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see also: Jose Luis Ballester
A first look at some of the top programs in the country and the reigning U.S. Amateur champion
The college golf season is a nine-month marathon, and every marathon has to begin with a single step. For many top tier college programs, that step will happen at the Sahalee Players Championship in Washington. They all hope the final step will happen at La Costa as the NCAA National Champion.
Over the years, the identity of the SPC has shifted. From 1992 to 2019, it was an independently run elite amateur tournament. The list of champions is impressive over those years: Sahith Theegala, Peter Uihlein, Nick Taylor, Daniel Summerhays, Kyle Stanley, Ryan Moore, Aaron Oberholser and Jason Gore.
In 2021, the University of Washington began hosting the SPC as a collegiate event with a strong field.
WHEN: Saturday, September 7-8
FORMAT: 54 holes (36 on Saturday and 18 on Sunday)
FIELD: Arizona, Arizona State, Duke, Illinois, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Southern California, Stanford, Texas Tech, Texas, Wake Forest, and host Washington.
WHO WON LAST YEAR?
Illinois won the team event last year as the only team to finish under par (-1) at the challenging, tree-lined golf course. Arizona State was runner-up, eight shots off the pace. Host team, Washington, rounded out the top three.
Preston Summerhays, now a senior at Arizona State, won last year’s event with rounds of 72-67-72 (-5). He beat Max Harendeen, who was a first-year at Illinois. Arizona’s Filip Jakubcik was the only other player under par at 1 under.
NOTABLE PLAYERS:
Jose Luis Ballester, fresh off his U.S. Amateur win at Hazeltine, will tee it up for Arizona State, the second-ranked team in the Golfweek pre-season rankings. Ballester and Summerhayes provide a wicked 1-2 punch, but the Sun Devils will miss Wenyi Ding, who recently left the program.
U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist Ethan Fang, who nabbed the No. 64 seed and won three matches at Hazeltine will tee it up for Oklahoma State.
Illinois will bring a loaded team to Sahalee. Jackson Buchanan is the Illini leader. He reached the semi-final of the U.S. Amateur. Buchanan played a lot of golf this summer. He qualified for the U.S. Open and also played a Korn Ferry event (Memorial Health Championship) and one PGA Tour event (John Deere).
Texas’ Tommy Morrison had an exceptional summer. He was the first American to win the European Amateur Championship. That earned him a spot in the Open Championship, where he made the cut.
Another player who played in the Open Championship will tee it up at Sahalee. Calum Scott, who won the silver medal as low amateur at Troon will hope to get his senior year off to a great start and buoy Texas Tech
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