NEWPORT, R.I. — The U.S. Senior Open seemingly will be played in the City-by-the-Sea after all.
The tournament for golfers 50 and older, which was scheduled to be held at Newport Country Club in June 2020 but canceled because of the COVID pandemic, is expected to be staged at the famed club in the summer of 2024.
Barclay Douglas, longtime president of Newport Country Club, told The Daily News on Monday that nothing is official, but the “contract is almost completed.”
According to the U.S. Golf Association website, the Senior Open will be played at Omaha Country Club in Nebraksa in 2021; Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 2022; and SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in 2023. The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will host the event in 2025.
The year 2024 is listed as “to be decided.” USGA officials did not immediately reply to emails from The Daily News. An official announcement from the governing body is expected in April.
Planning for the 2020 Senior Open, which would have been the first USGA event at Newport Country Club since the Women’s Open in 2006, started in April 2017 with an announcement at the Newport Marriott.
Less than 100 days before the first tee shot, the USGA pulled the plug on the tournament — one of several events that were canceled.
“We did everything except to have the championship,” said Douglas, who highlighted the “terrific” work of the USGA.
Should all the details be finalized, the tournament will be held the final week of June in 2024, Douglas said. “It’s a great time of the year, just before the big rush,” he said. “It’s great for the city and the state.”
The fact the USGA is returning to Newport is no real surprise. With its historic clubhouse, Newport Country Club hosted the inaugural U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in 1895. In more recent times, the course was the site of the 1995 U.S. Amateur, when a young Tiger Woods prevailed, and the 2006 Women’s Open won by Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam.
After it was announced the Senior Open would be canceled in April 2020, Douglas said another USGA event at Newport Country Club would come down to “scheduling.” He added the game’s governing body in the United States “enjoys Newport.”
“To be continued,” he said at the time.