The 90th Washington State Men's Amateur Championship is set to take place August 9-11 at historic Tacoma Country & Golf Club in Lakewood, Wash. The championship will consist of 54 holes of stroke play, with the field cut to the low 60 players and ties after 36 holes. The three-day championship is being conducted by the Washington State Golf Association.
The first tee time for the first round is 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 9. First and second round pairings can be found here. For full details on the championship, click here.
To follow along with live scoring, visit this link. Follow the championship on Twitter at the handles @WSGA1922 and @WSGAChampions for live updates and news and use the hashtag #WSGAMensAm.
This year's championship received a record number of entries, as 301 competitors vied for a spot in the field of 120 players who will compete in the championship proper. There were 52 players who had earned exemption into the championship based on criteria previously set forth, and three 18-hole qualifiers were held around the state to fill out the remainder of the final field.
The Washington State Men's Amateur is a counting event for the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Some of the notable names in this year's strong field include:
- Past champions Tyler Salsbury (2014), a senior on the University of Washington men's golf team; Karl Smith (1994) of Gig Harbor; and Bob Burton (1975) of Everett.
- Frank Garber of Kirkland, Wash., a sophomore at the University of Washington who finished runner-up in the 2014 championship, and was named the WSGA Junior Boys' Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013. Frank's father, Rick Garber, won this championship in 1985.
- Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake, Idaho, the 2015 WSGA Men's Mid-Amateur Player of the Year who last week was the qualifying co-medalist for the U.S. Mid-Amateur.
- Sam Warkentin of Bainbridge Island, Wash. who earlier this month won his third consecutive WJGA State Championship. He was named the 2015 WSGA Junior Boys' Player of the Year, and in the fall will be a freshman playing for the University of Washington men's golf team.
- Aaron Whalen of Ephrata, Wash., a sophomore on the Washington State University men's golf team who finished sixth last month at the Pacific Coast Amateur.
- Aaron's older brother Andrew Whalen is also in the field. Last month Andrew, a senior at Northwestern University, finished runner-up in the PNGA Men's Amateur, and earlier this year qualified for and played in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.
- Derek Bayley of Rathdrum, Idaho, Aaron Whalen's teammate at WSU, whose summer includes victories in the Idaho State Amateur and the Rosauers Open Invitational in which he beat a field of professionals by shooting a tournament record score that included a 59 in the second round.
Past champions of the Washington State Amateur include Fred Couples, Alex Prugh, Brock Mackenzie, Chris Williams, Kermit Zarley, John Bodenhamer, and Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Famers Al Mengert, Bud Ward, Jack Westland and Harry Givan, among many others.
Founded in 1894, Tacoma Country & Golf Club is the oldest golf club in the U.S. west of the Mississippi, and one of the original founding clubs of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).
Originally designed in its current location by the great Canadian architect Stanley Thompson, the club has been the site of numerous national championships, including the 1961 U.S. Women's Amateur, 1984 U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, 1994 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur and the 2007 U.S. Junior Girls'. It has hosted the Washington Open three times (1932, 1997, 1998), and the Northwest Open seven times (1910, 1915, 1925, 1931, 1966, 1979, 1985). It was the site of the first PNGA Championship (1899).
