Four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Nathan Smith will be at Skokie Country Club outside Chicago this week for the Western Amateur. He’s going not as a player, however, but as the United States’ Walker Cup captain. The historic tournament will offer one of the final chances for players to make their cases to play at Cypress Point in September.
“Through the years the Western has always been one of the greatest amateur tests of the summer,” said Smith, who will be watching candidates for the final five spots on the 10-player American squad. “Definitely right up there with the U.S. Am.”
On Saturday, the USGA added Ethan Fang, who won the Amateur Championship at Royal St George's last month, and Preston Stout, who cruised to victory at the recent Northeast Amateur, to the U.S. team. Both were part of Oklahoma State's NCAA Division I Championship-winning team, and they join Jackson Koivun, Ben James and Michael La Sasso, who previously earned automatic selections to the roster as the three highest-ranked American players in World Amateur Golf Ranking as of June 18.
First contested in 1899, the Western Amateur is a test for several reasons. For one: the competition. Of the 156 players in the field, more than 60 are top 100 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Six are in the top 10. The format is also one of the toughest in golf. There will be 72 holes of stroke play between Tuesday and Thursday, with 36 holes on Thursday. The top 16 qualify for match play and a champion is crowned on Saturday.
“We think it truly is the toughest format in professional or amateur golf,” said Steve Prioletti, the Western Amateur tournament director since 2012. “I always joke that the group that we bring in to handle physio needs and stretch the guys out and get them ready to play is the busiest man on property this week.”
The Western Amateur returns to Skokie Country Club for the third time in 15 years and first time since 2017. It has a history of hosting big championships, including the 1909 Western Open, the 1922 U.S. Open and the 1952 Women’s Western Open.
This week, Skokie will play just more than 7,100 yards. The seventh hole, typically a par-5, will play as a par-4, making Skokie a par-70 for the championship. Prioletti said they are setting up the course like they would the BMW Championship (the Western Golf Association’s PGA Tour event) by finding tough pin locations, moving around the tees and growing the rough.
“All I’ve heard of for the last three weeks [from members] is the rough height,” Prioletti said. “They aren’t enjoying it but the course is really right where we want it to be heading into championship week.”
According to Prioletti, while the Donald Ross-William Langford course is not very demanding off the tee, players will have a difficult time if they leave their approach shots above the hole.
“It’s really a second-shot golf course and the green complexes are its main defense,” Prioletti said.
The “Sweet 16” players who make match play will join an accomplished club. Players who have qualified for the Western Amateur’s Sweet 16 have gone on to win 95 major championships since 1956 and 11 FedEx Cup titles.
Whoever wins the final match on Saturday will earn an exemption into the 2026 NV5 Invitational (a Korn Ferry Tour event) and add his name to the George R. Thorne Trophy, joining an exclusive list with several all-time greats.
“Just looking at the trophy you see Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Justin Leonard, Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Chick Evans and more,” Prioletti said. “It just shows the legends who have played in this event and went on to some incredible success.”
This week at Skokie Country Club, the medalist, Sweet 16 and George R. Thorne trophies will be displayed next to the buffet line for the players to see.
“It’s always amazing to watch the kids walk by and spend some time taking a look at those names and hopefully provide a little motivation to get their name on the George R. Thorne Trophy,” Prioletti said.
And there are a lot of contenders. The Western Amateur is the seventh and final men’s event in the 2025 Elite Amateur Golf Series, and five of this year’s tournament champions are in the field: Sunnehanna Amateur winner Tyler Watts, Northeast Amateur winner Stout, North & South Amateur winner Carlos Astiazaran, Trans-Miss Amateur winner Lance Simpson and Southern Amateur winner John Daly II.
With Elite Amateur Golf Series victories this year, Watts and Simpson have strong cases to be on the team, but so do many others in the field such as U.S. Arnold Palmer Cup team members Jase Summy, Jack Turner, Josiah Gilbert, Wells Williams, Max Herendeen and Jacob Modleski.
Mid-amateurs Evan Beck and Stewart Hagestad hope to make strong impressions at the Western Amateur. Junior golfer Miles Russell looks to do the same.
“It’s going to be exciting to see the last few guys battle it out for positions and do their best to make a strong case for [captain] Smith to select them as part of the team,” Prioletti said.
Smith certainly has some tough decisions to make, but he believes the cream will rise to the top in the Western and U.S. Amateurs.
“I think there’s going to be some great separation,” Smith said. “For the final four or five guys who are selected that Sunday at the U.S. Amateur, the Western and the U.S. Amateur will definitely play a huge part in that. It’s going to be really exciting.”
E-MAIL EVERETT
Top: Tyler Watts won the Sunnehanna Amateur in June.
Dustin Satloff, USGA