Sahalee Players Championship Sets Dates for 2017 Event; Anticipates Another Elite Field
Sammamish, Wash. - Sahalee Country Club and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) are pleased to announce the return of the Sahalee Players Championship on July 5-7, 2017.
The championship took a hiatus in 2016 while the club hosted the 2016 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, won by Brooke Henderson in a playoff with Lydia Ko.
The 23rd Sahalee Players Championship (SPC) will be contested over 72 holes of stroke play, and the invitational field will consist of the top amateur golfers from around the world.
An 18-hole qualifier to fill the final three spots in the field will be held June 26 at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. The qualifier will be conducted by the PNGA.
The SPC has consistently been rated as an "A" event in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and has provided some of the world's best amateurs an opportunity to showcase their talent in the Pacific Northwest.
Five of the previous 12 SPC champions have gone on to win the Ben Hogan Award, given to the nation's top collegiate golfer and the list of previous SPC participants now playing on the PGA Tour continues to grow each year.
The 2015 SPC winner, Corey Pereira, a University of Washington team member, is currently the No. 18-ranked amateur golfer in the world, according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). The 2015 third-place finisher, Curtis Luck of Australia, went on to win the 2016 U.S. Amateur and Asian Pacific Amateur and is currently the No. 2-ranked amateur golfer in the world (WAGR).
Past champions include a long list of great players, including Ryan Moore (2004), Kyle Stanley (2006), Daniel Summerhays, (2007), Nick Taylor (2009), Peter Uihlein (2010), all of whom have won on the PGA or European tours. Most recently, Moore won his singles match on the final day of the 2016 Ryder Cup to clinch the victory for Team USA.
The SPC scoring record at Sahalee is the 16-under 272 (68-69-68-67) shot in 2004 by Moore, a native of Puyallup, Wash.
When asked about the championship, Tournament Director Mike Jonson said, "The Sahalee Players Championship provides the Northwest with the opportunity each year to witness the performance of some of the world's finest amateur players. We look forward to seeing some of the finest amateur players in the world in the Pacific Northwest this July."
Along with the return of the SPC comes the return of the Western Swing. Beginning in 2000, the SPC and PNGA have hosted major amateur championships in back to back weeks at the beginning of July.
Since its inception in 1899, the Pacific Northwest Men's Amateur Championship has a long and illustrious history as one of the top amateur competitions in the country.
Played in the same format as the U.S. Amateur, the 116th PNGA Men's Amateur will be held at Emerald Valley Golf Resort in Creswell, Ore. on July 10-15. Past champions include Zac Blair (2011), Nick Flanagan (2003), Ben Crane (1997), Jeff Quinney (2000) and Tiger woods (1994). Visit www.thepnga.org or click here for more information.
Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash. has been the site of the SPC since 1992, and has hosted numerous top-level events in golf, including the 1998 PGA Championship, 2002 WGC-NEC Invitational, 2010 U.S. Senior Open, and 2016 KPMG Women's PGA Championship.
Visit www.sahaleeplayerschampionship.com for more information on the 23rd Sahalee Players Championship.