It’s all over at Oak Meadows until 2017, Come see us at Maple Meadows & Green Meadows in the meantime, your friends at Dupagegolf.com. Encompass Championship this week, tournaments rounds are Friday through Sunday. Defending Champion Tom Lehman in the field Encompasschampionship.com for tickets and more. Mt. Prospect Golf Club is expected to reopen on August 1st, stay clicked in here for all the details.      _____________________________________________________________________

The Gog Blog by Rory Spears, Editor and Director of Content. Follow Rory on Facebook. Linkedin and Twitter @GogBlogGuy. With Jerry Rich at Rich Harvest Farms.

The second big golf event of the year at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, tee’s off on August 3rd with practice rounds. First round play starts the next day on Tuesday August 4th, and concludes with the championship match on Saturday afternoon August 8th.

Defending champion Beau Hossler from the University of Texas golf team returns against a stellar field of players. Many of the players will be from the college ranks and will use the week to get a peek at the 2017 NCAA Championship site, and or U.S.Amateur site Olympia Fields.

This year is the 113th Western Amateur. It’s field of great past champions include Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, and Justin Leonard. Bobby Jones was the winner of the stroke play in 1920. There are many other top PGA Tour players who either won the stroke play part of the championship, or were finalists in the championship match like Ben Curtis, Tom Watson, Tom Kite, and Illinois Golf Hall of Fame member Jay Haas.

To hear interviews with Rich harvest Farms owner Jerry Rich, WGA VP of Tournaments Vince Pellegrino, 2014 semi-finalists Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights, and Nick hardy of Northbrook, click here above.

L-R at media day at Rich Harvest Farms. WGA VP Vince Pellegrino, Doug Ghim, Nick Hardy, and RHF owner Jerry Rich.

The tournament is a combination of stroke play and match play formats. Day 1 on Tuesday the 4th is 18 holes of stroke play. Day 2 August 5th is the second round of stroke play. After 36 holes the field is cut from 156 to 44 and ties.

Thursday August 6th, is a 36 hole day of stroke play. the field then gets cut down to the low 16 players who advance to match play.

On Friday August 7th their are two rounds of match play, leaving the final four players for Saturday. The Semifinal matches are played in the morning, with the championship match in the afternoon.

“As it has since it’s founding in 1899, the Western Amateur continues to attract the finest amateur players in the world to compete in one of the games most challenging formats,” said Pellegrino. “Four rounds of stroke play, followed by four rounds of match play, produces a champion befitting the rich history of our championship.

In addition to the U.S. Amateur, the players know they will be watched closely as spots on the 2015 Walker Cup Team are on the line.

For more details on the Western Amateur, please visit TheWesternAmateur.com or RichHarvestFarms.com. You can also follow the championship on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter @WGAESF.

parking and admission at Rich harvest Farms are free, come see all the action from these top players.