By John Cinnamon
While Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel may grab the headlines with its major golf championships and PGA Tour events, The Hawthorns Golf and Country Club here in Fishers has quietly carved a niche for itself as a highly sought-after venue for national qualifying tournaments and regional championships. On May 7, for the third time in its relatively brief history, The Hawthorns was the site of a U.S. Open qualifying tournament. And that was the goal 20 years ago when renowned golf course architect Arthur Hills – known for his work with the United States Golf Association and the PGA of America – was chosen to design the course.
“We wanted to have a championship-caliber golf course,” explained Jason Diaz, PGA Executive Director of Golf at The Hawthorns, “one that would be ideal to attract local, regional, and some smaller national events.” It worked. The course opened for play in 1994 and the very next year hosted its first USGA-sanctioned event, a qualifying tournament for the U.S. Amateur Championship. The club followed that up in 1996 with its first U.S. Open Local Qualifier. When it comes to choosing a golf course to host a U.S. Open preliminary event, the USGA leaves it to a given state’s governing body. In Indiana, that’s the Indiana Golf Association.
“They (the IGA) reach out to facilities that they feel would be an appropriate venue that would be consistent with the U.S. Open,” said Diaz.
Since 1995, The Hawthorns – set among the gently rolling hills of the Hamilton Proper subdivision between Brooks School Rd. and Hoosier Rd. – has been the site of almost yearly regional tournaments, including the Indiana PGA Championship (2003), the NCAA Men’s Division III National Championship (2007), and the Indianapolis Open (2009), among others. In 2012, women’s professional golf came to The Hawthorns with the My Marsh Classic, an event on the LPGA’s developmental Symetra Tour.
Looking ahead, the club is scheduled to host the 2015 Indiana State Boys Championship (“the biggest tournament in the state”), and is being considered for the 2017 State Amateur Championship. For 2019 and beyond, “We’re engaging in some conversation with the USGA about bringing a (championship) event here,” said Diaz.
The owner of the club, Hamilton Proper Partners Golf Partnership LP, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January of this year, but Diaz said that’s not been an issue in the club’s conversations with the USGA or IGA for future events.
“It’s had no impact whatsoever,” he said.
