History
In 1894, there were two "National Amateur Championship" tournaments, staged in September by the Newport, Rhode Island, Golf Club and in October by St. Andrew's Golf Club of Yonkers, New York.
Charles Blair MacDonald, a founder of the Chicago Golf Club, finished second in both tournaments. He and Henry O. Tallmadge of the St. Andrew's Club then led a move to form a national association to conduct a true national championship.
As a result, the U. S. Golf Association was founded early in 1895 and it staged the first U. S. Amateur Championship at Newport that October, the day before the first U. S. Open. MacDonald was the winner.
There were 32 players in the match-play tournament, with pairings determined by a blind draw. The following year, entrants played a 36-hole preliminary round to determine the seeding.
That was the tournament format until 1947, when the USGA began to hold qualifying rounds because of the large number of entries.
In 1965, the National Amateur went to essentially the same format as the U. S. Open, with sectional qualifying rounds leading up to a 72-hole stroke-play championship tournament.
The tournament went back to match play in 1973. Matches are played at 18 holes, with the championship final at 36 holes in one day.