The Seventh U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball Championship kicks off next week, April 20-24, 2022 at the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico with a starting field of 128 golfers (64 sides).
The Grand Reserve Golf Club will be set up at 6,397 yards and will play to a par of 36-36–72.
GRAND RESERVE GOLF CLUB HOLE BY HOLE
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
Par 4 5 4 4 5 3 4 3 4 36
Yards 405 501 326 386 487 138 372 192 358 3,165
Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Total
Par 4 3 4 4 4 5 3 4 5 36
Yards 377 153 407 339 416 536 128 346 530 3,232
Note: Yardages subject to change.
ABOUT THE GRAND RESERVE GOLF CLUB
Designed by 1992 U.S. Open champion Tom Kite and opened in 2006, the Grand Reserve stretches across a beachfront peninsula in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, just 15 miles outside the capital city of San Juan. Overlooking El Yunque National Forest, the parkland-style course features seashore paspalum grass and white silica sand bunkers.
The Grand Reserve Golf Club is best known for annually hosting the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open since 2008. Its winners include notables such as Tony Finau and 2018 U.S. Amateur champion Viktor Hovland.
ENTRIES
The championship is open to two-player sides of female amateur golfers, each of whom has a Handicap Index® not exceeding 14.4. The USGA accepted 351 team entries for the 2022 championship. The record number of entries is 425 from the 2021 championship.
QUALIFYING
Qualifying was conducted over 18 holes at a total of 29 sites, including one in Puerto Rico and one in Mexico, between Aug. 18 and Nov. 15, 2021. California and Texas hosted two qualifiers each.
Click here for a full list of qualifying results.
CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
A starting field of 64 sides (128 golfers) will compete in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Following 18-hole rounds of stroke play on April 20 and 21, the field will be cut to the low 32 sides for match play. Five 18-hole rounds of match play will determine the champion.
Click here for a list of the 2022 championship field.
SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Practice rounds will take place April 18-19, and the championship schedule is as follows:
April 20 (Wednesday): First round, stroke play
April 21 (Thursday): Second round, stroke play
April 22 (Friday): Round of 32, match play
April 23 (Saturday): Round of 16 and quarterfinal rounds, match play
April 24 (Sunday): Semifinal and championship rounds, match play
WHAT THE WINNERS RECEIVE
A 10-year exemption from qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, provided the side remains intact and amateur
Exemption for each player into the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay
Exemptions into the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior, U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (if age-eligible)
Gold medals and custody of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Trophy for one year
Their names inscribed on a plaque recognizing all 2022 USGA champions that will reside in the Hall of Champions at the USGA Golf Museum in Liberty Corner, N.J.
2021 CHAMPIONSHIP
A pair of 17-year-olds, Savannah Barber, of Fort Worth, Texas, and Alexa Saldana, of Mexico, defeated Jillian Bourdage and Casey Weidenfeld, 5 and 4, in the championship match at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas. Barber and Saldana met at a Dallas-area golf academy. Bourdage, of Tamarac, Fla., and Weidenfeld, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., finished as runners-up for the second consecutive championship (the event was not conducted in 2020 due to COVID-19). To read more, click here.
THE USGA AND PUERTO RICO
The 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball will be the first USGA championship held in a U.S. territory. The Puerto Rico Golf Association, which joined the USGA’s network of Allied Golf Associations (AGAs) in February 2021, will host the championship.
OTHER NOTABLE EVENTS AT THE GRAND RESERVE
2008 Puerto Rico Open (Greg Kraft)
2009 Puerto Rico Open (Michael Bradley
2010 Puerto Rico Open (Derek Lamely)
2011 Puerto Rico Open (Michael Bradley)
2012 Puerto Rico Open (George McNeill)
2013 Puerto Rico Open (Scott Brown)
2014 Puerto Rico Open (Chesson Hadley)
2015 Puerto Rico Open (Alex Cejka)
2016 Puerto Rico Open (Tony Finau)
2017 Puerto Rico Open (D.A. Points)
2019 Puerto Rico Open (Martin Trainer)
2020 Puerto Rico Open (Viktor Hovland)
2021 Puerto Rico Open (Branden Grace)
2022 Puerto Rico Open (Ryan Brehm)
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship was played in 2015 on the Pacific Dunes Course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore. Along with the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, which also debuted in 2015, the championships were the first additions to the USGA’s annual competitive schedule since the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 1987. Since then, the USGA has added the U.S. Senior Women’s Open (2018) and the U.S. Adaptive Open (debuting in July 2022).
CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
2015: Mika Liu and Rinko Mitsunaga def. Robynn Ree and Hannah O’Sullivan, 4 and 3; Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Pacific Dunes), Bandon, Ore.
2016: Hailee Cooper and Kaitlyn Papp def. Angelina Kim and Brianna Navarrosa, 19 holes; Streamsong Resort (Blue), Bowling Green, Fla.
2017: Alice Chen and Taylor Totland def. Sammi Lee and Mary Ellen Shuman, 4 and 3; The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
2018: Katrina Prendergast and Ellen Secor def. Yachun Chang and Lei Ye, 1 up; El Caballero C.C., Tarzana, Calif
2019: Megan Furtney and Erica Shepherd def. Jillian Bourdage and Casey Weidenfeld, 2 and 1; Timuquana C.C., Jacksonville, Fla.
2020: No Championship - COVID-19 pandemic
2021: Savannah Barber and Alexa Saldana def. Jillian Bourdage and Casey Weidenfeld, 5 and 4; Maridoe Golf Club, Carrollton, Texas
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FOUR-BALL AND FOURSOMES?
While each involves four players, four-ball and foursomes are different formats.
In four-ball, matches are played in pairs (a player and a partner, called a side, against another player and partner), with each golfer playing his or her own ball on each hole. At the end of each hole, the player with the lowest score wins that hole for the side. In stroke play, the low score is the side’s score for that hole.
Foursomes matches are also played in pairs (one side against another side), but each pair plays with only one ball. In this format, also known as alternate shot, the players take turns hitting the ball from the teeing ground and during play of each hole, with “Player A” hitting the tee shot, “Player B” the second shot, Player A the third, and so on. While the side can choose the order, if Player A hits the tee shots on odd-numbered holes, Player B must hit them on even-numbered holes.
FUTURE SITES
May 13-17, 2023: The Home Course, DuPont, Wash.
May 2-6, 2026: Daniel Island Club, Charleston, S.C.
TBD, 2037: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore.
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