El Caballero Country Club, in Tarzana, Calif., has been selected by the United States Golf Association as the host site for the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Located less than 25 miles from Los Angeles, El Caballero will host its first USGA championship from April 28-May 2.
“The USGA is excited to add El Caballero Country Club to its distinguished list of championship sites,” said Diana Murphy, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman. “We are confident this beautiful Southern California club will be a terrific host for players and supporters, while also providing a comprehensive test that will produce worthy champions and continue to build the legacy of this popular team event.”
Designed in 1957 by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and named for the creek that meanders through the San Fernando Valley property, the course was renovated in 2005 by John Harbottle, who revamped bunkers, water features and a few greens. It will play host to the fourth U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, which was contested for the first time in 2015 and won by teenagers Mika Liu and Rinko Mitsunaga, who prevailed at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore.
El Caballero was a three-time host of the LPGA Tour’s Office Depot Championship, which was played for nine years and won by Se Ri Pak in 2002 and Annika Sorenstam in 2003 and 2004 at El Caballero. The club has also hosted several USGA sectional qualifiers, for the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur and most recently, for the 2014 U.S. Senior Open.
“On behalf of the membership of El Caballero County Club, we are honored to host the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship,” said Gary Diamond, club president. “We look forward to providing a venue that the competitors will find challenging and where spectators will have a memorable experience.”
The U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship is open to two-player sides (or teams) of female amateurs with an individual Handicap Index® not exceeding 14.4. There are no age restrictions and partners are not required to be from the same club, state or country.
The championship begins with 18-hole sectional qualifying, which commences the previous August and is conducted by state and regional golf associations on behalf of the USGA. A total of 64 sides advance to the national championship, where each player plays their own ball throughout the round. Each side’s score is determined by using the lower score of the partners for each hole. After 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying, the field is reduced to the low 32 sides for the championship’s match-play bracket, from which the eventual champion is determined.
The 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball will be the 80th USGA championship contested in California, the most of any state. Additional upcoming championships in the Golden State include the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open at CordeValle in San Martin; the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista; the 2017 U.S. Amateur at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades; the 2017 Walker Cup Match and 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club; the 2018 U.S. Amateur and 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach; and the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.
Upcoming U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championships will be contested May 21-25, 2016, at Streamsong (Fla.) Resort; and May 27-31, 2017, at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
