(MAUI, HI) – Ka’anapali Golf Courses, managed by Billy Casper Golf, will host aspiring men and women amateur and professional golfers on the Royal Ka’anapali Course for Regional and Sectional U.S. Open Qualifying Tournaments, respectively, on Saturday, May 9.
Women vying for a spot in the 70th U.S. Women’s Open Championship, July 6-12 at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, PA, will tee off at 7 a.m. Qualifying will be over 36 holes of stroke play with second-round tee times beginning just after noon. The top finisher(s) will advance directly to the LPGA’s third major championship of 2015.
Men competing for a berth in the 115th U.S. Open Championship, June 15- 21 at Chambers Bay in University Place, WA, will tee off at 9 a.m. Qualifying will be over 18 holes of stroke play with top finishers advancing to one of 10 sectional sites in Newport Beach, CA, Jupiter, FL, Ball Ground, GA, Rockville, MD, Purchase, NY, Columbus and Springfield, OH, Memphis TN, Dallas, TX and Elum, WA.
Roughly 35 women and 60 men are expected to compete at Ka’anapali.
“This is the first time Ka’anapali has hosted simultaneous qualifiers,” says Ed Kageyama, PGA General Manager of Ka’anapali Golf Courses. “The Royal Ka’anapali Course will provide a stern test for the highly talented golfers competing for spots in our prestigious national championships.”
Ka’anapali is one of only about 100 courses nationwide hosting regional and section qualifiers. In elite company, it is joined by the likes of Bethpage State Park Golf Courses (Farmingdale, NY), Flossmoor Country Club (Flossmoor, IL), The Bear’s Club (Jupiter, FL), Trump National Golf Club (Pine Hill, NJ) and other PGA Tour and “major” tournament hosts.
Last year, the United States Golf Association accepted a record 10,127 entries into the men’s U.S. Open Championship, surpassing 9,860 in 2013. Applications for the U.S. Women’s Open continue to rise at historic rates as 1,702 women entered into sectional qualifying in 2014, up from 1,420 the year before. Eligibility is open for professional golfers and amateurs with handicap indexes of or below 1.4 (men) or 2.4 (women).
About Ka’anapali Golf Courses
Built on 1,200 acres of land once home to Hawaiian royalty, Ka’anapali Golf Courses present golfers with pristine conditions and stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and West Maui Mountains.
Opened in 1962 and designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the par-71, 6,700-yard Royal Ka’anapali Course features wide fairways and undulating greens which make it both distinctive and demanding. The tournament-tested layout hosted the Champions Tour Ka’anapali Classic for 14 years, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, the Canada Cup and LPGA Kemper Open, welcoming Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Greg Norman, Fred Couples, Jan Stephenson, Betsy King and other legends.
Complementing the Royal Ka’anapali Course is the modernized Ka’anapali Kai Course which hosted Golf Channel’s “Big Break Ka’anapali.” Extensively renovated in 2005, the 6,400-yard, par-70 layout boasts an array of strategically placed bunkers, contoured fairways and resurfaced greens.
More information: www.kaanapaligolfcourses.com, 866.454.4653.
About Billy Casper Golf
Founded more than 20 years ago in cooperation with the late golf legend Billy Casper, the company is the largest owner-operator of golf courses, country clubs and resorts in the U.S. with more than 150 properties in 28 states. Headquartered in Vienna, Virginia with regional offices across America, BCG directs all aspects of club operations, golf and grounds maintenance, staffing and training, clubhouse operations, food-and-beverage, merchandising, golf instruction, marketing and public relations, special events and financial management.
Billy Casper Golf divisions:
• Buffalo Brand Invigoration Group (formerly Buffalo Communications) manages public relations, strategy development, integrated marketing, social media and design for golf, sport and lifestyle brands, and destinations and communities (www.buffalobig.com).
• Buffalo Turf & Landscape Company provides golf course agronomic programs with a new fee-for-service structure that allows owners unfettered visibility into actual activities and costs.
• Women on Course is the nation’s premier golf-networking organization, further solidifying Billy Casper Golf’s commitment to grow female participation in the golf lifestyle (www.womenoncourse.com).
More information: www.billycaspergolf.com, 703.761.1444.
Contact:
Andy DeKeuster
Billy Casper Golf / Buffalo Brand Invigoration Group
703.891.3324
adekeuster@billycaspergolf.com
