2009 USGA Women's State Team Championship Fact Sheet

Sept. 1 – 3, 2009
Sycamore Hills Golf Club
Fort Wayne, Indiana

PAR AND YARDAGE – Sycamore Hills Golf Club will be set up at 6,095 yards and will play to a par of 36-36—72.

SYCAMORE HILLS GOLF CLUB – Jack Nicklaus designed the golf course, which opened in 1989. The course meanders through property first deeded by Andrew Jackson in 1835 and features mature trees, gentle hills and the Aboite River.

HOLE BY HOLE – 6,095 yards, par 36-36—72;

COURSE AND SLOPE RATING – Sycamore Hills will have a USGA Course Rating® of 76.9 and a USGA Slope Rating® of 140.

COURSE CHARACTERISTICS – Green speeds for the USGA Women’s State Team Championship will be maintained at 10½ to 11 feet on the USGA Stimpmeter.

There will be three cuts of rough, starting at 1 inch around the teeing grounds and fairways. The intermediate will be cut to 2½ inches, with the primary rough being cut to 3 inches.

Fairways will be cut between .325 of an inch and .400 of an inch, with teeing grounds cut to .25 inches. Collars around the green will feature a 30-inch width and will be cut to .325 inches.

SCHEDULE OF PLAY – The field will play 18 holes on each of three stroke-play rounds Sept. 1-3 (Tuesday-Thursday). The two lowest scores from each three-person team constitute the team score for each round. The three-day total is the team’s score for the championship. Any first-place ties are broken by the final-round score from the team’s non-scoring player. If the teams are still tied, the tiebreaker will be the second-round score from the team’s non-scoring player.

ADMISSION IS FREE – The general public is invited to attend the championship. Admission and parking are free of charge.

ELIGIBILITY – The championship is open to female amateur golfers as selected by each state golf association or administrative body. Collegiate players are not eligible to compete in this championship under NCAA rules.

2007 RESULTS – Arizona finished with a 54-hole total of 5-over-par 437 to win the 2007 USGA Women’s State Team Championship by eight strokes. Tennessee finished second at 445, while Florida (468), Alabama (451) and California (451) rounded out the top five.

Thuhashini Selvaratnam shot a 1-under-par 71 in the final round to propel Arizona to victory on the Jack Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. Arizona, whose team also featured 17-year-old Kayla Mortellaro of Phoenix and Tucson’s Judy Miller, 57, had entered the final round with a two-stroke lead over Alabama.

Selvaratnam, the runner-up at the 2006 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, was competing in her fourth USGA Women’s State Team Championship for Arizona. The 31-year-old former Arizona State University standout, who was born in Sri Lanka, carded rounds of 76-68-71 to lead all individuals.

CHAMPIONSHIP WEB SITE – Visit www.stateteam.org or www.usga.org for the latest news and results from the championship.

GROUPINGS AND STARTING TIMES – Groupings and starting times will be available shortly before the start of the championship and posted on the championship Web site, www.stateteam.org.

INDIANA AND THE USGA – This will be the 17th USGA championship held in the state of Indiana and the second in 2009, following the U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel. This is the first USGA championship being held at Sycamore Hills and the first USGA State Team Championship conducted in Indiana.

INDIANA AND THE WOMEN’S STATE TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP – Indiana has sent a team to all seven previous USGA Women’s State Team Championships, with its best finish a tie for ninth in 2003 at Wellesley Country Club in Wellesley Hills, Mass. The team tied for 30th in 2007.

The 2009 Indiana squad consists of Julie Carmichael of Indianapolis, Nina Whalen of Indianapolis and Kristi Piepenbrink of Greenwood.

TEAMS ENTERED – A total of 49 teams (147 competitors), including the District of Columbia, are entered in the competition. North Dakota, Vermont and Puerto Rico will not field teams. The 2007 championship remains the only event where all 50 states participated.

USGA CHAMPIONS/CURTIS CUP MEMBERS – A total of eight USGA champions and five Curtis Cup members are in the field. Three past or present Curtis Cup captains are also entered.

Here is the complete list of USGA champions and Curtis Cup members and captains competing:

• Carolyn Creekmore (Texas) – 2004 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur
• Virginia Grimes (Mississippi) – 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur; 1998, 2000 and 2006 Curtis Cup team
• Kathy Hartwiger (Alabama) – 2002 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
• Martha Lang (Alabama) – 1988 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur; 1992 Curtis Cup team; 1996 Curtis Cup captain
• Noreen Mohler (Pennsylvania) – 1978 Curtis Cup team; 2010 Curtis Cup captain
• Anna Schultz (Texas) – 2007 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur
• Jean Smith (Idaho) – 1995 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur
• Meghan (Bolger) Stasi (Florida) – 2006 and 2007 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur; 2008 Curtis Cup team
• Carol Semple Thompson (Pennsylvania) – 1973 U.S. Women’s Amateur; 1990 and 1997 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur; 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur; 1974, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 Curtis Cup team; 2006 and 2008 Curtis Cup captain

In addition, there are seven players who have played on a victorious team in the USGA Women’s State Team Championship:

• Laura Coble (Georgia) – 2005 USGA Women’s State Team
• Virginia Grimes (Mississippi) – 1997 USGA Women’s State Team (playing for Alabama)
• Kathy Hartwiger (Alabama) – 1997 USGA Women’s State Team
• Leigh Klasse (Minnesota) – 2001 USGA Women’s State Team
• Claudia Pilot (Minnesota) – 2001 USGA Women’s State Team
• Thuhashini Selvaratnam (Arizona) – 2007 USGA Women’s State Team
• Carol Semple Thompson (Pennsylvania) – 1995 USGA Women’s State Team

HISTORY – This is the eighth playing of the USGA Women’s State Team Championship. The competition, as well as the Men’s State Team Championship, grew out of the Association’s centennial celebration in 1995. USGA officials believed that a new championship, one in which each state could be represented by non-college, amateur golfers, was an appropriate way to cap the USGA’s year-long birthday celebration. The competition proved to be such a success that the Association decided to continue conducting the championship biennially.

The format was fashioned after the biennial World Amateur Team Championship, which involves three-person teams in a 3-count-2 stroke-play format. State associations were given a variety of options by which to select team members. The inaugural Women’s State Team Championship drew teams from 43 states.

This year, for the first time since its inception, the Women’s State Team and Men’s State Team will be contested in different states and on different dates. Beginning in 2010, the Men’s State Team and Women’s State Team Championships will be held in alternate years, starting with the Men in 2010 and followed by the Women in 2011.

No state has won more than one title in the Women’s competition. Pennsylvania claimed the inaugural championship in 1995, followed by Alabama (1997), Florida (1999), Minnesota (2001), Ohio (2003), Georgia (2005) and Arizona (2007). The Minnesota men and women both won in 2001 when the event was held outside of Minneapolis at Woodhill Country Club (women) and Hazeltine National Golf Club (men). The 1999 event won by Florida was shortened to 36 holes due to inclement weather.

Including 2009, three women have competed in every championship: Carol Semple Thompson (Pennsylvania); Martha Lang (1995-2005 for Louisiana; 2007 and 2009 for Alabama) and Susan Marchese (Nebraska).

PHOTO MEDIA SERVICE – The USGA will offer daily complimentary high-resolution photographs during the USGA Women’s State Team Championship (Tuesday-Thursday) for news use only. For more information and to register, contact Ellie Kaiser of the USGA at ekaiser@usga.org. Her office phone number is (908) 234-2300, ext. 1294.

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS

USGA Communications Department – (908) 234–2300

FOR MORE INFORMATION – Please contact David Shefter, USGA Digital Media staff writer, at (908) 566-5691 (cell) or prior to Aug. 30 at (908) 234-2300, ext. 1315. Shefter will be on-site for the championship. He can also be reached at dshefter@usga.org.