top 60 event at Rivermont Country Club June 24-25 and the Team Championship Sept. 22-23 at Chateau Elan.
The Georgia Women’s Golf Association holds its championship event at Callaway Gardens Aug. 1-3, with its 4-Ball tournament set for April 29-30 at Jekyll Island Golf Club.
The GSGA opens its 2014 season March 28-30 with the 4-Ball Tournament March 28-30 at Doublegate and Stonebridge Golf & Country Club in Albany.
The GSGA also conducts USGA qualifiers in the state, including two late-season qualifiers for events that will be introduced to the USGA schedule in 2015. The men’s 4-Ball qualifier will be played Sept. 22 at Pinetree, with the women’s 4-Ball Oct. 1 at The Oaks.
The state’s two U.S. Open local qualifiers will be played May 12 at Marietta Country Club and May 13 at The Legends at Chateau Elan. Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek will host a sectional qualifier June 2.
Other men’s qualifiers are for the Senior Open (Brookstone CC, June 17), Public Links (Frog, June 23), Mid-Amateur (Berkeley Hills, Aug, 4) and Senior Amateur (Cherokee T&CC, Aug. 19).
The Oaks will also host the Women’s Public Links qualifier May 27, with 2014 the last year for both the men’s and women’s Public Links Championships. A U.S. Women’s Open sectional qualifier is scheduled for May 19 at Dunwoody Country Club, with Pinetree hosting a Women’s Amateur qualifier July 8.