U.S. Girls' Junior Welcomes USGA President

 By Beth Murrison, USGA

Fort Worth, Texas – In the 25 years that ‘Nez Muhleman has been serving on the USGA Girls' Junior Championship Committee, she can't ever remember the United States Golf Association's top officer attending the championship.

Until Saturday.

USGA President Fred Ridley of Tampa, Fla., made the trip to Mira Vista Golf Club in Fort Worth to observe the final match between Julieta Granada and Jane Park. 

For Ridley, the 1975 U.S. Amateur champion and a participant in the 1969 U.S. Junior Amateur, the opportunity to watch the championship final was part of a deal he made with himself.

USGA President Fred Ridley and Martha Lang, Chairman of the USGA Girls' Junior Championship committee and 1988 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur champion, follow the flight of a ball during Saturday's championship final at Mira Vista. (Sam Greenwood/USGA)

“If you look at everything the USGA does, there's nothing we do that is either more important or that we do better than running championships,” he said.  “So I decided that I was going to try to go to every championship at least once during the two years that I'm president.”

So far during the 2004 season, Ridley has been to the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women's Open, in addition to the Girls' Junior. His to-do list for the rest of this year includes the U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur.

The USGA's role in junior golf is a subject of great importance to Ridley, whose first involvement in the administrative side of the game came in the 1980s when he served on the board of directors for the Greater Tampa Junior Golf Association.

“I just think that this is what the game is all about, is to watch these young kids who have come up through the ranks and developed not only their games, but also how they conduct themselves out on the golf course,” he said. “I was really impressed today with Julieta and Jane. You could tell they were competitors going against each other, but they were friends and they were having a good time with one another.”

Alli Jarrett, regional affairs director for the USGA and director of the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, spoke to Ridley at this year's Women's Open, when Ridley said he was considering coming to Fort Worth. 

Not only did he make the trip, he brought his wife Betsy and daughter Sydney, a junior golfer herself, along as well.

“To have Fred here, I don't know if I've ever been more proud,” said Jarrett.  “That he would give up his time to be here shows how passionate he really is about junior golf.  I think he saw firsthand that this is the future of the women's game.”

That he did, getting to watch a championship final that featured sharp play all day.  In fact, Ridley actually got to watch more golf than he expected, as the two players needed extra holes to decide things, with Granada taking the victory in 20 holes.

“It was a great eye-opener for me, not having seen junior girls play in a long time, how the talent has increased in the past 10 or 15 years,” Ridley said.  “I haven't seen much better ball striking than I did out there today.”

Beth Murrison is a Manager with USGA Media Relations. E-mail her with questions or comments at bmurrison@usga.org .

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