(June 5, 2006) – When the dates for the 2006 Amateur Championship were being considered, The R&A decided to play the Amateur during the third week in June to avoid a clash with the NCAA Division 1 Finals in the US.
That decision has resulted in 21 players in these NCAA Finals entering this year’s Amateur Championship which will be played at Royal St George’s and Prince’s from 19-24 June.
American college players Kevin Chappell, Stuart Moore, Dustin Pimm and Alex Prugh head the US entry of 19 which also includes 33 year old Kevin Marsh of Las Vegas, the winner of the 2005 US Mid-Amateur Championship. Marsh is a reinstated amateur following a brief spell as a professional.
Other top-ranked overseas players who will be competing in Kent include Won Joon Lee, Australia’s number one player and the winner earlier in the year of the NSW Medal. Countryman Tim Stewart, their national champion has also entered, as have Joost Luiten of the Netherlands, the German titleholder and Antti Ahokas of Finland, the recent winner of the Irish Open Stroke Play Championship.
Yuki Ito, a +3.3 player is the first for many years to have entered from Japan. Ito was a member of the 2006 Asia-Pacific team that competed against Europe in the Bonallack Trophy.
The Amateur was first played in 1892 at Royal St George’s when the winner was John Ball. Since then it has returned to Sandwich eleven times and while, in that time, there have been four winners from the US, the most recent being Deane Beman in 1959, there has yet to be a winner from any other overseas country.
Players from Great Britain and Ireland have won eight of the twelve championships and Craig Watson, the winner in 1997, is again in the field of 288 looking for an elusive double.
All four Home Countries are well represented but with 2005 Amateur Champion Brian McElhinney now a professional, Ireland will have to look elsewhere for Amateur success. Cian McNamara is currently at college in America and Rory McIlroy, the 2005 Irish Close Champion, will be hoping for a good run in the Amateur.
Nigel Edwards continues to be Wales’ top player and this year his performances have been capped with fine wins in the South African Amateur Championship and the Sherry Cup.
England will be well represented with Robert Dinwiddie, the current holder of Welsh and Scottish Stroke Play titles, Paul Waring, the English Champion, Jamie Moul, the Lytham Trophy winner and Gary Wolstenholme, the Amateur Champion of 1991 and 2003.
Scotland, in addition to Craig Watson, will be looking for title winning performances from Lloyd Saltman, the St Andrews Links title holder and winner of the Silver Medal in the 2005 Open, Scottish Champion Glenn Campbell, and fellow internationals Scott Jamieson, George Murray and Richie Ramsay.
Competitors play 18 holes on both Royal St George’s and Prince’s and the top 64 and ties qualify for the match play stage starting on Wednesday 21 June.
The draw can be viewed on www.randa.org – Championships.
Contact:
David Hill
Director of Championships
Johnnie Cole-Hamilton
Assistant Director – Championships
The R&A
Tel: (44) 1334 460000
