Western Amateur to return to Point O'Woods

GOLF, IL (Feb. 4, 2014) – The Western Amateur will honor its rich heritage in 2019 when the championship returns to Point O’Woods Golf & Country Club, host to 40 Western Amateurs between 1963 and 2008.

The Western Golf Association and Point O’Woods entered into an agreement in late January to bring the world’s top amateur golfers to southwestern Michigan for the 116th Western Amateur.

“We’re looking forward to renewing the partnership we enjoyed for nearly four decades,” said Vince Pellegrino, WGA senior vice president of tournaments. “The Western Amateur and Point O’Woods share a history of showcasing the best players in the world of amateur golf. The club and fans there have been loyal supporters of the championship, and the course has produced some world-class champions.”

Past Western Amateur champions at Point O’Woods include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Tom Weiskopf and Andy North. Weiskopf won the first Western Amateur hosted by Point O’Woods in 1963. The championship returned to the club again in 1965 before starting a 38-year run at Point O’Woods from 1971-2008.

“We’ve hosted many great Western Amateur championships,” said Mark Matthews, Point O’Woods president. “A good number of our champions, and scores of other top amateurs who have competed here, have gone on to enjoy highly successful professional careers. We’ve enjoyed giving back to golf by hosting such a prestigious championship, and we’re thrilled now to be back in the Western Amateur rotation.”

Designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened for play in 1958, the Point O’Woods has consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top courses, both in beauty and design.

The WGA moved the storied championship from Point O’Woods to a rotation of Chicago area clubs starting in 2009. A year ago, the WGA took a one-year break from Chicago to take the Western Amateur to The Alotian Club in Roland, Ark. The Western Amateur returns to the Chicago area for the next five years, starting with this year’s tournament at The Beverly Country Club.

First conducted in 1899 at the Glen View Club in Golf, Illinois, the Western Amateur championship has from its inception been regarded as one of the major amateur golf events in the world. Only the British Amateur (1885) and the U.S. Amateur (1895) are older.

The Western Amateur’s 156-man field consistently ranks among the top three in the world along with the British Amateur and U.S. Amateur. Contestants come from all over the globe. Last year’s field included players from a dozen nations, including Australia, Denmark, England, Finland, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the United States, Venezuela and Wales.