The new year tees off on Friday with one of the biggest and most challenging tournaments in amateur golf: the Jones Cup Invitational. As it’s a Walker Cup year, the stakes are higher than ever for American, British and Irish golfers who want to represent their countries in September.
The Jones Cup is a three-day, 54-hole stroke-play tournament held at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia. Founded by Bill Jones III and originally designed by Rees Jones (no relation), the course opened in 1995. It underwent an extensive “refresh” by Beau Welling Design before the 2024 Jones Cup.
According to John Wade, Ocean Forest head pro and Jones Cup tournament director, the linksland course was always going to be a pillar of amateur golf. Wade says Bill Jones’ desire when founding the course was to host a Walker Cup, where 10 of the best amateur players from the United States battle their counterparts from Great Britain and Ireland.
“The Jones Cup has exceeded expectations and has become one of the premier events to play in as an amateur golfer.”
John Wade, Jones Cup tournament director
When it was announced that Ocean Forest would host the Walker Cup in 2001, becoming the youngest golf course to do so, it was time to capitalize even further. The Jones Cup was born.
“The thought process behind the Jones Cup was originally to do a Walker Cup preview,” Wade said.
Initially, the Jones Cup was only meant to be contested in Walker Cup years. That was the case until 2009, when the tournament’s success changed the event from biennial to annual. Furthermore, a Junior Invitational was added in 2009, and a Senior Invitational in 2011.
“The Jones Cup has exceeded expectations and has become one of the premier events to play in as an amateur golfer,” Wade said.
The event will not only have Walker Cup implications, but the winner earns an exemption into the RSM Classic, a PGA Tour event at Sea Island Resort in November. Wade says this exemption is one of the many things that makes the Jones Cup so attractive to players.
Preview of the field
The Jones Cup is known for its typically strong fields. When describing how a player earns an invitation to the tournament, Wade said, “If you win, you’re in.”
Wade says the committee looks for highly ranked players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. They also look for those who performed well at the NCAA Championship and/or won tournaments on the amateur circuit the previous year. Players in contention for a Walker Cup spot also get serious consideration.
This year’s 84-player field will be the invitational’s strongest ever. According to Wade, the average WAGR of last year’s field was 230. This year, it’s 167, with 43 of the top 100 amateurs in the world signed up.
Observing the field, you certainly can’t count out last year’s champion Jacob Modleski. The 41st-ranked amateur by WAGR has four top-10 finishes in his last seven starts.
There are also two of the top five ranked amateur golfers in the field. Both are American and therefore in contention for a Walker Cup spot. Jackson Koivun, the second-ranked amateur, finished T2 in the Jones Cup Invitational last year. He helped Auburn win the Southeastern Championship last April at Sea Island Golf Club, also claiming the SEC individual crown. In the NCAA Division 1 Individual Championship, Koivun finished runner-up.
Gordon Sargent, the fifth-ranked amateur, finished T7 at the Jones Cup last year. Sargent earned a PGA Tour card in 2023 but chose to stay at Vanderbilt. He won the NCAA D1 Individual Championship in 2022 and finished T2 in 2024.
Other notable names in the field include Anthony Delisanti, the reigning Northeast Amateur champion, and Miles Russell, the reigning South Beach International Amateur champion who made a splash by contending early at the Jones Cup last year before slipping Sunday to finish T40.
Predicting professional success
Whoever wins this year’s Jones Cup Invitational will join an impressive list of past winners, including Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed, Akshay Bhatia and Ludvig Åberg. The 18 previous winners of this invitational have 36 PGA Tour victories between them. In comparison, the last 18 U.S. Amateur champions have 20 wins on the PGA Tour and three more on LIV Golf.
Wade says he believes playing in the Jones Cup is one of the greatest indicators of future professional success, largely due to the quality of players competing.
“When the U.S. Open was played at Brookline in 2022, there were 156 players who teed off on Thursday,” Wade said. “There were 84 former Jones Cup players in that field.”
Wade also believes the difficulty of Ocean Forest helps distinguish the great players.
“If you can navigate your way around this golf course in typically tough conditions, you’re going to fare well in other pressure situations,” Wade said.
Wade says players will be required to hit the ball straight and high into the greens. The tournament will be played in “Jones Cup weather,” with temperatures likely in the mid-40s and with a slight wind.
In these difficult conditions and with a stacked field, players will have to be at the top of their games all three days to lift the trophy on Sunday.
E-MAIL EVERETT
Top: The Ocean Forest Golf Club underwent an extensive redesign before the 2024 Jones Cup.
SCOTT MICHAUX, GGP