UPPER SAUCON TWP. — Trumpeting the news as momentous and historic, Saucon Valley Country Club officially announced Tuesday that the United States Golf Association has chosen the club to be host for five USGA championships.
- Saucon Valley Country Club announced at a news conference that it will be host for five USGA championship events in the next 28 years
- The club will be the site of the 2026 U.S. Junior Amateur championships, the 2032 U.S. Senior Open, the 2038 U.S. Women's Amateur, the 2042 U.S. Senior Open and the 2051 U.S. Amateur
- Saucon Valley Country Club described the news as momentous and historic
The announcement was made at a news conference at the Villa Pazzetti at the country club.
The first of the five championship events at Saucon Valley will be the 2026 U.S. Junior Amateur, followed by the 2032 U.S. Senior Open, 2038 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 2042 U.S. Senior Open, and the 2051 U.S. Amateur.
The U.S. Women's Amateur event will be a first for Saucon Valley.
The 2051 U.S. Amateur will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the club holding its first-ever USGA Championship, the 1951 U.S. Amateur, won by Billy Maxwell.
The five future tournaments will increase to 13 the number of USGA Championship events that will have been held at Saucon Valley.
Top four in clubs nationally
“What an exciting slate of championship events we’ll host here,” Ted Eichenlaub, a member of the club’s board of governors, said.
“This extends the history of diverse and inclusionary championships here at the amateur and professional levels. I’d like to thank the USGA for solidifying our partnership through 2051. It shows continued confidence in this facility and the golf courses. What a heritage and history of championships here.”
After the 2051 event, Saucon Valley will rank fourth nationally in clubs having been hosts for USGA championship events. Currently, the club has held more such events than any other in Pennsylvania.
“I can’t tell you how much we admire and respect this great club. Not only the golf courses but also the manner in which you conduct your business. This is reminiscent of the love and respect you have for the USGA."John Bodenhamer, USGA Chief Championships Officer
John Bodenhamer, USGA Chief Championships Officer, said his organization has a special bond with the Saucon Valley course.
“I can’t tell you how much we admire and respect this great club,” Bodenhamer told the gathering that included several members of the club hierarchy. “Not only the golf courses but also the manner in which you conduct your business. This is reminiscent of the love and respect you have for the USGA.
“I don’t know if we at the USGA work with any finer staff in the game.”
Saucon Valley General Manager Kimberly Clark Warren said conversations with the USGA took place last summer, with official notification the club would be awarded the five championship events coming shortly thereafter.
A history of championships
In addition to the 1951 U.S. Amateur, seven other USGA Championships were held at Saucon Valley over the past 40 years were the 1983 U.S. Junior Amateur; the 1987 U.S. Senior Amateur; the 1992, 2000 and 2022 U.S. Senior Open; the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open; and the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
The run of USGA championships begins with the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur in 2026. The event is open to boys under age 19 on the final day of the two-day, stroke-play competition and who also have a USGA handicap index no more than 4.4.
The leading 64 competitors play a match-play format to decide the champion. The winner is awarded an exemption to play in the U.S. Open Championship.
The 77th Junior Amateur that will kick off Saucon Valley’s championships run is an event at which some of golf’s greatest players in history have not only competed at but won.
Tiger Woods is the only player to have won the event three times — in 1991, 1992, and 1993. Jordan Spieth won twice, in 2009 and 2011. Other winners include World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Johnny Miller, U.S. Open Championship winner David Duval, and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.
How perennially challenging is the field at the Junior Amateur Championships? It’s the only USGA Championship for which Jack Nicklaus has been eligible that he never won. He qualified for the championship five times; his best finish was as a semifinalist in 1956.
'Really hard and a lot of fun to play'
Winners of the U.S. Senior Open are a Who’s Who of golf royalty, including Hall of Fame players Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Lee Trevino.
The U.S. Women’s Amateur has been won by Hall of Fame members Juli Inkster, Beth Daniel, and Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
The U.S. Amateur has been won by the likes of Phil Mickelson, Bobby Jones, Woods, Palmer, and Nicklaus.
Although Tim Straub’s Junior Amateur victory was achieved 40 years ago, his experience at Saucon Valley remains vivid in his memory, underscoring the club's perception as a top-flight championship venue.
“It was fun,” Straub told metrogolfmag.com in 2021. “The USGA always plays great courses, but Saucon Valley is a spectacular golf course — really hard and a lot of fun to play. I loved it. It’s such a great event. They put on a first-class event. I look back on it very fondly.”
As Bodenhamer addressed the gathering from a podium, he turned to his right, at a table on which four USGA Championship trophies rested, gleaming in the late morning sun.
“See those trophies on that table?” he said. “I can’t help but get a chill, with the names on those trophies. They’re some of the greatest names in golf — men and women, juniors and amateurs and professionals. They cover the gamut.
"It’s what Saucon Valley should do, and we’re here to partner with you.”
