Far Hills, N.J. – The United States Golf Association has announced a change to the qualifying process for the U.S. Women’s Open Championship.
Previously,
the qualifying process for the Women’s Open included an 18-hole local
qualifier and a 36-hole sectional qualifier. Starting with the 2010
U.S. Women’s Open, which will be contested July 8-11 at Oakmont (Pa.)
Country Club, there will be only one stage – 36-hole sectional
qualifying for non-exempt players.
Historically,
two-stage qualifying has presented problems for players trying to
coordinate their playing schedules. Since the change to two stages in
2002, the USGA has received many requests from players for exemptions
through local qualifying.
“We believe
this one-stage system will be more time and cost efficient for the
players and officials running the qualifiers,” said Mike Davis, senior
director of Rules & Competitions for the USGA. “This will give
players more flexibility when determining their schedule as they will
have more options of dates and sites from which to choose.”
The
change for the Women’s Open will also make it easier for the USGA to
obtain qualifying sites. Beginning next year, about 20 qualifying sites
around the country will be used during a three-week period, whereas the
current process typically provided just one date for sectional
qualifying.
The
USGA currently conducts one-stage sectional qualifying for all of its
amateur championships and the U.S. Senior Open. With this change to the
U.S. Women’s Open, the only USGA championship to continue to hold two
stages of qualifying will be the U.S. Open, which had more than 9,000
entries this year.
“When
we originally changed the qualifying process for the Women’s Open to
two stages, one of our main goals was to increase the number of entries
for the championship,” said Davis. “That has indeed happened, as we had
a record number of entries, 1,278, for the Women’s Open this year. But
we think that had more to do with the growth of the women’s game.”