40^th PACIFIC COAST AMATEUR TO BE PLAYED AUGUST 1-4 AT THE OLYMPIC CLUB IN SAN FRANCISCO

SAN FRANCISCO, July 24 — Defending champion Alex Prugh, four former USGA national champions, a plethora of state titleholders and 2007 U.S. Walker Cup captain George “Buddy” Marucci head the field in the 40^th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship to be played August 1-4 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

The 90-player field will play 18 holes each day in the 72-hole stroke-play event, alternating between The Olympic Club’s Ocean and Lake courses. The Lake Course has hosted eight USGA national championships, including four U.S. Opens and two U.S. Amateurs and will be the site of the Amateur again in 2007 and the Open in 2012.

Live scoring, scores and photos will be available at www.pacificcoastamateur.com.

The 21-year-old Prugh, a University of Washington rising senior from Spokane, won the prestigious title last year by three shots at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, joining his brother, Corey, who won in 2001, and a champions list that includes top amateurs and current PGA Tour players Jason Gore, Ben Crane, Mark Johnson, Billy Mayfair, Todd Fischer and David Berganio, Jr. Prugh also won the 2005 Washington State Amateur and was a first team All Pac-10 member this year.

The field also includes:

• Charlie Beljan of Mesa, AZ, 2002 U.S. Junior Amateur champion;

• Tim Hogarth of Northridge, CA, 1996 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion;

• Henry Liaw of Hacienda Heights, CA, 2001 U.S. Junior Amateur champion;

• Clay Ogden of North Salt Lake, UT, the 2005 U.S. Public Links champion;

• Marucci, the 2007 U.S. Walker Cup captain and a lifelong top-flight amateur golfer, who was runner-up to Tiger Woods in the 1995 U.S. Amateur.

Two other USGA champions, Tim Jackson and Kevin Marsh, have withdrawn from the event.

In addition to the championship, the annual Morse Cup team competition will be held for the 16 associations that make up the Pacific Coast Golf Association, which conducts the championship. The best two of three individual scores in each of the first two rounds count for the Morse Cup total. Two-time defending champion Washington State GA is attempting to become the first association to win the cup three consecutive times since the Southern California Golf Association in 1980-92.

ABOUT THE PACIFIC COAST AMATEUR HISTORY

Although its present history dates only from 1967, the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship’s roots make it one of the oldest amateur golf championships in American history. 

The first tournament was held on the links of the San Francisco Golf Club at The Presidio, April 24-27, 1901.  Championships were held annually through 1911, all being conducted in California except for the 1909 championship, which was held at Seattle Golf Club in Washington. 

The Pacific Coast Amateur then ceased to exist, only to be reconstituted at the Seattle Golf Club on August 10-12, 1967.  The objective was to start a golf championship with the stature that would attract the attention of the USGA and display the ability of amateur golfers in the western United States for possible Walker Cup Team selection. Since 1967, 12 Pacific Coast Amateur champions and another dozen who have competed in the event have been selected to U.S. Walker Cup squads.

The championship rotates each year among major golf clubs throughout the western United States and Canada.