The United States Golf Association (USGA) has announced that Seattle (Wash.) Golf Club will be the host site for the 72nd U.S. Senior Amateur Championship. The dates of the championship are Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 2027. This will be the club’s fourth USGA championship but first since 1981.
“The USGA is pleased to return to Seattle Golf Club, a place where historical and significant amateur championships have been contested,” said Mark Hill, USGA managing director, Championships. “We look forward to continuing this relationship that began in the 1950s and we know that the surrounding community will be welcoming to all involved and the course will provide the world’s best senior amateur players a comprehensive test.”
Founded in 1900, Seattle Golf Club overlooks the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains and is surrounded by 100-year-old Douglas fir trees. The original course was designed by Robert Johnstone, the club’s head golf professional from 1905-1937, with assistance from John Ball, a Minneapolis-based Scottish golf architect, and later redesigned by World Golf Hall of Famer and three-time USGA champion Arnold Palmer in 1996. Thad Layton, of the Arnold Palmer Design Company, completed an update of the green complexes while adding several fairway bunkers and tee locations in 2022.
“On behalf of the membership of Seattle Golf Club, we are honored to be selected to host the 2027 U.S. Senior Amateur,” said Chuck Nelson, club president. “SGC has long had a mission of supporting competitive amateur golf at the highest level, including hosting the Walker Cup, the U.S. Amateur, and a prior U.S. Senior Amateur, in addition to a major collegiate conference championship and the prestigious Pacific Coast Amateur. Bringing the top senior amateur players to our classic Northwest style golf course is an opportunity to reinforce that commitment and further support the game we all love and provide a great experience for everyone involved.”
The club previously hosted the 1952 U.S. Amateur Championship, the 1961 Walker Cup Match and the 1981 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship. In 1952, Jack Westland, of Everett, defeated Al Mengert, of Spokane, 3 and 2, in an all-Washington state final. Westland, who is still the oldest winner of the U.S. Amateur at age 47, would be elected to the U.S. House of Representative the following year and serve in congress until 1965.
Westland and Mengert would later be inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame.
Westland would also serve as the U.S. captain in the 1961 Walker Cup, guiding his team to an 11-1 victory over Great Britain and Ireland. The result is currently tied for the fourth-largest win margin in the Match’s history. U.S. Amateur champions Jack Nicklaus and Charles Coe combined to win in foursomes and were each dominant in singles play.
In1981, the late Dr. Ed Updegraff posted a 2-and-1 triumph over Dale Morey to win the U.S. Senior Amateur. Both finalists were members of multiple U.S. Walker Cup Teams and Updegraff is one of eight players to win the title as the stroke-play medalist.
Seattle Golf Club is one of four clubs to host the U.S. Senior Amateur, U.S. Amateur and Walker Cup, joining Shinnecock Golf Club, in Southampton, N.Y., Chicago Golf Club, in Wheaton, Ill., and The Minikahda Club, in Minneapolis, Minn.
A supporter of amateur golf throughout its history, the club has hosted four Pacific Coast Amateurs (1967, 1987, 1999, 2016), the 1927 Western Amateur and the 2009 Pacific-10 Conference Men’s Championship. Additionally, the club has been the site of eight Pacific Northwest Golf Association Men’s Amateurs (1906, 1909, 1914, 1918, 1923, 1935, 1949, 1984) and the 1939 Washington State Amateur.
Through 2023, there have been 28 USGA championships contested in the state of Washington. In 2024, the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur will be held at Broadmoor Golf Club, in Seattle, Sept. 21-26. The state will host three USGA championships in 2027. In addition to the U.S. Senior Amateur, the U.S. Junior Amateur will be played at Chambers Bay, in University Place, and the U.S. Senior Women’s Open will be held at Tacoma Country and Golf Club, in Lakewood.
The U.S. Senior Amateur is open to any amateur golfers with a Handicap Index not exceeding 5.4 and who have reached their 55th birthday by the start of the championship. The field of 156 players competes in two rounds of stroke play, after which the field is reduced to the low 64 scorers for six rounds of match play. The champion receives an exemption into the following year’s U.S. Senior Open.
