First Major of the Year: The Jones Cup is Underway in Georgia
SEA ISLAND, GA (February 1, 2017) -- With the first
weekend of February comes the 12th playing of the
Jones Cup Invitational hosted by the Ocean Forest
Golf
Club. The 54-hole Jones Cup is set to tee off on
Friday
and it will run through Sunday. First contested in
2001,
the Jones Cup once again boasts a deep field that
includes many of the stars of amateur golf.
Played every other year until 2010, the event
has
included many past and present PGA Tour stars
including Luke Donald, Rickie Fowler, Lucas Glover,
Dustin Johnson, Chris Kirk, Jeff Overton, Webb
Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Bubba Watson and Gary
Woodland as well as past winners DJ Trahan (2001),
Gregg Jones (2003), Nicholas Thompson (2005), Luke
List (2007), Kyle Stanley (2009), Patrick Reed
(2010),
John Peterson (2011) and Justin Thomas (2012).
Since the inception of the event, the Rees Jones
designed Ocean Forest Golf Club has served as the
home course of the Jones Cup. Opened in 1996,
Ocean
Forest plays as a par-72 that when played from tips
can
be stretched to 7,321 yards.
With 2016 champion Beau Hossler now
competing
in the professional ranks here is a look at some of
the
players to watch this weekend:
PLAYERS TO WATCH | NAME |
ACCOMPLISHMENTS |
| Matthias Schwab | The No.
4
ranked amateur in the world finished tied for fourth
at
the Jones Cup last year. Schwab is a senior at
Vanderbilt where he has twice been named All-SEC
First
Team. | |
| Dylan Meyer |
Few players had a better summer of 2016 then
Dylan Meyer. The Illinois junior highlighted the
summer
months with a win at the Western Amateur while
also
reaching the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals and sharing
fourth at the Sunnehanna Amateur. Meyer is
currently
the eighth ranked player in the World Amateur Golf
Rankings. | |
| Nick Hardy |
Hardy, a junior at Illinois, has played in each of
the
last two U.S. Open's making the cut in 2015. Hardy
won
the Big 10 individual title in 2015. | |
| Dawson Armstrong | The Lipscomb
junior won the Dogwood Invitational and Western
Amateur in 2015. Armstrong tied for 15th at last
years
Jones Cup. | |
| KK
Limbhaust |
Limbhaust is redshirting this year to focus on
his
Cal degree but the AGC member is still a threat to
win it
all this week. Last year, as a sophomore Limbhaust
led
Cal in top-10 finishes and scoring average. Over the
summer Limbhaust made a run to the U.S. Amateur
Round of 16. | |
| Davis
Riley |
A sophomore at Alabama, Riley was named to
the
All-SEC Freshman Team and All-SEC Second Team a
year ago. Riley reached the 2016 Western Amateur
semifinals. | |
| Sam Burns |
Burns, a sophomore at LSU, picked up a big win
in
the fall at the Western Refining College All-America
Golf
Classic. As a freshman Burns was named to the PING
Honorable Mention All-American list. | |
| William Gordon | Gordon is a
second
year player for Vanderbilt, where in 2015-2016 he
earned spots on the All-SEC Freshman and All-SEC
Second Team's. Prior to his freshman year with the
Commodores Gordon captured the 2015 Greystone
Invitational. | |
| Patrick
Martin | Just a sophomore at Vanderbilt,
Martin made a splash over the summer with two tied
for
second finishes at the Northeast Amateur and The
Players Amateur. As a freshman Martin was named
to
the All-SEC Freshman Team and All-SEC Second
Team.
| |
| Branden Thornberry |
Few players had a better fall season than Ole
Miss
sophomore Branden Thornberry. During the first half
of
the season Thornberry won three-times and finished
in
the top-10 of all five Rebel events. | |
Additional Players to Watch:
Hugo Bernard (2015 NCAA Division II Champion),
Nick
Carlson (2016 U.S. Amateur Semifinalist), Cameron
Champ (2016 Fighting Illini Invitational and Patriot
All-
America winner), Kyle Mueller (Qualified for 2016
U.S.
Open, Two-time All-Big Ten First Team)
NOTABLE JUNIOR PLAYERS TO WATCH
| NAME
|
ACCOMPLISHMENTS |
| Noah Goodwin | The ninth
ranked amateur in the world is a 2018 SMU commit.
| |
| Garrett Barber |
The 2018 LSU commit won the 2016 Jones Cup
Junior Invitational in December. | |
| Colin Bowles | A recent Ohio State
commit, Bowles made waves when he claimed the
2016
Georgia Amateur. | |
| Cole
Hammer | The first time Hammer
entered
the national spotlight was in 2015 when as a 15-
year-
old he qualified for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.
Hammer is committed to the University of Texas.
|
|
NOTABLE MID-AMATEUR PLAYERS TO
WATCH
|
NAME |
ACCOMPLISHMENTS |
| Stewart Hagestad |
Hagestad is
the reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion. The former
USC golfer also finished second at the 2016
George C. Thomas Invitational. | |
| Charles Waddell | Last year Waddell
earned three AmateurGolf.com top-15 finishes with
his
best showing coming at the Lupton Invitational in the
form of a T2. Waddell won the Lupton in 2015 and
the
Timuquana Cup in 2014. | |
| Todd
White | White is returning to the Jones
Cup
after a 14th place finish in 2016. He also tied for
sixth in
the 2013 Jones Cup. White has reached match play
at
the U.S. Mid-Amateur each of the last five years and
in
2015 he won the Azalea Invitational. | |
For a complete look at the Jones Cup Invitational
field
click here.
ABOUT THE
Jones Cup
The Jones Cup is probably the biggest of the
springtime
amateur majors in the United States, and the reason
is the venue and the strong U.S. and
international field. The past champions list is littered
with PGA Tour stars, including Justin Thomas,
Patrick Reed, Luke List, Kyle Stanley, Beau Hossler
and
several others.
This 54-hole individual stroke-play event,
inaugurated
in 2001, is played at Ocean Forest Golf Club.
The Rees Jones design opened in 1995 and has
hosted
the Georgia State Amateur Championship, the
Southern Amateur Championship and the 2001
Walker
Cup Match. The Jones Cup brings together
many of the finest amateurs from the United States
and abroad for a three-day competition.
The Jones Cup was born from a deep commitment to
amateur golf by the A.W. Jones family, who
founded the Cloister and Sea Island Golf Club in
1928.
The Sea Island Golf Club has played host to
seven USGA championships. The Jones Cup is yet
another extension of the family's strong
involvement in amateur golf.
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