Charleston adds U.S. Women’s Open to legacy
Hall-of-Famers Walter Hagen and Henry Picard won there. Famed amateur Billy Joe Patton did, too. Beth Daniel, another member of the Golf Hall of Fame, learned the game there. And now, the Country Club of Charleston is preparing to add another highlight to its rich history.
The United States Golf Association will be calling again in 2019, this time to stage the world’s most prestigious championship for women – the U.S. Women’s Open – on the treasured Seth Reynor-designed course.
“They’re excited and we’re excited, and we’ll be ready,” Frank Ford III, the Women’s Open’s general chairman whose family’s roots run deep at the club, said.
In reality, the golf course is ready now. In making the long-expected announcement official earlier this month, USGA president Thomas O’Toole said, “You could go out tomorrow and play the championship.”
But the Charleston folks will need the three and-a-half years to work on logistics that include securing 2,400 volunteers, making transportation plans – and these might include boat rides to the course from downtown Charleston – and setting up what the USGA calls “supporter-ships.”
If that sounds daunting, the time line is better than the challenge to host the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Then, Charleston and club had 20 months to get ready, and they delivered.
“Preparing for something like this is right down (Charleston’s) alley,” said Ford, who noted the club touched base with both state and Charleston officials to get their blessings – and assistance – before finalizing the deal. “There will be 20 hours of international television, and we’re expecting at least 20,000 fans each day and up to 140,000 for the week. The economic impact is estimated to be about $25 million, and most of that stays in the community.”
The Charleston course played at 6,496 yards for the women’s amateur, and Ford expects the distance to be stretched to about 6,600 yards for the Women’s Open.
“Some people see that distance and underrate our golf course,” Ford said. “But it’s not underrated by the players. Look at our list of champions. Emma Talley won the Amateur in 2013 and she won the NCAA individual championship (playing for Alabama) this year. The course is a challenge; 284 (even par for four rounds) is a good score.”
The 2019 Women’s Open will be played May 30-June 2 with practice rounds earlier in the week. And Ford, one of the state’s most accomplished amateurs and a member of the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame, calls the dates ideal.
“I like that time of the year because we should have some really nice days. We’re not going to be threatened by hurricanes, and the course will be in ideal condition,” he said. “It’s going to still be spring, so we’ll be getting breezes off the water, and the golf course will play firmer and faster. It would not be uncommon for the wind to come from a difference direction each day, and that’s going to increase the difficulty.”
Limited parking at the club means shuttles will be used and, Ford noted, “The USGA does this four times a year. If the USGA can have the U.S. Open at Merion (in suburban Philadelphia), they can certainly have the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Country Club of Charleston.”
The 2019 Women’s Open will be the 18th USGA championship staged in South Carolina and the fourth since 2013. In addition to the 2013 Women’s Amateur at Charleston, Colleton River Plantation in Bluffton held the 2015 U.S. Junior Amateur, and the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball will be played at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach. The Dunes also hosted the 1972 Women’s Amateur.
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USC senior Matt NeSmith has earned the South Carolina Golf Association’s Player of the Year award, and Rick Cloninger has claimed the Senior Player of the Year prize for the fourth straight year. They will be honored at Golf Day ceremonies, set for Jan. 9 at Columbia Country Club. Also on the Golf Day program, Charlie Rymer, former junior and collegiate standout and now a Golf Channel broadcaster, will be inducted into the State’s Golf Hall of Fame. . . . Ashlan Ramsey, the top player on Clemson’s 2013-14 women’s team, earned full exemption for the 2016 LPGA season by finishing eighth in the tour’s qualifying school.