A field of 73 amateur golfers from the Chicago District will tackle Hinsdale Golf Club in Clarendon Hills, Ill. June 23-26 in the 95th CDGA Amateur Championship. One of the Midwest’s oldest championships, the CDGA Am challenges players with 36 holes of stroke play qualifying on Monday, followed by a 16-player match play bracket. For the final two golfers who survived match play, a 36-hole championship match awaits on Thursday.

At a Glance

Who: 73 golfers who were either exempt or qualified at one of four qualifying sites

What: 36-hole stroke play qualifying, followed by a 16-player match play championship

When: Monday, June 23-Thursday, June 26

Where: Hinsdale Golf Club, Clarendon Hills, Ill.

Players to Watch

Blake Biddle (Royal Fox Country Club) advanced to Sectional Qualifying for the U.S. Open.

Brian Bullington (Sanctuary Golf Course) shot a 5-under par 65 to earn medalist honors at the Innsbrook qualifier, the lowest round in any qualifier.

Blake Johnson (Glen View Club) was the runner-up in the 2013 CDGA Amatuer.  The 45-year old arrived at the championship match by defeating competitors less than half his age before falling 2 & 1 to Bryce Emory in the final.

Tee-K Kelly (Medinah Country Club) makes his CDGA Amateur debut following a victory in the 2013 Illinois State Amateur Championship.  Completed his sophomore season at Ohio State University with a seventh place finish at the Big Ten Championships.

Raymond Knoll (Cress Creek Country Club) was medalist at the Pontiac Elks qualifier.  Knoll finished 12th at the Big Ten Championships as a freshman for the University of Iowa.

Todd Mitchell (Crestwicke Country Club) is a two-time Illinois State Amateur champion and four-time Illinois State Mid-Amateur champion looking to add a CDGA Amateur title to his robust golfing resume.

Quinn Prchal (Glenview Park District) was medalist at the Evanston qualifier and won the CDGA APL last month.  Prchal won the 2012 Illinois State Amateur at the age of 18.

Dave Ryan (Piper Glen Golf Club) is a four-time CDGA Senior Player of the Year.  Ryan won the CDGA Senior Amateur last month—the Association’s only other match play championship.

Steve Sawtell (The Glen Club) is the 2004 and 2009 CDGA Amateur champion.  Sawtell is the only past champion in the field at Hinsdale.

Jack Watson (Conway Farms Golf Club) was stroke play medalist and made the semifinals in 2011 and was a quarterfinalist in 2013.  Watson finished second in the 2013 Illinois State Amateur Championship.

Back Where It All Began

In a nod to the history of the Association, the CDGA Amateur returns to Hinsdale Golf Club for a second visit in 2014. The Association’s roots were laid by coal magnate Francis Peabody at Hinsdale Golf Club, where Peabody initially hosted 25 private club presidents for a golf outing to gauge in interest in forming the CDGA in late 1913. In the spring of 1914, the group reassembled and agreed to form the CDGA, nominating Peabody as the Association’s first president.

Founded in 1898, Hinsdale Golf Club quickly grew to a full 18 holes within two years of opening and was tabbed to host the Western Open in 1907. However, in 1909, the club’s landlord decided to terminate the property’s lease, forcing the club to find a new home. While the move wasn’t that far—the club was able to secure a significantly larger parcel of land immediately to the west of its original location—the move did place the club’s new home in what would later be incorporated as the Village of Clarendon Hills.

The championship first visited Hinsdale in 1997 when Mike Stone denied Hinsdale member Chip Travis his second CDGA Am title in the final match. Travis—one of two Hinsdale Golf Club members to win the CDGA Am—would earn his second CDGA Am crown two years later down the street at La Grange Country Club. The “other” Hinsdale Golf Club member to win the CDGA Am? Robert A. Gardner claimed the first of his three CDGA Amateur titles as a member of Hinsdale in 1916. Gardner, a two-time U.S. Amateur champion, also finished second in the inaugural CDGA Amateur to Chick Evans.

The Championship will be played at 6,587 yards from the tips, with a course rating of 72.2 and a slope of 134.

Winner, Winner

Steve Sawtell (2004 and ’09) is the only past champion in the field at Hinsdale, looking to become only the fourth player to ever win the CDGA Amateur three times. Robert A. Gardner was the first player, following up a 1916 win with titles in ’24 and ’25. Martin Stanovich (1956, ’59, ’60) and Mike Milligan (1973, ’74 and ’77) matched Gardner’s feat, joining him with the most titles in history.

Should one of the other 72 players hoist the Joseph G. Davis Trophy at the end of the week, he would become the 71st name etched onto the trophy, which was first presented in 1914 to Chick Evans.

Last year’s champion Bryce Emory turned professional following the Illinois State Amateur, becoming the eighth of the last 12 CDGA Amateur champions to try their hand at the game as a professional.