Tag Archives: USGA Championships

Two USGA Championships in one Week (August 29 to September 3): U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and U.S. Senior Amateur

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U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: This USGA Championship is being contested in New Jersey at Montclair Golf Club. The U.S. Women’s Mid-Am. has an age requirement – you must be 25 years old by the first day of the championship. However, there is no upper limit age so amateur female golfers who played in the recent U.S. Women’s Senior Open will also play this championship.

The fun thing about the Mid-Amateur is that many of the players have jobs and this is how they use their vacation days. The USGA put a fun video on Facebook where women shared their day jobs. If you are on Facebook here is the link to the video post.

U.S. Senior Amateur: The U.S. Senior Amateur is also being conducted the same week as the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Baltimore Country Club in Maryland. I’m not a big follower of men’s senior amateur golf so I don’t have any fun facts to share.

The only player results I have an interest in following is Todd White; who lives in South Carolina. White has won the U.S. Senior Amateur (2023) and the R&A British Senior Amateur (2024) and the U.S. Four-Ball (2013). He was a history teacher in Spartanburg but in 2025 went to a private school to be the head golf coach. White also went to Furman University where a number of famous golfers played college golf; including Brad Faxon, Dottie Pepper, Beth Daniel, and Betsy King.

Format for Championships: Format for both championship includes two days of stroke play and four days of match play. The match play final is 18 holes. This is different from other USGA championships where the final match play is 36 holes. Also,18 hole match play finals are used for the U.S. Mid-Amateur (Men) and U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.

How to Watch: Unfortunately there is no broadcast coverage but the USGA will post highlight videos on the USGA Website and the USGA YouTube Channel. And you can always follow the scoring live on the USGA App or Website; and the USGA usually posts updates and interesting shots on social media.

2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Open August 20 to 23

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The USGA Championship season is in high gear with the third championship in three weeks. Last week was full of unexpected results in stroke play and match play. The winner was not a player anyone was talking about at the beginning of the week; Jack Whaley of England (plays college golf at Florida State). It was a great final and I’m sure Whaley has a lot of new fans after his performance and how he conducted himself. You can watch a YouTube Highlight Video of the final match.

Now on to this week’s USGA U.S. Senior Women’s Open. If you are not familiar with this championship that’s not surprising because it is only eight years old. Some big names won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open in the first few years including Dame Laura Davies in 2018 and Annika Sorenstam in 2021. This year the championship is being held at Barton Hill Country Club in Ann Arbor Michigan. The field size is 120 players and will be cut to 50 plus ties after 36 holes.

Players To Watch: Annika Sorenstam will be in this year’s field but Davies will not be playing. Other big names to cheer for include Julie Inkster, Karrie Webb, Pat Hurst and Holllis Stacy. You can see the full field list on the USGA Website for the championship. Of the professionals, I would like to see Julie Inkster win this year.

A few other notable players include: Suzy Whaley who was the first female president of the PGA of America and Brenda Kuehn. You may remember Brenda Kuehn because she and her daughter, Rachel Kuehn are the only mother and daughter to win the ACC Women’s Golf Championship. Brenda Kuehn is a decorated amateur, lives in Ashville, NC ; and twice, Kuehn has been named the Carolinas Golf Association’s Women Golfer of the Year.

If you follow Senior Women Amateur Golf then you will also want to keep an eye on Ellen Port, Sue Wooster, Lara Tennant, and Dawn Woodard (who I will follow because she lives in Greenville, SC). Woodard won the 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. The 2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur is in September.

Side Note on Rachel Kuehn: This is completely unrelated to this championship but a fun fact is that Kuehn’s daughter, Rachel met Alex Fitzpatrick (Yes, PGA Tour Professional and Matt Fitzpatrick’s brother) at Wake Forest and they are still a couple. Their relationship was even on the Netflix show Full Swing because Alex caddied for Rachel at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur when Matt Fitzpatrick was featured in season 2, episode 5 of Full Swing. Here is a fun video from ANWA featuring the couple.

Side Bar on Davies: Dame Laura Davies has stated previously that there are really three reasons why she is scaling back on competitive golf. First, Davies said she’s not playing enough golf to feel sharp for majors. Second, she is very busy with Sky Sports as a commentator. I actually wish we had Sky Sports available because I love her commentary. And finally, she has a nagging wrist injury. I am a big fan of Davies so it’s a bit disappointing that she is not competing.

How to Watch: You can watch the coverage on the Golf Channel. Both Saturday moving day and championship Sunday will be broadcast from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (with rebroadcasting at 10 p.m)

2026 U.S. Amateur – Unexpected Group of Players in Quarter Finals

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If you told me at the start of the week not one top 10 ranked (WAGR) male golfer would make the quarter finals I would not believe it but that is what has happened at the 2026 U.S. Amateur.

Here are how the top ten amateur golfers fared at the championship:

#1 Preston Stout – Missed the cut (+6) and did not make it to match play.

#2 Tyler Weaver – Did not compete due to a back injury.

#3 Tyler Watts – Made it to match play and lost in the round of 16; 1 down to Jay Leng, jr.

#4 Miles Russell – He was my favorite (#1 Jr in world) but shockingly lost in the round of 64 going 19 holes against Ryder Cowan (#8 WAGR). It was a very exciting match to watch.

#5 Williams Jennings – He is from Greenville, SC so I was cheering for him but he lost in the round of 16 to Carter Loftin going 19 holes.

#6 Luck Poulter – Yes, the son of Ian Poulter. He shot +6. He had a chance to go to match play but in the playoff (stroke play) he did not secure one of the 11 spots (out of 16 players in the playoff).

#7 Josiah Gilbert – Lost by 3 with 2 holes to play in round of 64 to Zackary Swanwick

#8 Ryder Cowan – Played well but lost in 20 holes to Logan Reilly (Ranked #47 in WAGR). After Cowan took out Miles Russell in the round of 64 I thought he might win it all.

#9 Ethan Fang – Missed the cut (+5). He was a player that the press made a big deal about a few years ago but he has not lived up to their hype.

#10 Tim Wiedermeyer – from Germany; Missed the cut (+4)

So, of the 8 men that have made the quarter finals today (Friday, August 14, 2026) the highest ranked golfer is Jack Turner ranked 19th. Turner is a senior at University of Florida (Gators). The next highest ranked (WAGR #23) is Jay Leng, Jr. (a junior at Standford University).

Logic would say that Jay Leng is now the betting man’s favorite because he took out #3 in the world (and #2 seed in the match play standings), Tyler Watts. And Leng has been playing well all season most recently winning the Western Amateur. But given how this championship has been going, I have no idea who will lift the trophy on Sunday.