The Washington State Golf Association (WSGA) will be represented by the three-man team of Charlie Kern of Mercer Island, Wash., Frank Garber of Kirkland, Wash. and Tyler Salsbury of Enumclaw, Wash. in the Morse Cup team competition of the 49th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, being held July 28-31 at historic Eugene (Ore.) Country Club.

Taking place concurrently during the first two rounds of the 72-hole stroke play championship will be the battle for the Morse Cup, a 36-hole stroke play team competition using predetermined rosters representing the 15 member Associations of the Pacific Coast Golf Association. The defending champions of the Morse Cup are the contingent from the Southern California Golf Association.

Kern, who just graduated from William & Mary in Virginia, recently tied for seventh at the 2015 Sahalee Players Championship and earlier this month had earned medalist honors and made it to the semifinals of the PNGA Men’s Amateur, losing 1-up to eventual champion Anthony Quayle.

This will be Garber’s third time representing Team WSGA, having competed the past two years as well. Garber is a two-time WSGA Junior Boys’ Player of the Year, and was named the 2013 WJGA Player of the Year and 2013 Junior America’s Cup Most Valuable Player. He will be a sophomore at the University of Washington in the fall.

Salsbury will be a senior at the University of Washington. He won the 2014 WSGA Washington State Amateur, the 2013 Puget Sound Amateur, and was the 2011 WJGA state champion.

Heading back to Eugene Country Club for the first time since 2010 when current PGA Tour player Andrew Putnam claimed victory, the Pacific Coast Amateur is featuring arguably the most competitive field in its history. With 45 NCAA schools being represented by current and alumnus golfers, as well as seven players ranked in the top-30 according to the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (SPWAR) system, this year’s event will draw serious attention on the world golfing stage.

Highlighting the field at this year’s championship will be defending champion Corey Pereira of the University of Washington. Currently ranked No. 23 on SPWAR, Pereira looks to build off his Sahalee Players Championship title earlier this summer.

Likely to challenge for this year’s title will be a pair of University of Texas Longhorns in Mission Viejo, Calif. native Beau Hossler (No. 5 SPWAR) and Scottie Scheffler (No. 15 SPWAR) of Dallas, Tex. Hossler, an upcoming junior with the star-studded Longhorns, recently made the cut at last month’s U.S. Open as well as represented the U.S. at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, Ontario.

Other impressively-ranked notables looking to make a splash in the highly touted field will be the reigning NCAA National Champion from Southern Methodist University, Bryson DeChambeau (No. 2 SPWAR) of Clovis, Calif.; Stanford Cardinal and recent PGA Tour standout as an amateur Maverick McNealy of Portola Valley, Calif.; silver medalist at The Open Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland last weekend, Jordan Niebrugge (No. 3 SPWAR) of Mequon, Wisc.; and Wake Forest Demon Deacon Will Zalatoris (No. 51 SPWAR) of Dallas, Tex.

Zalatoris had a banner 2014, winning the prestigious Trans-Miss Championship and the U.S. Junior Amateur. Having high hopes of a trailblazing 2015, those plans were unfortunately sidetracked by an emergency appendectomy that forced him to the sideline for six weeks back in early June. The Pacific Coast Amateur will be his second competition since the surgery.

All players will be vying for the individual Ed Updegraff Trophy, named after the longtime volunteer and standout amateur golfer who played on three Walker Cup teams (1963, 1965, 1969), won the 1967 Pacific Coast Amateur title and was the 1999 Bob Jones Award recipient from the USGA.

The 72-hole stroke play championship will begin on Tuesday, July 28 at 7:30 am. Guest speaking at the Players Banquet on Monday, July 27 will be John “Spider” Miller, the 2015 Walker Cup Team captain for Team USA. Play will conclude with the eventual champion being crowned on Friday, July 31.

Past champions of the Pacific Coast Amateur who have gone on to successful professional careers include PGA Tour winners Billy Mayfair (1987, 1988), Jason Gore (1997) and Ben Crane (1998) as well as Web.com Tour winners and brothers Michael Putnam (2004) and Andrew Putnam (2010).

For more information on the championship, visit www.pacificcoastamateur.com. Spectators and media are welcome to attend with entrance being free of charge.

For a full listing of players, click here.

Follow along with this year’s championship on social media using Twitter handle @pacificcoastam , Instagram @pacificcoastam and Facebook /pacificcoastamateur using the official hashtags #PACCoast and #EugeneCC.

About the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship

Although its present history only dates from 1967, the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship’s roots make it one of the oldest amateur golf championships in the U.S. The first tournament was held on the links of San Francisco Golf Club at The Presidio, April 24-27, 1901. Championships were held annually through 1911, all being conducted in California except for the 1909 championship, which was held at Seattle Golf Club. The Pacific Coast Amateur then ceased to exist, and was reconstituted at Seattle Golf Club on August 10-12, 1967 with the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, Oregon and Arizona golf associations participating. Today, 15 member Pacific Rim golf associations comprise the Pacific Coast Golf Association, which is housed in the offices of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association in Federal Way, Wash.

About Eugene Country Club

Founded in 1899, Eugene Country Club is a private, member-owned facility. With its full course originally designed by PNGA Hall of Famer H. Chandler Egan in 1926 and renovated in the late 1960s by Robert Trent Jones Sr., Eugene Country Club has routinely been rated one of the best courses in the Pacific Northwest and a top 100 course in the country.