For the second time in its history, Hazeltine National Golf Club will be making history with a USGA championship. The Chaska, Minn., club, the site of two U.S. Opens, has been chosen to host the 2020 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, the first to have an expanded field. When Hazeltine hosted the 1994 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, it was the first time that field was expanded from 156 to 240 players.
The 2020 U.S. Junior Amateur is scheduled for July 20-25, and will be the ninth USGA championship conducted at the club.
The USGA has not yet decided what the new size of the field will be for the U.S. Junior Amateur, but two courses will be used for the stroke-play portion of the championship. Nearby Chaska Town Course will serve as the stroke-play co-host course, as it did when Hazeltine hosted the 2006 U.S. Amateur Championship.
“Hazeltine National Golf Club has been supportive of USGA championships from the inception of the club to the present and we are appreciative of this committed and enduring relationship,” said Stuart Francis, USGA Championship Committee chairman. “By expanding the U.S. Junior Amateur field in 2020 we are providing additional opportunities for the world’s best junior players to compete in the championship.”
Designed by Robert Trent Jones in 1962 and remodeled by his son, Rees Jones, on several occasions, Hazeltine National Golf Club takes its name from nearby Lake Hazeltine and is located southwest of Minneapolis. The layout blends the rolling hills, lakes, developed woods and the prairies of the upper Midwest. Chaska Town Course, a public facility, was designed by Arthur Hills and opened for play in 1997. The course features 285 acres of oak groves, open prairie and marshlands.
“Hazeltine National is honored to be selected as the host site for the 2020 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship,” said Bob Fafinski, club president. “We look forward to our partnership with the USGA and the city of Chaska in delivering a world-class amateur event. At Hazeltine, our mission as a golf club is to host national championships, which includes golf competitions at all levels – men and women; professionals and amateurs; seniors and juniors. Hosting the 2020 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship fits perfectly with our mission. We look forward to welcoming the best junior players in the world to compete on our golf course in 2020.”
With the 2020 U.S. Junior Amateur, Hazeltine will become the first club to host a U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur.
The U.S. Open Championship has been contested twice at Hazeltine. In 1970, Tony Jacklin became the first Englishman to win since Ted Ray in 1920. Jacklin’s four-round score of 7-under 281 was seven strokes better than his nearest competitor. Payne Stewart defeated Scott Simpson in an 18-hole playoff to claim the 1991 U.S. Open title. The two players were tied at 6-under 282 after 72 holes. Stewart, who would later win his second Open in 1999, gained four strokes over the last three holes of the playoff to win by two.
The U.S. Women’s Open has twice been played at Hazeltine. Sandra Spuzich won by one stroke over defending champion Carol Mann in 1966. Spuzich birdied holes 16 and 17 to take the lead and win her first professional title. In 1977, Hollis Stacy won the first of her three U.S. Women’s Opens, defeating Nancy Lopez by two strokes.
Hazeltine also hosted the 1983 U.S. Senior Open and 2006 U.S. Amateur championships. Billy Casper holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole of a playoff round against Rod Funseth to win the Senior Open. Casper, a two-time U.S. Open champion, and Funseth were tied after 72 holes and each carded a 75 in the 18-hole playoff. In 2006, Richie Ramsay, of Scotland, won four of six holes with birdies to take an early 3-up lead and then held on to beat John Kelly, 4 and 2, in the 36-hole U.S. Amateur final. Medalist Billy Horschel fired an 11-under 60 in the first round of stroke play at Chaska Town Course in the 2006 Amateur.
The 1994 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship (won by Tim Jackson) and the 2001 USGA Men’s State Team Championship (won by Minnesota) were also played at Hazeltine. Additionally, the club was the site for the 2002 and 2009 PGA Championships, the 2016 Ryder Cup Matches and the 1999 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.
The 2020 U.S. Junior Amateur will be the 37th USGA championship in Minnesota and the third U.S. Junior Amateur. In 1958, Gordon Baker was the champion at the University of Minnesota Golf Course in St. Paul, and in 1984, Doug Martin won at Wayzata Country Club in Wayzata.
The U.S. Junior Amateur was first played in 1948. The championship is open to amateurs who have not reached their 19th birthday by the conclusion of the championship and who have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 4.4. Tiger Woods (three times), Jordan Spieth (twice), Johnny Miller, David Duval and Hunter Mahan are among the notable U.S. Junior Amateur champions. This year’s U.S. Junior Amateur is being played July 17-22 at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan.
The 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur will be contested July 16-21 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., and the 2019 championship is scheduled for July 15-20 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
