The Curtis Cup featuring top women's amateurs begins Friday at the historic Ardmore layout. Hosting championships is seen as 'part of the DNA of the club.”
Mike Whan is only in his first year as the chief executive officer of the United States Golf Association, but it hasn’t taken him long to become acquainted with the private golf clubs that are willing and able to host the events and championships conducted by the nation’s governing body.
The 19 championships are the most conducted at any venue. It is quite the mix — five U.S. Opens, with the most recent being in 2013, six U.S. Amateurs, four U.S. Women’s Amateurs, one U.S. Girls Junior, and one Walker Cup. This week’s Curtis Cup is the second time Merion will host the biennial competition between teams from the United States and Great Britain and Ireland.
In conjunction with being named as an anchor site, Merion was awarded the U.S Open in 2030, marking the 100th anniversary of Bobby Jones’ historic grand slam. Other major championships coming its way include the 2026 U.S. Amateur, the 2034 and 2046 U.S. Women’s Open, and the 2050 U.S. Open. The USGA also mentioned “additional championships to be named in the future” in its announcements.
“From the Merion standpoint, it’s kind of who we are and what we do, which is kind of trite to say, but It describes it pretty well.” “The nuance to Merion is that every shot requires thought,” he said. “There are no letups in concentration. The green complexes will always be challenging. I’m not concerned about the ball going 300 yards or 320 yards as opposed to 275 as it did at one point in time. That doesn’t bother me. Merion’s a course of angles, and there will still be demands to hit the shots properly.”