The new Elite Amateur Golf Series, launching this summer, announced that it will partner with Titleist and FootJoy of the Acushnet Co.
The Elite Amateur Golf Series features seven of the men’s amateur game’s top annual tournaments: the Sunnehanna, Northeast, North & South, Trans-Mississippi, Southern, Pacific Coast and Western amateurs.
As the “premier equipment partner of the Elite Amateur Golf Series,” Titleist and FootJoy will be activating onsite at each event, providing exclusive support, and enhancing the player experience for the next generation of elite amateurs.
Landing such a prestigious pair of partners before the first event – the Sunnehanna Amateur on June 15-18 at Johnstown Country Club in Johnstown, Pennsylvania – is quite a coup for the new collective.
“Titleist and FootJoy are proud to announce a partnership with the new Elite Amateur Golf Series,” said Alicia Madden, Acushnet’s director of media. “Supporting the amateur game has always been a key focus of our brands.”
Within the Elite Amateur Golf Series will be a summer-long competition called the Elite Amateur Cup. Using results from the seven series events and the World Amateur Golf Ranking as the cup’s point system, top finishers in the final standings will earn exemptions into PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and USGA championships, plus other spots to be announced.
The EAGS is supporting a similar effort with elite women’s amateur events to provide opportunities for the world’s best female amateurs. The Women’s Elite Amateur Golf Series will launch in 2023. Details are under review for WEAGS events, but they likely will mirror the EAGS structure.
The USGA has added four women to the Curtis Cup team, completing the roster for this year’s match against Great Britain and Ireland’s top female amateurs. Amari Avery, 18, of Riverside, California; Megha Ganne, 18, of Holmdel, New Jersey; Emilia Migliaccio, 22, of Cary, North Carolina; and Latanna Stone, 21, of Riverview, Florida, complete the Americans’ eight-player roster.
They join Jensen Castle, 21, of West Columbia, South Carolina; Rachel Heck, 20, of Memphis, Tennessee; Rachel Kuehn, 20, of Asheville, North Carolina; and Rose Zhang, 18, of Irvine, California, who were automatic selections. Seven of the eight players reside among the top 30 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings.
The 42nd Curtis Cup Match will be held June 10-12 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
Because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the worldwide golf schedule, the Curtis Cup, typically a biennial event, will be played just 9½ months after the U.S. won at Conwy Golf Club in Wales. The Americans will return five players from that 12½-7½ victory, with Avery, Ganne and Stone as new additions. Ganne traveled to Wales as the team’s second alternate last August.
The U.S. alternates are, in order of ranking: Brooke Seay, 21, of San Diego, and Anna Davis, 16, of Spring Valley, California.
Sarah Ingram, a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion (1991, 1993, 1994) and a member of three Curtis Cup teams (1992, 1994 and 1996), will return as captain after leading the U.S. to victory last summer. The U.S. leads the series, 30-8-3.
Jim Nugent