Western Amateur primer: Players to watch, schedule, streaming info

The Western Amateur, amateur golf’s most grueling test, kicks off its 121^st edition on Tuesday at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois.

Here is everything you need to know:

SCHEDULE AND FORMAT

When we call the Western the most grueling event in amateur golf, there’s a reason. Seventy-two holes of stroke play begin on Tuesday with Thursday featuring 36 holes of stroke play once a cut is made after the first 36 holes to the low 44 players and ties. The top 16 players – the final spots are usually determined by a playoff – advance to single-elimination match play, which starts Friday with the Round of 16 and then quarterfinals. The semifinals and 18-hole final are to be played Saturday. So, for the winner, that could mean 144 holes or more in five days.  

• For first- and second-round tee times, click here.

HOW TO WATCH

Live coverage of each match-play round will be streamed on Peacock and the NBC Sports App:

• Friday – Round 16, 11 a.m. ET; Quarterfinals, 4 p.m. ET

• Saturday – Semifinals, 10:30 a.m. ET; Final, 2 p.m. ET

• For live scoring, click here.

LAST TIME AT NORTH SHORE

North Shore Country Club will host the Western for the second time in its history. The first for the club, which was designed by 1924 by Harry S. Colt and Charles H. Alison, came in 2011 when Ethan Tracy beat Patrick Cantlay in the final, 1 up. Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Max Homa and Wyndham Clark were among the future PGA Tour stars to compete that week.

DEFENDING CHAMPION

A year after falling in the final to Michael Thorbjornsen at Glen View Club, Austin Greaser bounced back with a 1-up victory over Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira in the 2022 final at Exmoor Country Club. Greaser enters this year’s championship having not played since the Arnold Palmer Cup in mid-June. The fifth-year North Carolina senior was slated to have surgery on his bothersome left hand, which has ailed Greaser for a couple years and required a small procedure earlier this year, in the days following the Palmer Cup. However, that surgery never happened, and Greaser has opted to rest the injury for much of the summer. He’ll play the Western and then U.S. Amateur as he tries to make the U.S. Walker Cup team.

OTHER PLAYERS TO WATCH

Featured groups

While top-ranked amateur Gordon Sargent and third-ranked Christo Lamprecht, the recent Open low am, are both skipping this week, the field still features eight of the top 10 players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, including No. 2 Thorbjornsen, the 2021 Western champ, and his playing competitors for Rounds 1 and 2, No. 4 David Ford of North Carolina and No. 8 Caleb Surratt of Tennessee. Greaser, No. 5 in WAGR, is grouped with No. 7 Ben James of Virginia and No. 13 Cole Sherwood of Vanderbilt.

Potential Walker Cuppers

Sargent, Thorbjornsen and Ford have already punched their tickets for the Sept. 2-3 matches at St. Andrews. The rest of the 10-man U.S. squad is still to be determined, though Surratt, James and No. 10 Nick Dunlap of Alabama are all expected to be on that squad. No. 6 Dylan Menante and No. 15 Stewart Hagestad, the top-ranked mid-amateur, also have strong arguments to get picked and both are playing the Western. No. 9 Nick Gabrelcik arrives at the Western fresh off a Southern Amateur victory that vaulted him into the conversation while Greaser was a near-lock before his injury concerns. A few players who desperately need a strong Western performance to boost their stock are Sherwood, Wake Forest’s Michael Brennan, Arizona State’s Preston Summerhays and Ohio State’s Maxwell Moldovan. Vanderbilt’s Jackson Van Paris has been red-hot this summer after previously being well off the Walker Cup radar, and a win by Van Paris this week could be enough to warrant a pick.

Coming in hot

After winning the U.S. Junior on Sunday morning after inclement weather pushed that championship to an extra day, Bryan Kim is still in the field for the Western. Tommy Morrison, who made the quarters at Daniel Island Club, is also playing at North Shore.

Sleepers

We know several of the big names will play well, but keep an eye on these guys ranked outside the top 75 in WAGR: Duke’s Kelly Chinn (86), who advanced to the quarters last year before falling to Greaser, 1 down; Eric Lee (102), the incoming Cal freshman who had a first-round exit at the U.S. Junior but is the No. 1 player in the Class of 2023; and Ohio State’s Neal Shipley (146), whose T-3 finish at the Pacific Coast Amateur followed runner-up finishes at the Dogwood, Sunnehanna and Trans-Miss this summer.