The amateur championships.

The U.S. Amateur

Background

The first U.S. Amateur was played at Newport in Rhode Island, where Charles Blair Macdonald beat Charles E. Sands 12 and 11, according to History.com, which places the first national championships in the autumn of 1894; Wikipedia and USGA records give 1895. The trophy, the Havemeyer Trophy, is named after Theodore Havemeyer, the first USGA president, according to Wikipedia.

How it works

The Golf News Net's 2025 preview describes the format:

• Stroke play: 312 players play 36 holes over two days.
• Match play: the top 64 go through to match play.
• The final: scheduled over 36 holes, with morning and afternoon rounds.

The champion keeps the Havemeyer Trophy for a year. A search summary of 2025 previews says the winner is also exempt from qualifying for the next 10 U.S. Amateurs and earns a place in the next U.S. Open, and is likely to be invited to the next Masters while still an amateur.

Champions, 2023 to 2026

• 2023: Dunlap, a 19-year-old sophomore at Alabama, became the second player after Tiger Woods to win both the U.S. Junior Amateur and the U.S. Amateur (USGA).
• 2024: Ballester won on his 21st birthday in the final on 18 August 2024. He was the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Amateur, and the USGA says he was only the second Spanish winner of any USGA championship, after Jon Rahm at the 2021 U.S. Open.
• 2025: Howell, 18, from Thomasville, Georgia, entered match play as the 63rd seed. NBC Sports called him the third-youngest champion, after Byeong Hun An and Danny Lee.
• 2026: Whaley, 22, from Doncaster, won the 36-hole final on 16 August 2026 with his father Andy as his caddie. AP reported that Leng led 2 up after the first 18 holes (search summary). Whaley was the first English winner since Matt Fitzpatrick at Brookline in 2013.

The Amateur Championship

The R&A's Amateur Championship had 36-hole match-play finals in 2024 and 2025, and its champion can earn a place in The Open: a search summary says Ethan Fang's 2025 win earned him a spot in the 2025 Open at Royal Portrush. We did not collect the full format, and the R&A's past-winners page only loaded its most recent entries.

Champions, 2024 to 2026

• 2024: Skov Olesen was the first Danish winner. He turned professional in November 2024 and so gave up the Masters invitation the title would have brought him in 2025 (search summary of AmateurGolf.com).
• 2025: Played from 16 to 21 June 2025, Fang's win made him the first American champion since Drew Weaver in 2007.
• 2026: Grehan is from County Louth. A search summary of GolfBible says he is a reinstated amateur and was one down at lunch in the final; we could not confirm those details elsewhere. The 2026 dates were not part of our research.

Amateur team matches

Amateurs also play in two team matches, the Walker Cup (men) and the Curtis Cup (women), both contested between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland. The United States won the 2025 Walker Cup and the 2026 Curtis Cup; see team cups for the scores.

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