World-Class Field Including Four From B.C. Set to Compete In 23rd Sahalee Players Championship
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 29, 2017
www.sahaleeplayerschampionship.com
Sammamish, Wash. - An impressive field of world-class amateur talent will converge on the Pacific Northwest and Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash. for the 23rd Sahalee Players Championship (SPC), to be played July 5-7, 2017.
The championship will be contested over 72 holes of stroke play, with 18 holes being played the first day, 36 the second, and 18 on the third and final day. Admission is free to watch the championship.
The SPC 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.
This year the SPC field will consist of 66 of the top amateur golfers from around the world.
Among the elite players committed to play in this year's SPC is John Oda, a rising senior at UNLV who qualified for the U.S. Open at Erin Hills and is currently the No. 11-ranked amateur in the world. Other players include Sahith Theegala of Chino Hills, Calif., a rising junior at Pepperdine who made it to the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Amateur and qualified for this year's U.S. Open.
Local players in this year's field include the reigning state champions from Oregon (Cole Madey) and Washington (Chase Carlson), and the 2016 champion of the Idaho State Amateur, Derek Bayley; as well as the reigning Pacific Northwest Amateur champion, Carl Yuan, a rising junior at the University of Washington.
The international field includes six players from Australia, as well as players from Mexico, China, Thailand and Canada. Among this contingent is Cheng Jin of China, who won the 2015 Asia-Pacific Amateur, earning him a spot in the 2016 Masters, and is currently ranked No. 25 in the world.
Players from British Columbia include; A.J. Ewart and Henry Lee from Coquitlam, Kevin Kwon of Maple Ridge and Victoria’s Lawren Rowe.
A qualifier to fill the final three spots was conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) and held Monday, June 26 at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash., with the three advancing to the championship proper being Spencer Clapp of Federal Way, Wash., Kyle Cornett of Mill Creek, Wash. and Jack Strickland of Sammamish, Wash.
Click here for a complete list of competitive bios of the players who have committed to the 2017 Sahalee Players Championship.
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 13 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.
Past champions of this prestigious amateur championship include Kyle Stanley, Casey Martin, Peter Uihlein, Nick Taylor, Daniel Summerhays, Ryan Moore, Chris Williams, Arron Oberholser and Jason Gore, among others, all of whom would go on to win on the PGA or European tours. 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.
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 1974 PNGA Men's Amateur, 1978 Pacific Coast Amateur, 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.
Contact: Nate Schroeder, PNGA Asst. Director of Rules and Competition
Phone: (253) 214-2923 | Cell: (612) 227-0899 | Email: nate.schroeder@thepnga.org