American male amateurs enter the spring season poised to dominate on the world stage.
With nine of the top 10 players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the U.S. men boast a deep roster that soon will transition to the professional ranks. But before their graduation, they’ve got a legacy to expand.
No. 1-ranked Gordon Sargent, a junior at Vanderbilt and a former NCAA champion, already has earned status on the PGA Tour via its PGA Tour University Accelerated program for underclassmen, which he is expected to accept after the NCAA Championships in late May. Meanwhile, PGA Tour University has expanded its pathway for the collegians onto the tour and its developmental circuits in a bid to stave off the Saudi-financed LIV Golf raiders.
The past weekend’s Jones Cup Invitational, always a strong winter test under demanding weather conditions, presented a sneak peek at the wealth of collegiate men’s talent. Notre Dame freshman Jacob Modleski shot a Sunday 69 with three late birdies to win by a shot over Caleb Surratt and Jackson Kolvun.
The Latin America Amateur Championship, to be played next week in Panama, will offer coveted exemptions into the Masters, U.S. Open and the Open Championship, among other perks. In only its ninth year and with the backing of Augusta National, the R&A and the USGA, the LAAC has emerged as one of the amateur game’s most anticipated early-season stops.
Next month, the R&A-backed African Amateur will debut in South Africa, with a spot in the Open Championship on the line.
Six amateurs are expected to be in the Masters field in early April: Nick Dunlap (U.S. Amateur winner), Stewart Hagestad (U.S. Mid-Amateur winner), Christo Lamprecht (British Amateur winner), Neal Shipley (U.S. Amateur runner-up), Jasper Stubbs (Asia-Pacific Amateur winner), plus the champion of the upcoming Latin America Amateur. (Florida’s Fred Biondi won the NCAA title but forfeited his Masters exemption when he turned pro.)
The American women aren’t as dominant on the world stage so far this year, with three players among the WAGR’s top 10.
Perhaps no amateur event has rocketed into prominence as quickly as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. With the final round to be played on the Saturday before the Masters, the ANWA has created a major-like feel of its own.
The American women aren’t as dominant on the world stage so far this year, with three players among the WAGR’s top 10, but two of them will be college teammates this semester at Auburn: No. 5 Anna Davis and No. 10 Megan Schofill, the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion. Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad, who is No. 1 in the WAGR, returns to LSU this spring with one piece of unfinished business: winning an elusive NCAA title.
Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, with its Gil Hanse-redesigned Champions Course, will host the NCAA men and women in consecutive weeks in late May in the first year of a three-year contract. While on the West Coast, the collegians can study some golf history before perhaps creating some of their own. For 30 years (1969-98), La Costa hosted the PGA Tour’s season-opening winners-only event, so the name “Champions” has been earned.
Foremost among the other major amateur events in 2024:
June 17-22: British Amateur, Ballyliffin (Ireland) Golf Club
Aug. 5-11: U.S. Women’s Amateur, Southern Hills, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Aug. 12-18: U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National, Chaska, Minnesota
Aug. 30-Sept. 1: Curtis Cup at Sunningdale (England) Golf Club
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