ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (June 24, 2024) — The 117th Missouri Amateur Championship is set to commence at St. Joseph Country Club in St. Joseph on Tuesday, June 25, with 144 Missouri golfers vying for the title. The week-long tournament will culminate with the final 36-hole match on Sunday, June 30. This marks the 10th time the championship will be held at this historic course, which last hosted the event in 2017.
St. Joseph Country Club, designed by renowned architect A. W. Tillinghast and renovated in 2003, is a beautiful and challenging course. Established in 1898, the club boasts zoysia grass fairways and bent grass greens. The course plays 6,582 yards from the black tees with a par of 71.
The championship kicked off with an 18-hole sectional qualifying round, where players competed at one of the designated sectional qualifying sites. The championship field comprises sectional qualifiers and exempt players. The tournament schedule is as follows:
- Monday, June 24: Practice round
- Tuesday, June 25: Round 1, 18 holes stroke play
- Wednesday, June 26: Round 2, 18 holes stroke play
After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 64 players. In the event of a tie, a sudden-death playoff will be held immediately following round two. The subsequent rounds include:
- Thursday, June 27: Round of 64 match play
- Friday, June 28: Round of 32 and Round of 16 match play
- Saturday, June 29: Quarterfinal and Semifinal matches
- Sunday, June 30: Championship match – 36 holes
Exempt players include Missouri Amateur Champions, the top 12 players from the 2023 MGA Amateur Player of the Year Point List, quarterfinalists from the 2023 Missouri Amateur Championship, all 2023 individual champions, and the 2023 Senior Player of the Year. Additional exemptions include the U.S. Open Local Qualifier, two exemptions to the host club, Division I and II players that qualify for match play in a college national event, and discretionary exemptions granted by the MGA Executive Committee.
A few notable players in the field include:
- Brad Nurski (St. Joseph) – Three-time Missouri Amateur Champion, World Amateur Golf Ranking of 775, 88th Mid-Amateur golfer in the country
- Michael Winslow (Overland Park) – 2023 Missouri Amateur Runner-Up, 2024 AAC All-Conference team member, rising senior golfer at Wichita State Unviersity
- Zach Vandolah (Kansas City) – 2023 Missouri Amateur Semifinalist, competed in 2024 U.S. Mid-Amateur
- Easton Johnson (Kansas City) – 2023 Jack Nicklaus Award winner, 2023 NAIA Men’s Golf Champion, rising junior at the University of Louisville
- Archer Schnieders (Jefferson City) – 2024 Junior Match Play Champion, 2023 Junior Amateur Champion, rising freshman at the University of Central Missouri
- Chad Niezing (Manchester) – 2022 Missouri Amateur Champion, 2023 Missouri Amateur Semifinalist
Other past champions in the field include Sam Migdal (St. Louis), who won in 2016, and Wayne Fredrick (Springfield), who won in 1996.
The youngest player in the field is 14-year-old Anson Munzlinger (Columbia). He is one of 50 players in the field under 21 years old. These players will square off against players at least double their senior in the stroke play rounds, including three competitors at least 60 years old. Steve Groom is the oldest player in the field at 66. The average age of the field is 29.
To view pairings or keep up with live scoring, click here.
To view a brief history of the event, click here: 2024 Missouri Amateur Program
For more information on the Missouri Amateur Championship, contact [email protected] or call the MGA office at (573) 636-8994.
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ABOUT MGA: The Missouri Golf Association is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote the best interests and true spirit of the game of golf throughout the State of Missouri.
The Missouri Golf Association was started in St. Louis in 1905 to run the Amateur Championship. Four founding clubs would be the ones in existence in St. Louis in those early years – St. Louis Country Club, Algonquin Golf Club, Glen Echo Golf Club and Normandie Golf Club. Four years later, the invite-only Missouri Amateur was held in Kansas City at Evanston Club. 1911 marked the real organization of the MGA with Bonner Miller as Secretary and Executive Director. Ever since then, the MGA has striven to provide tournaments and spaces for Missouri golfers to sharpen their skills and enjoy the game.
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