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The U.S. Women's Open Championship Returns To NJ

Trump National
USGA

The 2017 U.S. Women's Open will be the third USGA championship conducted at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.  It will take place July 10th through the 16th.

Matt Sawicki, Director, U.S. Women's and Senior Women's Open Championships, is the latest guest on the podcast SportsJam with Doug Doyle.

Sawicki is thrilled the championship is headed back to New Jersey for the first time since 1987.

“This course is very special. Whenever you look at a course that is going to host a USGA championship, we want the players to be tested with every golf club that is in their bag. We consider it the ultimate test, not just physical but mental as well. And on all eighteen holes, you have to think your way around that golf course.”

Matt Sawicki
Credit Doug Doyle for WBGO
Matt Sawicki talks about the 72nd U.S. Women's Open Championship with SportsJam host Doug Doyle at WBGO

Sawicki says Trump National has hosted many junior championships in the past.

“The test that was presented to the best juniors in the world, is now going to be extended to the best women players in the world.”

FOX will be televising the U.S. Women's Open Championship.  Sawicki says the network's technology has really helped fans of the sport.

“I just love listening to the dialogue between the player and the caddy. The thought process when the start talking about club selection, wind direction, and aiming points; that’s all the stuff the I grew up with as a kid with amateur players.”

Britanny Lang
Credit USGA
Brittany Lang, an American golfer from Duke University, won last year's U.S. Women's Open Championship

Brittany Lang was last year's event.  Her first major of her career.

Sawicki has spent his entire life around golf.  His father Mike was a caddy and club fitter in St. Louis.  He graduated from the University of Colorado (Boulder) with a Broadcast Journalism degree. 

Sawicki won The Palmer Scholarship at the Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colorado for his work as a young caddy.  The scholarship is in the name of the late great Arnold Palmer who won the 1960 U.S. Open at that course in Denver.  Sawicki says it was a great honor for him to meet Palmer at that time.

Sawicki is a long-time fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Blues.

Click above to hear the entire interview.

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Doug Doyle has been News Director at WBGO since 1998 and has taken his department to new heights in coverage and recognition. Doug and his staff have received more than 250 awards from organizations like PRNDI (now PMJA), AP, New York Association of Black Journalists, Garden State Association of Black Journalists and the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists.