USGA

99th U.S. U.S. Women's Amateur Championship Preview

99th U.S. U.S. Women's Amateur Championship
August 9-14, 1999
at Biltmore Forest Country Club
Asheville, North Carolina

COURSE SET UP - Biltmore Forest Country Club will be set up at 6,202 yards and a par of 36-36-72 for the championship.

ADMISSION - Admission is free for the 1999 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship and there is plenty of free parking.

USGA ON THE WEB - Log on to the USGA internet site at www.usga.org for the latest and most complete U.S. Women's Amateur Championship information.

COURSE HISTORY - Donald Ross designed Biltmore Forest Country Club, which opened in 1922. Golf architect Brian Silva supervised restoration of the course to the original Ross design in 1994. This is the club's first USGA championship. P.J. Boatwright Jr., the late USGA director of rules and competitions, was a member and in 1949 and 1950 won the Biltmore Forest Invitational, an event that attracted the nation's best amateurs.

The Biltmore Forest Women's Invitational, which began in 1923 and was discontinued in 1947, was won by, among others, future U.S. Women's Amateur champions Estelle Lawson Page and Dorothy Kirby. Louise Suggs, another U.S. Women's Amateur champion, lost to Kirby in the 1941 final.

THE 1998 CHAMPIONSHIP - In 1998, Grace Park, of Seoul, Korea, defeated Jenny Chuasiriporn, of Timonium, Md., 7 and 6 in a 36-hole final at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Park's seven birdies in the final round and her great driving distance proved to be the difference. Park's 6-up lead after the first 18 holes was enough to hold off Chuasiriporn, who had been runner-up in the 1998 U.S. Women's Open a few weeks before the Women's Amateur. Both players turned professional in 1999 and will not compete in the 1999 Women's Amateur.

NOTABLE 1999 ENTRIES - Brenda Corrie Kuehn, a member of Biltmore Forest, lost in the third round of the 1998 Women's Amateur Championship, 1 up, to Grace Park, the eventual champion. Kuehn was a member of the 1996 and 1998 U.S. Curtis Cup teams and in 1998 clinched the winning point for the United States.

Kellee Booth, of Coto de Caza, Calif., the record-setting 1998 medalist, has thus far won the 1999 Women's Western Amateur and the 1999 Trans National, two major women's amateur tournaments.

STARTING FIELD - There are 144 players who will make up the starting field for the championship.

SCHEDULE - Thirty-six rounds of stroke play will be played over Monday and Tuesday. After 36 holes the field will be reduced to the low 64 scorers who will advance to match play.

The first and second round of match play will be played on Wednesday, the third and quarterfinal rounds on Thursday, semifinal round on Friday and the final round of match play on Saturday. All matches are 18 holes except for the final match, which is 36 holes.

NORTH CAROLINA PLAYERS - Heather Angell, Winston-Salem; Brenda Corrie Kuehn, Fletcher; Summer Phinney, Greensboro; Marcy Newton, High Point; Page Lea, Southern Pines; Beth Bauer, Cramerton.

WHO CAN PLAY -The championship is open to female amateurs who have USGA Handicap Indexes not exceeding 5.4. Entries closed July 7th.

SECTIONAL QUALIFYING - There are 18 sectional qualifying sites, which include: Costa Mesa, Calif; Kansas City, Mo.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Penn.; Englewood, Colo.; Bernardsville, N.J.; Houston, Texas; Ocala, Fla.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Hamel, Minn.; Atlanta, Ga.; Highland Park, Ill.; Worchester, Mass.; Portland, Ore.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Monterey, Calif.; Chevy Chase, Md.

A POPULAR EVENT - Last year's U.S. Women's Amateur Championship received 620 entries, which is an all-time high since its inception in 1895. Entries have increased each year since 1987.

HOLE-BY-HOLE - (Holes 1-9) No.1, 335-yard par 4; No.2, 394-yard par 4; No. 3, 149-yard par 3; No. 4, 448-yard par 5; No. 5, 367-yard par 4; No. 6, 345-yard par 4; No. 7, 498-yard par 5; No. 8, 380-yard par 4; No. 9, 159-yard par 3. (Holes 10-18) No. 10, 372-yard par 4; No. 11, 349-yard par 4; No. 12, 307-yard par 4; No. 13 468-yard par 5; No. 14, 279-yard par 4; No. 15, 191-yard par 3; No. 16, 386-yard par 4; No. 17, 415-yard par 4; No. 18, 360-yard par 4.

FOREIGN PLAYERS - In 1998, for the second year in a row, a foreign-born player won the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship. In 1997, Silvia Cavalleri of Milan, Italy, won the championship and Grace Park of Seoul, Korea, won last year.

ON A ROLL - Several Women's Amateur champions have recorded three consecutive wins. Beatrix Hoyt, Alexa Stirling, Glenna Collett Vare, Virginia Van Wie, and Juli Simpson Inkster won the Women's Amateur three times consecutively. Genevieve Hecker, Dorothy Campbell, Margaret Curtis, Betty Jameson, Kay Cockerill, and Kelli Kuehne won the championship two times in a row.

Glenna Collett Vare won the Women's Amateur title a record six times. JoAnne Gunderson Carner won the championship five times and won an impressive total of eight USGA Championships (five Women's Amateur titles, two U.S. Women's Opens, and one U.S. Girls' Junior).

FOR THE WINNER - The champion receives a gold medal and custody of the Robert Cox Cup for one year. In addition, the winner receives an exemption from sectional qualifying for future U.S. Women's Amateur Championships, if eligible, an exemption from sectional qualifying for future U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championships, if eligible, an exemption from sectional qualifying for future U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championships, if eligible, and an exemption from sectional qualifying for the next two U.S. Women's Open Championships, if still an amateur.

BILTMORE FOREST AND THE USGA - This is the first USGA Championship at Biltmore Forest Country Club. In addition, this is the second USGA Championship in North Carolina this year. Earlier this year (June17-20), the 99th United States Open was played at Pinehurst #2.

TELEVISION COVERAGE - The U.S. Women's Amateur Championship will have four hours of live national coverage on ESPN. Coverage begins on August 13 and concludes on August 14. On each day, there will be two hours of live golf from Biltmore Forest Country Club. Times are 4:00 - 6:00 P.M.(EDT) each day.