STANFORD, Calif. - Four current and former Stanford student-athletes will be competing at the U.S. Amateur (Aug. 14-20) at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. The Cardinal will be represented by Franklin Huang, Brandon Wu, Maverick McNealy and David Boote.
"It's great to see a nice sample of our men playing in the U.S. Amateur to cap a strong summer of individual golf," said Conrad Ray, Stanford's Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf. "The storied venues of Riviera and Bel Air Country Clubs will be great backdrops for an awesome championship. Along with the Stanford Golf Course, both are George Thomas designs, so maybe there will be some Thomas magic in the air for the Cardinal."
Wu won this year's Porter Cup by three strokes with a four-round 11-under (269). He was a first alternate in sectional qualifying for this year's U.S. Open at Erin Hills. Wu shot a 9-under-par 63 in local qualifying at Yocha Dehe Golf Club, in Brooks, California. Wu, a rising junior, was born in Danville, California, but lived in Beijing for five years. He earned second-team All-Pac-12 Conference honors this past season and reached match play in this year's California State Amateur.
Huang advanced to the round of 64 at last year's U.S. Amateur. The Ping All-America honorable mention posted a 71.41 scoring average as a junior, posting a second-place finish at The Goodwin. He tied for fifth at this year's Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championship.
Rising senior Bradley Knox is an alternate for the tournament.
Boote, a native of Wales, reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Amateur in his first USGA championship. He advanced to the round of 64 in this year's British Amateur Championship, conducted by The R&A, and made the round of 32 in the Australian Amateur. Boote, who tied for seventh in the 2017 Brabazon Trophy, played in every tournament for four years at Stanford, earning All-America honors twice and recording 13 top-10 finishes. Boote finished ninth individually in the 2016 World Amateur Team Championship.
McNealy earned the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the world's top-ranked amateur in 2016. He is competing in his ninth USGA championship and fourth U.S. Amateur. McNealy was a first-team All-America and first-team All-Pac-12 Conference selection for the third consecutive season as a senior at Stanford. McNealy, who was a member of the 2015 USA Walker Cup Team, was the recipient of the Ben Hogan Award, as the nation's top collegiate player, and received the Byron Nelson Award and Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He competed in this year's U.S. Open at Erin Hills and The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and tied for 44th in the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic.
The U.S. Amateur Championship is the oldest golf championship in America, and throughout its history, has been the most prestigious of all amateur titles. Many of the great names of professional golf, such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Littler, Lanny Wadkins, Craig Stadler, Jerry Pate, Mark O'Meara, Hal Sutton, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, grace the Havemeyer Trophy.
In 1996 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon, Woods won his record third straight U.S. Amateur, having registered 18 consecutive match-play victories. In 1994, Woods, at 18, had first entered the record book as the youngest ever to win the U.S. Amateur, following his three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur titles (1991-1993).
The Riviera Country Club has hosted a PGA Tour event 54 times since 1929, including this year's Genesis Open. Riviera will be set up at 7,272 yards and will play to a par of 34-36-70. Riviera will host all match-play rounds. The stroke-play co-host course, Bel-Air Country Club, will be set up at 6,757 yards and will play to a par of 36-34-70.
