Below is a listing of independent events that provide exemptions into respective USGA Championships under the State/AGA/Regional/National Amateur Exemption Category. Please note that this is not a complete list of championship exemptions, which are published in the Informational PDF on the USGA’s Apply to Play page at champ-admin.usga.org.
For more information on the criteria used for determining exemptions, please click here.
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Championship
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Exemption Information
Click the individual championship below for specific information on the established exemption criteria. Exemptions will be determined based on the below criteria using WAGR event Power data from 2021-23. All exemptions will take effect beginning in 2024. Exemptions for subsequent years will be evaluated each fall using the previous three years of WAGR® (World Amateur Golf Ranking®) event Power data (i.e. 2025 exemptions will utilize data from 2022-24).
Defined by the geographic boundaries of the United States (50 states)
Must be a WAGR-ranked event in the previous year
Must have eligibility requirement that limits participation to residents or association members of that state.
Only one championship per state may qualify for exemption under this category.
AGA Amateur Championships not defined by specific state boundaries
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average WAGR event Power of 50 or greater (3-year rolling average)
Only applies to those AGA’s who are not defined by specific state boundaries. Only one championship per AGA may qualify for exemption.
Regional Amateur Championships with affiliation to an AGA
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average WAGR event Power of 100 or greater (3-year rolling average)
Must be affiliated with or conducted by an AGA (i.e. Pacific Northwest Amateur, New England Amateur, etc…)
National Amateur Championships conducted within the United States
A full exemption will be granted to any National Amateur Championship conducted within the United States that has an average event Power of 600 or greater (3-year rolling average)
Local Exemption Criteria
State/AGA Amateur Championships
All State/AGA Amateur champions who received a full exemption to the Championship in previous year will be locally exempt for the following year’s championship.
A 2024 state amateur champion is fully exempt to the 2024 U.S. Amateur and will receive a local exemption in 2025 (1 year full exemption, 1 year locally exempt)
A 2024 state amateur champion who is fully exempt in 2025 (due to the date of the championship) would be locally exempt in 2026.
For State/AGA amateur championships with a 3-year average event Power of 100 or greater, the top 5 or quarterfinalists will receive an exemption from local qualifying for the following year.
For State/AGA amateur championships with a 3-year average event Power of 50 or greater, the top 3 or semifinalists will receive an exemption from local qualifying for the following year.
For State/AGA amateur championships with a 3-year average event Power below 50, the runner-up will receive an exemption from local qualifying for the following year.
For State/AGA amateur championships that do not meet the WAGR threshold or are not ranked in WAGR, the champion will receive an exemption from local qualifying for the following year.
For 2024 only, all 2023 State/AGA Amateur Champions will be locally exempt.
Defined by the geographic boundaries of the United States (50 states) plus Puerto Rico
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average event Power of 40 or higher (3-year rolling average)
For events not currently ranked in WAGR or who do not have a 3-year history of being ranked in WAGR:
Average event Power of 50 or greater in the two most recent years, or;
Event Power of 50 or greater in the most recent year
Only one championship per state may qualify for exemption under this category.
AGA Amateur Championships not defined by specific state boundaries
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average WAGR event Power of 50 or greater (3-year rolling average)
For events not currently ranked in WAGR or who do not have a 3-year history of being ranked in WAGR:
Average event Power of 60 or greater in the two most recent years, or;
Event Power of 60 or greater in the most recent year
Only applies to those AGA’s who are not defined by specific state boundaries. Only one championship per AGA may qualify for exemption.
Regional Amateur Championships with affiliation to an AGA
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average WAGR event Power of 100 or greater (3-year rolling average)
National Amateur Championships conducted within the United States
A full exemption will be granted to any National Amateur Championship conducted within the United States that has an average event Power of 600 or greater (3-year rolling average)
Age or eligibility-restricted events are excluded (i.e. junior, collegiate etc..)
Defined by the geographic boundaries of the United States (50 states) plus Puerto Rico
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average event Power of 20 or higher (3-year rolling average)
For events not currently ranked in WAGR or who do not have a 3-year history of being ranked in WAGR:
Average event Power of 25 or greater in the two most recent years, or;
Event Power of 25 or greater in the most recent year
Only one championship per state may qualify for exemption under this category.
AGA Junior Amateur Championships not defined by specific state boundaries
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average WAGR event Power of 25 or greater (3-year rolling average)
For events not currently ranked in WAGR or who do not have a 3-year history of being ranked in WAGR:
Average event Power of 27.5 or greater in the two most recent years, or;
Event Power of 27.5 or greater in the most recent year
Only applies to those AGA’s who are not defined by specific state boundaries. Only one championship per AGA may qualify for exemption.
Regional Junior Amateur Championships with affiliation to an AGA
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average WAGR event Power of 35 or greater (3-year rolling average)
National Junior Amateur Championships conducted within the United States
A full exemption will be granted to any National Amateur Championship conducted within the United States that has an average event Power of 300 or greater (3-year rolling average)
Defined by the geographic boundaries of the United States (50 states) plus Puerto Rico
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average event Power of 25 or higher (3-year rolling average)
For events not currently ranked in WAGR or who do not have a 3-year history of being ranked in WAGR:
Average event Power of 30 or greater in the two most recent years, or;
Event Power of 30 or greater in the most recent year
Only one championship per state may qualify for exemption under this category.
AGA Junior Amateur Championships not defined by specific state boundaries
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average WAGR event Power of 30 or greater (3-year rolling average)
For events not currently ranked in WAGR or who do not have a 3-year history of being ranked in WAGR:
Average event Power of 27.5 or greater in the two most recent years, or;
Event Power of 27.5 or greater in the most recent year
Only applies to those AGA’s who are not defined by specific state boundaries. Only one championship per AGA may qualify for exemption.
Regional Junior Amateur Championships with affiliation to an AGA
Must be a WAGR-ranked event with an average WAGR event Power of 40 or greater (3-year rolling average)
National Junior Amateur Championships conducted within the United States
A full exemption will be granted to any National Junior Amateur Championship conducted within the United States that has an average event Power of 400 or greater (3-year rolling average)
Additional Information
The exemption cutoff date for all USGA Championships will be eight (8) days prior to the first day of the Championship proper. Eight days is the Sunday before advance week for these four Championships, which all start on a Monday.
Ex) The 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship will begin on August 12. The cutoff date for state amateur exemptions to be claimed in 2024 will be August 4. All state amateurs where the intended conclusion is on August 4th or earlier will receive an exemption to the 2024 Championship. All state amateurs with an intended finish of August 5th or later will have their champions receive their exemption into the 2025 Championship.
Clarification on how WAGR ranking thresholds were determined
In order to determine the WAGR event Power thresholds for each championship, a considerable amount of research was conducted to assess the correlation between State/AGA amateur championships and qualifying. Ultimately, the quality and strength of players receiving an exemption through the new qualifying model needed to reflect the quality and strength of players that previously earned a spot through qualifying. In looking at the historical event Power data across all events and the quality of champions produced at these events, a corresponding event Power threshold was determined that will provide a large number of State/AGA championships with an exemption while also ensuring that each respective USGA championship has the strongest field possible within their respective demographic.
