Sunnehanna Country Club to host 125th WPGA Amateur Championship
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – A milestone edition of the region’s top amateur golf championship is set for Monday and Tuesday at Sunnehanna Country Club.
The 125th Western Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur Championship will be contested over 54 holes between the two days at the historic course in Johnstown.
Started in 1899, the West Penn Am rapidly turned into the measuring stick competition for players within western Pennsylvania, and has produced numerous USGA champions and some of the highest-regarded names in the sport’s history.
“The WPGA Amateur Championship has a significant place in the rich legacy of golf in our region and beyond,” said Terry Teasdale, executive director of the WPGA. “To be able to celebrate the 125th West Penn Am at a historic course like Sunnehanna Country Club makes this a truly a special moment in the WPGA’s history.”
The tournament – one of the oldest amateur golf competitions in the country – will feature 54 holes of stroke play, with 36 occurring Monday.
Seventy-eight players are scheduled to compete Monday, with the field being cut to the best 32 scores and ties for Tuesday’s championship round.
Monday will mark the fourth time that Sunnehanna has welcomed the WPGA for the event, with all three previous competitions taking place since 2000, when Sean Knapp claimed his third consecutive win in the event.
Knapp went on to win three more years in a row after that, and also claimed victories in 2018 and 2023 to set the record with a ninth WPGA Amateur Championship.
“For me, there were really only two big tournaments, the Pennsylvania State Amateur and the West Penn Amateur,” Knapp said. “The West Penn Amateur has a storied tradition. It’s something that I focused on every year.”
In 2007, another western Pennsylvania amateur legend took home the WPGA Amateur at Sunnehanna, as Nathan Smith won in a playoff to claim his first of four consecutive titles.
Ten years later, Matt Holuta won the competition at Sunnehanna, which annually hosts the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions, a national competition that has showcased many of the game’s top players over the years.
Historically, the WPGA Amateur Championship has brought out some of the biggest names in local golf since its inception.
Arnold Palmer claimed the event five times, including four straight from 1949-52.
He and Fred Brand are the only players to ever win the WPGA Amateur and WPGA Junior Championships in the same year.
William C. Fownes, the son of Oakmont Country Club founder and architect H.C. Fownes, won the competition eight times.
Jack Benson and Eben Byers each claimed the West Penn Am on six occasions.
A year ago, Nathan Piatt won the 124th WPGA Amateur Championship at Chartiers Country Club, carding an impressive 8-under score over the two days. Piatt went on to be named the 2024 WPGA player of the year.
Over the past two months, the WPGA conducted three qualifying events for non-exempt players. Those qualifiers will join exempt players Monday, with the first starting time set for 8:30 a.m.
Piatt will play in the first group Monday alongside defending WPGA Mid-Amateur champion Ian Bangor and Scott Kemmler.
Knapp will look for a 10th WPGA Amateur title when he starts his round at 9:30 a.m.
A decorated field will round out the competition, including 2025 WPGA spring stroke play champion Chuck Tragesser, as well as former WPGA Junior champions Nick Turowski, Griffin Hansberry and current junior champ Michael Quallich.
Rick Stimmel, the 1997 WPGA Amateur champion, will tee off at 10:10 a.m. and three-time champ David Brown will follow 10 minutes later.
