OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – 12 Canadians will take to the Olympia Field Country Club on Monday to kick off the U.S. Men’s Amateur from Aug. 17–23.
Highlighting the field of Canadians are both Team Canada National Amateur Squad members, dual-citizen Austin Connelly and Burlington, Ont., native Blair Hamilton. They will be joined by Development Squad member and Texas State sophomore, Tyler Saunders of Sturgeon County, Alta.
Another notable is former long-time National Amateur Squad member Garrett Rank of Elmira, Ont., who competed for Canada alongside Connelly at the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto. The 27-year-old Rank is coming off a strong T2 finish last week at the Canadian Men’s Amateur, co-hosted by Weston Golf & Country Club and Lambton Golf & Country Club in Toronto.
2014 Canadian Junior Boys champion, Austin James of Bath, Ont., will also tee-it-up at Olympia Fields.
The format for the championship consists of two stroke-play qualifying rounds, followed by six rounds of match-play concluding with a 36-hole final on Sunday.
Olympia Fields Country Club, a two-time U.S. Open venue, will host its first U.S. Amateur with stroke-play being conducted on the 7,037-yard South Course and match-play on the 7,234-yard North Course.
In 2014, Canadian Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., fell in the final 36-hole match to South Korea’s Gunn Yang, 2 and 1. Both finalists are usually invited to compete in the Masters tournament the following April, alongside exemptions into next year’s U.S. and British Opens.
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The full list of Canadians is below:
Austin Connelly (Dual-citizen)
Garrett Rank (Elmira, Ont.)
Blair Hamilton (Burlington, Ont.)
Tyler Saunders (Sturgeon County, Alta.)
Nicholas Ross (Dundas, Ont.)
Joey Savoie (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Qué.)
Eric Banks (Truro, N.S.)
Turner Southey-Gordon (Toronto)
Brett McIntosh (London, Ont.)
Josh Whalen (Napanee, Ont.)
Austin James (Bath, Ont.)
Stuart Macdonald (Vancouver)
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