Thursday, October 1, 2026
Golfers across the metropolitan area will have the opportunity to qualify to compete in one of the top championships in amateur golf, as the Seawane Club in Hewlett will be one of 45 local qualifying sites for the 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship.
The U.S. Amateur Championship is considered the premier national annual golf tournaments in for amateur golfers. The United States Golf Association organizes the tournament.
To qualify for the tournament, golfers must have a handicap of 2.4 or better. A golf handicap is a numerical representation of a player’s ability, allowing competitors of different skill levels to play on an even field.
Alex Smith, the PGA head professional at the Seawane Club, said they are eager to see some of the region’s best amateurs test their skills on the course.
“I think this is definitely one of the bigger events that we have hosted,” Smith said. “We have had a lot of big events at the club in my time, increasingly so, and we have some more coming up that we’re excited about that have yet to be announced. To have a 2.4 handicap index, that’s top 1 percent, if not top .5 percent of golfers, so we’re excited to host it, and excited for the competitors to come out and get a chance to see the course.”
Amateurs compete in sectional qualifiers, with top performers advancing to the national qualifying round. The winners from that round will move on to the finals, which will be held at the Olympic Club in San Francisco from Aug. 11 to 17.
A total of 120 amateur golfers from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have signed up to compete in the U.S. Amateur Championship’s opening round at the Seawane Club.
Ryan Bell, the golf course superintendent, said he and his team prepare for this event as if it were the Masters, putting extra effort into ensuring the course meets championship standards.
“We definitely step it up a notch when we have big events,” Bell said. “I call it preparing for the Masters, but it’s kind of like our Super Bowl. We try and get the green speeds faster than normal, we try and get the greens to 13 to 14 feet, so we’re rolling the greens, cutting the greens more often, and just putting a lot more into speeding up the golf course for championship golf versus everyday member play.”
The U.S. Amateur Championship has been held since 1895, with winners earning invitations to some of golf’s most prestigious tournaments, including the aforementioned Masters and the U.S. Open, along with an exemption from qualifying for the next 10 U.S. amateur championships.
Past winners of the U.S. Amateur Championship include Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Jerome Travers.
Jared Brecher, one of the Seawane Club owners, said he is proud to bring high-caliber events back to the course.
“Myself and a business partner (Dan Klein) purchased the club back in 2019 when it was going through a hard time, and the club used to host significant tournaments like this before this hard time happened,” Brecher said. “So we’re very proud to put Seawane back on the map as a competitive course in the metropolitan section.”
The Seawane Club will host the qualifying round of the U.S. Amateur Championship on June 2.
