July is typically a time when the USGA puts its Open championships in the rearview mirror and starts looking ahead to the heart of its amateur schedule. But these are not normal times. COVID-19 has changed everything and the USGA is not immune. Although the Association’s two oldest amateur championships – the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Amateur – are still in their originally scheduled slots, they are being conducted with smaller fields and strict protocols.
Because of health and safety concerns, the USGA had to make the difficult decision to cancel all qualifying and resort to an all-exempt field.
The U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunces Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore., is now expected to feature a field of 264 competitors rather than the typical 312. Here’s a look at three of the exemptions instituted for 2020:
More Than Prestige
The summer amateur circuit is filled with highly competitive events, including prestigious tournaments that date to the turn of the 20th century. These competitions usually serve as the undercard for the U.S. Amateur while typically playing an indirect role in determining the final field, by providing vital points in the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®).
Needing alternative methods to complete the 120th U.S. Amateur field, the USGA designated four long-standing competitions – three of which are nearly as old as the Amateur – to serve as de facto qualifiers: the North & South Amateur (started in 1901), Southern Amateur (1902), Sunnehanna Amateur (1954) and Western Amateur (1899). The winners and runners-up received spots, if not previously exempt.
All four competitions saw a previously exempt player either win or finish second. Tyler Strafaci joined his grandfather, 1935 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Frank Strafaci, as a North & South champion. He beat 2019 U.S. Amateur semifinalist William Holcomb V in the 18-hole final.
Preston Summerhays was supposed to be defending his U.S. Junior Amateur title the week of the Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown, Pa. With that championship canceled, he instead became the event’s youngest winner at 18 years, 2 days, edging University of Texas rising sophomore Travis Vick by three strokes.
Southern Methodist standout McClure Meissner rallied from six strokes back with a final-round 66 to win the Southern Amateur in a playoff over Illinois State All-American David Perkins. And University of Texas All-American Pierceson Coody was the last man standing at the Western Amateur after a grueling week at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind. He defeated Oklahoma State’s Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson, of Denmark, in the 18-hole final.
Working the WAGR
Since the USGA began employing the WAGR as a way to determine spots in its championships in 2012, the U.S. Amateur has become a more global championship. International players among the top 50 points leaders earn a guaranteed spot without going through a 36-hole qualifier. This year, the USGA expanded that number to 225. That put inaugural Drive, Chip & Putt 14-15 Age Division champion Patrick Welch, 20, of Providence, R.I., and Julian Perico, 20, of Peru, who has two top-six finishes in the Latin America Amateur Championship, in the field.
Because a decent number of mid-amateurs qualify in a typical year, the USGA added an additional WAGR category for the leading 25 points leaders who are 25 and older. Players falling into this category include USGA veteran Gene Elliott, 58, of West Des Moines, Iowa, and Brad Nurski, 41, of St. Joseph, Mo., the runner-up in the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
Unexpected Bonus
While the ultimate prize at any USGA championship is winning the title, many players start with incremental goals, such as qualifying for match play or making the quarterfinals, which earns an exemption into the following year’s championship. Although competitors didn’t know it at the time, making the final eight last year in the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur earned spots into the 2020 U.S. Amateur.
Yaroslav Merkulov, who lost to three-time USGA champion Jordan Spieth in the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur quarterfinals, again made the final eight of a USGA championship (U.S. Mid-Amateur) a decade later. This will be his first U.S. Amateur start in seven years and comes just 15 months after he regained his amateur status.
Deven Ramachandran, 19, of San Rafael, Calif., reached the quarterfinals last July at Inverness Club in his second U.S. Junior Amateur start, and now the rising sophomore at Seton Hall University is parlaying that performance into his first U.S. Amateur appearance.
You could call it Christmas in August.
David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.
