United States Golf Association

Championship Tournaments

A Guide To Entering and Playing in a USGA Tournament

Have you ever dreamed of playing in the US Open Golf tournament? Have you ever imagined yourself  being like Tiger Woods and raising the championship trophy over your head to the delight and admiration of all your peers and fans? 

Did you know that the US Open Golf tournament is open to all eligible golfers, even if they are not professional golfers like Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson?  The United States Golf Association  conducts the United States' national championships. These championships include the US Open, The US Women's Open, The US Senior Open and 10 national amateur championships including the State Team Championships.

In this guide I will help you understand the process to apply, qualify and play in the USGA tournaments and hopefully, one day, you too can hold the trophy over your held and call yourself the champion golfer of the year!

The US Open

The US Open is open to all professionals and amateurs that have a handicap index of 1.4 or lower.  Both Men and Women can qualify for the US Open.  The USGA holds local qualifying in various cities and towns across the United States.  You must meet the handicap requirements and file your application in early April of each year.  You simply choose your local qualifying spot or location and if you meet the handicap requirements, you play in a local tournament against a field of professionals and amateurs and if you win one of the top spots, you advance to the sectional qualifier. The top qualifier in each local tournaments wins a silver medal, as well as advancing to the sectional qualifier.

Once you advance to the sectional qualifying tournament, you compete against other golfers to earn a spot in the US Open tournament. There are thousands of golfers that apply to play and the number of spots in the US Open varies depending on how many spots are left in the tournament after the exemptions are given.  Exceptions from qualifying are given to top golfers in the country, like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as well as past winners of the tournament, such as Ernie Els, Jim Furyk. Many other exemptions are given, but there are still many spots available to the golfers that go to the sectional qualifying. Both Amateurs and Professionals have a shot at the tournament because the winners of the local qualifying are the ones that advance to the tournament.

Here is a photo of a silver medal won at a sectional qualifying tournament.

Other  USGA Tournaments

The application process for the other US Open Tournaments are similar, however, the requirements vary, depending on the tournament. The US Women's Open is open to women only. The Senior Open is open to all golfers that are older than 50 years old that meet the handicap requirements. The handicap requirement varies with the tournament, but generally you have to have a handicap of under 9 to play in an adult USGA event. For Junior Golfers, there is the US Girls Junior and the US Boys Junior. The handicap requirement is 18.4 for the girls tournament and 6.4 for the Junior Tournament. (the Junior tournament is open to both boys and girls)

Here is a list of the tournaments and the handicap requirements:

1. Open  1.4

2. Women's Amateur Public Links  (for women only that play exclusively at Public Courses) 18.4

3. Women's Open (women only)4.4

4. Amateur Public Links ( for anyone that belongs exclusively to a public golf course) 8.4

5. Girl's Junior (for girls under age 18) 18.4

6. Junior Open  (must be under 18) 6.4

7. Senior Open (must be 50 or older) 3.4

8. Women's Amateur (must be a women amateur golfer) 5.4

9. Amateur (must be an amateur golfer) 2.4

10. Women's Mid-Amateur (for women over 25) 9.4

11. Mid-Amateur (for golfers over age 25) 3.4

12. Senior Amateur (for seniors over age 50) 7.4

13. Senior Women's Amateur (for women over 50) 18.4

The process of local and sectional qualifying is nearly the same for all of the USGA tournaments, so every golfer that meets the gender and handicap requirements can apply to play in the tournaments.  Michelle Wie tried to play in the US Open tournament. She did make it through the local qualifying but did not advance in the sectional qualifying tournament. 

These are various Player Badges from USGA Tournaments

Once you make it to the National Championship, you can play with the top golfers in the country. Apply to play in a USGA tournament and you could end up playing along side Michelle Wie or Tiger Woods or even Jack Nicklaus!

To find out more information about applying for and playing in a USGA National Championship, you can visit their website or contact me for further information.