Far Hills, N.J. (March 24) … Olympia Fields (Ill.) Country Club has been selected by the United States Golf Association as the site of the 2011 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, to be played July 18-23.
The U.S. Girls’ Junior will be contested over the South Course at Olympia Fields, a 1915 Tom Bendelow design that recently underwent a major restoration by Steve Smyers Golf Course Architects. The South is one of two courses at Olympia Fields. Its North Course, designed by Willie Park and opened in 1923, was the site of three previous USGA championships: the 1928 U.S. Open (won by Johnny Farrell), the 1997 U.S. Senior Open (won by Graham Marsh) and the 2003 U.S. Open (won by Jim Furyk). It also hosted the 1925 and 1961 PGA Championships.
The U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship is one of four championships to be played at Olympia Fields over the next three years, including the 2010 Illinois PGA Section Championship, the 2012 Junior Ryder Cup and the 2013 Western Amateur.
“Hosting the 2011 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship is a great opportunity for us to showcase the future of women’s golf and helps to further strengthen our relationship with the USGA,” said Mike Mazurczak, president of Olympia Fields Country Club. “We look forward to hosting this USGA championship.”
The club was initially established in 1915 as a center for amateur sports and family activities. Its first president, Amos Alonzo Stagg, was an icon of amateur athletics who served on the U.S. Olympic Committee and is a member of both the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Carol Mann, the 1965 U.S. Women’s Open champion and an honorary Olympia Fields Country Club member, will serve as the honorary chairwoman of the 2011 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.
First contested in 1949, the U.S. Girls’ Junior is open to female golfers who have not reached their 18th birthday and have a USGA Handicap Index® that does not exceed 18.4.
