With a fully exempt U.S. Open field in 2020, amateurs didn’t have a chance to play their way in to the country’s national championship.
Still, the amateurs weren’t forgotten this year. The U.S. Golf Association announced on Wednesday the seven amateur players who gained entry in the U.S. Open field courtesy of their position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Players may not have had their chance at qualifying in the traditional sense – first an 18-hole local qualifier than a 36-hole sectional qualifier – but their body of work in college, junior and amateur events was still recognized through this exemption category.
These top seven amateurs in the WAGR, as of Aug. 19, will appear at Winged Foot next month:
- No. 1 Takumi Kanaya, of Japan
- No. 2 Ricky Castillo, of Yorba Linda, California
- No. 3 Chun An Yu, of Chinese Taipei
- No. 4 Davis Thompson, of Saint Simons Island, Georgia
- No. 5 Eduard Rousaud, of Spain
- No. 6 Sandy Scott, of Scotland
- No. 7 John Pak, of Scotch Plains, New Jersey
Thompson, Scott and Pak appeared in last week’s U.S. Amateur field, with Scott advancing the farthest (Round of 32). Castillo withdrew shortly before the tournament in an effort to protect the field after experiencing fatigue but returning a negative COVID test. Last month, he advanced to the semifinals of the Western Amateur.
Scott and Pak both played in the 2019 Walker Cup matches – Scott for Great Britain and Ireland and Pak for the U.S.
Kanaya, 22, will compete in his first U.S. Open. He won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in 2018 and was the runner-up last year. Yu, also 22, is a fifth-year senior at Arizona State University and will be playing in his third consecutive U.S. Open.
The addition of these seven men brings the total number of amateurs in the 2020 U.S. Open field to 13.
Andy Ogletree and John Augenstein earned exemptions as last year’s U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up, respectively, at Pinehurst No. 2. Preston Summerhays earned his spot by winning the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur and Lukas Michel earned his with a 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur victory.
Cole Hammer was last year’s Mark H. McCormack Medal recipient as the world’s top-ranked amateur, while James Sugrue won the 2019 Amateur Championship, an event conducted by the R&A.
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