Aug. 22, 2011

ERIN HILLS, Wis. - Stanford golf will be well represented with six players competing in the 111th U.S. Amateur Championships which tees off today at Erin Hills Golf Course.

Team members David Chung, Andrew Yun, Steven Kearney, Cameron Wilson and Patrick Rodgers join Graham Brockington '11 in this week's field.

Chung had a memorable run last year including a runner-up finish in last year's U.S. Amateur where he overcame a three-stroke deficit in the semifinals to defeat defending champion Byeong-Hun An to reach the final against eventual champion Peter Uihlein. Chung's season included a spot on the victorious 2010 U.S. Palmer Cup team, individual wins at the 2010 Porter Cup and Western Amateur, and invitations to compete in the Master's and U.S. Open.

The tournament opens with two days of stroke play, with the 64 lowest finishers advancing to match play. Six rounds of head-to-head competition begin on Aug. 24 with the 36-hole final match scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 28.

Yun is coming off a sophomore season in which he posted seven top-10 finishes and a stroke average of 70.6. He won The Prestige at PGA West and clinched a Palmer Cup victory for the U.S. team in June, going 4-0-0 in match play.

Chung, last year's U.S. Amateur runner up, competed in the Master's and U.S. Open this year. The Stanford senior was a member of the 2010 U.S. Palmer Cup team that emerged victorious and won the 2010 Porter Cup and Western Amateur.

Rodgers has yet to tee it up for Stanford and already has the 2011 Porter Cup championship to his name. The two-time Indiana State High School Champion has carded three top-five finishes this summer including a tie for second at the Players Amateur.

The scheduled site of the 2017 U.S. Open, Erin Hills will be set up at 7,760 yards to play to a par of 36-36-72. The second stroke play course, Blue Mound Golf & Country Club, will be set up at 6,646 yards and play to a par of 35-35-70. Erin Hills will be the longest course in U.S. Amateur history overtaking Chambers Bay, which measured 7,742 yards for the 2010 event.

The Golf Channel will provide coverage from Wednesday to Friday with NBC broadcasting on Saturday and Sunday.

History of the U.S. Amateur Championships (USGA)

This is the 110th U.S. Amateur Championship. The U.S. Amateur Championship is the oldest golf championship in this country, one day older than the U.S. Open. Except for an eight-year period, 1965-1972, when it was stroke play, the Amateur has been a match-play championship.

Throughout its history, the U.S. Amateur has been the most coveted of all amateur titles. Many of the great names of professional golf, such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Craig Stadler, Jerry Pate, Mark O'Meara, Hal Sutton, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, grace the Havemeyer Trophy.

It was, however, legendary amateur Robert T. Jones Jr., who first attracted national media coverage and sparked spectator attendance at the U.S. Amateur. Jones captured the championship five times (1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1930). His 1930 victory was a seminal moment in golf history when, at Merion Cricket Club in Ardmore, Pa., Jones rounded out the Grand Slam, winning the four major American and British championships in one year.

Sixty-six years later, in 1996, Tiger Woods, attracted similar interest and enthusiasm at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore., when he won a record third straight U.S. Amateur, having registered 18 consecutive match-play victories. In 1994, Woods, at 18, had first entered the record book as the youngest ever to win the Amateur Championship, following his three consecutive Junior Amateur titles (1991-1993). That record has since been broken twice, first by 17-year-old Danny Lee in 2008 at Pinehurst No. 2 in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C., and in 2009 when 17-year-old Byeong-Hun `Ben' An won at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.