4/5/02
E-mail address: mediarelations@usga.org
The
Orchards Selected To Host 2004 U.S. Women's Open
Far Hills, N.J.
– The Orchards Golf Club, on the campus of Mount Holyoke College in
South Hadley, Mass., has been selected as the site of the 2004 U.S.
Women’s Open, the United States Golf Association has announced.
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| The par-5 ninth hole at The Orchards is challenging
at 474 yards. |
Donald Ross designed
the course, which opened in 1922 as a nine-hole layout. Ross finished
another nine holes in 1927.
A parkland layout
over 160 acres, framed by the Holyoke Range in western Massachusetts,
about 90 miles west of Boston. The Orchards will be the host site for
the 2002 NCAA Women’s Division III Championship that will be played
from May 14-18. The Massachusetts State Amateur was played at The Orchards
in 2001.
Michelle McGann
won the 1987 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship in the only USGA championship
previously held at The Orchards.
“This is a unique
opportunity,” says Laurie Priest, director of athletics at Mount Holyoke
College, a leading private liberal arts college of more than 2000 women
founded in 1837. “We have one of the top golf courses and one of the
best colleges for women. We are excited about everything coming together
for this major sporting event.”
“We are honored
to have been chosen for such a prestigious event,” says Glenn Zito,
director of golf for Arnold Palmer Golf Management, which oversees The
Orchards. “We are starting some course improvements this summer and
we are excited to work with our local community to showcase golf in
western Massachusetts.”
The Women’s Open
has been held in Massachusetts three times previously. It was played
at Salem Country Club in Peabody in 1954 and 1984 and at Worcester Country
Club in 1960.
Prior to 2004,
the U.S. Women’s Open will be conducted from July 4-7, 2002, at Prairie
Dunes Golf Club in Hutchinson, Kan., and from July 3-6, 2003, at Pumpkin
Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore.
For more information,
please contact the USGA championships department at (908) 234-2300.
