Cinderella stories are part of golf. However, most of the time it’s about players and not places.
For years, the Inverness Club – a venue for six major championships and designed by Donald Ross in Toledo, Ohio – seemed an unlikely candidate to rejoin the modern US Open roster. As the national championship moved increasingly to a small circle of anchorages and the modern game made many older courses obsolete for the best male players, Inverness came to be seen as a relic of an earlier era: a great design, but no national championship.
That changed on Saturday.
The United States Golf Association, meeting in New York for its annual meetings, confirmed that Inverness will host the 2045 US Open, headlining a trio of additional championships, complemented by the 2033 US Girls’ Junior and the 2036 US Women’s Amateur. The announcement was anticipated after reporting by the Toledo Sheetcalling the news a “monumental” coup, and a statement from Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz saying the decision dispelled the “myth” that the Toledo market was not strong enough to deserve such an honor.
The 2045 Championship marks the fifth US Open contested at Inverness and the 13th USGA Championship held at the club overall. The course is already slated to host the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2029 U.S. Amateur, underscoring what has become a renewed partnership between the governing body and one of the Midwest’s most storied venues.
USGA CEO Mike Whan said in a statement that Inverness provides a championship setting consistent with the organization’s competitive standards, noting its history of hosting events ranging from national opens to elite amateur competitions.
For Inverness, the award represents a notable revival of the championship.
The club first hosted the US Open in 1920, when Ted Ray captured the title in an event notable for Bobby Jones’ US Open debut. Subsequent US Opens, in 1931 and 1957, ended in play-offs, before Hale Irwin won level in 1979, two strokes ahead of Gary Player and Jerry Pate.
Despite that resume – which also includes the 1986 and 1993 PGA Championships – Inverness gradually faded from the championship spotlight. As professional golf entered an era defined by distance and infrastructure demands, the course was considered by some to be too short to challenge modern players, as Toledo competed for attention with nearby major championship markets such as Detroit’s Oakland Hills Country Club and western Pennsylvania’s Oakmont Country Club.
Inverness’s prospects appeared to deteriorate further when the USGA began to emphasize anchor venues for the US Open – repeatedly returning to venues such as Pinehurst No. 2 and Pebble Beach Golf Links – with championships scheduled through 2044 already scheduled. But against mounting odds, Inverness attempted to re-establish itself as a Championship stage.
Key to that effort was a 2017–2018 renovation by architect Andrew Green, who reworked the trail to better reflect the strategic principles of Ross’s Golden Age design. The project reopened playing corridors, expanded greens and restored design features that had been changed during a 1970s overhaul prior to the 1979 US Open.
The changes helped reshape perception. Inverness hosted the 2019 US Junior Amateur and the 2021 Solheim Cup. Then came the USGA’s decision to award the club the 2029 US Amateur. There were increasing indications that the course was again in the sights of the governing body.
The latest announcement extends that trajectory while delivering a major moment for Toledo, a Rust Belt city hit hard by a declining industrial economy and decades of population decline.
Saturday’s news is also another step in the golf belt for Ohio. Through 2025, the state has hosted a total of 41 USGA championships, one of the highest totals in the country.
Inverness’ announcement came as part of a wider series of future championship selections unveiled by the USGA. National Golf Links of America on Long Island will host the 2040 Walker Cup, while Cypress Point Club in California will host the 2042 Curtis Cup and the 2048 Walker Cup. Seminole Golf Club in Florida was awarded the 2046 Curtis Cup and the 2052 Walker Cup.
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