NEWTON, Massachusetts – By the end of this month, the United States Golf Association (USGA®) will have hosted three national championships in Massachusetts within the past 12 months that have featured standout male players.
In upcoming years it’ll be the women’s turn, and they won’t have to wait too long.
On Wednesday, the USGA announced that Brae Burn Country Club, a classic Donald Ross-designed course in Newton, will host both the 2024 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and the 2028 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. Brae Burn has traditionally been a premier site for women’s championship golf, having hosted the Curtis Cup twice and the U.S. Women’s Amateur three times previously.
“We are delighted with the prospect of hosting the 2024 US Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and the 2028 US Women’s Amateur Championship,” said Kathleen Forte and Jill Browne, the co-chairs of the Brae Burn Women’s Committee. “It’s wonderful to honor the legacy of those great women golfers who have laid the foundation for amateur golf in America at Brae Burn, which has a rich history of hosting USGA women’s events. We look forward to sharing our course with the world’s leading amateur golfers in 2024 and 2028.”
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Brae Burn first hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1906 when Massachusetts Golf Hall of Famer Harriot Curtis won the title. Brae Burn also hosted the 1975 U.S. Women’s Amateur, won by Beth Daniel, an inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, and the 1997 U.S. Women’s Amateur, won by Italy’s Silvia Cavalleri.
Other notable events in Brae Burn’s history include the 1919 U.S. Open won by Walter Hagen and the 1928 U.S. Amateur victory by Bobby Jones.
“We’re thrilled to return to Brae Burn, a classic golf course, and to return to Boston, which has proven to be one of the finest sports cities in America,” said Mark Hill, USGA senior managing director, Championships in a press release Wednesday. “We know the membership at Brae Burn will provide an exemplary experience for our players as they compete for these two national championship titles.”
On a state level, Brae Burn has hosted 11 Mass Amateur championships and 15 Mass Women’s Amateur championships, in addition to dozens of events going all the way back to the year 1900.
“They’ve been huge supporters locally and regionally,” Mass Golf Executive Director/CEO Jesse Menachem said of Brae Burn. “It’s just an incredible statement and commitment they’ve made to the women’s game. The golf course will be an incredible test and incredible venue for those two respective fields, and we know the club is going to put on a great show once again, and it’ll be fantastic keeping Massachusetts in the spotlight on the national stage.”
The 2024 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur will be contested rom Sept. 7-12. First played in 1987, the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur is open to female amateurs age 25 and older with a Handicap Index® not exceeding 9.4. The championship field features 132 players who compete in two rounds of stroke play, after which the field is cut to the low 64 scorers for match play. The championship first came to the Bay State in 1995 when Essex County Club hosted, and Ellen Port took home the title. Mass natives Anne Marie Tobin, Mary Gale, and Marion Maney-McInerney all made it to match play. In 2018, Shannon Johnson (Thorny Lea Golf Club) took home the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur title and will still be in the midst of her 10-year exemption when the event comes to Brae Burn.
The 2028 U.S. Women’s Amateur will be held August 7-13. The 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur will be hosted next week at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, featuring Massachusetts junior standouts Molly Smith (Vesper Country Club) and Emma Abramson (The Ridge Club). The 2028 Women’s Amateur be the 12th time the Bay State has hosted the top female amateurs in the world as The Country Club (1902, 1941, 1995), Essex County Club (1897, 1912), Belmont Country Club (1916), Salem Country Club (1932), and Taconic Golf Club (1963) have also hosted. Pauline Mackay (1905), Harriott Curtis (1906), Margaret Curtis (1907, 1911, 1912), and Katherine Harley (1908, 1914) are among the group of Bay State women to win the title.
Champions of both the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur earn exemptions into the following year’s U.S. Women’s Open.
