Featured Golf News
Once Again, Sahalee Players Championship to Boast World's Top Amateurs
Trent Whitekiller of Sallisaw, Okla., will return to Sahalee Country Club July 1-3 to seek his second straight Sahalee Players Championship title. Should he win, Whitekiller would become the first two-time champion in the 16 years of the championship.
Whitekiller is coming off a strong collegiate season at Oklahoma State that included a victory at the Linger Longer Invitational and being named to the All-Big 12 Conference First Team.
This year's field consists of 66 of the top amateur golfers from around the world. Top challengers to Whitekiller figure to be Division I First-Team All-Americans Nick Taylor of the University of Washington and Matthew Giles of the University of Southern California, who shared the Pac-10 Golfer of the Year award.
An All-American for the Huskies, the senior-to-be Taylor qualified for his second U.S. Open, where he finished as the low amateur at Bethpage Black. In addition to garnering four wins during the college season, Taylor, a native of Abbottsford, B.C., finished second at the World Team Amateur in Australia last fall. Giles will be looking to end up a spot higher than last year at Sahalee, when he was the runner-up.
2009 will mark the 16th year of the Sahalee Players Championship. Notable past champions have included Daniel Summerhays, Kyle Stanley (winner of the 2009 Ben Hogan Award, signifying collegiate golf's top player), and PGA Tour pros Ryan Moore, Arron Oberholser, Jason Gore and Casey Martin.
Sahalee Country Club has hosted several major championships, including the 1998 PGA Championship, 2002 World Golf Championship - NEC Invitational. The club will be the site of a major professional event with the U.S. Senior Open coming in 2010.
The Pacific Northwest Golf Association teamed up with Sahalee Country Club 10 years ago to create the "Western Swing" along with the PNGA Men's Amateur Championship. The Sahalee Players Championship is the first leg of that swing, with the PNGA Men's Amateur played the week after. By pairing the events close together amateur golfers from around the country can play two major national amateur championships without having to travel to the East Coast.
Live scoring throughout the week can be found at the Sahalee Players Championship website at www.sahaleeplayerschampionship.com.
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