The path for elite amateurs to peg it alongside the best professionals in the world will take on a new, integrated look starting this summer.
Seven of the biggest amateur events in golf have joined forces to create the Elite Amateur Golf Series (EAGS), which will play out during the summer months to provide top-level amateurs with exemptions into USGA events and top-level pro tournaments. It will also provide them a proving ground of which to compete against the best players at their level.
According to a promotional video shared by the series, the mission is “to enhance amateur golf by aligning the top competitive amateur championship and providing exceptional playing opportunities for the best amateur golfers to compete at the highest level.”
It all begins with the Sunnehanna Amateur in mid-June at Sunnehanna Country Club in western Pennsylvania. The other events included are the Northeast Amateur, the North and South Amateur, the Trans-Mississippi Amateur, the Southern Amateur, The Pacific Coast Amateur and the Western Amateur.
Put it all together and that’s seven top-level events in the span of seven weeks, each of them dishing out points based on player performances. The points will be aggregated in what will be called the Elite Amateur Cup, with the highest ranking players earning exemptions across the rest of the golf world.
Those exemptions will be on the PGA Tour at the Butterfield Bermuda Open in November, as well as into sectional qualifying for the following year’s U.S. Open. According to GolfChannel.com, four Korn Ferry Tour events will also offer exemptions to players who finish near the top in the Elite Amateur Cup.
What does it all mean?
Well, these events were going to host their tournaments regardless. But a busy summer exists for all elite amateurs. This is formalizing those schedules, in a way, that will make it worth their time, effort and money to compete in the amateur series. For the elite am, who is most likely playing golf on the Division I collegiate level, these events are a proving ground. They matter for personal status and World Amateur Golf Ranking points, but now they’ll matter for a bit more. It’s totally plausible that, say, the 30th-ranked am in the world gets hot for a 4-week stretch and plays his way into a PGA Tour start later that fall. One start isn’t everything, but it’s something.
