Three separate qualifiers are being held throughout the state this week to determine the field for the 90th Washington State Men's Amateur Championship, with the championship proper to be held August 9-11 at historic Tacoma Country & Golf Club in Lakewood, Wash.
The championship and the qualifiers are conducted by the Washington State Golf Association (WSGA).
The sites of the three 18-hole qualifiers are the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash. (July 26), and will have 28 players advancing; Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Wash. (July 27), and will have 12 players advancing; and The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. (July 28), which will have 28 players advancing.
Pairings, tee times, live scoring and results for each qualifier can be found on www.thewsga.org.
The three-day championship proper will consist of 54 holes of stroke play, with the field cut to the low 60 players and ties after 36 holes. The size of the field in the championship will be 120 players, 52 of which have earned exemption into the championship based on criteria previously set forth. The remainder of the field is being filled with players who have qualified at one of the three qualifying sites.
The state's premier men's amateur championship traditionally attracts the region's finest players. Last year, Charles Kern of Mercer Island, Wash. won the championship on his way to being named the 2015 WSGA Men's Player of the Year. In 2014, University of Washington senior Tyler Salsbury of Enumclaw, Wash. held on for a one-stroke victory. In 2013, Cameron Peck of Olympia, Wash. dominated the field in winning by five shots, with the championship being held at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. Peck would also win that summer's Pacific Northwest Men's Amateur and be named the 2013 WSGA Men's Player of the Year. Four years ago, Chris Williams won by 10 shots on the Eagles Pride Golf Course at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Williams, from Moscow, Idaho, starred on the University of Washington men's golf team, becoming at one point the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, and would become the 2012 WSGA Men's Player of the Year.
Past champions of the Washington State Men's Amateur include Fred Couples, Alex Prugh, Brock Mackenzie, Kermit Zarley, John Bodenhamer, and PNGA 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 an original founding club of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association.
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).
