2005 USGA Senior Amateur Championship Fact Sheet

September 17 – 22, 2005
The Farm Golf Club
Rocky Face, Ga.

PAR AND YARDAGE – The Farm Golf Club will be set up at 6,737/6,763 and par is 36-36—72.

HOLE BY HOLE – Holes 1-9 will play at 3,497 yards and par 36.

COURSE SET-UP –
Teeing ground - Height of grass -- 425 inches
Fairways – Height of grass -- .450 inches
Green approaches and closely mown areas – Height of grass -- .425 inches
Collars around greens – Height of grass -- .230 inches
Intermediate rough – USGA asked for addition of intermediate rough that will be cut to 1 ½ inches and 6-feet wide
Primary rough – 2 ½ inches
Putting greens – USGA Stimpmeter reading of 11 feet

VENUE – The Farm Golf Club was designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 1988. Located between Atlanta and Chattanooga in northwest Georgia, The Farm benefits from significant elevation changes, which provide a scenic and difficult test of golf.

HISTORY – The USGA Senior Amateur Championship was first played in 1955. The 2005 Senior Amateur Championship will be the 51^st.

SCHEDULE – Stroke play rounds will be played Sept. 17-18 (Saturday-Sunday). Following two days of stroke play, the field of 157 golfers will be reduced to the lowest 64 scorers, who will advance to match play. The match play portion of the Championship runs from September 19-22 (Monday-Thursday). The first round is set for Sept. 19 (9:30 a.m. start); the second and third rounds for Sept. 20 (8:15 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. starts) and the quarterfinals and semifinals (8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. starts) for Sept. 21. The 18-hole, match-play final (9 a.m.) is scheduled for Sept. 22.

CAN I PLAY? – The USGA Senior Amateur Championship is open to amateurs who will have reached their 55^th birthday on or before Sept. 17, 2005, and who have a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 7.4.

ENTRIES – The USGA accepted a record 2,498 entries for the 2005 USGA Senior Amateur Championship, the fifth consecutive year entries topped 2,200. The previous record of 2,420 entries was set in 2004. The deadline for entries was July 27.

OLDEST – M.M. ‘Moot’ Thomas of Ocala, Fla., is the oldest player in the field at 75. He was born Aug. 13, 1930 and is the second-oldest qualifier in the history of the championship. Andy Andreola was 75 years, 10 months and 10 days old for the 1994 championship.

SECTIONAL QUALIFYING – Sectional qualifying (18 holes) was held from Aug. 15-23. The Farm, which also hosted qualifying in 2003 and 2004, was a qualifying site on August 22. Dalton Country Club was also used.

2003 Results, The Farm		2004 Results, The Farm
Charlie Busbee, McDonough	71	Frank Perry, Fayetteville	70
John Felker, Atlanta	71	Stephen Hoffman, Savannah	70
Bobby Perkinson, Alcoa, Tenn.	72	Alex Tarumianz, Lookout Mt., Tenn.	71
Joe Whisenant, Douglassville	72	Spencer Sappington, Alpharetta	71
Chuck Kuhn, Atlanta	72	Jerry Greenbaum, Atlanta	72*
Tom Jones, Valley Head, Ala	73*	Jim Brown, Loudon, Tenn.	72*
Spencer Sappington, Alpharetta	73*	Dick Van Leuvan, Roswell	72*
2005 Results
at The Farm		at Dalton Country Club
Spencer Sappington, Alpharetta	69	Bob Lewis, Pepper Pike, Ohio	71
Al Everett, Cumming	70	Marty Perez, Lithonia	71
Jim Brown, Evans, Tenn.	71
James Felker, Franklin, Tenn.	72*
A.B. Sisco, Pensacola, Fla.	72*
Bob Hullender, San Antonio, Texas	72*
Ken Benson, Alpharetta	72*
*Advanced in a playoff

TICKETS – Admission and parking are free for all six days of the championship.

DEFENDING CHAMPION – In the finals of the 2004 championship, Mark Bemowski of Mukwonago, Wis., reversed the outcome of the 2002 by defeating Greg Reynolds, 4 and 3, at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. In 2002, Reynolds had beaten Bemowski by the same margin.

EXEMPT PLAYERS – A total of 13 golfers are fully exempt from sectional qualifying for the 2005 USGA Senior Amateur Championship. They are: Frank Abbott, Napa, Calif. – 2003 Senior Amateur finalist Mark Bemowski, Mukwonago, Wis. – 2004 Senior Amateur champion Alan Foster, Manlius, N.Y. – 2004 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist Marvin (Vinny) Giles III of Richmond, Va. – former U.S. Amateur champion (1972) Ted Lyford, Redlands, Calif. – 2004 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist Greg Reynolds of Grand Blanc, Mich. – 2002 Senior Amateur champion, 2004 finalist Kemp Richardson, Laguna Niguel, Calif. – 2001 and 2003 Senior Amateur champion Greg Shaw, Little Rock, Ark. – 2004 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist Gary Shimmin, Okatie, S.C. – 2005 Canadian Senior Amateur Match Play champion Jack Vardaman, Washington, D.C. – 2004 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist Michael Walters, Tampa, Fla. – 2004 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist Martin West, Rockville, Md. – 2004 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist Danny Yates, Atlanta, Ga. – Special exemption

A SPECIAL TENNESSEEAN AND THE SENIOR AMATEUR – The late Lew Oehmig, a longtime resident of the Riverview section of Chattanooga, Tenn., is the only three-time champion in the history of the Senior Amateur. In addition to his Senior Amateur titles in 1972, 1976 and 1985, he was runner-up three times (’73, ’77, ’79). An eight-time Tennessee State Amateur champion, Oehmig won the last of his titles at age 55. He was also runner-up six times. A seven-time Tennessee Golf Association Senior Amateur winner, Oehmig received the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest prize, in 1984. He played in eight U.S. Senior Opens and was the non-playing captain of the USA Walker Cup team in 1977, a 16-8 victory at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. He died in 2002 at the age of 86.

MULTIPLE VICTORIES – Thirteen players have won this championship more than once. They are: J. Clark Espie (1957, 1959); Dexter H. Daniels (1961, 1966); Merrill L. Carlsmith (1962, 1963); Curtis Person Sr. (1968, 1969); Lewis W. Oehmig (1972, 1976, 1985); William Hyndman III (1973, 1983); Dale Morey (1974, 1977), William C. Campbell (1979, 1980); R.S. Williams (1986, 1989); Clarence Moore (1988, 1992); O. Gordon Brewer Jr. (1994 and 1996); Bill Shean Jr. (1998 and 2000); and Kemp Richardson (2001, 2003). Carlsmith, Person and Campbell are the only three champions who won the title in consecutive years.

THE WINNER RECEIVES – The champion receives a gold medal and custody of the Frederick L. Dold Trophy for the ensuing year. He also receives an exemption from local qualifying at the next U.S. Open, as well as exemptions from sectional qualifying at the next two U.S. Senior Opens, the next U.S. Amateur, the next U.S. Mid-Amateur, the next U.S. Amateur Public Links, and the next five USGA Senior Amateurs, if otherwise eligible.

GEORGIA AND THE USGA – Georgia is hosting its 23rd USGA championship and its second in 2005. The U.S. Women’s Amateur was played at Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek Course in August. The USGA Senior Amateur is returning to Georgia for the third time having been played in 1963 at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island and in 1968 at Atlanta Country Club in Marietta.

GOLF EVENTS AT THE FARM – While The Farm is hosting its first USGA championship, other events have been played there. The Carpet Capital Collegiate, a men’s major college event, has been played at The Farm since 1989. The club has also served as the site of USGA qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open and the Senior Amateur. In addition, the 1990 Georgia Amateur (won by Allen Doyle); the 1997 Georgia Senior Amateur (won by Bill Ploeger of Columbus); the 1993 Southern Amateur *won by Justin Leonard); the 1996 Georgia Women’s Amateur (won by Kim Lisi); the 2000 Georgia-South Carolina Junior Challenge Match; and the 2001 Georgia-Florida Team Match have been conducted at The Farm.

LOCAL USGA GRANTS INITIATIVE: The First Tee of Chattanooga – Chattanooga Junior Golfers Development Program became a The First Tee Chapter in the summer of 2004.  The program runs year-round and has recently joined the Kids on Course National Initiative.  It serves over 300 youth in the Chattanooga region every year by way of its spring, summer, and fall sessions and is currently in midst of constructing a facility for the participants.  In 2004, the program sent three participants to The First Tee Open Qualifier in Kansas City, and also had two of the participants selected to attend The First Tee National Camp in Richmond, Va.  Contact: Kathleen McCarthy, Executive Director 5700 Building, Suite 110 Chattanooga, TN 37411 (423) 855-8535; kmccarthy@thefirstteechattanooga.org

FUTURE SENIOR AMATEURS – The 2006 USGA Senior Amateur will be conducted at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind., from Sept. 16-21. In 2007, Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan., will host the championship from Sept. 1-6.

WWW.USGA.ORG – Log onto the USGA Internet site (www.usga.org/championships/) for the latest USGA Senior Amateur information during the Championship (click on the Championship logo).

FOR MORE INFORMATION – Pete Kowalski will be the USGA media relations contact on site. The media center phone number is (706) 519-7619.