For the third time since it opened in 1963, The Country Club of North Carolina, in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C., will host a USGA championship. The 36-hole facility has been chosen to host the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship from July 19-24, 2021.
The Country Club of North Carolina also will become the 16th site to have hosted both the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior. In 2010, Doris Chen defeated Katelyn Dambaugh, 3 and 2, to win the U.S. Girls’ Junior. In 1980, Hal Sutton won the U.S. Amateur by defeating Bob Lewis Jr., 9 and 8, in the championship match, to cap off a remarkable summer in which he claimed the Western Amateur, the North and South Amateur at nearby Pinehurst Resort & Country Club and the Northeast Amateur.
Although the U.S. Girls’ Junior has been conducted in North Carolina, this will be the first U.S. Junior Amateur held in the Tar Heel State.
As announced in 2017, the USGA will change the format of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, beginning in 2020. The field will be expanded from 156 players to a final size to be determined, and two courses will be used for the 36-hole, stroke-play portion of the championship. The Country Club of North Carolina’s Dogwood Course will serve as the host site for both stroke play and match play, while the club’s Cardinal Course will be the stroke-play co-host.
“The Country Club of North Carolina and amateur golf have a long-standing relationship and the USGA is appreciative of this continued and passionate commitment,” said Stuart Francis, USGA Championship Committee chairman. “The U.S. Junior Amateur is junior golf’s most prestigious championship and we look forward to identifying a champion for the first time in the state of North Carolina in 2021.”
The Country Club of North Carolina (CCNC) is a member-owned, 2,000-acre facility that includes longleaf pines and three lakes. A certified member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program since 2003, the club is located less than one mile from Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, the site of three U.S. Open Championships, with another to come in 2024 as well as the 2019 U.S. Amateur. The Dogwood Course was designed by Ellis Maples and Willard Byrd and renovated by Kris Spence in 2016. The Cardinal Course, originally designed by Byrd and Robert Trent Jones Sr., was renovated by Arthur Hills, from 1999-2002.
“The Country Club of North Carolina is honored to host the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship and to be among the prestigious clubs to host this wonderful event,” said Tom Beddow, club president. “CCNC has a great history and tradition of supporting amateur golf and we have the experience, infrastructure and a committed staff and group of volunteers who will help make this a memorable championship.”
Besides its two previous USGA championships, CCNC has also played host to the 1972 U.S. Professional Match-Play Championship (won by Jack Nicklaus), seven Southern Amateurs, four Carolinas Amateurs and seven North Carolina Amateurs. The list of Southern Amateur champions includes Ben Crenshaw (1971), Len Mattiace (1985) and Webb Simpson (2007).
The 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur will be the 34th USGA championship in North Carolina. In 2019, the Tar Heel State will host the U.S. Amateur (Pinehurst Resort), U.S. Senior Women’s Open (Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club) and U.S. Senior Amateur (Old Chatham Golf Club).
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.
The 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur will be contested July 15-20 at Inverness Club, in Toledo, Ohio, and the 2020 championship is scheduled for July 20-25 at Hazeltine National Golf Club and Chaska Town Course, in Chaska, Minn.
