72Nd U.S. JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP – FACT SHEET
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72nd U.S. JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP – FACT SHEET July 15-20, 2019 Inverness Club, Toledo, Ohio mediacenter.usga.org | usga.org/junioram | #USJuniorAm @usga_pr (media Twitter) | @usga (Twitter and Instagram) | USGA (Facebook) PAR AND YARDAGE Inverness Club will be set up at 7,339 yards and will play to a par of 35-36—71. INVERNESS GOLF CLUB HOLE BY HOLE Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total Par 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 5 4 35 Yards 395 485 240 433 170 455 480 605 413 3,676 Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Total Par 4 4 3 5 4 4 4 4 4 36 Yards 380 377 198 516 480 470 405 482 355 3,663 ARCHITECT Donald Ross designed Inverness Club’s golf course, which opened in 1919. Restorations of the course were done by Arthur Hills in 1999 and Andrew Green in 2018. Many historic features from Ross’ first design were restored in 2018. COURSE RATING AND SLOPE Based on the course setup for the championship, the USGA Course Rating™ for Inverness Club is 76.5 and its Slope Rating® is 147. WHO CAN ENTER The championship is open to any amateur golfers who will not have reached their 19th birthday on or before July 20, and who have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 4.4. The entry deadline was Wednesday, June 5. ENTRIES The USGA accepted 3,496 entries for the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur. The record number of entries is 4,508 in 1999. SECTIONAL QUALIFYING Sectional qualifying, played over 18 holes, was conducted from June 10-25. Qualifying was held at 56 sites in 39 states. California had the most qualifying sites with six, while Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas each had three. CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD A starting field of 156 golfers will compete in the U.S. Junior Amateur. Practice rounds will be held on July 13-14. The championship begins with 18-hole stroke-play rounds on July 15 and 16. The field will then be cut to the low 64 scorers for match play. Six rounds of match play will determine the champion. The championship match is contested over 36 holes. SCHEDULE OF PLAY Monday, July 15 – First round, stroke play, 18 holes Tuesday, July 16 – Second round, stroke play, 18 holes Wednesday, July 17 – First round, match play Thursday, July 18 – Second and third rounds, match play Friday, July 19 – Quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, match play Saturday, July 20 – Championship match, 36 holes 2018 CHAMPION Michael Thorbjornsen, 16, of Wellesley, Mass., rallied to defeat Akshay Bhatia, 16, of Wake Forest, N.C., 1 up, in the 36-hole final match on the Upper Course at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. Thorbjornsen, who trailed Bhatia for most of their match before pulling ahead for the first time on the 32nd hole, rolled a 42-foot birdie putt on the 36th hole to concession range to win the 71st U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Both players are entered in this year’s championship. Before his 21-hole semifinal victory, Thorbjornsen had made easy work of his opponents in the match-play bracket, as his first four matches all ended before the 17th hole. It was clear in the early going of the final that this wasn’t going to be one of those matches. His tee shot on the first hole of the day ended up under the lip of the right fairway bunker, leading to a bogey and a quick deficit. Another bogey on the par-4 fourth hole put him 2 down, and he three-putted from 10 feet on No. 6 to go 3 down. Thorbjornsen trailed by 2 down through 18 holes, but things started to tighten up in the afternoon. On the 21st hole, Bhatia saw a 15-foot par putt lip out to have his lead trimmed to 1 up. After matching Bhatia’s birdie putt on No. 22 with one of his own, Thorbjornsen squared things up on the following hole, when he stuck his approach shot from 130 yards to 7 feet and buried the putt. After Bhatia briefly retook the lead on the 29th hole, Thorbjornsen took advantage of a big break when his tee shot on the 30th hole, which was headed well left, hit a tree and dropped in the fairway. He proceeded to hit his approach shot to 12 feet and convert the putt to square the match yet again. It was on the 32nd hole that Thorbjornsen hit perhaps the most memorable shot of his victory, when he drove the green on the 302-yard par 4, leaving himself 24 feet for eagle. He putted up for a conceded birdie and his first lead of the match, which he did not relinquish. Bhatia had a 4-foot putt for birdie on the 35th hole that would have squared the match, but couldn’t convert. His 45-foot birdie try from the front fringe on the 36th hole didn’t go in, opening the door for Thorbjornsen to clinch the title. WHAT THE WINNER RECEIVES: A gold medal and custody of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship Trophy for one year An exemption for all future U.S. Junior Amateurs (if eligible) An exemption from qualifying for the next two U.S. Amateurs (2019, 2020) An exemption from qualifying for the 2020 U.S. Open (must be an amateur) ADMISSION Admission to the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship is free and the public is encouraged to attend. HISTORY In 1948, the USGA inaugurated the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship to determine the best junior golfer in the United States and to help junior golfers realize the most from the game, win or lose. The first U.S. Junior Amateur was played at the University of Michigan Golf Course and received 495 entries. Dean Lind, of Rockford, Ill., was the first champion. Lind defeated Ken Venturi, of San Francisco, a future U.S. Open champion, in the final. Only two players, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, have won the Junior Amateur more than once; Woods winning in 1991, 1992 and 1993, and Spieth in 2009 and 2011. In 2017, the U.S. Junior Amateur champion began receiving a full exemption into the following year’s U.S. Open Championship. CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY This large sterling silver trophy, produced by J.E. Caldwell and Co., of Philadelphia, is a replica of a bowl produced by noted early American silversmith Samuel Williamson, which is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Dean Lind was the first to receive the trophy after his 1948 victory at the University of Michigan Golf Course, in Ann Arbor, Mich. The original U.S. Junior Amateur Trophy is on display at the USGA Golf Museum in Far Hills, N.J. INVERNESS CLUB NOTES ►The 72nd U.S. Junior Amateur is the eighth USGA championship to be conducted at the club ►Inverness Club is the first club to host the U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur ►Inverness Club has hosted four U.S. Open Championships (1920, 1931, 1957, 1979) ►This is the 40th USGA championship and third U.S. Junior Amateur held in Ohio ►Inverness Club will also host the 2021 Solheim Cup, a biennial competition between teams of professional women’s golfers representing the United States and Europe USGA AND INVERNESS CLUB This is the eighth USGA championship to be conducted at Inverness Club and the first U.S. Junior Amateur. The club has hosted four U.S. Opens, two U.S. Senior Opens and one U.S. Amateur. The last USGA championship conducted at Inverness was the 2011 U.S. Senior Open, when Olin Browne won by three strokes over Mark O’Meara. USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT INVERNESS CLUB 1920 U.S. Open: Ted Ray by one stroke over Harry Vardon, Jack Burke Sr., Leo Diegel and Jock Hutchison (295- 296) 1931 U.S. Open: Billy Burke def. George Von Elm in a playoff (292-149-148, 292-149-149) 1957 U.S. Open: Dick Mayer def. Cary Middlecoff in a playoff (282-72, 282-79) 1973 U.S. Amateur: Craig Stadler def. David Strawn, 6 and 5 1979 U.S. Open: Hale Irwin by two strokes over Gary Player and Jerry Pate (284-286) 2003 U.S. Senior Open: Bruce Lietzke by two strokes over Tom Watson (277-279) 2011 U.S. Senior Open: Olin Browne by three strokes over Mark O’Meara (269-272) USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN OHIO This will be the 40th USGA championship and third U.S. Junior Amateur contested in Ohio. The last Junior Amateur held in the Buckeye State was in 1986 when Brian Montgomery defeated Nicky Goetze at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin. Recent USGA Championships in Ohio 2011 U.S. Senior Open: Inverness Club, Toledo (Olin Browne) 2012 U.S. Women’s Amateur: The Country Club, Cleveland (Lydia Ko) 2013 USGA Women’s State Team: NCR Country Club, Kettering (New Jersey) 2016 U.S. Senior Open: Scioto Country Club, Columbus (Gene Sauers) U.S. JUNIOR AMATEURS IN OHIO Year, Course and Results 1977: Ohio State University Golf Club, Columbus (Willie Wood def. David Games, 4 and 3) 1986: Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin (Brian Montgomery def. Nicky Goetze, 2 and 1) OTHER EVENTS AT INVERNESS CLUB Year, Event and Results 1944 NCAA Division I Championship: Team – Notre Dame; Individual – Louis Lick, University of Minnesota 1986 PGA Championship: Bob Tway won by one stroke over Greg Norman (276-278) 1993 PGA Championship: Paul Azinger def.