The East West Matches are Ryder Cup-style team competition for American mid-amateurs and seniors. The Mississippi River is the dividing line between East and West teams, each of which is comprised of 18 players: 6 seniors, 10 mid-amateurs, 2 amateurs who haven't yet reached the age of 25.
The latest USGA champion, Tyler Strafaci, has been selected as one of two under-25 amateurs to represent the East team. The U.S. Amateur champ joins John Pak, who recently debuted as the No. 1 player in the first-ever PGA Tour University ranking.
The West team will counter with Western Amateur champion Pierceson Coody and Southern Amateur champion McClure Meissner, who with both be intimately familiar with Maridoe -- it is Coody's home course and Meissner won the Southern there.
For the amateurs and a few of the mid-ams, the East West Matches will be an opportunity to impress Walker Cup captain Nathaniel Crosby with six months to go before the matches take place at Seminole Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla. Paul Simson and Tim Jackson will captain the East team, while Jim Holtgrieve and Kevin Marsh lead the West team.
Here are the teams for the 2020 East West Matches:
EAST TEAM
Captains:
Paul Simson, Tim Jackson
Players: (S=senior, M=mid-am, A=under-25 am)
Bob Royak (S)
Steve Harwell (S)
Doug Hanzel (S)
Walter Todd (S)
Chip Lutz (S)
Jeff Knox (S)
Scott Harvey (M)
Joe Deraney (M)
Matt Parziale (M)
Kevin O'Connell (M)
Phillip Lee (M)
Michael Muehr (M)
Brett Boner (M)
Todd Mitchell (M)
Ben Warnquist (M)
Nathan Smith (M)
Tyler Strafaci (A)
John Pak (A)
WEST TEAM
Captains:
Jim Holtgrieve, Kevin Marsh
Players: (S=senior, M=mid-am, A=under-25 am)
Gene Elliott (S)
Brady Exber (S)
Lewis Stephenson (S)
Jerry Slagle (S)
Bryan Norton (S)
Robert Funk (S)
Stewart Hagestad (M)
Derek Busby (M)
Brad Nurski (M)
Skip Berkmeyer (M)
Taylor Wood (M)
Jason Schultz (M)
Patrick Christovich (M)
Nick Geyer (M)
Zach Atkinson (M)
Rob Couture (M)
Pierceson Coody (A)
Mac Meissner (A)
The teams were selected through the East West Points System with 50% of each team earning spots via the rankings and 50% via Tournament Committee selections. Teams are normally selected at the conclusion of the U.S. Mid-Amateur and U.S. Senior Amateur Championships, but both of those events were cancelled this year due to COVID-19.
