Chambers Bay set to host fourth USGA championship

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — Bruce Charlton was one of the lead designers on the construction of Chambers Bay, with the intention it would become a regular in the rotation of USGA championships.

Chambers Bay, where Jordan Spieth won the 2015 U.S. Open, hosts its fourth USGA championship in early August with the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

“I’m really anxious to see how the USGA sets it up for the women players to take some attack angles because there’s a lot of that out there,” said Charlton, the president and chief design officer of Robert Trent Jones II Golf Architects. “It’ll be fun to watch that.”

But its future beyond this championship remains as cloudy as the Seattle area in the fall.

Chambers Bay believed it was going to be part of a progression that potentially would lead it back to another U.S. Open. The public course held the USGA Four-Ball Amateur last year and was widely praised. It was the first event on renovated greens that were the ire of players — and an eyesore for spectators — during the 2015 Open.

Next up is the Women’s Amateur, which was thought to be followed by a Women’s Open. But when the USGA announced future Women’s Open sites earlier this year and went out through 2031 — and in some years beyond — Chambers Bay was nowhere to be found.

Charlton said while there was disappointment, he remains hopeful one of the major USGA championships will return to the course.

“I really do believe it’s a matter of time. Obviously, you would like to see that kind of major championship come back and test the course again. I think it will,” Charlton said. “Indications are that it’s still very strong in the consideration for those kinds of championships. ... We know it’s on the radar screen.”