Is Atlanta Athletic Club The Only Course Available To Host A Championship?

Okay, it's a great club. They love their golf. But a PGA in 2011, the NCAA's in 2013 (revealed this week) and now the U.S. Amateur in 2014? And all over an uninspiring course in a severely overrated sports town?

ATLANTA ATHLETIC CLUB TO HOST 2014 U.S. AMATEUR

Far Hills, N.J. (June 30) – The Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth, Ga., has been selected by the United States Golf Association as the host of the 2014 U.S. Amateur Championship. The dates of the championship are Aug. 18-24.

This will be the sixth USGA national championship to be held at the Atlanta Athletic Club. Previously, the club hosted the 1976 U.S. Open (won by Jerry Pate); the 1984 U.S. Mid-Amateur (won by Michael Podolak); the 1990 U.S. Women’s Open (won by Betsy King); and the 2002 U.S. Junior Amateur (won by Charlie Beljan) at its Duluth, Ga., location. It was also the host of the 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur (won by Beverly Hanson) on its original course known as East Lake.

“Atlanta Athletic Club is proud to continue its tradition of hosting national championships,” said Chris Borders, the club’s general manager. “With a long history of Atlantic Athletic Club member amateurs who have played in the U.S. Amateur, such as Bob Jones, Charlie Yates, Watts Gunn, Charlie Harrison and Tommy Barnes, it is a pleasure for us to play host to this prestigious championship.”

The Atlanta Athletic Club was founded in 1898 and was the home club of legendary amateur Bob Jones, who won the U.S. Amateur in 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1930, and the U.S. Open in 1923, 1926, 1929 and 1930. Jones defeated fellow Atlanta Athletic Club member Watts Gunn in the 1925 U.S. Amateur Championship final.
 
The club’s Highlands Course and Riverside Course were designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., with Joe Finger assisting on the Highlands Course, and opened in 1964. The Highlands Course hosted three of the previous USGA championships; the 1990 U.S. Women’s Open was hosted by the Riverside Course. Rees Jones redesigned the courses, completing his work on the Riverside Course in 2003 and the Highlands Course in 2006. Both courses will be used for the 2014 U.S. Amateur.

In addition to the five USGA championships, the club has also hosted the 1963 Ryder Cup, the 1981 PGA Championship (won by Larry Nelson) and the 2001 PGA Championship (won by David Toms). It will serve as the host of the 2011 PGA Championship.

First contested in 1895, the U.S. Amateur is the oldest golf championship in the country – one day older than the U.S. Open – and is for amateurs who have USGA Handicap Indexes not exceeding 2.4.

Prior to 2014, the championship will be contested at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash., from Aug. 23-29, 2010; at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis., from Aug. 22-28, 2011; at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo., from Aug. 20-26, 2012; and at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., from Aug. 19-25, 2013.

So why would the USGA agree to take its premier amateur event to a course that is hosting another premier event the year prior? Seems strange, no?