USGA accepts 7,191 entries for U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst

July 7, 2019

A total of 7,191 entries have been accepted for the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship, scheduled for Aug. 12-18, 2019, at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C.

Sixty-seven players are fully exempt into the most prestigious championship in amateur golf, and the remaining places in the 312-player field will be filled from the 96 sectional qualifiers, conducted by Allied Golf Associations between July 1 and July 24.

Of the 15 amateurs who competed in the 2019 U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links, 14 have filed entries and are fully exempt into the championship.

Among the exempt players are: 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Michael Thorbjornsen, of Wellesley, Mass.; Brandon Wu, who tied for 35th in the 2019 U.S. Open, second-best finish of the four amateurs who made the cut; Jeff Wilson, 2018 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, of Fairfield, Calif.; and 2018 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Kevin O’Connell, of Cary, N.C.

In addition, 49 of the top 50 players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking™ (as of June 26) are in the field, including No. 1 Cole Hammer, of Houston, Texas; No. 2 Takumi Kanaya, of Japan; No. 3 David Micheluzzi, of Australia, No. 4 Akshay Bhatia, of Wake Forest, N.C.; and No. 5 Kevin Yu, of Taiwan.

Entries were accepted from golfers in all 50 states, including 313 from host state North Carolina, as well as 60 other countries.

The first entrant was Bryan Mitchell Robinson from Katy, Texas. Paul Gosiger, of Cincinnati, Ohio, submitted the last entry, 15 seconds before the 5 p.m. EDT deadline on June 26.

Pinehurst, which first hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1962, when Labron Harris claimed the Havemeyer Trophy over Downing Gray, will be hosting its third U.S. Amateur Championship and 10th USGA championship. Pinehurst has also hosted three U.S. Opens (1999, 2005 and 2014) and will host the 124th U.S. Open in 2024.

Pinehurst’s Course No. 2 and Course No. 4 will host the stroke-play rounds on Aug. 12-13. After 36 holes, the field will be trimmed from 312 players to 64 for match play. The first five rounds of match play – through the semifinals – will be played on Course No. 2 on Aug. 14-17.

The 36-hole championship match will be contested over two courses for the first time. Scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 18, it will open with the morning round on Course No. 4, which was recently redesigned by Gil Hanse. The afternoon round will be played on Course No. 2, the renowned Donald Ross design that was restored by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw in 2011.

For more information on tickets and the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship, visit usamateur.com.

The list of the 67 golfers who are fully exempt into the 2019 U.S. Amateur (as of June 26):

Ludvig Aberg (18)

John Augenstein (18)

Albin Bergstrom (18)

Akshay Bhatia (18)

Devon Bling (2, 5)

Brett Boner (8)

Ricky Castillo (18)

Quade Cummins (18)

Brad Dalke (2, 12)

Alejandro Del Rey Gonzalez (13, 18)