2025 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am – For The Love of the Game

The United States Golf Association (USGA) runs seventeen championship tournaments each year, thirteen of which are open exclusively to amateur golfers. The final championship of the year in 2025 is the Women’s Mid-Am, an event that is open to amateur golfers age 25 and up with a maximum handicap of 9.4. Coming on the heels of the Walker Cup, which was held just last month at the Cypress Point Golf Club, the tournament is being held this year at another of the beautiful golf courses on the Monterey Peninsula, the aptly named Monterey Peninsula Country Club, deep in the heart of the Del Monte Forest.

Monterey Peninsula Country Club, owner of one of the coolest logos in golf,
is hosting the 2025 USGA U.S. Women’s Mid-Am tournament this year. 

This scenic, and exclusive, region – which covers eight square miles of the approximately 20 square miles of the Monterey Peninsula – is home to some of the finest golf anywhere: Pebble Beach Golf Links; Spyglass Hill; The Links at Spanish Bay; Poppy Hills, the home and headquarters of the Northern California Golf Association (NCGA); and the Cypress Point Club (the site of this year’s Walker Cup).

“Amateur: one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession”

Home to two courses, the Shore and Dunes, MPCC is familiar to golf fans from its 31 years in the rota for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, most recently from 2010 to 2020, 2022 and 2023, on the Shore Course. This tournament is being contested on the Dunes course, the original course on the property, which was one of the three courses in the rota for the famed pro-am in the “Crosby Clambake” days, from 1947 to 1964. Designed in 1924 by Seth Raynor, the Dunes course was revisited by Rees Jones in 1998 and the Fazio Design Group in 2016.

A field of 132 players ranging in age from 25 to 63 years, from thirty-four states and thirteen countries, will play two rounds of stroke play this weekend, after which the top 64 golfers will enter the single-elimination match play stage of the contest, with the winner determined by an 18-hole final on Friday, October 10th.

The prizes to be won are a trophy, an entry into the following year’s U.S. Women’s Open (and if the winner will be 50 or over, the U.S. Senior Women’s Open) – and a footnote in the history of the game. True to the spirit of amateur competition, while there are perks (as just listed) and a deep sense of personal accomplishment, there is no monetary reward.

One of the most highly renowned golfers in American history, Bobby Jones, was a lifelong amateur, a man who played solely for the love of the game, and the USGA’s amateur events carry on in that spirit.

The two USGA Open championships, for men and women, feature fields that will contain amateurs each year, but mainly consist of professional players. Even the U.S. Amateur and the Women’s Amateur, the two Junior championships, and the international team events – the Walker Cup for men and the Curtis Cup for women – generally feature players at least some of whom have their eyes set on a future in professional golf.

The Mid-Am events, however, are deep with players who are making their way in the world in business or a profession, with golf comprising “a pastime rather than a profession.” The Women’s Mid-Am, which was initiated in 1987, attracts a field of former collegiate players, for the most part, women with a desire for competition who play for the love of the game, for the opportunity to play at beautiful and often private, exclusive courses such as this year’s venue. It is, in my opinion, the purest expression of golf competition.

There are eight competitors from around the Bay Area in the event this year, including former Cal golfer Katherine Zhu and 2002 medalist Lara Tennant. As a bonus for the local golf fan, the event is free for spectators – and if you tell the guard at the entrance to the 17-Mile Drive that you are going to the tournament they will waive the $12.25 entry fee. Come out this weekend or any day through Friday, October 10th.

The NCGA’s all-new Poppy Ridge debuts May 31

Very few AGAs (1) in the United States own and operate their own golf course; in fact, only four (the NCGA, and the Oregon, Washington, and Colorado AGAs) do so, and of those four only one—the Northern California Golf Association—owns and operates two courses. Those two courses—Poppy Hills, in the Del Monte Forest on the Monterey Peninsula; and Poppy Ridge, in the midst of the vineyards and golden hills of the Livermore Valley in Contra Costa County—present two very different golf experiences encompassing the wide range of landscapes that comprise “NCGA territory”.

Poppy Hills, which opened in 1986, was the first course in the country to be built and operated by an AGA. The wooded property, which is also home to NCGA headquarters, underwent a major renovation in 2014 that improved drainage across the entire property, reduced irrigated acreage, and replaced the late-1980s-vintage irrigation system with a modern system. Now Poppy Hills’ ten-years younger sibling, Poppy Ridge, which drapes across a rolling landscape of golden hills and lush green vineyards southeast of the City of Livermore, is reopening after an even more comprehensive reworking that has resulted in what is essentially an entirely new course.

The 17th green at the new Poppy Ridge gleams in “golden hour” sunlight, overlooked by rolling hills and the soaring wind turbines that line a distant ridge. (photo credit: Joann Dost)

 

 “If you were to ask people what is a postcard of California wine country, this would be it – Jay Blasi

The new Poppy Ridge will be an eye-opener for players who were familiar with the 1996 Rees Jones layout. The original 1996 design was made up of three nine-hole loops—appropriately named Chardonnay, Merlot, and Zinfandel. This configuration allowed flexibility and variety for the golfers who came to play there, but suffered from compromises in routing and terrain that made walking the course untenable for most golfers, and could lead to time-consuming rounds of golf. The new layout, designed by course architect Jay Blasi based on guidelines provided by the NCGA, has what I consider to be a more sensible use of 27 holes of golf; it now consists of an 18-hole championship layout and the Ridge 9, a nine-hole course with seven par-4 holes and a pair of par-3s.

“We basically started over, and we built a new golf course on top of a site that used to have a golf course.” – Jay Blasi

The new layout is so different from the 1996 design that even longtime course employees have had to relearn their way around the property. Players familiar with the old Poppy Ridge will note that the 18-hole course is laid out over territory that comprised the Zinfandel nine and part of Chardonnay, mostly north of the clubhouse, while the Ridge 9 encompasses part of what used to be the Merlot nine and some of Chardonnay.

Toned Down, But Still Challenging

One of Jay Blasi’s main goals for the redesign was to improve walkability on the new 18-hole championship layout. While still a hilly course, walking 18-holes at around 6500 yards (the blue tees) is now some 2,000 yards shorter than the original setup, with 400 feet less elevation change overall.

Reworking the routing to tighten and smooth the transitions between holes involved moving some 250,000 cubic yards of soil. In many cases moving that volume of earth is done to add, or increase, contouring, but in this case that work was done, as Blasi told me, “…to soften the property, to make those transitions more manageable and easier to walk. We weren’t moving dirt to make things more exciting; the landscape was already big and beautiful and exciting—we were doing it to kind of tone it down a bit and make it more suitable for golf.”

There’s no denying that the Poppy Ridge property is a dramatic and dynamic piece of landscape on which to build a golf course. It is a property of rolling hills on which some holes rise to meet you, some lay out in front of you in full view, and others test your faith with a blind second shot. It is also criss-crossed with deeper cuts, such as the area where the drop-off-a-cliff par-three 17th hole was built. Playing at distances ranging between 154 yards from the championship (orange) tees to a mere 67 yards from the most forward tees (green), the vertical aspect of this dramatic little one-shotter will challenge a player’s club-selection skills. Its neighbor, the par-three 14th, teases with an uphill carry—more so from the forward tees—over an area of native growth; a friendly hillside to the left of the green is a safe aiming strategy for the daring carry on this hole.

Another of the goals for the new course was to make it fun and playable for all levels of golfers. Compared to the old course there is less water in play, and less sand in play. The fairways are wide and accommodating, but careful attention to placement for the approach shot will pay off, and most of the greens are open at the front to allow the ball to be run up onto the green—flying it high and landing it soft will not be the only option for hitting and holding greens.

That’s not to say that the course will be a walkover for the more highly skilled player; once in position to go for the green, careful inspection of the contours around the greens will show that there is usually a safe side and a risky side, so skillful placement of your drive or second shot will often be key to having a safer approach.

A good example of this is the par-four 6th hole, the first hole that I played during the recent preview day scramble. The fairway is wide and confidence-inspiring, as most of the fairways on the new course are, but you must be mindful of where you place your tee shot. A drive to the right side of the landing area yields an inviting approach to the green, while landing too far left leaves your approach shot blocked by mounding that leaves you facing a blind shot (2) to a (thankfully), generously sized green. In turn, the mound on the left side forms a backdrop that can help direct an overcooked approach shot, even from good position in the fairway, back onto the green.

The greens at Poppy Ridge are well-contoured, with challenging but not drastic shaping. An interesting design feature that applies to the greens as a whole is that their size relates to the difficulty of the approach shot—holes that are likely to require a long-iron approach have larger greens; those that are going to be taken on with a wedge or a short iron give the golfer a smaller target to aim at. It is risky to judge the greens of a brand-new golf course; they will always need some bedding-in time before their true character is revealed, but I think that golfers will find the greens at Poppy Ridge testing, but fair.

Teething Problems?

As I mentioned above, the new course is intended to be fun for all skill levels. Each hole features five teeing areas accommodating a range of standard yardages from 7,010 (orange) to 4,225 (green).While good in theory, my group—with one playing from the tips and three from the golds—found that the forward tees were stretched so far ahead of the longer tees that staying connected was problematic, and that, when playing from a cart, getting from the cart path to the gold or green tees often required trekking through native areas.

Another new-course teething issue that we encountered was confusion about the location of the teeing areas in the corner of the course where the 13th green, 14th tees, 18th green, and 17th tees are all clustered within a small and quite hilly area. Better signage and better definition of the teeing grounds themselves would go a long way toward eliminating confusion for players that are new to the course (as everyone will be in the near term.)

A Strong First Impression

Even with only one round on the new layout under my belt, I have already selected a favorite hole—the par-five 4th. This uphill three-shotter plays longer than the scorecard yardage thanks to the elevation gain, and while fairly straight, hands you a peek-a-boo second shot that teases the possibility of getting onto the green in two. A low, running shot with a fairway wood or hybrid might get you there if you thread the needle between a trio of smallish but well-placed bunkers placed right-left-right along the way to the putting surface. I hit one of my better 3-wood shots in recent memory on this hole and just caught the first, and largest, of those bunkers or I might have found myself, maybe not on the green in two, but certainly within Texas-wedge territory.

Windy conditions will be a testing proposition at this somewhat exposed course. It is dotted with native oak trees, but not lined with the fairway-defining rows of tall trees of a typical parkland course that would protect play from the wind. The green of the 4th and the entirety of the 16th hole are the highest points on the course, I believe, and special attention to the strength of the wind, especially in the afternoon, is warranted there.

“If you are an out-of-town guest, if you’re coming from the Midwest or the East Coast, I would venture to guess that two of your three best public options in Northern California are Poppy Ridge and Poppy Hills.” – Jay Blasi

Course designer Jay Blasi, the NCGA, and everyone associated with the creation of the new Poppy Ridge can be justifiably proud of this new course. It is a property that will take some familiarization to come to terms with, but I think that the variety of the golf holes, and of course the newness of the layout, will tempt players back again and again to build course knowledge and test strategies for assaying its dramatic landscape. It’s a good thing, then, that 60% of the NCGA’s membership lives within 60 miles of this stunning new addition to the bounteous variety of Northern California golf.

Poppy Ridge opens for play on May 31st, and the tee sheet is already full a few weeks out, but I urge everyone in the region to experience this new course as soon as they can.

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1) Allied Golf Associations, the local golf associations that collaborate with the USGA to support the game of golf in the country.

2) Despite a bit of friendly advice from the guide who led us out to the tees at #6, this is exactly what I did...

Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula showcased by glorious weather on Day 1 of 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of Monterey/Carmel real estate prices rising as a worldwide television audience is treated to views of Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course in gorgeous, Chamber-of-Commerce weather on Day 1 of the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The vista of these three immaculately prepared courses under a brilliant, jewel-blue California sky is sure to have well-heeled residents of the storm-ridden, snowbound portions of the country looking to their 401K’s, calling their brokers, and checking real estate listings. But when I say well-heeled, I mean it – the median price of a home in Monterey hovers just under $800k; in Carmel it’s just north of $1.3M.

But enough about real estate, let’s talk about golf. The clear, calm weather that is producing the awe-inspiring views here in the Del Monte Forest is also allowing the players in the field to put up some impressive scores.

Canadian Nick Taylor parlayed a windless day on the easier of the three courses in the tournament rota into an eight-under 63 and the 18-hole lead. Playing MPCC back-side/front-side, the 31-year-old native of Winnipeg opened with an eagle-three on the par-5 tenth hole, then went on to card a pair of birdies before making the turn. He then bookended the front nine with matching pairs of birdies to close out the opening-round lead in his seventh appearance in this event.

Asked about the closing birdies, Taylor noted, “Finished with two great shots, a 5-iron and 3-iron on the last two holes to set up two birdies there; … 5-iron into 8, 3-iron off nine tee, the par-3.”

“This is one of my favorite events of the year every year. You just can’t beat these three golf courses; they’re so fun to play.”

Patrick Cantlay, the SoCal phenom who fought back from back issues early in his pro career, rode a roller coaster around Spyglass Hill today – alternating birdies and bogies for the first five holes, then lighting up the back nine with five birdies against one bogey, posting a first-round 66 (6-under) on the acknowledged most-difficult course in the tournament rota.

Six-under rounds were also put up on Pebble Beach and MPCC Shore by Chase Seiffert and Harry Higgs, respectively.

Harold Varner III, who is making his first appearance at Pebble Beach since playing in the Champions Tour First Tee event 13 years ago, posted a 5-under round at Pebble Beach, carding three birdies a side, with a lone bogey on #12, the longest par-three on the course – and a deceptively difficult hole that has stunned more than one player over the years.

Another half-dozen players closed out their first round at five-under, including former Cal Men’s golf player Max Homa and Stockton native Ricky Barnes.

Former Stanford Men’s Golf star Maverick McNealy opened strong at Pebble Beach, carding three birdies on the front nine, but went a little flat on the second nine with no birdies, a bogey on the 11th hole, and a four-putt double-bogey seven on the 18th – a disappointing effort that was made even more painful by the two-foot bogey putt that horseshoed around the hole to leave an 18-incher for double. McNealy goes into the second round at even par.

San Jose’s Joseph Bramlett, another player who has battled back problems early in his career, closed in even-par 71 at MPCC Shore, with two bogies per side against a total of five birdies.

Second-round play starts Friday at 8:00 AM, with the weather forecast calling for continued clear and slightly cooler conditions.

Before it gets real—Wednesday at the 119th U.S. Open

After record high temps, “June Gloom” returns to Pebble Beach

After several days of scorching temperatures in the Bay Area, including record high temperatures recorded at nearby Monterey, Wednesday at the 119th U.S Open, at Pebble Beach Golf Links, brought the cooling “June Gloom” fog.

An interesting difference between spectator routing at Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open vs the AT&T Pro-Am: access to both sides of the first and second holes. Wednesday practice rounds drew spectators despite the onset of “June gloom” weather.

As the golf media swarmed into town, and the more ardent golf fans braved distant parking and long bus rides to see their favorite players getting in some last practice holes before the flag drops on Thursday, the fog produced a diffuse, lambent glow to illuminate the Del Monte Forest. With the sun obscured by the marine-layer fog, the shadowless yet oddly glary light was accompanied by a chill breeze; both sunglasses and 1/4-zip sweatshirts were the order of the day.

Like the AT&T Pro-Am, but “more”

If you are familiar with getting around Pebble Beach during the AT&T Pro-Am, you will have to re-learn some things when you come to the Open here. There are more, and different, walking routes—for example, you get to see the left side of the first and second holes, which is no-man’s land during the AT&T; and the walk past #3 tee to #16 and the holes beyond is simplified by the lack of vehicular traffic on the entrance road.

In fact, everything about the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach is “more”. More fans, more merchandise, more things to do besides watching golf. There were more fans on the grounds—on a Wednesday—than I have seen on some tournament days during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and more media folks in the massive media center tent that occupies the site of the former driving range, just above the Peter Hay Par-Three Course .

There are more concession stands; more grandstands; more marshalls, security, and infrastructure.

More over-tanned guys in the latest golf apparel opining to their buddies about the quality of the golf holes here at Pebble Beach.

More unwilling (and less-willing) girlfriends/wives being dragged around the course by their golfing boyfriends/husbands, wearing more inappropriate footwear (those chunky wedges are going to be a problem, ma’am…) and complaining that there are no celebrities to watch, just golfers.

More families of footsore-but-happy children and frazzled moms taking dad out for a Father’s Day treat.

More event merch being worn by fans on the course (especially when the weather turns from sunny and 85 to cloudy and 61 from Tuesday to Wednesday.)

Tomorrow it gets real

For all the pre-event chatter in the golf media about Brooks and Tiger and Dustin and Jordan and their chances of winning, or whether or not the USGA course setup folks will “lose” the course if the weather stays or turns hot, if the Wednesday practice-day crowds are any indication, this Open will be a huge success—at least from a fan’s point of view.

People were taking the day off of work, in the middle of the week, to come to what is arguably the most beautiful, and undoubtedly the best-known, golf course in the United States to watch the best players in the game play practice rounds. That’s some golf love.

Today was a tuneup—tomorrow it gets real.

Bay Area golf fans face a decision next September

2019 holds the promise of being a very good year for Bay Area golf fans. The 119th U.S. Open will be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links, in the storied seaside course’s centennial year; a new PGA Tour event sponsored by the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry will appear on the schedule, played at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City†; and the LPGA will return with the second year of the reboot of their Bay Area tournament of recent years, also at Lake Merced.

However, a week before the Steph Curry event, in the last week of September, Bay Area golf fans will have a decision to make. In late September, as the 2019-2020 PGA Tour season is starting up, and the 2019 PGA Champions season is winding down, both tours will be playing in Northern California, at the same time, 160 miles apart. The PGA Tour will be kicking things off with the Safeway Open, at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, and the PGA Champions will be bringing along the next generation of golfers in the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting the First Tee, at Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills in the Del Monte Forest.

How did this happen? Aren’t the PGA Tour and the PGA Champions part of the same organization? Do their scheduling people talk to each other? Do they own a calendar—and a map?

Call it a first-world problem for Bay Area golf fans: Which world-class destination do we head to that week to watch golf—the Silverado Resort & Spa in America’s most venerated wine region, the Napa Valley; or Pebble Beach, the ne plus ultra of American public golf, on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula? Do we want to see the young guns of the PGA Tour (but probably few, if any, big stars), or the old-pro PGA Champions, playing alongside youngsters the same age as their grandkids?

What’s a golf fan to do?

Actually, there’s no wrong answer here—either choice results in a great time at a beautiful venue. Late September is prime time for visiting either the California coast or the Napa Valley; the weather is ideal: neither too hot nor too cold, generally sunny and clear, and there’s rarely any fog at the coast. It’s a shame that this scheduling conflict prevents local golf fans from possibly enjoying two weeks of great golf, but we’re still lucky that we have the choice of these two great events at beautiful destination venues.

† (Correction: In early January it was announced that talks with the potential title sponsor of the Steph Curry-sponsored event, Workday, had fallen through, and that the event would not be held in 2019. There is hope that the event will appear in the schedule in 2020, potentially at TPC Harding Park, in San Francisco.)

70th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship coming to Poppy Hills GC

The golf courses in the Del Monte Forest are no strangers to championship events. Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, and the private courses, Cypress Point and Monterey Peninsula Country Club, have hosted PGA Tour and Champions Tour events, and Pebble Beach Golf Links has hosted several national championships – five U.S. Opens, and four U.S. Amateur Championships.

Poppy Hills, the home of the Northern California Golf Association – the largest regional golf association in the United States, and the only one to have its own home course – has been in the mix, too. In addition to the NCGA’s own state and local championship events, Poppy Hills was for many years one of the host courses for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and currently co-hosts the Champions Tour’s First Tee Open (presented by PURE Insurance.) In a few weeks from now, July 16 – 21, the NCGA’s flagship course will host a USGA championship of its own – the 70th U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship.

The Northern California Golf Association (NCGA) will host its first national championship when the 70th U.S. Girls’ Junior Chanpiosnhip comes to Poppy Hills GC July 16–21, 2018.

The Girls’ Junior, which is a showcase for the Curtis Cup, Solheim Cup, and LPGA stars of the future, last visited Central California in 2012. That year’s event saw current LPGA stars such as Ariya Jutanagarn, Lydia Ko, and Minjee Lee playing for the Glenna Collett-Vare trophy at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City. The tournament has been played on the Monterey Peninsula before, in 1952 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, when future World Golf Hall of Fame member Mickey Wright, then 17 years old, was the champion. Next month at Poppy Hills some of women’s golf’s stars of years to come will certainly be in the field.

Renovated Poppy Hills course is ready for a championship

When qualifying concludes on June 28th, a field of 156 girls up to the age of 18 will be headed for the Monterey Peninsula to contest their national championship on the beautifully renovated Poppy Hills course.

The course closed in March 2013 for a complete makeover, reopening in April 2014 after a 13-month-long renovation. Completely sand-capped to improve drainage, the course also received a state-of-the-art irrigation control system for more efficient water use. Native areas were restored, eliminating 25 acres that were previously irrigated turf to reduce water requirements. Water hazards were reduced or eliminated, some holes were realigned, and many of the greens significantly revamped.

Later that year, once the renovation was firmly in place, the NCGA approached the USGA about the possibility of hosting a national championship on the now “firm, fast, and fun” course, and in 2015 were selected to host this event. Planning for the tournament began in 2016.

Expect a different look than the Poppy Hills you play

The course will play a bit differently for the tournament than day-to-day players are used to. The nines were flipped after a couple of years’ experience with the new layout, improving pace of play by eliminating the backups that occurred on the then-front nine, which has an early run of difficult holes.

Tracy Parsons, the USGA’s tournament director for the event, first walked the course with the original order in place.

“The very first time that I came on this golf course, the First Tee was here, and that’s the way that I walked the course, that’s the way that I began preparing, and that’s the way that I envisioned the championship being played. When the NCGA flipped the nines I started walking the golf course the opposite way…and it didn’t make much sense to me for our championship.”

“When we go to match play we go to a single-tee start, and I’d like to have the crowd around the first tee for all the players. It obviously makes more sense for us to have it (the first tee) right here (near the clubhouse), and to have both the finishing holes right there as well. In match play, obviously some of our matches won’t make it to the 18th hole, and some of those holes on the front nine are so key to the round that I don’t want to skip them. The way that the routing was originally works in our best interests for the championship. I understand why they (the NCGA) flipped it for regular play, but for our purposes I think it makes the most sense to stick with the original routing.”

A record 1,609 entries were received for this year’s event, 103 more than in 2017. Forty sites around the country are hosting qualifying tournaments, where 140 girls (156-player field minus 16 exempt players) will advance to the championship event at Poppy Hills. They will play the course to a par of 71, at a length of 6,182 yards.

These Girls Are Good

Entry into the championship requires that the player carry a handicap of -9.4 or better.

“People who have never come to the Girls’ Junior think, ‘Oh that’s so cute, with their little pigtails and their bows,’ tournament director Tracy Parsons told the media during the recent preview day, “but I think that if they were actually to come and watch these players compete – because that’s what they are, they’re competitors – they would be surprised, and in awe of what these girls can do. I think the testament to that is the fact that the USGA has recognized the level of play, and last year awarded this champion an exemption into the U.S. Women’s Open.”

A USGA review of the level of play in both the Girls’ Junior and the Junior Amateur Championship two years ago led them to raise the maximum age from 17 to 18, and also to raise the bar for the required handicap. Prior to 2017 the requirement for the Girls’ Junior was -18.4; it was slashed nearly in half to the current -9.4. In 2017 no player that advanced to the championship was above a 6.0.

For a taste of the level of competitor who will be playing in this tournament, Concord’s Yealimi Noh, 16, a member of the Junior Tour of Northern California who qualified for the championship with a 5-under 67 on the par-72 course at The Reserve at Spanos Park, in Stockton, carries a +4 handicap.

Play begins July 16, with rounds of stroke play on the 16th and 17th to trim the field down to 64 players. Single-elimination match play at 18 holes will cut the field down to an eventual two finalists squaring off for the championship, which will be decided by a 36-hole match on 21 July.

Admission to the tournament is free for spectators.