10-4! Celebrating a Decade of the USGA Four-Ball Championships

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Not long after arriving at the USGA in the summer of 2011 as its chief Championships officer, John Bodenhamer joined then-CEO Mike Davis to discuss creating a national team championship, which had been on the USGA’s radar since at least 2005. Davis thought “it would be cool” to have national four-ball or foursomes events for men and women.  

Bodenhamer, the former executive director of the Washington State Golf Association, thinks that at least half of the USGA’s Allied Golf Associations had already established four-ball events by 2011. Today, they’re an integral part of every state and regional association’s competitive calendar. 

“Four-ball was the most common form of play in our country,” said Bodenhamer. “We felt it would instantaneously be one of our most popular championships.” 

This would be proven out, and soon.

When the USGA announced in 2013 that it was starting four-ball championships for men and women, Olivia Herrick immediately jumped on her computer. Herrick had often competed in the junior ranks against fellow Minnesotan Samantha Sommers, but the two had lost touch after high school – Herrick went to Iowa to play at Drake University, and Sommers to the University of Minnesota. 

“I found Sam on Facebook,” recalled Herrick on making the pitch to her former foe. “I said, ‘You’re an amazing player. I would like to play with you.’ She said, ‘Absolutely, let’s do it.’” 

In a way, Sommers and Herrick are prime examples of what the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball and the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball are about. These two championships, both set to celebrate their 10th iterations in May, bring golfers together, whether it's junior rivals, best buddies, siblings, fathers/sons, mothers/daughters, fellow club members, work associates, or past, present or future teammates. 

“It’s a really special championship,” said Herrick, 36, a five-time qualifier with Sommers. “Having played college golf, as soon as you graduate, that sort of team component really evaporates if you choose to keep playing competitively. Sam is someone I’ve known since I was probably 16 years old… If it wasn’t for the Four-Ball, we never would have gotten back in touch and become the good friends we are today. It’s a credit to this championship for bringing us back into each other’s lives.” 

Their four-ball story isn’t that unusual. 

Scott Harvey, a decorated North Carolinian who won the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur, first met Illinois native Todd Mitchell, a former minor-league infielder and the 2008 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up, during a practice round at the since-retired USGA Men’s State Team Championship in 2012. The two elite players quickly became close friends and teamed up for the inaugural Four-Ball. Four years later at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, they lifted the trophy. 

“There aren’t enough team golf events,” said Harvey at the time. “This is the best event going, and it’s just more fun. You’re sharing every part of it with someone, and it just feels that much better.” 

Harvey and Mitchell are one of two sides to have competed in every U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, along with inaugural champions Nathan Smith and Todd White. Smith, owner of a record four U.S. Mid-Amateur titles, and White, the 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, bonded during the 2013 Walker Cup Match at National Golf Links of America. Like Harvey and Mitchell, they live hundreds of miles apart; Smith is in Pittsburgh and White, 11 years older, is from Spartanburg, S.C. 

“I had someone once tell me it’s almost like high-level summer camp,” said White of the Four-Ball. “It’s a highlight on the schedule for me.” 

From the outset, the two Four-Ball championships had a different vibe than other USGA competitions. Sides often wore matching outfits, and they choreographed unique team celebrations. 

Everything about the event screamed fun. 

“There was this different energy because you were there with a partner, a friend or someone you want to compete with and not let down,” said the USGA’s Bill McCarthy, the championship director of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball from Day 1. “When you see elite college players warming up next to a senior who is playing with his nephew, it’s just cool.” 

John Sajevic can vouch for that aspect of the competition. Now 68, the longtime stalwart from Fremont, Neb., has qualified for five Four-Balls with his 34-year-old son, Andrew, a 2014 University of North Carolina graduate. They were one of three father/son tandems to compete in the inaugural event in 2015, and the lone duo to advance to match play. The men’s championship includes 128 sides vying for the 32 match-play spots over 36 holes. 

“As you get a little older in life, it’s really been a big treat,” said the elder Sajevic. “It’s super special. I hope more people get a chance to do it, because it’s just hard to explain how fun it is and how much closer I’ve gotten with Andrew.” 

On the women’s side, identical twins and Virginia Tech graduates Sarah and Jessica Spicer will compete in their fourth Women’s Amateur Four-Ball this May. The championship’s debut featured 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champ Martha Leach pairing up with her daughter, Madison Gerstle. 

The best-ball format gives golfers of all ages an opportunity to compete on an elite stage. Where they might be intimidated about attempting to qualify for an individual championship such as the U.S. Amateur or U.S. Mid-Amateur, the team aspect of the USGA Four-Balls makes it more appealing. 

Two years ago, ex-Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, now the lead NFL analyst on CBS, qualified with University of Texas freshman Tommy Morrison, one of the country’s top young players. Six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kyle Williams, who played 13 seasons with the Buffalo Bills, paired up with now three-time Louisiana Amateur champ Greg Berthelot in 2019 and advanced to the Round of 16. 

This coming May, Sam Bradford, a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from the University of Oklahoma and the first overall selection in the 2010 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams, will play alongside ex-high school teammate Ben Bench. The duo birdied nine of their last 11 holes to card an 11-under-par 59 in their qualifier last August at Oak Tree Country Club, in Edmond, Okla.  

“When you are standing on the first tee [at qualifying], you have to be thinking 63 or 64,” said McCarthy. “Otherwise, you are headed to the parking lot.” 

Added two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Julia Potter-Bobb, who has qualified three times with fellow Women’s Mid-Am champ Kelsey Chugg: “I actually get more nervous playing in the [Women’s Amateur] Four-Ball. It’s unlike anything else because you don’t want to let your partner down.” 

Potter-Bobb and Chugg bonded during a USGA-sponsored trip to Argentina for the 2018 South American Amateur at Pilar Golf Club near Buenos Aires. The two played a pair of informal four-ball matches against their male U.S. counterparts, 2017 U.S. Mid-Am champ Matt Parziale and Harvey. They won both, and their vanquished opponents suggested they enter the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.  

While she has yet to claim a title, the grande dame of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball is four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Meghan Stasi. The New Jersey native’s first eight starts were with Dawn Woodard, a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am medalist. This May, Stasi will play with fellow Pine Valley member Marissa Mar because the championship conflicted with Woodard’s youngest daughter’s graduation from Clemson University. 

For Stasi and her partners, this championship is as much about camaraderie as golf. 

“It’s an adventure,” said Stasi, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “We’ve hiked along the Mississippi [River] in Minnesota. We’ve been to the center of the universe, Tulsa, Oklahoma. [And] anywhere that we go [for qualifying or the championship proper], we always have to find a donut shop. That’s a joke between us and our caddies. Marissa jumped right in [this past fall] and found one in Little Rock (they qualified in Hot Springs, Ark.). It’s serious once we get [to the competition], but before and after, we just want to enjoy it.” 

The Four-Balls’ popularity is enhanced by the places it can take players, metaphorically and literally. From the beginning, Four-Ball champions have been recognized as USGA champions with their names on a plaque in the Hall of Champions at the USGA Museum in Liberty Corner, N.J. 

Once the championships were approved by the Executive Committee, the big challenge was finding venues that resonated with golfers. The USGA’s Bodenhamer called it the “wow factor.” 

There was precedence. Three decades earlier, the first U.S. Senior Open in 1980 was played at Winged Foot Golf Club, a six-time U.S. Open host. In 1981, the first U.S. Mid-Amateur was held at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, site of the 1965 U.S. Open. Six years later, Southern Hills Country Club, in Tulsa, Okla., another U.S. Open venue, hosted the inaugural U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. 

As the USGA reached out to potential Four-Ball host sites, great venues hopped aboard. The Olympic Club, Winged Foot and later Pinehurst No. 2 – all U.S. Open sites – agreed to host the first three U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championships. 

Bandon Dunes and Streamsong – both bucket-list resort destinations – hosted the first two U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championships. The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, in Myrtle Beach, S.C., a Robert Trent Jones Sr. gem that hosted the 1962 U.S. Women’s Open, followed for 2017. Two more U.S. Open venues, Chambers Bay and Erin Hills, have hosted or are slated to host future championships. 

“It was intentional, a focused effort,” said Mark Hill, the USGA’s managing director, Championships. “Mike Davis played a big part in it. These championships were important to Mike and Tom O’Toole, our Championship Committee chair at the time. We sought to get them off on the right foot. The entry numbers substantiated that these championships would be popular.”     

The inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball drew 2,234 entries (4,468 players), which was more than that year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur (4,024) and put it behind only the U.S. Open (9,882) and U.S. Amateur (7,047). The inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball drew a modest 336 entries (772 players), putting it behind the U.S. Women’s Open (1,873), U.S. Women’s Amateur (1,303) and U.S. Girls’ Junior (1,191). In recent years, its popularity has increased, with a record 436 sides (872 players) for the 2024 edition. 

Those first editions also had something not usually offered for first-time events: television coverage. Fox Sports, in the first year of its then-12-year agreement (it ended prematurely in 2020), wanted to get in some broadcast reps before the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open. Because Fox had limited experience with live golf, the network aired the last two days of both Four-Ball championships. The trio of Joe Buck, Greg Norman and Brad Faxon were all at The Olympic Club with U.S. Open champion Corey Pavin serving as an on-course reporter, while Shane O’Donoghue, five-time USGA champion Juli Inkster and Shane Bacon reported from Bandon Dunes, with LPGA Tour player Natalie Gulbis walking the course. 

They got two compelling finishes. 

Smith and White defeated Bryson DeChambeau and his Southern Methodist University teammate, Austin Smotherman, in the Round of 16. DeChambeau was four months shy of claiming the U.S. Amateur and later winning U.S. Open titles in 2020 and 2024. In the semis, Smith/White eliminated future five-time PGA Tour winner Sam Burns and partner Austin Connelly. Smith and White made just one bogey in 78 match-play holes and capped the title with a 7-and-5 triumph over fellow mid-ams Sherrill Britt and Greg Earnhardt. 

This past May, a pair of mid-amateurs from Scottsdale, Ariz., Brian Blanchard and Sam Engel, defeated highly decorated Tennessee teens, 2024 American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Player of the Year and U.S. National Junior Team member Blades Brown and University of Tennessee freshman Jackson Herrington, 2 up, in the title match at Philadelphia Cricket Club. On paper, it appeared to be a mismatch, but the vagaries of match play produced a monumental upset. 

In 2022, the only final featuring all mid-amateurs, Wake Forest alums Chad Wilfong and Davis Womble defeated Arizonans Drew Kittleson and Drew Stoltz at the Country Club of Birmingham. That said, eight of the nine finals to date have featured at least one mid-amateur, the lone exception being 2021 at Chambers Bay.  

“It does speak to the format,” said McCarthy. “If a side makes eight birdies, but four of them are on the same hole, they are only 4 under. If the other side makes eight birdies, and they are on separate holes, it’s a totally different ballgame.” 

Said White: “If it’s me, now being a senior am, against one of our better college amateurs, head-to-head is going to be difficult. But it’s nice to know if I am going to be out of a hole, here’s Nathan who has got my back. That obviously helps the mid-ams in match play.” 

Top juniors haven’t been totally shut out. Future USA Walker Cupper and University of Texas All-American Cole Hammer, who qualified for the 2015 U.S. Open at 15, won in 2018 at Jupiter Hills with fellow junior and Louisiana State signee Garrett Barber, who grew up a short drive from the venue in Stuart, Fla. Frankie Capan III, who will be a PGA Tour rookie in 2025, won in 2017 at Pinehurst with junior golf buddy Shuai Ming (Ben) Wong. 

On the women’s side, the event has been truly dominated by “kids.” Even the first year, when the average age was 33.7, it was a pair of teens who hoisted the trophy. Seven of the nine champions have been sides composed of juniors, with the field average age in 2024 being 19.4. The average age of the nine champion sides is 17.7, compared to 26.8 for the men. 

Furman standouts Alice Chen and Taylor Totland, and Colorado State’s Ellen Secor and Katrina Prendergast are the only collegians to have claimed titles. To date, 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champ Lauren Greenlief and fellow Virginian Alexandra Austin are the lone mid-am side to reach the semifinals (2016). 

As she drove home from the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur, Rinko Mitsunaga, then a University of Georgia signee, got a call from IMG Academy classmate and future Stanford star Mika Liu. With the entry deadline hours away, Liu was hoping her friend would want to play at Bandon Dunes, since both were inside the top 400 of the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking® and thus exempt from qualifying. Mitsunaga and Liu filed with minutes to spare, and the following April beat fellow juniors Hannah O’Sullivan and Robynn Ree in the final. Mitsunaga, now in her second year as the assistant women’s golf coach at Kansas State, punctuated the victory by holing out an 88-yard wedge approach on the par-5 12th hole at Pacific Dunes. 

“It’s absolutely incredible how it all happened,” Mitsunaga recalled nearly a decade later. “It wasn’t something I was even thinking about. But it was Bandon Dunes, and I had the opportunity to go. I’m really glad it happened. [Mika] was a ball of energy and a lot of fun to play with that week.”  

The last two women’s champion sides have featured two of the most talented juniors in the country. Gianna Clemente, named the 2024 AJGA Player of the Year, paired with Avery Zweig to win in 2023 at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. Last May, 15-year-old Asterisk Talley teamed with fellow Northern Californian Sarah Lim to win at Oak Hills Country Club, in San Antonio, Texas. Talley would play in two more USGA finals in 2024 and then stun world No. 1 Lottie Woad in the Sunday singles session of the Curtis Cup Match in England. Both Clemente and Talley were among the 10 girls named to the USGA’s inaugural U.S. National Junior Team. 

Producing such talented champions prompted the USGA to offer exemptions into the U.S. Amateur/U.S. Women’s Amateur as well as any other age-eligible amateur championships starting in 2021. 

Providing such incentives only broadens the event’s appeal. In the future, Bodenhamer could see awarding exemptions to those who capture AGA-sponsored four-ball events, similar to those implemented in 2024 by the USGA for the U.S. Amateur/Women’s Am and its Junior championships. 

“It’s been interesting to watch these events grow and establish themselves,” said Hill. “It’s a unique platform that has made this USGA championship aspirational for a lot of players.” 

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