The Western Amateur Championship comes to Dayton this week, bringing a decorated field of international stars – including 15 of the top 25 amateurs in the World Amateur Golf Ranking – to one of Ohio's most historic clubs on July 30 to August 3.
First played at Glen View Club in 1899, the Western Amateur is the world’s third-oldest amateur championship, behind only the British Amateur (1885) and the U.S. Amateur (1895). It regularly attracts the top players from across the country and around the world, with past champions like Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.
This will mark the first time the Western Amateur will be contested at Moraine Country Club. Alec “Nipper” Campbell designed the classic Miami Valley club and was the site of Byron Nelson's 1945 PGA Championship victory, the ninth of his record 11 consecutive wins and his final major title. Keith Foster restored the course to its Scottish-style roots in 2016.
The Western Amateur is one of the most demanding golf events due to its grueling combination of stroke play and match play. The field of 156 players will compete in 72 holes of stroke play over three days to determine the Sweet 16 for match play on Friday and Saturday.
Live, exclusive coverage of match play will stream on ESPN+, with more than 12 hours of coverage over Friday, Aug. 2, and Saturday, Aug. 3. ESPN+ subscribers in the United States, Canada (TSN+), the Caribbean and Latin America (on Disney+) can tune in on the ESPN App, ESPN.com and connected TV devices.
The 2024 field is one of the most accomplished in the event’s history, showcasing amateur and collegiate standouts with the potential to become PGA TOUR stars. The field features players from 30 countries and 30 states, including:
Auburn sophomore Jackson Koivun of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The No. 3-ranked amateur became the first player to sweep the Haskins, Hogan, Nicklaus and Mickelson national awards in the same collegiate season. Koivun, a member of the 2024 U.S. Palmer Cup team, won the SEC Championship, finished second at the NCAA championship, and placed in the top six in 13 of the 14 collegiate events he played in.
Arizona State sophomore Wenyi Ding of Beijing, China, is the No. 4-ranked amateur who recently won the Southern Amateur and was the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur champion. The Golfweek All-American was named the 2024 Pac-12 Freshman and Player of the Year and competed in the 2024 Palmer Cup.
Virginia junior Ben James of Milford, Connecticut. Ranked No. 5 in the world, James finished runner-up at the 2024 NCAA championship and was a member of the 2023 U.S. Walker Cup team. A two-time Golfweek All-American, James has competed in two Palmer Cups and was the 2023 Mickelson Award winner.
Vanderbilt senior Jackson Van Paris of Pinehurst, North Carolina. The No. 7-ranked amateur won the St Andrews Links Collegiate at the Old Course in the fall and finished T10 in the 2024 Puerto Rico Open on the PGA TOUR. The Golfweek All-American finished runner-up at the 2024 North & South Amateur Championship and competed in the 2024 Palmer Cup.
Texas junior Christiaan Maas of Pretoria, South Africa. Ranked No. 10 in the world, Maas returns to the Western Amateur after finishing runner-up last year at North Shore Country Club. Maas won the 2024 NCAA Austin Regional and was named a Golfweek All-American.
Auburn senior Brendan Valdes of Orlando, Florida. The No. 11-ranked amateur was the medalist at the 2023 Western Amateur and is a two-time Golfweek All-American. Valdes won the 2024 Mossy Oak Collegiate and helped Koivun lead the Auburn Tigers to a NCAA team championship in the spring.
The field also includes top-ranked amateurs like Golfweek All-Americans Max Herendeen (Illinois), Michael La Sasso (Mississippi), Phichaksn Maichon (Texas A&M), Maxwell Ford (North Carolina), Luke Potter (Arizona State), Ian Gilligan (Florida) and NCAA individual champion Hiroshi Tai (Georgia Tech).
Garrett Rank, who won the 2019 Western Amateur at Point O' Woods Golf & Country Club, leads a pack of top mid-amateurs. There are also three former Western Junior champions who are attempting to become the fifth player to win both the Western Junior and Western Amateur: Parker Sands, who won in 2024 at Ruth Lake Country Club in Hinsdale, Illinois; Hans Risvaer, who won in 2023 at Midlothian Country Club in Midlothian, Illinois; and Eduardo Derbez Torres, who won in 2022 at Naperville Country Club in Naperville, Illinois.
Alongside Sands, the elite group of juniors teeing it up this week includes 16-year-old Blades Brown, who finished T26 at the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic on the PGA TOUR, and 15-year-old Miles Russell, who became the youngest player to make the cut at a Korn Ferry Tour event at the 2024 LECOM Suncoast Classic.
Texas junior Tommy Morrison, of Dallas, will compete at Moraine following a victory at the 2024 European Amateur Championship at The Scandinavian in Denmark and a T60 finish at The Open Championship at Royal Troon.
Click here to see the full field.
The 2024 Western Amateur will be the final event of the Elite Amateur Golf Series, a season-long competition that tests the best players in amateur golf over a series of seven historic championships. Top finishers in the series will earn exemptions into PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour events.
With each of the top 10 players in the Western Amateur field, the cup winner will be decided at Moraine this weekend. Northeast Amateur champion Anthony Delisanti (Valparaiso) leads the series, while Sunnehanna Amateur champion Ben Warian (Minnesota) sits in second. Trans-Mississippi Amateur champion Drew Goodman (Oklahoma) and North & South Amateur champion Davis Ovard (Baylor) are also in the field.
Click here for first and second round starting times.
Preview courtesy of Western Golf Association
ABOUT THE
Western Amateur
Invitational event, and the most important
tournament in American amateur golf outside of the
U.S. Amateur. With a grueling schedule, it's quite
possibly the
hardest amateur tournament to win.
156 invited players come from across the
globe to play one of the toughest formats in
amateur golf. The tournament starts with 18
holes of stroke play on Tuesday and
Wednesday after which the field is cut to the
low 44 scores and ties. Thursday it's a long
day of 36 holes of stroke play to determine
the “Sweet Sixteen” who compete at Match
Play on Friday and Saturday (two matches
each day if you're going to the finals) to
decide the champion.
View Complete Tournament Information