Oakmont will host 2003 U.S. Amateur

OAKMONT, Pa. -- Oakmont Country Club has been chosen to host the 2003 U.S. Amateur in August.

The Pittsburgh Field Club in Fox Chapel will join Oakmont to stage the two-day qualifier involving 312 golfers.

It will be the fifth time Oakmont has hosted the U.S. Amateur since 1919, when Oakmont member Davy Herron defeated 17-year-old Bobby Jones.

Jones came back to win the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont in 1925. Amateur Willie Turnesa won there in 1938, followed by Steve Melnyk in 1969.

Oakmont has hosted 12 national championships since the 1919 U.S. Amateur, including seven U.S. Opens and one U.S. Women's Open. It also hosted three PGA championships.

Oakmont members have lobbied since 1994 to host a major U.S. Golf Association event in conjunction with the centennial of the club, which was designed and built by steel tycoon Henry Clay Fownes in 1903.

Pittsburgh Field Club, site of the 1937 National PGA Championship, hasn't staged a major golf championship since the 1959 Western Open, in which Mike Souchak defeated Arnold Palmer by one stroke.

TRW