Perhaps the best thing about the Fox TV deal with the USGA is that the network is televising all the USGA championships that you never got to see before, like the U.S. Mid-Amateur this week at Stonewall Golf Club in Elverson, Pa., a private, 36-hole facility about 50 miles west of Philly. Tom Doak designed both courses, the Old in 1993 and the North in 2003. Interestingly, the 36-hole final tomorrow will take place on both courses, which are minimalist marvels set on rolling countryside.
“I built the Old Course with Gil Hanse—he and I shaped all the bunkers and greens,” Doak tells The Buzz. “It’s very cool that they are using both for the 36-hole final, though I guess only the Old course will be on TV. Both are traditional parkland courses with small greens and plenty of tilt, to fit in with all the good old courses around Philly. The Old course has several sidehill approaches where you have to decide whether you’re risking the high side of the green to wind up closer to the hole, or playing at the hole to wind up 10-20 feet below. The North course greens are more complicated: there’s some contour in the middle of the greens, so the best places to get up and down from change from day to day. Lots of local knowledge to pick up for the competitors!”
This a recored 87th USGA championship contested in Pennsylvannia and the third time FOX Sports and USGA return to the state this year after the U.S. Open at Oakmont and the Women’s Am at Rolling Green. Coverage of the U.S. Mid-Amateur semifinals and finals air today and tomorrow on FS1 from 3-5 PM ET.