Far Hills, N.J. – Nassau Country Club in Glen Cove, N.Y., has been selected by the United States Golf Association to host the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. The dates of the championship are Aug. 4-10.
Nassau Country Club, which organized in 1895, was originally a nine-hole course located approximately a mile away from its current location. The first course built on the present site was designed by a committee of members and opened in 1899. In 1914, Seth Raynor was hired to make extensive renovations, which included lengthening the course and reworking bunkers and greens. As the club acquired additional land, Devereux Emmet (1920) and Herbert Strong (1922) were hired to make adjustments to the course. Bunker renovations and other revisions were also made by Cynthia Dye McGarey in 2007.
The club has previously held the 1903 U.S. Amateur, won by Walter Travis, and the 1914 U.S. Women’s Amateur, won by Katherine Harley Jackson. Nassau Country Club has also served as the site of many state and regional tournaments, including the New York State Amateur, Long Island Open, three Metropolitan Opens and eight Metropolitan Amateurs. Since 1897, the club has hosted the Nassau Invitational, whose winners include players such as Walter Travis, Jerome Travers, Tommy Armour and George Zahringer.
Travers, who won the 1907, 1908, 1912 and 1913 U.S. Amateurs and the 1915 U.S. Open, is one of several USGA champions who were members of the club. Ruth Underhill won the 1899 U.S. Women’s Amateur; Findlay S. Douglas, a future president of the United States Golf Association, won the 1898 U.S. Amateur; and Robert Kiersky won the 1965 USGA Senior Amateur. In addition, Alex Smith, a golf professional at the club, won the 1906 and 1910 U.S. Open Championships. Another Nassau member, Howard F. Whitney, served as president of the USGA in 1921.
“Hosting the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur on the 100th anniversary of the championship first being contested at Nassau will be a major milestone for the club and the USGA,” said Nassau Country Club President John Caliolo. “Since its inception, Nassau has been steadfast in its commitment to championship golf and the USGA’s ‘For the good of the game’ effort. We are very excited to have the opportunity to add a new chapter to Nassau’s storied history.”
The U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship is one of the USGA’s first three championships, along with the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open. It was first played in 1895. It is open to female amateur golfers with a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 5.4. In 2011, the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship will be played at Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington, R.I., from Aug. 8-14. The 2012 championship will be played Aug. 6-12 at The Country Club in Cleveland, Ohio. The host site for the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur has not been selected.