Fact Sheet

2006 USGA Senior Amateur Championship
Sept. 16 - 21, 2006

Victoria National Golf Club
Newburgh, Ind.

PAR AND YARDAGE – Victoria National Golf Club will be set up at 6,760/6,766 yards and par 36-36—72.

HOLE BY HOLE – Holes 1-9 will play at 3,345 yards and par 36.

Holes 10-18 will play at 3,415 or 3,421 yards and par 36.

COURSE SETUP:
Teeing ground – Height of grass – .30 inches
Fairways – Height of grass – .55 inches
Green approaches and closely mown areas – Height of grass – .425 inches
Collars around greens – Height of grass – .375 inches
Intermediate rough –1½ inches and 6-feet wide
Primary rough – 2½-3 inches
Putting greens – USGA Stimpmeter reading of 10.5 feet

The USGA championship setup results in a USGA Course Rating^™ of 73.1 and a USGA Slope Rating^® of 139.

VENUE – Victoria National Golf Club, east of Evansville, Ind., was designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 1998. The course was the project of the late Terry Friedman, a well-known Indiana entrepreneur.

Victoria National, which has the feel of a links course due to large mounds and contoured fairways, was built around an existing surface coal mine. As a result, water-filled lakes serve as hazards on 15 of the 18 holes.

HISTORY – The USGA Senior Amateur Championship was first played in 1955. The 2006 Senior Amateur Championship will be the 52nd.

SCHEDULE – Stroke play rounds will be played Sept. 16-17 (Saturday-Sunday). Following two days of stroke play, the field of 156 golfers will be reduced to the lowest 64 scorers, who will advance to match play. The match play portion of the championship runs from Sept. 18-21 (Monday-Thursday). The first round is set for Sept. 18 (9:30 a.m. CDT start); the second and third rounds for Sept. 19 (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. 20. The 18-hole, match-play final (9 a.m.) is scheduled for Sept. 21.

DEFENDING CHAMPION – In the finals of the 2005 championship, Mike Rice of Houston, Texas, overcame a shoulder injury and an early deficit to defeat Mark Bemowski of Mukwonago, Wis., 1 up., at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga. Playing in his third Senior Amateur final, Bemowski was vying to become the first back-to-back winner in 18 years.

CAN I PLAY? – The USGA Senior Amateur Championship is open to amateurs who will have reached their 55^th birthday on or before Sept. 16, 2006, and who have a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 7.4.

ENTRIES – The USGA accepted its second-highest total of entries, 2,448, for the USGA Senior Amateur Championship in 2006. It marked the sixth consecutive year entries topped 2,200. The record of 2,498 entries was set in 2005. Entries closed Aug. 9.

SECTIONAL QUALIFYING – Sectional qualifying (18 holes) was held Aug. 21-Sept. 5 at 53 sites across the country.

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

EXEMPT PLAYERS – A total of 11 golfers are fully exempt from sectional qualifying for the 2006 USGA Senior Amateur Championship. They are:

Mark Bemowski, Mukwonago, Wis. – 2004 Senior Amateur champion, 2005 finalist
Alan Foster, Manlius, N.Y. – 2005 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist
Marvin (Vinny) Giles III of Richmond, Va. – former U.S. Amateur champion (1972)
Bob Mielcarz, Concord, N.H. – 2005 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist
Randy Reifers, Columbus, Ohio – 2005 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist and low amateur at 2006 U.S. Senior Open
Greg Reynolds of Grand Blanc, Mich. – 2002 Senior Amateur champion, 2004 finalist, 2005 quarterfinalist, 2005 Senior Open (72 holes)
Mike Rice, Houston, Texas – 2005 Senior Amateur champion
Kemp Richardson, Laguna Niguel, Calif. – 2001 and 2003 Senior Amateur champion
Gayle Sanchez, Baton Rouge, La., – 2005 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist Paul Simson, Raleigh, N.C. – 2006 British Seniors Open Amateur champion Jack Vardaman, Washington, D.C. – 2005 Senior Amateur quarterfinalist

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.

INDIANA AND THE USGA – Indiana is hosting its 14th USGA championship. The Senior Amateur was previously played in Indiana at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel in 1983 and won by Bill Hyndman.

GOLF EVENTS AT VICTORIA NATIONAL: Victoria National was the host venue for the 2002 Indiana State Amateur, won by 2002 U.S. Amateur Public Links runner-up Lee Williamson. The club has also served as a qualifying site for the 1999 U.S. Amateur, 2000 U.S. Open, and 2001 U.S. Mid-Amateur. In addition, at the 2006 Friedman Cup Memorial (July 6-8), Bob Hullender, a finalist in 1996, teamed with Van Lefferdink to shoot 67-67-68—204 to win the Seniors Division.

LOCAL USGA GRANTS INITIATIVE:
Cliff Hagan Boys and Girls Club/The First Tee of Owensboro
Executive Director: Don Mitchell
5224 Highway 54 East
Owensboro, Ky. 42303

The First Tee of Owensboro, formed in 2004, reached approximately 300 participants in 2005 including youth from the Boys and Girls Club, the Neblett Center, Girls Inc., and the local YMCA.  It also provides programming for elementary schools and will provide year-round programming options beginning in 2006.  Most participants enter an eight-week session that teaches both The First Tee life skills and golf instruction; the program utilizes local PGA instruction and also recruits the help of volunteers from around the community to assist with the weekly meetings. 

The First Tee has also nearly completed its construction on TFT Perfect Par-3, a nine-hole short course that will feature synthetic greens and Bermuda fairways.  The grand opening for The First Tee of Owensboro and TFT Perfect Par-3 golf course was on June 6, 2006; the Executive Director, Don Mitchell, hopes the new course will provide all junior participants with a course that is both affordable and suitable to their skill level.  The USGA has provided The First Tee of Owensboro with three grants totaling $117,500.

FUTURE SENIOR AMATEURS – The 2007 USGA Senior Amateur will be conducted at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan., from Sept. 1-6. The championship will be hosted by The Beverly Country Club in Chicago, Ill., from Sept. 20-25, 2008; by Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, from Sept. 9-12, 2009, and by Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Fla., Oct. 2-7, 2010.

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. Prior to the championship, he can be reached at (908) 234-2300 x1322 or [cell] 908-216-8435. During the championship, the media center (Founder’s Room in the clubhouse) phone number is (812) 858-2829.