GLENVIEW, Ill. – The Western Amateur Championship returns to North Shore Country Club this week, bringing a decorated field of international stars – including three past champions and 12 of the top 15 amateurs in the world – to one of the Chicago area’s most historic clubs on August 1-5.

First played at Glen View Club in 1899, the Western Amateur is the world’s third-oldest amateur championship, behind only the British Amateur (1885) and the U.S. Amateur (1895). It regularly attracts the top players from across the country and around the world, with past champions like Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

This will mark the second time that North Shore has hosted the Western Amateur. The iconic club in Glenview, Illinois, hosted the championship for the first time in 2011, when Ethan Tracy outlasted a field that included Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Max Homa and Wyndham Clark. North Shore has also hosted the Western Open (1928), U.S. Open (1933) and U.S. Amateur (1939, 1983).

A grueling combination of stroke play and match play makes the Western Amateur one of the most demanding events in golf. The field of 156 players will compete in 72 holes of stroke play over three days to determine the Sweet 16 for match play.

The match play portion of the event will be streamed live worldwide with more than 12 hours of coverage over Friday, Aug. 4, and Saturday, Aug. 5. The live stream will be available for free at thewesternamateur.com and with a subscription on the Peacock streaming service.

The 2023 field is one of the most accomplished in the event’s history, showcasing amateur and collegiate standouts with the potential to become PGA TOUR stars. The field features players from 25 countries and 32 states, including:

  • North Carolina fifth year Austin Greaser. The 2022 Western Amateur champion is the No. 5-ranked amateur and a three-time Golfweek All-American. Greaser, a member of the 2023 U.S. Palmer Cup team, finished runner-up at the 2021 U.S. Amateur and has competed in the Masters and 2022 U.S. Open, where he made the cut and finished T61.
  • Stanford junior Michael Thorbjornsen. The 2021 Western Amateur champion is the No. 2-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Thorbjornsen, the 2023 Pac-12 Golfer of the Year, was named a PING All-America first team honoree and competed in the 2023 U.S. Open. He has already compiled four top-20 finishes in PGA TOUR events as an amateur, including a T17 at the John Deere Classic in July.
  • Tennessee sophomore Caleb Surratt. The No. 8-ranked amateur was a 2023 PING First Team All-American selection and won the Elite Amateur Cup in 2022. Surratt, the 2021 Western Junior Champion, also won the 2023 SEC Championship and finished runner-up at the 2023 Northeast Amateur and 2022 U.S. Junior.
  • North Carolina junior David Ford. The No.4-ranked amateur was a 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup participant and named the 2023 ACC Player of the Year and Golfweek First Team All-American. After reaching the quarterfinals in 2021, Ford returns to the Western Amateur with wins at the 2023 Jones Cup and 2022 Southern Amateur.
  • Virginia sophomore Ben James. The No. 7-ranked amateur was named the 2023 NCAA Freshman of the Year after winning five events and placing sixth individually at the NCAA Championship. James, a Haskins Award finalist, was named a PING First Team All-American and competed for the U.S. in the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup.
  • Alabama sophomore Nick Dunlap. The No. 10-ranked amateur currently stands atop the Elite Amateur Cup standings with back-to-back wins at the 2023 North and South Amateur and Northeast Amateur. Dunlap, winner of the 2021 U.S. Junior, was named a PING All-American and represented the U.S. in the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup.
  • North Carolina fifth year Dylan Menante. The No. 6-ranked amateur has earned Golfweek All-America honors in each of the past three seasons and helped lead Pepperdine to a national title in 2021. Menante won the 2022 Northeast Amateur by nine strokes and has recently finished in the top five of the 2023 Southern Amateur and 2023 NCAA Individual Championship.

The field also includes top-ranked amateurs like Golfweek All-American First Team selections Preston Summerhays (Arizona State) and Cole Sherwood (Vanderbilt); Second Team selections Cole Anderson (Florida State), Nick Gabrelcick (North Florida), Ian Gilligan (Long Beach State), Maxwell Moldovan (Ohio State), William Moll (Vanderbilt) and Brian Roberts (Florida State); and Third Team selections Owen Avrit (Oregon), Canon Claycomb (Alabama) and Christian Maas (Texas).

Thorbjornsen and Greaser aren’t the only former Western Amateur champions in the field. Garrett Rank, who won the 2019 Western Amateur at Point O’ Woods Golf & Country Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan, is back again this year. Rank leads a group of mid-amateurs that includes Stewart Hagestad, who won the 2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur, was the low amateur at the 2017 Masters and has played on three U.S. Walker Cup teams.

There are three former Western Junior champions in the field who are attempting to become the fifth player to win both the Western Junior and Western Amateur, including Hans Risvaer, who won in 2023 at Midlothian Country Club in Midlothian, Illinois; Eduardo Derbez Torres, who won in 2022 at Naperville Country Club in Naperville, Illinois; and Surratt, who won in 2021 at Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Click here to see the full field.

The 2023 Western Amateur will be the final event of the Elite Amateur Golf Series, a season-long competition that tests the best players in amateur golf over a series of seven historic championships. Top finishers in the series will earn exemptions into PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour events.

With Dunlap atop the standings and each of the top 10 players in the Western Amateur field, the winner will likely be decided at North Shore this weekend. Sunnehanna Amateur champion Jackson Van Paris (Vanderbilt) sits in second while Luke Clanton (Florida State) is third.

Several players from the Chicagoland area will compete in the national event, including Mac McClear (Iowa), a Hinsdale native who won the 2023 Big Ten Championship and back-to-back Illinois Amateur titles in 2022 and 2023; Mills Rendell (Vanderbilt), of Chicago; and North Shore’s own Ryan Banas (Marquette), of Winnetka.

Click here for first and second round starting times.

Attendance and parking at the Western Amateur are free.