It’s time for the premier men’s amateur championship.
The 2023 U.S. Amateur started Monday at Cherry Hills Country Club and Colorado Golf Club, both in the Denver suburbs. The field of 312 players will complete 36 holes of stroke play, 18 at each course, before a cut is made to the top 64, who will advance to match play at Cherry Hills beginning Wednesday. This will be the 123rd U.S. Amateur.
Eighteen of the top 20 players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking are in the field, including No. 1 Gordon Sargent.
Last year, Sam Bennett topped Ben Carr 1 up at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey.
Here’s a look at 10 players to watch at the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.
Nick Dunlap
It has been a stellar summer for Dunlap, who won the Northeast Amateur and North & South Amateur in back-to-back weeks. The rising sophomore at Alabama will also represent the United States in the Walker Cup next month at St. Andrews.
David Ford
Ford will also be on the United States Walker Cup team next month. He fell in the quarterfinals against Dunlap at the North & South Amateur and also was on the 2023 Palmer Cup team.
Nick Gabrelcik
Gabrelcik set a course record in the final round of the Southern Amateur, shooting 8 under and claiming the title. The senior at North Florida won the Phil Mickelson Award for top college freshman in 2021 and reached the semifinals of the 2021 U.S. Amateur.
Ben James
James, the reigning Phil Mickelson Award winner, won five times as a freshman at Virginia, becoming only the second player in school history to earn All-America honors. He was also on the 2023 Palmer Cup team and has a good shot at being named to the Walker Cup squad, as well.
Bryan Kim
Kim, an incoming freshman at Duke, broke out after he won this year’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Daniel Island Club, defeating Joshua Bai, 2 up, in the 36-hole final. Last year, he qualified for the U.S. Amateur, earned a spot on the Junior President’s Cup team, tied for sixth in the Rolex Tournament of Champions and tied for 10th in the Junior Players.
Kazuma Kobori
Kobori had a strong summer, but he capitalized on it when he won the 2023 Western Amateur, clinching the summer-long Elite Amateur Series Cup in the process. He topped Christiaan Maas, a rising sophomore at Texas, in the 18-hole final.
Dylan Menante
Menante has been a match-play menace in recent years. He was 4-0 for the Tar Heels last year and reached the semifinals of the 2022 U.S. Amateur. He also finished second at the Southern Amateur and ninth at the Northeast Amateur this summer.
Gordon Sargent
The top-ranked amateur in the world is set to lock up a PGA Tour card officially in a couple of months, but he could do it this week with a win. Sargent was low amateur at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club and also played in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic and Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Preston Summerhays
Summerhays, who won the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur, qualified for his second U.S. Open this summer after surviving a 3-for-2 playoff. He also has played in the PGA Tour’s 3M Open and advanced to match play at the Western Amateur.
Caleb Surratt
Surratt, a rising sophomore at Tennessee, won the SEC individual title in the spring and also finished runner-up at the Northeast Amateur against Nick Dunlap. He also made the cut in the Korn Ferry Tour’s NV5 Invitational, placing T-35.
