3 Things to Know: 10th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball

Historic Plainfield Country Club returns to the national stage this week with the playing of the 10th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. It’s been nearly 40 years since this Donald Ross gem, which was restored by Gil Hanse, has been the site of a USGA championship.

Future World Golf Hall of Famer Laura Davies, of England, claimed the first of four major titles by outlasting Japanese superstar Ayaka Okamoto and fellow future WGHOF member and two-time champion Joanne Carner in a weather-delayed, Tuesday 18-hole playoff at the 1987 U.S. Women’s Open.

Nearly a decade earlier, John Cook, then an All-American at Ohio State University, won the 1978 U.S. Amateur with a 5-and-4 win over fellow future PGA Tour star Scott Hoch.

But Plainfield’s championship history dates to 1929 when it held the first of five New Jersey Amateurs. It also has been the host site for the Metropolitan Open, Metropolitan Golf Association Amateur, the New Jersey Open and a pair of Barclays as part of the FedExCup Playoffs in 2011 (Dustin Johnson) and 2015 (Jason Day).

Echo Lake Country Club, in nearby Westfield, N.J., which is the stroke-play co-host venue, doesn’t have quite the same championship pedigree, but it’s another Donald Ross gem (renovated and re-routed by Reese Jones) that has hosted three New Jersey Opens, four New Jersey Amateurs, a Metropolitan Open (won by Paul Runyan), and a pair of USGA Junior Championships, including the 2002 Girls’ Junior won by future LPGA Tour star Inbee Park, who was just 14 at the time. Terry Noe, like Park a transplanted Korean, won the 1994 U.S. Junior Amateur, one year after Tiger Woods went on a historic run of three consecutive titles.So as the 128 sides (256 players) prepare for the stroke-play portion of the competition and hope to be among the final 32 match-play qualifiers, here are 3 things to know:

Honor Thy Champions

While the winners in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship rarely return for title defenses for a variety of reasons, the men’s version of the event often witnesses title defenses and/or the return of multiple champion sides. It helps when the average age of the champions is 26.8, meaning the players have long since graduated from high school/college and either tried professional golf – and regained their amateur status – or never turned pro.

Affectionately called Team Software due to their vocations, Scottsdale, Ariz., residents Brian Blanchard and Sam Engel, 32 and 30, respectively, are back to defend the title they won last May just down the road at Philadelphia Cricket Club, where they defeated Tennessee teens Blades Brown (now a pro) and Jackson Herrington (freshman at the University of Tennessee) 2 up. Only one side, Drew Stoltz and Drew Kittleson (also from Scottsdale), has made multiple finals appearances in the championship’s brief history.

Blanchard/Engel are one of five past champions in the 10-year-old event. There are only two sides who will have competed in the event’s first 10 iterations: Five-time USGA champion Nathan Smith, 46, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Todd White, 57, of Spartanburg, S.C., the inaugural winners in 2015 at The Olympic Club; and Scott Harvey, 46, of Greensboro, N.C., and Todd Mitchell, 46, of Bloomington, Ill., who were crowned champs in 2019 at Bandon Dunes.

Former Southern Methodist golfers Benjamin Baxter, 29, of Dallas, Texas, and Andrew Buchanan, 30, of Highland Park, Texas, who took the crown in 2016 at Winged Foot, and ex-Wake Forest standouts Chad Wilfong, 44, of Charlotte, N.C., and Davis Womble, 31, of Winston-Salem, N.C., who won in 2022 at the Country Club of Birmingham, also are competing this week.

Alternate Route

Anyone who has previously played Plainfield might notice some subtle changes this week. No, the greens haven’t changed nor has the bunkering or penalty areas. But the USGA decided to alter the order in which holes are played. The routing will be similar to the one used for the Junior Presidents Cup when it was contested here in 2022. 

Holes one through three will remain the same, but Nos. 4-9 will actually be what is 13-18 for regular play. Holes 10-12 remain unchanged, and the final six holes are actually Plainfield’s fourth through ninth holes.

Because the Four-Ball employs a one-tee start, Bill McCarthy, the championship director, said, “It also allows us to finish play right in front of the clubhouse/patio, and it offers a great setting [for spectators, players and officials].”

Home Cooking?

Looking for a local favorite? How about Georgetown University sophomore Barnes Blake, 20, of Westfield, N.J., an Echo Lake member who won the Metropolitan Golf Association’s Junior title at the venue in 2023, defeating his partner, Liam Pasternak, 18, of Morristown, N.J. Now Blake, who has the honor of hitting the opening tee shot at Echo Lake on Saturday, and Pasternak will be seeking a bigger prize together. 

There are a handful of other sides with ties to the Greater Metropolitan area. One to keep an eye on is Bradford Tilley, 41, of Easton, Conn., and Pat Wilson, 34, of Andover, N.J. The duo advanced to the Round of 16 in the 2023 championship at the Kiawah Island Club (Cassique) in South Carolina. Tilley knows what it is like to compete in a USGA championship on his home course. He reached the Round of 32 of the 2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, in Scarborough, N.Y.

Both Blake and Tilley arrive in good form, having advanced out of U.S. Open local qualifying on Monday at Connecticut Golf Club.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.