Final Field Announced for 2009 RCGA Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship

Blainville, Que. (RCGA) The Royal Canadian Golf Association announced today the final field of competitors set to challenge for the 2009 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, August 9-13 at Club de golf Le Blainvillier.

The field will consist of 156 players, including all four members of Team Canada, fresh off their win at the Four Nations Cup which wrapped up August 7 at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac.

Team Canada members include Abbotsford, B.C. native Nick Taylor, the top ranked amateur golfer in the world and a past Canadian Amateur champion, as well as Bright’s Grove, Ont. native, Matt Hill, currently listed as the world’s fifth best amateur golfer. Teammates Eugene Wong of North Vancouver, B.C. and Lindsay Renolds of Christina Lake, B.C. will be looking to claim their first Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship.

Joining Team Canada in Blainville will be four members of the National Development team, including: Mitch Sutton of London, Ont., two-time Canadian Junior Boys champion, Albin Choi of Toronto, Julien Goulet of St. Roch de l'Achigan, Que. and Mathieu Rivard of Granby, Que.

Reigning Canadian Men’s Amateur champion, Cam Burke of New Hamburg, Ont., will also be returning to Canada’s most prestigious amateur golf championship looking to defend his title as well as Darren Wallace of Victoria, B.C., the 2004 Canadian Amateur Champion.

A total of 13 international players will be in the field representing Australia, England, New Zealand and the United States of America.

Of the seven players earning their way into the field via Saturday’s qualifier include, Roger Leclerc of Montréal, Luc Guilbault of Drummondville, Que., Jean-Philip Cornellier of Granby, Que., Brian Churchill-Smith of Oakville, Ont., Peter Wegmann of the USA, David Sheman of Newmarket, Ont. and Matthew Sim, Waterloo, Ont.

Sim and Sheman both qualified after outlasting Brady Atchison, of Stittsville, Ont., in a one-hole playoff for the last two spots.

“This will be my first Canadian Amateur,” said 22-year old Sim, who will tee-it-up as his first ever Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship. “Qualifying feels that much better because I lost in a Saturday-qualifying playoff three years ago at Mississaugua Golf and Country Club.”

In addition to the stroke play championship, 10 provincial teams will be competing for the Willingdon Cup over the first two days of play. Alberta will look to capture their fourth consecutive title and fifth in the previous seven years.

Following Tuesday’s second round, the provincial team champions will be crowned and the field will be cut to the low 70 competitors and ties.