Rolling Green will host U.S. Women's Amateur in 2016

Rolling Green Golf Club had been waiting for its turn in the national spotlight after restoration work brought back many of the characteristics of the William S. Flynn design when the course opened in 1926.

It has to wait no longer. The U.S. Golf Association announced Monday that the course in Springfield, Delaware County, will host the 2016 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.

Rolling Green hosted its only other USGA championship in 1976, when JoAnne Carner defeated Sandra Palmer in an 18-hole playoff to win the U.S. Women's Open.

Club officials employed Forse Design to begin a bunker restoration project in 2006. The firm then worked on lengthening the course, removing some trees, and repositioning fairways while maintaining Flynn's original routing. The project was completed in early 2009.

USGA vice president Thomas J. O'Toole Jr., championship committee chairman, said the course "has proven to be a formidable test and will undoubtedly present yet another stern challenge" for championship contestants.

The club has been a frequent host of Pennsylvania Golf Association and Golf Association of Philadelphia championships. The Pennsylvania Amateur, won by Andrew Mason of Huntingdon Valley, was held there in July.

The U.S. Women's Amateur was last held in the Philadelphia area in 2003 at Philadelphia Country Club, where Virada Nirapathpongporn defeated Jane Park for the championship. The tournament featured 13-year-old Michelle Wie, who lost in the first round.