CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE. Tomorrow is the opening round of the US Women’s Amateur and Jordan will first take the T at 2:36. (Click for details and a TON of pics)

USGA events are the pinnacle of golf tournaments. Being in one is the goal of all young players. Each event is run in the very same manner as the best professional tour events. The venues are steeped in history, the kinds of courses that are on every serious players bucket list. To get here an have your name on the Tee sheet is already a major victory. 1422 applied (those were the ones out of tens of thousands who did not meet the criteria to even apply) and only 10%, 156 earned their spot. Of those 156, 50 were exempted in so truly it was about 100 of the 1422.

It is truly exciting to be here for Jordan and they treat the players with the respect and true reverence they have earned by getting here. Each player gets a parking pass to come right up to the club house. Everyone else, including the members of the club have to park offsite and take a shuttle bus up. The players and their caddy’s are “Behind the ropes” where every other mere mortal has to watch from afar. The Men’s locker room has been transformed into the Players Only locker room and the patio and restaurant area also are for players only. Even the restrooms have signs on them telling everyone to “give preference to the players.” From the moment they step on the property they are made to feel special.

The registration and sign in includes the players signing the flags, getting a personal tour of the facilities showing them the stations in the players areas with everything from smoothie stations to walls of candy and snacks, drinks, etc. They are given a locker full of gifts and everyday more stuff shows up in their lockers.

Official Outfit given to each player

The stuff in her locker from day one including a hand painted head cover from a famous local artist with her name on it

The mobile tour workshops from Titleist, Ping, and Taylor Made are here and up and running. If you have a problem with any of your clubs or need gear, or a re-grip, they do it for you immediately, gratis, no questions asked.

B introducing herself to the Titleist guys (her rep was on the course somewhere).

Last night was the opening reception where each player got to bring a guest (B brought dad) for incredible food and drinks and a special musical guest…Luke Bryan who played for the 150 of them after playing a sold out stadium of 45,000 the night before. Below are scenes from the party:

Jordan’s first coach Jerry Yochum and his wife PJ made the trip with her and dad. B arrived in Chattanooga on Saturday at 2 in the afternoon then walked the course with Jerry and Caddy Brad who made the trip up from Pinehurst to again be on the bag.

Yesterday was the first practice round and today the second. As is her tradition before a tournament, B will have a pasta dinner this evening. Our friend Scott “ScooterPie” Frey will fly in this evening from NY and Gary “Special K” Krueger will also join us driving up from Nashville in the morning. They both have walked the course with dad during her tournaments, Scott at Hampshire and Gary in Alabama for an AJGA event a few years back. Yesterday our friend Jeff Balzer who lives in Chattanooga walked the practice round with dad and will come back on Thursday for the round of 64.

Jerry “the Mentalist” with B on 8 during today’s practice round

The Beautiful Honors Course

The Trophy

There is a ton to read about this 126 year old event. The link to the tournament website is below for anyone who wants to learn more about it.

https://championships.usga.org/uswomensamateur.html

This afternoon Jordan will do what she loves most in a new spot, she will hit the local consignment shops looking for the hidden gems that she always finds, usually with something first for SuperSupportive Sister Lyla and SuperMom before herself. This evening she and Coach Carl will have the final briefing before Jordan will go into battle tomorrow.

This course is very very difficult. For those who understand golf, the rating is 79.2 /152 and will be played from 6450 yards. There are a ton of ways to get into trouble including long carry’s over fescue and water from the T box, island greens surrounded on 3 sides by H20 and Bermuda grass that literally eats the ball if you should venture off the fairway. The greens are shaved super tight rolling about a 14 and there are very few flat spots to land ones ball. None of the putts are simple or straightforward. They have assembled 156 of the best amateur golfers in the world and they are going to make them earn every bogey, par, and birdie. There are no par 5’s that anyone can reach in 2. With all of that said, Jordan had two very solid practice rounds and Jerry, Brad, and B are feeling confident about tomorrow.

As for the format of the tournament, tomorrow and Wednesday are stroke play for all 156 players. After the last player finishes on Wednesday, the field is cut to the top 64 players who play on Thursday for the first round of match play. Everyone else goes home. Each round is the same with the field getting cut in half each time. Friday morning is the round 32, Friday afternoon the round of 16. Saturday morning is the quarter finals, the round of 8, Saturday afternoon is the semi finals, the top 4, then only two will play the final on Sunday for all of the marbles. Live television coverage begins on Thursday from 11am to 2pm on the golf channel. You will find the full viewing schedule on the tournament link above.

That’s all for now. Thank you for taking an interest in Jordan. We are so incredibly grateful for all of the texts, calls, and emails. Link to the live leaderboard is below.

Almost forgot to introduce Jordan’s favorite member of the Honor’s Club Staff, LULU

https://championships.usga.org/uswomensamateur/2026/scoring.html