When Coca-Cola bottling magnate Jack Lupton founded The Honors Course and hired noted architect Pete Dye, he intended the Ooltewah, Tenn., facility to be an homage to amateur golf. He wanted Dye to create a course strong enough to hold the best amateur competitions.
And Lupton succeeded, as The Honors Course has hosted a U.S. Amateur (1991), a Curtis Cup (1994), two NCAA Championships (1996 and 2010), a U.S. Mid-Amateur (2005), a U.S. Junior Amateur (2016) and the annual Lupton Invitational, which brings together some of the best mid-amateur and senior golfers. The 1996 NCAAs saw Tiger Woods win the individual title for Stanford, and the Junior Amateur made history when current PGA/DP World Tour player Min Woo Lee joined his older sister, Minjee, as the only siblings to win USGA Junior titles.
Each hole is named after a golfer and tells of their successes and accolades within amateur golf. Recipients of this honor range from college players to senior champions, both men and women.
This week, The Honors Course welcomes the best 55-and-over golfers for the 69th U.S. Senior Amateur. This event was originally scheduled for 2020 until COVID-19 canceled all but four USGA championships. At 6,836 yards, this par-72 layout should be more than a challenge for the competitors who hope to hoist the Frederick L. Dold Trophy on Aug. 29.
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Title Defense
It has been 44 years since William C. Campbell successfully defended his U.S. Senior Amateur titles, and while some have come close to matching that feat, nobody has managed to achieve it. Todd White, 56, of Spartanburg, S.C., is the latest to have that opportunity, and the high school history teacher comes into the championship in good form. White only missed the match-play cut by three strokes in last week’s U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club and stroke-play co-host Chaska Town Course.
Earlier this summer, he won the R&A Senior Amateur Championship while also competing in the U.S. Senior Open at Newport (R.I.) Country Club and Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie.
The last player to nearly win consecutive titles was Sean Knapp, who claimed the 2017 title at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, Minn., then lost in the title match the following year to Jeff Wilson at Eugene (Ore.) Country Club. Others have posted multiple victories during that span, including Kemp Richardson (2001 and 2003) and Paul Simson (2010 and 2012).
High Honors
Speaking of Paul Simson, the 73-year-old from Raleigh, N.C., has The Honors Course No. 1 on his list of favorite venues. That’s awfully high praise for one of the most decorated amateurs in the country, and especially in his adopted state of North Carolina (he grew up in Summit, N.J., and played for the University of New Mexico). Simson was saddened by the cancellation of the 2020 U.S. Senior Amateur and quite happy to see the club get the 2024 iteration.
There was one issue. His 10-year exemption for winning in 2012 at Mountain Ridge Golf Club in West Caldwell, N.J., had expired, so he either had to qualify or receive a special exemption from the USGA. He got the latter and will have the opportunity to extend one of the more remarkable streaks in golf.
When Simson, who also won the Canadian and British senior titles in 2010 to become the first player to win all three major senior championships in the same calendar year, has qualified for match play (14 of 16 championships), he has never lost in the Round of 64. That’s 14-for-14. So if the owner of 40 Carolinas Golf Association titles manages to navigate stroke play this weekend, one of the great streaks in golf has a chance to continue.
Slinging It
There are a couple of former professional athletes in the field who had the talent on the football field and diamond. Billy Joe Tolliver, set to play in his first USGA championship (he qualified for the 2020 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball only to see COVID end that achievement), spent 11 seasons in the NFL as a quarterback with six different teams, including the San Diego Chargers, the franchise that selected him in the second round of the 1989 NFL Draft out of Texas Tech. In 1991, he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons where he competed alongside rookie Brett Favre, who was eventually dealt to the Green Bay Packers. Tolliver finished his career with 10,760 passing yards and 59 touchdowns.
Tim Rypien didn’t play in the NFL, but he was drafted by both the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays and advanced as high as Double-A baseball before becoming a teacher in the Spokane (Wash.) School District. His brother, Mark, however, was a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback for Washington during his 12-year NFL career, and his son, Brett, is currently a backup quarterback with the Chicago Bears. Another brother, Dave, pitched for Team Canada in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Mark is here at The Honors Course serving as his brother’s caddie.
This will be Rypien’s second U.S. Senior Amateur.
Joe Hillman also briefly played professional baseball, but was better known for his shooting touch than batting average. Hillman was a member of Indiana University's 1987 NCAA Championship basketball team that defeated Syracuse on Keith Smart's last-second shot. This is his second consecutive U.S. Senior Amateur and third USGA championship.
David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.
