The USGA has canceled the 2020 US Junior Amateur and the US Girls Junior Amateur, and they will not be rescheduled.
The US Girls Junior Amateur was scheduled for July 13-18 on the Blue Course at the US Air Force Academy’s Eisenhower Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colo., while the US Junior Amateur was to be played July 20-25 at Hazeltine National Golf Club and Chaska Town Course, in Chaska, Minn.
“Our primary focus when making determinations around championships continues to be the safety and well-being of everyone involved,” said John Bodenhamer, senior managing director of Championships for the USGA. “While we are incredibly disappointed to have to make the decision to cancel our two junior championships, we know it is the right one.”
The championships were canceled because the current -- and almost certainly near-term future -- guidelines regarding gathers would make hosting qualifying events nearly impossible. State and local golf associations allied with the USGA were set to hold 100 qualifiers in 41 starts from late May through early July.
“Given that juniors in most parts of the country are not physically attending school at this time, we did not feel comfortable asking them to compete in qualifying events,” said Bodenhamer. “We considered postponement but knowing that school will restart in many places around the country in August, we did not believe it was a viable option.”
The USGA had previously canceled four 2020 championships, including announcing on March 17 that the the US Amateur Four-Ball and US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball were off, and making the same announcement on April 6 regarding the US Senior Open and US Senior Women’s Open.
The USGA also has delayed accepting entries for six additional amateur championships until the week of May 18, including the US Women’s Amateur, US Amateur, US Women’s Mid-Amateur, US Senior Amateur, US Mid-Amateur and US Senior Women’s Amateur.
For future decisions regarding championships status, the USGA will continue to rely on CDC and WHO recommendations, as well as state and local government guidelines in locations where championships and qualifiers are to be conducted.
