The summer tournament gauntlet is spiraling toward completion – and, for some, the start of the fall college season. The Golfweek Hoosier Amateur offers a Midwest tune-up for a college-heavy field with roughly a month until college competition gets underway.
The Golfweek Hoosier Amateur debuted in the fall of 2020, when many players – collegians among them – were searching for a place to play as the pandemic upended the normal spring, summer and fall competition calendars. The Pfau Course, a Steve Smyers-designed layout on the campus of Indiana University, opened in June of that year. Players raved about the difficulty – and the greens.
Erica Shepherd, now a rookie on the Epson Tour, won the women’s division at the inaugural tournament after going 2 over for 54 holes. The men’s title went to Tommy Kuhl, then an Illinois junior who recently made headlines when he fired a course-record 62 on aerated greens in a U.S. Open local qualifier, only to later DQ himself when he realized he had violated the Rules of Golf by repairing multiple aeration marks during the round.
The next two titles went to Eleanor Hudepohl and Siarra Stout, respectively, on the women’s side with Taichi Kho and Nels Surtani claiming victory on the men’s side.
This year’s field includes more than 100 amateurs, with college players amounting for the biggest chunk of that. None of the event’s past champions return this year.
The field does include a handful of local players, including a pair of incoming Indiana women’s players and six members of the Hoosier men’s team. Several more players from Power 5 conferences will tee it up, including those from Michigan, Purdue, Oregon, Georgia, Ohio State, Kansas and Michigan State. The field also includes three players from Ball State, including Carter Smith, a member of the Cardinal team that finished fourth at the National Golf Invitational in May. Ball State commit Happy Gilmore, who plays locally for Bloomington High School South, is also in the field.
As the Golfweek Hoosier Amateur has built into an annual late-summer event, the Pfau Course has risen in national prominence. It’s tied with French Lick Resort’s Ross course for second place on the Golfweek’s Best List of best public-access courses you can play in Indiana.
In June of this year, the Pfau Course hosted the Indiana State Amateur, marking the first time in the event’s 123-year history that it was played in Bloomington. The Pfau Course has also hosted Golfweek Junior Tour and Golfweek Amateur Tour events, as well as the LPGA Amateur Tour Championship.
Director of Golf Daniel Hilker noted that if the weather allows for course conditions to be firm and fast, players will be tested in all areas of their game.
“The course is showing its teeth this time of year,” Hilker said. “Expect the leaders to be at the top of the field in driving accuracy, scrambling, and putting.”
The Golfweek Hoosier Amateur is a 54-hole event, ranked in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, that will be played Aug. 8-10.