THE CROOKED STICK GOLF CLUB-in Carmel Indiana is home to the 118th Western Amateur from July 27-August 1. The championship will be played. WesternAmateur.com ______________________________________________________________________
BY-RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf Radio and GolfersonGolf.com Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy or LinkedIn and Facebook.
2019 Western Amateur champion Garrett Rank is back to defend his title at Crooked Stick. Photo by WGA.
Defending Champion and current National Hockey League (NHL) referee Garret Rank heads up a powerful field at the 118th Western Amateur Championship.
Crooked Stick Golf Club will host the championship that will get played, from July 27 through the championship match on August 1.
Crooked Stick was one of the first and most revered designs, ever created by World Golf Hall of Fame inductee golf architect the late Pete Dye, who passed away earlier this year.
The Pete and Alice Dye statue has been moved to front circle by the clubhouse, from the golf course, to welcome everyone to Crooked Stick. Photo by Rory Spears.
After refereeing a Chicago Blackhawks game in early January, Rank told Golfers on Golf he was very much looking forward to defending his Western Amateur title at Crooked Stick. Rank called winning the 2019 Western Amateur at Point O’ Woods “a great day.”
The Western Amateur was first contested in 1899, at the Glen View Club in Golf Illinois, where the championship returns to in 2021. The championship is the third oldest amateur event, behind only the British Amateur (1855) and the U.S. Amateur (1895). Past champions include Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Ben Crenshaw and Chick Evans.
The last time the championship was cancelled, was from 1943-1945 for World War II. This years pandemic will not force a cancellation, says both WGA and club officials.
This year another solid field has come together for the championship, in addition to Rank there are six other players who advanced to the Sweet 16, Match Play part of the 2019 championship.
The Par 3, 6th hole at Crooked Stick.
World No.2 ranked amateur Ricky Castillo, and finalist for the Ben Hogan Award during his freshman year at the University of Florida is joined by Georgia Bulldog rival Davis Thompson World Amateur No.4.
Florida State Seminole junior John Pak, the No.5 ranked amateur in the world, Pak has advanced twice to the match play part of the Western Amateur, and 2018 Western Amateur Champion Texas sophomore Cole Hammer are four players to watch for championship week. Hammer had a T-9 finish at the Fighting Illini invite last September at Olympia Fields Country Club, and currently is the 7th ranked amateur player in the world.
“We strive each year to attract the best amateur players in the world, and we’re pleased that so many of them have chosen to play in this years Western Amateur,” said Vince Pellegrino, WGA senior vice president of tournaments. “We’re excited to bring this years field to a venue as iconic as Crooked Stick.”
Click here to listen to the interview with Crooked Stick Director of Golf Operations Tony Pancake.
This years Western Amateur is the first one played in the state of Indiana since 1951, when Frank Stranahan won the championship at the South Bend Country Club. The Western Amateur has never been held in the Indianapolis area. The last golfer from the state of Indiana to win the Western Amateur Title, was Dylan Meyer who won at the Knollwood Club located in Lake Forest Illinois back in 2016.
Two BMW Championships have been played at Crooked Stick, first in 2012 when Rory McIlroy took the title, and then again in 2016 with Dustin Johnson hoisting the trophy.
Crooked Stick has produced 24 Evans Scholars caddies over the years, with one caddie Joe Conway currently attending Purdue University. For more information on the championship see Westernamateur.com.