Westchester CC Prepares to Host 2021 U.S. Women's Amateur

As this year's U.S. Women's Amateur Championship takes place August 3-9 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md., the one year countdown to the 121st playing of the championship at Westchester Country Club begins. Next year, Westchester will welcome the top female amateurs in the world, August 2-8, on the club's West Course, where the championship was played nearly 100 years ago in 1923 when Edith Cummings captured the title. 

Preparations are well underway at Westchester as the club prepares so add another national championship to its impressive roster of both professional and amateur events. Mary Ann Sullivan and Peter Knobloch, Co-Chairs of the U.S. Women's Amateur Committee at Westchester Country Club, shared insight into what the role of the host club and what they will be looking forward to next summer when the championship is held. 

MGA: How has the membership embraced the upcoming 2021 U.S. Women's Amateur and how will the members be involved?

WCC: Over the past 60 years, our membership has thoroughly enjoyed providing a stage for championship golf. Westchester Country Club has hosted the PGA Tour 44 times and a major on the Champions Tour, the 2011 Constellation Senior Players Championship. In 2015, the Club hosted the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major on the LPGA Tour that had previously been known as the LPGA Championship, featuring a $3.5 million purse. These events have showcased the world’s best professional players, both male and female, on our club’s West Course, giving our Membership and the wider community a chance to see them up close.

While this is only the second [national] amateur event our Club has hosted in our nearly 100-year history, our Members are excited to host the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Our Club’s greatest strength is a large and devoted membership, and many have expressed interest in volunteering during the tournament week, in providing housing for the visiting players, and have contributed financially to the event.

In the last six months, through a combination of recruiting and members volunteering, we’ve installed members as Division Chairs, and they are working to lead our efforts in seven areas: Fundraising and Finance, On-Course Operations, Volunteers, Hospitality, Marketing and Media, Player Services, and Transportation.

 

MGA: As the club prepares to welcome the world's best female amateurs, what are the top priorities for the club?

WCC: For 2021, our top priorities are to have great participation from our membership with regard to both volunteering and helping support the event, providing the players and the USGA with a world-class experience at our Club and the fans and partners with a well-run event that exceeds their expectations. We feel that the support and participation of Westchester Country Club’s membership is what will make the event a success. We’d like to have a great “Welcome to Westchester” event for the players, so they can enjoy the Club before the competition starts, as well as for our partners to meet these amazing athletes. Hosting championship golf every few years, be it amateur or professional, remains a priority for our Club. We’ve had a terrific experience working with the USGA for the 2021 Women’s Amateur and look forward to having discussions about hosting future events.

 

MGA: What is Westchester CC looking forward to the most in hosting this Championship?

WCC: We’re looking forward to hosting our first USGA event since the 1923 Women’s Amateur – it’s been 98 years since the USGA last held an event here, and we’re excited that the sport’s governing body has chosen our club for this event. We’re looking forward to showcasing our Club’s facilities for the players, their families and the USGA, as well as for golf fans worldwide during the five days of coverage the tournament will receive on NBC and the Golf Channel.

Hosting a Women’s Amateur will be a bit more low-key than a PGA Tour event – there will be no tickets, no grandstands and no ropes, so it’ll be a much more intimate experience where everyone can get close to the players.

We’ve always had a strong junior golf program here at Westchester Country Club, one that has developed terrific amateur players as well as several players who have gone on to careers as golf professionals, both at the club level and on tour. Hosting the U.S. Women’s Amateur will give our junior players, and especially our junior girls, the opportunity to see players not much older than themselves competing at the highest level of the game. The value of that is multi-fold: it can inspire them to improve their games and to set higher goals for themselves, it shows them that the elite competitors aren’t that much different than they are, and it shows that golf is a worldwide game, and from it, they can compete with and make friends all over the world.

For more information about the 121st U.S. Women's Amateur at Westchester Country Club, including info for fans, volunteers, and sponsors, click here.