U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship begins Saturday at The Home Course in DuPont

Jon Manley
·3 min read

Some of the best country’s best amateur women’s golfers will put their skills to the test in the South Sound beginning Saturday.

The Home Course in DuPont will play host to the 8th United States Golf Association (USGA) U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship from Saturday, May 13 to Wednesday, May 17.

The championship comes on the heels of another USGA championship appearance in the South Sound, as Chambers Bay hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur last August, which saw Japanese teenager Saki Baba win 11 and 9 over Canadian and University of Michigan golfer Monet Chun.

The 128-golfer field will feature 64 teams (or sides), from age 13 to 64, with 27 states and the District of Columbia represented, as well as 10 countries. Qualifying was conducted over 18 holes at a total of 26 sites, including one in Mexico, between Aug. 22 and Dec. 7, 2022.

HOW DOES THE FOUR-BALL FORMAT WORK?

Matches are played in pairs (a player and a partner, called a side, against another player and partner), with each golfer playing her own ball on each hole. At the end of each hole, the player with the lowest score wins that hole for the side. In stroke play, the low score is the side’s score for that hole.

The first two rounds of the championship on Saturday and Sunday will be stroke play, while the round of 32 on Monday, round of 16 on Tuesday and semifinal and championship rounds on Wednesday will be match play.

LOCALS IN THE FIELD

A pair of Gonzaga Bulldogs’ golfers make up the only side in the field from Washington. Grace Lee, 19 and Taylor Mularski, 19, just completed their freshman year at Gonzaga University. Lee, the West Coast Conference’s Freshman of the Year, helped the Bulldogs to a third-place finish in the WCC Championship at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash., finishing solo fifth individually.

Mularski, who is competing in her first USGA championship, qualified for seven of nine events this past season at Gonzaga. She won the 2021 Spokane Area High School title and was named the Greater Spokane League MVP.

The third golfer from Washington is 14-year-old Bellevue native Angela Zhang, who has been on a tear as of late. Zhang just qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open after taking first and winning a playoff at a qualifier on May 9 at the Shannopin Country Club in Pittsburgh. At age 14, she’ll compete in the first-ever Women’s Open at Pebble Beach from July 6 to 9.

HERE’S THE SCHEDULE

The Home Course is a public golf course cooperatively owned by Washington Golf and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA). The Home Course was designed by Mike Asmundson and opened for play in 2007.

The Home Course hosted the final U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship in 2014. The course also served as the stroke-play co-host for the 2010 U.S. Amateur and 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, both of which were contested at Chambers Bay. The course e will be set up at 6,487 yards and will play to a par of 36-36–72.

  • May 13 (Saturday): First round, stroke play

  • May 14 (Sunday): Second round, stroke play

  • May 15 (Monday): Round of 32, match play

  • May 16 (Tuesday): Round of 16 and quarterfinal rounds, match play

  • May 17 (Wednesday): Semifinal and championship rounds, match play