Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., has been selected as the host site of the 42nd Curtis Cup Match, to be contested June 10-12, 2022. This will be the 19th USGA championship conducted at Merion, the most by any club, and its second Curtis Cup.
A five-time U.S. Open host site (1934, 1950, 1971, 1981 and 2013), Merion hosted its first USGA championship in 1904 – the U.S. Women’s Amateur. It has since hosted three additional U.S. Women’s Amateurs (1909, 1926 and 1949), six U.S. Amateurs (1916, 1924, 1930, 1966, 1989 and 2005) and the 1998 U.S. Girls’ Junior. Merion also hosted the 1954 Curtis Cup, in which the USA Team defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 6-3, and the 2009 Walker Cup, also won by the USA, 16½-9½.
“The USGA is thrilled to return to Merion Golf Club for this biennial celebration of women’s amateur golf,” said Stuart Francis, chairman of the USGA Championship Committee. “An exemplary championship host, Merion has always provided the comprehensive examination and hospitality expected of USGA championships, and we are confident the club will deliver a memorable experience for all during the 2022 Curtis Cup Match.”
Founded in 1896 as the Merion Cricket Club, Merion’s East Course was designed by Hugh Wilson and opened in 1912. A lifelong amateur golfer who was a member of the golf team at Princeton University, Wilson was assigned the task of creating the East Course by the Merion Cricket Club Golf Committee. He also planned Merion’s West Course (1914) and Cobb’s Creek Golf Club (1916). Today, every effort is made to ensure that people playing the course compete on the same course as the champions of old.
Several of the game’s greats have won USGA championships at Merion, including Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. (1916 U.S. Amateur); Bob Jones (1924 and 1930 U.S. Amateurs); Dorothy Porter (1949 U.S. Women’s Amateur); Ben Hogan, who defeated Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio in a playoff (1950 U.S. Open); Lee Trevino, who defeated Jack Nicklaus in a playoff (1971 U.S. Open); and Justin Rose (2013 U.S. Open).
