The 2021 Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship is underway. And you can live stream the action for three days, from 1-4 pm CDT.
Visit www.thespiritgolf.com, NBCGolf.com, or Peacock TV on your phones or streaming devices. But whatever you do, find a way to check out the action from the No. 1 course in Texas-- Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas. The Spirit brings together the best amateur golfers from 20 countries and six continents for three days of competition. Two female and two male amateurs from each country will play for a "chance at gold" in five concurrent competitions.
If you can't check out the live stream, you can follow scoring here:
Overall Country |
Men's Team |
Men's Individual |
Women's Team |
Women's Individual
“Our field is set for The Spirit, and it is an impressive group of international players,” said Corby Robertson Jr., founder and owner of Whispering Pines Golf Club. “These players are the future of golf across the world, and we look forward to providing them an incredible experience while they compete in one of the most prestigious events in amateur golf.”
Related: Whispering Pines: a worthy host for the Olympics of amateur golf
Related: Team USA named for The 2021 Spirit International Amateur
Related: Stacy Lewis returns to lead Team USA at Spirit International
The Spirit is a celebration of international goodwill through the game of golf. There is an opening and closing ceremony in addition to social events throughout tournament week. Camp Olympia, one of the premier summer camps in the country, provides international village accommodations for the golfers, allowing them to gather and socialize after play.
The championship will be available via live stream during competition on GolfChannel.com, the NBC Sports app and on TheSpiritGolf.com. GOLF Channel will present the highlight show in primetime, from 7-9 pm ET on Dec. 9, followed by an encore presentation on Dec. 11 from 4-6 pm ET.
The 2021 Spirit features 80 competitors from 20 countries, representing four continents. It is a 54-hole stroke play competition, with five concurrent competition categories. Gold, silver and bronze commemorative medals are awarded to the top finishers in each competition.
“Every single one of our 80 participants has expressed how excited they are to have the opportunity to represent their country in competition,” said Charlie Epps, The Spirit tournament director and president of the Spirit Golf Association. “Some of these players will experience international competition and team golf for the first time, but others have experienced it before and have joined our field because of how much they do enjoy it. We’re looking forward to an incredible week at The Spirit.”
Individual standouts among the women’s field include USA’s
Rose Zhang who is ranked No. 1 in the world and is the 2021 U.S. Girls Junior and 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion. USA’s
Rachel Heck is ranked No. 2 and is the 2021 NCAA individual champion and PING/WGCA Player of the Year. Two players,
Andrea Lignell (Sweden) and
Chiara Tamburlini (Switzerland) are members of the 2021 Ole Miss national championship team; and
Caley McGinty helped lead England to the 2021 European Ladies Team Championship earlier this year.
USA’s
Sam Bennett who is the highest-ranked Men's player in the field, at No. 6. Bennett was also chosen to represent the USA in the 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup. USA’s
James Piot, ranked at No. 58, won the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championship and has won six collegiate or amateur events since 2019.
Team Rosters
ARGENTINA
Captain: Maximo Portais
Valentina Rossi, Ela Anacona, Segundo Oliva Pinto, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira*
BELGIUM<
Captain: Leslie Cloots
Rebecca Becht, Elsie Verhoeven, Matthis Besard, Louis Theys
CANADA
Captain: Salimah Mussani
Savannah Grewal, Noemie Pare’, Henry Lee, Johnny Travale
CHINESE TAIPEI
Captain: Yu Chih Sung
Yi-Han Chang, You-Chuan Sung, Yi-Hsuan Wu, Yu-Yang (Eddie) Lai
COLOMBIA
Captain: Camilo Sanchez
Maria Bohorquez*, Valery Plata*, Daniel Faccini*, Juan Camilo Vesga Solano
DENMARK
Captain: Cecilie Finne-Ispen (player/captain)
Cecilie Finne-Ipsen, Natacha Host Husted*, Alexander Frances, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
ENGLAND
Captain: Richard Martin
Annabell Fuller, Caley McGinty, Conor Gough, Joseph Pagdin
FINLAND
Captain: Veeti Mahonen (player/captain)
Daniella Barrett, Krista Junkkari, Elias Haavisto, Veeti Mahonen
FRANCE
Captain: Patricia Meunier LeBouc
Adela Cernousek, Justine Fournand, Bastien Amat, Tom Gueant
ICELAND
Captain: Tomas Adalsteinsson
Hulda Clara Gestsdottir, Ragnhildur Kristinsdottir, Hlynur Bergsson, Dagbjartur Sigurbrandsson
IRELAND
Captain: TBD
Sara Byrne, Aine Donegan*, Paul Conroy, Sam Murphy
ITALY
Captain: Clara Manzalini (player/captain)
Alessia Nobilio, Anna Zanusso, Filippo Celli, Lucas Fallotico
MEXICO
Captain: Ricardo Carrillo
Isabella (Isa) Fierro, Cory Lopez*, Luis Carrera, Alejandro (Alex) Fierro
NORWAY
Captains: Hans Aberg & Geoff Dixon
Julie Boysen Hillestad, Emilie Overas, Mats Ege, Baard Skogen
SCOTLAND
Captain: Eric McIntosh (player/captain)
Carmen Griffiths, Katie Graham, Eric McIntosh, John Paterson
SOUTH AFRICA
Captain: Christo Lamprecht (player/captain)
Caitlyn Macnab, Kaylah Williams, Christo Lamprecht, Kieron Van Wyk
SPAIN
Captain: Ricardo Relinque
Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, Maria Teresa Tosano Borrero (Teresa Toscano), Alvaro Muller, Albert Boneta
SWEDEN
Captains: Katarina Vangdal & Jonnie Eriksson
Kajsa Arwefjall, Andrea Lignell, Albin Bergstrom, Hugo Townsend
SWITZERLAND
Captain: Richard Adby
Caroline Sturdza, Chiara Tamburlini, Loic Ettlin*, Ronan Kleu
USA
Captain: Stacy Lewis, Assistant Captain: Alli Jarrett
Rachel Heck, Rose Zhang, Sam Bennett, James Piot
About The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship presented by The Will Erwin Headache Research Foundation
This biennial event staged for the 10th time in 2021, is a premier amateur competition featuring the world’s best men and women amateurs representing their respective countries in team and individual play. Eighty competitors from 20 countries compete for gold medals in the 54-hole four-ball stroke play competition. Each country is represented by two women and two men amateur golfers. Previous Spirit International competitors who now are professionals on the LPGA and PGA TOUR include Lorena Ochoa, Brooke Henderson, Scottie Scheffler, Bernd Wiesberger, Jordan Spieth, Francesco Molinari, Lexi Thompson, Brandt Snedeker, Paula Creamer, Jason Day, Bronte Law, Martin Kaymer, Maria Fassi, Austin Ernst, Ally Ewing, Jessica Korda, Will Zalatoris and Viktor Hovland, to name a few. Spirit alumni have gone on to win more than 650 professional titles, 25 major championships and 56 Olympic appearances, including 16 PGA Tour winners, 27 European Tour winners, 24 LPGA winners and 23 Ladies European Tour winners. The Spirit Golf Association is dedicated to the promotion of amateur golf for the benefit of health-related causes. It organizes and oversees the event along with the Texas Golf Association.
About the Spirit Golf Association (SGA)
The Spirit Golf Association, 501(c)(3), serves as the host for The Spirit. The SGA was formed in 1999 by Houston philanthropist Corby Robertson, Jr. With a passionate vision, Robertson turned the SGA into reality by establishing a unique charitable organization that benefits health-related causes while promoting the global goodwill of amateur golf. In addition, SGA also hosts the Spirit Charity Challenge featuring Spirit alumni and Spirit Hall of Fame Game, which features local sports Hall of Famers and celebrities. Charlie Epps, PGA, serves as president and has been associated with the SGA since it was created in 1999 and was captain of Team USA in the 2001 inaugural Spirit Championship. Mark Steinbauer, PGA, and Jeff Strong, PGA are vice-presidents.