Amateur Golfers in Spotlight Today

Move over pros, the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship begins at Pebble Beach today.

There were a record 7,920 entries for this year’s event, and 312 qualified. There will be 36 holes of stroke play today and Tuesday, with the top 64 golfers advancing to five days--and six rounds--of match play.

The event is being held for the fourth time at Pebble Beach, but for the first time since Jack Nicklaus won it in 1961.

The championship will be played on two courses, Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill.

Groundskeepers have done extra seeding and watering to grow the rough to almost five inches (normal height is 1 3/4 includes). And some fairways have been narrowed by up to 50%.

Those are similar to conditions pro golfers will face when the U.S. Open is held at Pebble Beach next summer.

Topping the field is Matt Kuchar, a student at Georgia Tech who won in 1997.

“So many great things have happened, so many doors have opened since my win at the U.S. Amateur,” Kuchar said. “You get to play in the Masters and the Open and the British Open.”

The winner of the U.S. Amateur will get an automatic spot in next year’s U.S. Open.