SEA ISLAND, Georgia (Jan. 28, 2014) -- The
Jones Cup
originally started in 2001 as the host venue’s
official Walker
Cup preview. Playing host to the 2001 Walker
Cup match,
Ocean Forest Golf Club used the inaugural
Jones Cup as a
way to showcase the type of international golf
the world
was to see later that fall.
Thirteen years later, the international flavor
and Walker Cup
implications are still driving the Jones Cup
Invitational,
which tees off Friday with another field full of
the world’s
top amateurs.
“The international flavor adds a lot to the
event and helps it
stay true to what the event is,” said
tournament director
Kory Reitz, PGA. “For the players that play
well, it also
shows them what they can do at the next
level.”
Past winners, which include Patrick Reed, D.J.
Trahan, Kyle
Stanley, John Peterson, Luke List and Justin
Thomas, have
already begun making their impact known at
golf’s highest
level. After last year’s winner, Sean Dale took
his own game
to the next level by turning professional, it’s
guaranteed
there will be a new champion at the Jones
Cup.
And, with just a quick glance at the 2014 field,
it’s
guaranteed that win will be well-deserved.
The best field of the new year, and one of the
best in all of
amateur golf, will contend.
Followers of NCAA golf will recognize players
like Alabama’s
Cory Whitsett and Bobby Wyatt.
Whitsett, of
course, won in impressive fashion at the 2013
Northeast
Amateur after placing second at the
Sunnehanna Amateur.
Along with Wyatt -- and former Jones Cup
champ Justin
Thomas -- he propelled the Tide to the 2013
NCAA
Championship.
Whitsett and Wyatt, who were on the winning
2013 U.S.
Walker Cup squad, will be joined by fellow
Walker Cuppers
Michael Weaver and
Brandon Hagy of Cal. The Bears
will also be
represented by Joel Stalter, a key part of the
team’s
magnificent 2012-2013 season.
Other U.S. contenders include recent BYU
graduate Zac
Blair, SMU’s Bryson Dechambeau,
Tyler Dunlap of Texas A&M,
Michael Johnson
of Auburn, South Florida’s Chase Koepka,
recent Tennessee
grad Richard Lamb, South Carolina’s Matthew
Nesmith,
Alabama’s Robby Shelton, Florida’s Curtis
Thompson.
Some of the nation’s top junior players are also
in the field.
Sam Horsfield, who recently
won the New
Years Invitational, leads a contingency that
also includes
Zachary Bauchou, Brad Dalke, Scottie
Scheffler and Austen
Truslow, who won last week’s AJGA Puerto
Rico Open.
The mid-amateur contingency is, too, well-
represented
again at this year’s event. U.S. Mid-Amateur
champion
Mike McCoy and Nathan Smith --
two 2015
Walker Cup contenders -- lead the way.
The event’s international feel is bolstered by
numerous elite
players. Chief among them is undoubtedly
Garrick Porteous, the 2013
British Amateur
champion and No. 2-ranked player in the
Golfweek/amateurgolf.co
m World
Player Rankings. TCU junior
Julien Brun from France,
Arkansas’ Sebastian
Cappelen of Denmark, England’s Greg Eason
and Ireland’s
Gavin Moynihan, a Great Britain & Ireland
Walker Cup team
member in 2013, are among the international
players who
could contend this week.
All told, 18 countries will be represented and
eight will send
their top-ranked player, according to Reitz.
“As far as rankings go,” Reitz said. “This is by
far our best
event and best field we’ve been able to get.
Walker Cup
captains are usually here and this event plays
into their
selection process.”
The 54-hole event will begin under seasonably
comfortable
temperatures. But the course at Ocean Forest
has taken its
fair share of hits from this frigid winter.
“It will play firm and fast,” Reitz added.
Amateurgolf.com will have full coverage of the
event,
including post-round recaps and results as well
as a
notebook following the event.
ABOUT THE Jones Cup
The Jones Cup is probably the biggest of the
springtime
amateur majors in the United States, and the reason
is the venue and the strong U.S. and
international field. The past champions list is littered
with PGA Tour stars, including Justin Thomas,
Patrick Reed, Luke List, Kyle Stanley, Beau Hossler
and
several others.
This 54-hole individual stroke-play event,
inaugurated
in 2001, is played at Ocean Forest Golf Club.
The Rees Jones design opened in 1995 and has
hosted
the Georgia State Amateur Championship, the
Southern Amateur Championship and the 2001
Walker
Cup Match. The Jones Cup brings together
many of the finest amateurs from the United States
and abroad for a three-day competition.
The Jones Cup was born from a deep commitment to
amateur golf by the A.W. Jones family, who
founded the Cloister and Sea Island Golf Club in
1928.
The Sea Island Golf Club has played host to
seven USGA championships. The Jones Cup is yet
another extension of the family's strong
involvement in amateur golf.
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