Caleb Surratt, an 18-year-old rising freshman at the University of Tennessee, registered four top-five finishes in Elite Amateur Golf Series events en route to capturing the summer-long points race for the Elite Amateur Cup.
Seven marquee amateur events collaborated with the USGA, PGA Tour and World Amateur Golf Ranking to form the EAGS for the first time this year, creating their own standings that used WAGR points. The champion receives an exemption into the PGA Tour’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship this fall, one 2023 Korn Ferry Tour start, an exemption into this week’s U.S. Amateur and an exemption into final qualifying for the 2023 U.S. Open.
Surratt, of Indian Trail, North Carolina, did not win any of the seven tournaments, but he showed tremendous consistency going against the top fields in the country. He tied for fourth at the Sunnehanna, was solo third at the Northeast, solo fourth at the Southern and tied for second at the Pacific Coast. Even missing the 36-hole cut in the Western Amateur, the final EAGS event, didn’t hurt Surratt’s standing at the top.
“The Elite Amateur Cup Series, since announced, has been my primary goal of the summer and ’22 season,” Surratt said in a press release. “I was excited to go head to head with the nation's best amateurs, many of whom I'd be competing against this coming college season. It truly felt like a series, on an array of different courses, with different weather conditions, and even different styles of golf that proved to be a great litmus test for me to assess my game and discover areas to work on for the upcoming college season.”
Surratt, who also finished runner-up in last month’s U.S. Junior Amateur, wasn’t the only player to receive an award for outstanding play. Each top-five finisher earned a 2023 Korn Ferry Tour start in addition to the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open final-qualifying exemptions. There will be a draft among the five players to select which Korn Ferry Tour event they want to play, and Surratt will have the first pick.
Second-place finisher Jiri Zuska of the Czech Republic also has been awarded an exemption into the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open next March. The rising junior at the University of Louisville finished runner-up at the Southern, tied for fourth at the Sunnehanna, tied for sixth at the Pacific Coast and tied for 10th at the Trans-Miss.
“Playing in a PGA Tour event has always been my dream,” Zuska said. “I can’t believe that’s about to come true.”
Bryce Lewis, who just graduated from the University of Tennessee, finished in third. Tommy Morrison, a 17-year-old University of Texas commit, came in fourth. Karl Vilips, an Australian and rising junior at Stanford University, settled for fifth.
Danny Yates of Atlanta will serve as captain of the American side for this year's Concession Cup at Real Club Valderrama in Cádiz, Spain.
Yates played in two Walker Cups (1989 and 1993) before serving as the U.S. Walker Cup captain in 1999 and 2001. Now he is leading the U.S. side for the Concession Cup, a Ryder Cup-style event in which top mid-amateurs and senior amateurs from America face the European side.
“I’m humbled; it’s a big honor,” Yates said in a release. “I’ve never been to Spain, but I watched the Ryder Cup in 1997 and it was awesome, so I can't wait to get out there and hopefully lead our team to victory.”
Due to COVID-19, the Concession Cup has not been played since 2018. The inaugural tournament took place in 2014 and continued biennially, with the American side winning each of the first three editions.
The Great Britain and Ireland team is now expanding to a minimum of five European players. The expansion of the now-European squad is part of the Allied Golf Association’s initiative to work with the golf federations in Europe to promote the mid-amateur and senior amateur games.
Members of the U.S. team will be selected based on a new point system in which players will earn WAGR points via selected national tournaments conducted across the U.S. Four of the six members in each division will be selected off the points list. The U.S. Mid-Amateur and U.S. Senior Amateur champions also will be selected, leaving one player in each division as a captain's pick. The final team will be selected on September 30.
Staff reports