On Inverness, Cypress, NGLA And Seminole

The storied clubs sign on for more USGA events over the coming decades. Plus, a trophy and medal celebrate Tiger's historic amateur run while new president Hammer calls for unity.

We still don’t know where one of the four majors will be played in a little over two years’ time. Granted, choosing the date involves some geopolitical ramifications, and Lord knows what else to figure out. Though my eagle-eyed St Andrews sources say the smoke coming from the R&A clubhouse may be turning grey soon.

Either way, feel free to add a major championship week in Toledo to your calendar for June 12-18, 2045.

The latest announcements are part of the USGA’s push to make its most ardent followers move toward a 100% plant-based diet in hopes of witnessing future events at some of the world’s greatest courses. So the organization used last weekend’s annual meeting to “fill” a future U.S. Open date along with several Curtis Cup and Walker Cup dates.

The future eventere announced Saturday during Saturday’s gathering in New York:

• Inverness will host the 145th U.S. Open in 2045. It will be the first U.S. Open at the Toledo, Ohio gem since Hale Irwin’s win in 1979. Designed by Donald Ross, the club was already scheduled to host the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally and the 2029 U.S. Amateur. Inverness was also awarded the 2033 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 2036 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

• National Golf Links of America will host the 2040 Walker Cup, a decade after hosting the previously-announced 2030 Curtis Cup. NGLA most recently hosted the 2013 Walker Cup.

• Cypress Point Club has been awarded the 2042 Curtis Cup and 2048 Walker Cup after successfully hosting last year’s incredible Walker Cup.

• Seminole Golf Club will host the 2046 Curtis Cup and 2052 Walker Cup following 2021’s mostly incredible, non-Breakers food-for-the-teams, Walker Cup.

It’s wonderful that these places are willing to host and lock in special events for future generations of club leadership to do all the heavy lifting. The sight of Inverness on the list of future venues is a testament to the club’s devotion to the game. The course fell victim to the wrath of Fazio(s) and now lives to tell a grand story of resurrection, beginning with next year’s U.S. Women’s Open (no offense to the Solheim Cup that it hosted post-renovation, but the USGA stamp carries more weight).

Inverness after Andrew Green’s restoration (USGA)

So we’ll enjoy the list of future venues knowing that, at the very least, the USGA staff will have enjoyable site visits to make over the next 26 years. As distances and sea levels rise, there will be many reasons to show up and reaffirm that the courses can still host 15 years from now. Persevere, USGA staff, persevere!

And to the loving couples out there on the fence about having children who take up golf at a young age: you can now set goals for the wee ones to pursue. After all, the average age of Walker Cuppers should be around 15 or 16 by 2052. And the mid-amateur age of eligibility will have been lowered to 20, so we’re still a good decade away from the contestant pools even being born for the Cypress and Seminole events just announced.

I’ll stop now. Thanks to all of these fine places for opening your doors:

Future Curtis Cup Sites
2026 – Bel Air Country Club, Los Angeles, Calif.
2028 – Royal Dornoch, Dornoch, Scotland
2030 – National Golf Links of America, Southampton, N.Y.
2034 – Pine Valley Golf Club, Pine Hills, N.J.
2038 – Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore.
2042 – Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach, Calif.
2046 – Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach, Calif.

Future Walker Cup Sites
2026 – Lahinch, County Clare, Republic of Ireland
2028 – Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore.
2030 – Prince’s Golf Club, Kent, England
2032 – Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pa.
2036 – Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill.
2040 – National Golf Links of America, Southampton, N.Y.
2044 – Pine Valley Golf Club, Pine Hill, N.J.
2048 – Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach, Calif.
2052 – Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach, Calif.

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U.S. Amateur Medal And U.S. Junior Trophy Named For Tiger

The USGA announced that the medal presented annually to the U.S. Amateur champion, along with the trophy awarded to the U.S. Junior Amateur champion, have been renamed and redesigned to honor Tiger Woods.

Given his unparalleled run of three-consecutive U.S. Junior wins (1991-1993) followed by three consecutive U.S. Amateur wins (1994-1996), it’s an unmatched feat unlikely to be repeated.

“The USGA and its championships have played an enormous role in my life,” Woods said in a statement. “The U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur were defining moments in my development, both as a golfer and as a person. To be recognized in this way is incredibly humbling, and I hope it inspires young players to chase their dreams and appreciate the history and values of the game.”

The U.S. Open gold medal bears the name of Jack Nicklaus, the U.S. Women’s Open medal honors Mickey Wright, and the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion’s medal for eight-time USGA champion JoAnne Carner. The USGA’s sportsmanship award is named after Bob Jones.

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Hammer Calls For Unity

Kevin Hammer and Fred Perpall at the 2026 Annual Meeting (USGA)

The USGA presidency was handed from Fred Perpall to Kevin Hammer as two more new Executive Committee members were elected Saturday.

Hammer has played roles on virtually all of the USGA’s committees in recent years, making him a witness to some incredible behavior by other organizations in golf. Yet the new president admirably called for unity despite having been witness to the two PGAs and select manufacturers repeatedly violating the agreed-upon “Vancouver Protocols” while subsequently peddling misinformation on the distance matter.

“We will continue to lead, we will show up, and we will listen,” he said, according to Golf Digest’s Mike Stachura. “We will collaborate with all stakeholders, the R&A, the PGA of America, the Masters, the LPGA Tour, PGA Tour, all of our allied golf associations, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Golf Managers Association, the AJGA. The game is strongest when it is unified, and unity is a choice that we make every day. But the game is bigger than all of our organizations.”

Time will tell just how long the USGA can maintain a stiff upper lip in the face of continued nonsense over what increasingly looks like will be trivial changes in distance for .001% of the golf population. Hammer is well equipped to handle the mishegoss: he has seen all sides of the golf industry as the son of Robert Hammer, a PGA Tour and PGA of America professional who was runner-up in the 1960 U.S. Junior Amateur.

Kevin Hammer earned first-team AJGA All-America honors and played collegiately at the University of Florida before spending 10 years on the Florida State Golf Association Board of Directors (including two years as FSGA President from 2020-21).

In addition to Hammer ascending as the 68th president for a two-year term, a pair of new members were elected to the Executive Committee: Brenda Corrie Kuehn of North Carolina and Suzy Whaley of Florida. Also, Leslie Henry of Texas, Bryan Lewis of Michigan, Michael McCarthy of California and Andy North of Wisconsin begin their second three-year term on the Committee.

Also returning: Andrew Biggadike of New Jersey; Dianne Dixon of Florida; David Dorton of Georgia; Virginia C. Drosos of Texas; Sinclair Eaddy Jr., of Maryland; Cathy Engelbert of New Jersey; Jim Gorrie of Alabama; and David Leitch of Virginia.

USGA awards were also handed out to Ellen Port (Bob Jones Award), Jerry Lemieux (Joe Dey Award), Paul Latshaw (USGA Green Section Award) and Stephen Proctor (Herbert Warren Wind Award for Matchless: Joyce Wethered, Glenna Collett and the Rise of Women’s Golf).