NOW PLAYING: The Amateur Championship at England's Royal Liverpool

The 131st Amateur Championship has come to Hoylake, where it all began. A field of 288 players from 41 countries is now down to its final eight, with the quarterfinals set for Friday morning at Royal Liverpool. One of them will add his name to a trophy that already carries Bobby Jones, José María Olazábal, Sergio García and Matteo Manassero. Here is everything you need to follow the closing stages — with live updates posted above as the bracket plays out.

Down to the Final Eight

Three days of relentless match play have reduced the bracket to its last eight, and the quarterfinals tee off Friday morning at Royal Liverpool. Three Americans remain in the hunt — Matt Moloney, Kihei Akina and Reed Arnaldo — while Estonia's Richard Teder, a quarterfinalist here in both 2023 and 2025, carries the most familiar match-play pedigree of anyone left.

The Moloney–Akina pairing guarantees an American in the semifinals, while Ireland's Stuart Grehan, a Walker Cup man, headlines the lower half against England's Edward Featherstone. Whoever survives the morning advances to the semifinals, with Saturday's 36-hole final to follow.

A Championship Older Than Most of Golf

Founded in 1885, The Amateur Championship is the premier amateur title outside the United States and one of the oldest events in the sport. Royal Liverpool hosted the inaugural Championship, when 44 players from 12 clubs contested a series of match-play rounds. This year marks the 19th time Hoylake has staged the event — more than any other venue. Neighboring West Lancashire, founded in 1873, was one of the original clubs that helped fund the purchase of the Championship trophy in 1886, and this week it shares stroke-play qualifying duties with Royal Liverpool.

The format is a test of endurance and nerve. Two rounds of stroke play across both courses cut the 288-player field to the low 64 and ties. From there it becomes single-elimination match play — 18 holes per round until a 36-hole final on Saturday. Survive that gauntlet and the rewards are extraordinary.

No Title Defense at Hoylake

One name is conspicuously absent. Defending champion Ethan Fang of Oklahoma State won the 2025 Amateur Championship in dramatic fashion, earning exemptions into both the 2026 Masters and U.S. Open. That very success is why he is not here to defend: Fang is teeing it up at Shinnecock Hills in the U.S. Open this week, unable to return to the championship he won just twelve months ago — a fitting illustration of exactly what this title can unlock.

The Field: 41 Countries, Ten of the World's Top 50

This year's field reflects the global pull of the Championship: one player ranked inside the top 10 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), four inside the top 25, and ten inside the top 50. Players from 41 nations are competing, with Hungary and the United Arab Emirates represented for the first time — Bence Bertenyi and Rayan Ahmed becoming the first players from their respective countries to appear in the event.

England's Luke Poulter, son of Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter, entered as the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 9 in the WAGR, fresh off a breakthrough collegiate season at the University of Florida and a Walker Cup appearance for Great Britain & Ireland. Great Britain & Ireland are further represented by Walker Cuppers Stuart Grehan (No. 56) of Ireland, Scotland's Connor Graham (No. 36) and Niall Shiels Donegan (No. 31). South Africa's Daniel Bennett (No. 16), Germany's Tim Wiedemeyer (No. 28) and BYU's Kihei Akina round out the top of the bracket.

Several arrivals carried hardware from earlier in the season. Japan's Taisei Nagasaki finished runner-up at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship; South Africa's Jack Buchanan won the Africa Amateur Championship; and France's Lev Grinberg — born in Ukraine — recently captured the prestigious St Andrews Links Trophy wire-to-wire. Ireland's Gavin Tiernan, runner-up in 2025, returned alongside a cluster of players who advanced deep into last year's match-play bracket.

The American Contingent

Forty-six Americans entered the Championship, and three have survived to the final eight: Matt Moloney, Kihei Akina and Reed Arnaldo — with Moloney and Akina drawn against each other in the quarterfinals, ensuring at least one reaches the semifinals.

Kihei Akina arrived as the highest-ranked American in the field at No. 22 WAGR, fresh off a standout sophomore season at BYU that included medalist honors at the NCAA Bremerton Regional and first-team All-Big 12 recognition — and he has carried that form into the knockout rounds at Hoylake.

Earlier in the week, Deitrek Gill was the low American across both qualifying rounds, pairing a 69 at Royal Liverpool with a 68 at West Lancashire to finish T-6th and earn the No. 7 seed. The 22-year-old from Wellington, Kansas — the self-styled "Wheat Capital of the World" — recently transferred from the University of the Pacific to USC for his senior season and cracked the top 1,000 of the WAGR for the first time in his career. Among the other Americans who made the field was Noah Kent, the runner-up at the 2024 U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine, who briefly held the lead during the first round of the 2025 Masters.

The Road to Saturday

From 288 players down to eight, the Championship has reached its truest form — match play, where seeding offers no protection and a single bad hole can end a week. The quarterfinals tee off Friday morning, the semifinals follow that afternoon, and Saturday brings the 36-hole final, the longest day in amateur golf and a stage that has launched generations of major champions before they ever turned professional.

Follow every twist of the bracket in the live updates above — refreshed as results come in from Royal Liverpool.

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The 131st Amateur Championship is being contested at Royal Liverpool and West Lancashire Golf Club, June 15–20, 2026. Some Championship detail courtesy of an R&A press release.