Despite rain, Fox Chapel to be tough test for U.S. Senior Women's Open field
By Josh Rowntree, Director of Communications • July 28, 2024
Whether you’ve played the stunning layout of Fox Chapel Golf Club or not, one look at it and it becomes clear why those able to take it on come away feeling tested.
The Club plays host this week to the 6th U.S. Senior Women’s Open and, through the practice rounds, players have been left with the feeling that they’ll certainly be in for a challenge when competition rounds begin Thursday.
“It's a good golf course,” said seven-time major champion Juli Inkster. “You have to drive the ball straight. You can't play out of the rough. The bunkers are very penalizing… It tests all aspects of your game: driving, iron play and short game.”
The squared bunkers are what separates Fox Chapel Golf Club from other courses, both ones local and beyond. There’s not only plenty of them, but they’re strategically located both in fairways —lining the sides and smack-dab in the middle — and around greens, bringing precision to the forefront for any player hoping for a solid week.
“Every hole out here is a test,” added Inkster of the Seth Raynor designed course that has stood on Fox Chapel Road for the last century. “I mean, you’ve got to lay back on some of the holes because the driver puts you right in the bunkers. Or you got to just go for it and hit it where you should hit it. Sometimes you’ve just got to hit the shots.”
In 2020, the course went through a renovation in which the bunkers were expanded on and pushed further down the course to challenge today’s longer distances off the tee.
On top of that, the USGA will change teeing locations to provide different looks for competitors as they attempt to reach the greens that, despite heavy rains throughout the practice rounds — and more expected — should still roll plenty quickly.
“I think it's fun,” said women’s golf legend Annika Sorenstam. “I love the setup. I think USGA has done a great job so far. The different tees, the options, moving tees forward and then having different angles in, different clubs.
“It makes you think, and I love that about golf courses. You don't take anything for granted. Go out there, maybe have another approach to it and attack the course differently.”
And, in standard Western Pennsylvania fashion, the slick greens will quite possibly provide the biggest challenge of all.
“The course is in fabulous shape,” added Donna Andrews. “The greens are so smooth, I said it was like putting on a tabletop out there.”
For several players, including Andrews, this will be a return to Fox Chapel, which is hosting its fourth USGA championship, but first since 2002.
That said, they won’t be seeing the same club or course that they did years ago.
“The first thing I looked at was the clubhouse, and I said, ‘I don't remember the clubhouse looking like that,’” said Andrews, a six-time LPGA Tour winner who took on the course at the 1985 U.S. Women’s Amateur. “And they said, ‘good for you, because we've added on to it a couple times.’ I said, ‘good, that makes me feel better because I didn't recognize it at all.’”
Fox Chapel has also hosted the 1965 U.S. Senior Amateur.
The course sustained heavy rains and light flooding in some spots on Tuesday, wiping out the entire slate of practice rounds. It drained overnight, allowing practice rounds to go off Wednesday, with conditions becoming much drier for when play begins in full Thursday.
The mid-week spike in heat and the immaculate attention paid to the course by the club’s staff and the USGA will provide the field with the challenge that locals know well: Fox Chapel is fun, but a grind.
And now the game’s very best senior women’s players get to experience it for their ultimate prize.
For media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
About the WPGA
Founded in 1899, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association is the steward of amateur golf in the region. Started by five Member Clubs, the association now has nearly 200 Member Clubs and 34,000 members. The WPGA conducts 14 individual competitions and 10 team events, and administers the WPGA Scholarship Fund and Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame.