It’s been an unusual run for the USGA State Team Championships.
Originally, the men’s and women’s tournaments were supposed to be one-time events to help celebrate the USGA’s centennial in 1995. But things went so well that the USGA made them into biennial championships.
However, the association announced in the spring that, after a relatively short lifespan by USGA championship standards, the State Team is being discontinued. By the time that announcement came last March, the last men’s championship had been played six months earlier in Birmingham, Ala.
So all that’s left is next week’s USGA Women’s State Team, which will be played Tuesday through Thursday (Sept. 26-28) at The Club at Las Campanas in Santa Fe, N.M.
“In our reviews and discussions, it became quite clear that the conditions of competition had evolved, and there were significant differences in the respective team selection processes,” John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of championships and governance, said when the association announced the discontinuation of the USGA State Teams. “After considering the matter for more than a year, the review supported increased focus toward other areas of USGA competition, both present and future, including the continued enhancement of the local and sectional qualifying experience for players across all USGA championships.”
While the USGA State Teams are going away, the USGA will hold the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2018.
Representing Colorado — and the CWGA — in the final Women’s State Team will be Colorado Golf Hall of Famers Janet Moore and Christie Austin, along with reigning CWGA Match Play champion Emily Gilbreth. (For more on that, CLICK HERE.)
Each state, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are eligible to enter three-person teams as long as the golfers are permanent residents of the area they represent. The players are nominated by a designated state or regional golf association; in Colorado, that has been the CGA and CWGA, respectively, for the Men’s and Women’s State Team Championships. Active college golfers are not allowed to compete.
During the championship, a state’s top two scores each day count toward the team total.
Players who have represented Colorado over the years in the USGA State Team Championships have mixed feelings about their run ending.
“I’m very sad to see it go away,” said Moore, who will be competing in the USGA Women’s State Team for the third time over a period of 18 years. “It was always on my radar to try to make those teams — to be asked to be on the teams. And I was thrilled when they asked me to. It was always a goal.
“I wish it would keep going because it’s a fun event, it’s a team event, and there’s still a lot of great players there, so it’s a fantastic experience. It’s still a great USGA national championship.”
Jon Lindstrom, a three-time CGA Mid-Amateur champion, has been a regular Colorado representative at the USGA Men’s State Team for more than a dozen years, and he’s been the top Colorado individual finisher at the last four Men’s State Teams.
“I was kind of bummed” when hearing that the championship was being discontinued, Lindstrom said earlier this year. “This is one of the few states that lets a true mid-am or senior (compete). It’s like the Ryder Cup. You play well over two years and you get invited to go. It’s always (held at) a great facility, and compared to most USGA events, it’s a little more relaxed. It’s a nice way to kick off the winter because it’s usually in September or October.”
Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton will be representing Arizona at the USGA Women’s State Team next week as she now lives full-time in that state. She’s represented Colorado four times and Arizona three in the event. Eaton said she doesn’t feel any sentimentalism about the championship being discontinued.
“No, because I think it’s becoming a kid tournament,” said the four-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur quarterfinalist. “More and more states are bringing two and three juniors. I wouldn’t have gone, but I have a medical exemption there for a cart because it’s a walking event. I think they started to eliminate a lot of seniors when they took the carts away. When the USGA State Team started, everybody was allowed to take carts and now they’re not.
“I really liked it when the men and the women were at the same facilities — or close by — and at the same time.”
Indeed, in odd-numbered years from 1995 through 2007, the men’s and women’s championships were held on the same dates in the same general area. The women’s event continued to be conducted in odd-numbered years, and beginning in 2010 the men’s championship was held in even-numbered years.
But now there’s just one last one to be contested — on the women’s side — and many competitors are looking forward to saying they were able to play in the final USGA State Team Championship.
“I was very honored and thrilled and very thankful (to be picked for the Colorado team) because I knew it was the last one,” Moore said. “I think it’s special to be playing in the last one.”
Forty-eight teams will compete in the final USGA Women’s State Team as Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Puerto Rico are not sending representatives. Delaware, Mississippi and Tennessee will field teams comprised solely of teenagers — as Colorado did in 2015. In all, there are 27 teenagers competing this year in the 144-player field.
Colorado’s best finish in the Women’s State Team has been sixth (twice), while the Centennial State’s men placed as high as seventh, in 1997.
For Tuesday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.
