Historic North Shore Country Club To Host 109th Western Amateur

2010 champion David Chung will encounter a formidable international field - and a challenging "classic" golf course - when he defends his Western Amateur title, Aug. 1-6, at historic North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill.

A senior-to-be at Stanford, Chung defeated UCLA's Gregor Main 2 and 1 in last year's match play finale at Skokie Country Club in nearby Glencoe.

"We are very excited to welcome our defending champion, David Chung, to North Shore Country Club to defend his Western Amateur title," said Vince Pellegrino, vice-president of tournaments for the Western Golf Association. "North Shore is a classic golf course with a rich tournament history and we believe it will be a challenging test for David and his fellow competitors."

Already this year, Chung has played in the Masters and the U.S. Open on the strength of his performance last summer. Chung achieved elite status among amateurs by winning the Western Amateur, the Porter Cup, finishing runner-up at the U.S. Amateur, and compiling a stellar 4-0 record in the U.S. victory over Europe in the Palmer Cup in Northern Ireland.

"David had a great run last summer and at the age of 21 already has played in two major professional championships," Pellegrino said. "We understand he has been working hard on his game to get ready to defend his Western Amateur title at North Shore and we look forward to seeing how he has progressed."

Chung said he is looking forward to coming back to the Chicago area even though it will be to a different course than the one where he won last year.

"I don't mind coming back to a different course at all," Chung said. "I have heard North Shore is a demanding course and also classic in style. The way I see it, if you are playing the best golf in the field you will win no matter which course the tournament is on."

Admission to the 2011 Western Amateur championship is free.

This year, like last, Chung will face the cream of the crop in amateur golf, including reigning U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein; Russell Henley, winner of a professional event on the PGA's Nationwide Tour in May; UCLA's Patrick Cantlay, winner of the Phil Mickelson Award given to the nation's top freshman; Illinois' Scott Langley, the 2010 NCAA champion; and Chung's fellow Stanford teammate Patrick Rodgers, a soon-to-be-sophomore who won last year's Western Junior championship. For good measure, Main, his fellow Pac-10 rival, will be back again, too.

Top international players in the field include Australia's Matt Stieger; Ben Campbell and Ryan Fox of New Zealand, and Cheng-Tsung Pan of Taiwan, who won Western Amateur medalist honors the last two years for lowest stroke play score. A total of 156 amateurs from approximately a dozen nations are expected to compete in the event, which runs Tuesday through Saturday.

Players with a local connection include Vince India of Deerfield, recently named Big Ten Player of the Year, playing for Iowa; Brad Benjamin of Rockford, the 2010 U.S. Public Links champion; Northwestern's Eric Chun; Brad Hopfinger of Lake Forest, a first-team All-Big Ten selection, also from Iowa; Kyle Kopsick of Highland Park, who plays for Auburn, and Max Scrodo of Chicago and Notre Dame.

NORTH SHORE COUNTRY CLUB

The golf course is likely to be as formidable as the competition. Designed by the legendary golf course architecture firm of Harry S. Colt and Charles H. Alison (with Alison taking the lead role), North Shore is a Chicago area classic that measures 7,012 yards and plays to a par of 71. Opened to members in 1924, the club has hosted the 1928 Western Open, the 1933 U.S. Open, the 1939 U.S. Amateur, and the 1983 U.S. Amateur. In addition, it has been the site of U.S. Open qualifiers and other significant events, including the 2010 Windon Memorial, a major collegiate tournament.

Over the years, the club has made a point of preserving the spirit and aesthetic of the original design while adapting the course to improvements in today's club and golf ball technology. The firm of internationally known golf course architect Rick Jacobson - who caddied at North Shore as a teenager - has led the preservation effort for the last 17 years.

"North Shore Country Club is proud to host the Western Amateur and to support the Western Golf Association, which has been conducting this great championship since 1899," said Reb Banas, North Shore president. "We are also particularly proud to be strong supporters of the WGA's Evans Scholars Program."

North Shore is the third in an eight-course Chicago-area rotation to host the Western Amateur from 2009-2015. Next year, the championship moves to Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park. The tournament had been played for 38 consecutive years (since 1971) at Point O' Woods Golf & Country Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

North Shore has been a staunch supporter of the Evans Scholars program, with 40 of the club's caddies having graduated from college as Evans Scholars. Currently, one North Shore caddie is an Evans Scholar.

THE GREAT CHAMPIONS

First conducted in 1899 at the Glen View Club in Golf, Illinois, the Western Amateur championship has from its inception been regarded as one of the major amateur golf events in the world.

Characterized as "The Masters of amateur golf" by 1994 champion Tiger Woods, the Western Amateur is consistently ranked among the top three amateur tournaments in the world, with the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur, in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (www.scratchplayers.org).

While today's Western Amateur is among the elite events of the current era, the tournament's rich heritage connects today's players with many of the all-time greats of the game. With more than a century of history, the Amateur's roster of past champions and participants reads like a Who's Who of American golf.

Past champions include such venerable names as eight-time winner Charles "Chick" Evans Jr., Francis Ouimet, Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Andy North, Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Hal Sutton, Scott Verplank, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Ryan Moore and Woods. Runners up and stroke-play medalists include such PGA TOUR players as Ben Curtis, Jason Gore, Jay Haas, Tom Kite, Rocco Mediate, Gil Morgan, Mark O'Meara, Chris Riley, Camilo Villegas, and Tom Watson. The legendary Bobby Jones was stroke play medalist in 1920.

THE GRUELING FORMAT

A combination of stroke play and match play competition, the Western Amateur can be the most demanding event in professional or amateur golf.

Competition includes two 18-hole stroke play rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday followed by a cut to the players with the low 44 scores and ties. Those who make the cut then play 36 holes of stroke play on Thursday, with the low 16 advancing to match play on Friday. Qualifying for the Western Amateur's "Sweet 16" match play competition is one of the treasured accomplishments each year among the world's top-ranked amateurs.

The first two rounds of 18-hole match play on Friday narrow the field to four semifinalists, who compete in a pair of 18-hole matches on Saturday morning. Winners of the two morning matches then play in the 18-hole championship match Saturday afternoon.

Following is the 2011 Western Amateur daily schedule:

Monday, Aug. 1
Player Registration/Practice Rounds

Tuesday, Aug. 2
First Round, Stroke Play

Wednesday, Aug. 3
Second Round, Stroke Play (cut to low 44 and ties)

Thursday, Aug. 4
Third Round and Final Round of Stroke Play (cut to low 16)

Friday, Aug. 5
First Two Rounds of Match Play

Saturday, Aug. 6
Semifinal and Championship Rounds of Match Play

THE WESTERN GOLF ASSOCIATION

The Western Golf Association was founded in 1899 by 11 Chicago-area golf clubs. Today, more than 500 member clubs in states throughout the nation support the WGA, which conducts three national golf championships and sponsors the nationally acclaimed Chick Evans Caddie Scholarships.

Headquarters for the WGA and the Evans Scholars Foundation are in Golf, Illinois, which is also home to the Glen View Club, host of the first WGA-sponsored professional and amateur championships in 1899. In 1914, a national junior championship was added to the WGA tournament schedule.

In addition to the Western Amateur at North Shore Country Club, the WGA's 2011 championship schedule includes the BMW Championship - the third of four PGA TOUR Playoff events in the TOUR's FedExCup competition - set for September 12-18 at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Ill., and the Western Junior, June 20-24 at Beverly Country Club in Chicago. This will be the first year since 1928 that all three WGA championships have been conducted in the Chicago area.

Since 1930, the WGA has supported the education of young men and women by sponsoring the Evans Scholars Foundation, which administers a college scholarship program for golf caddies. The Foundation, established by famed Chicago golfer Charles "Chick" Evans Jr., has provided college educations to more than 10,000 caddies while making tuition scholarship payments totaling more than $130 million. Currently, 855 caddies are attending college on Evans Scholarships.