Zach Foushee Trying To Win Third Straight Oregon Amateur

TUALATIN, Oregon - Zach Foushee is trying to win the Oregon Golf Association’s 116th Oregon Amateur this week at Tualatin Country Club. It would be the first time since Frank Dolp achieved that in 1932.

Foushee was the medalist after the first 36 holes of stroke play with an 8-under. He bested Nilay Naik, Dane Huddleston, and Naoki Easterday, who finished at 7-under in a tie for second place. Huddleston recently won the Royal Oaks Invitational.

It’s been 93 years since a men’s golfer won three straight Oregon Amateur Championships.

“If I win today and get to the round of 16, I would play Landon Banks,” Foushee said. “If I get through Landon, I would play Robbie Ziegler (2018 Champion) or Nigel Lett, who were in the top 7 of OGA that goes towards the Hudson Cup in 2024. It’s a good bracket, all of our buddies are on the upper one, which makes it fun.”

The match play portion of the event starts on Wednesday, where the top 64 qualifiers and the top 32 women qualifiers will play head-to-head in order to crown a champion on Saturday.

“The threepeat, is not something I'm thinking about, the last two years don’t really mean anything,” Foushee said. “It would be just a perk of winning this year, you never know with match play, you could hit a buzz saw and shoot four or five under and still lose, its just the way it goes.”

The winner of the Oregon Amateur gets an exemption into the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur.

“That started last year (exemption into the US Amateur). It helps keep the best amateurs playing here in the state. The WAGR points, are a nice little bonus for us to have really great fields like we did this year.” OGA Senior Director of Championship & Events Brent Whittaker said.

“I’ve played in the OGA since I was 8, 22 years there were some breaks in college and when I tried to play in Canada, I know most of the guys really well,” Foushee said. “To win this week would be pretty special, to go down in history, but you can’t look to far ahead with this stuff,”

“It was pretty important for me to get off to a hot start, cause we just had a baby 10 days ago, “ Foushee said. “So I didn’t know if I was able to play in the Oregon Amateur, it probably wouldn’t have worked out, but our baby came four days early.”

Tong An from the University of Oregon’s women’s golf team was the medalist on the women’s side with a 5-under. Gretchen Johnson was second at +2, while Kyra Ly of Oregon State’s women’s golf team was third at +3 in the 36-hole stroke play.

This is Whittaker’s 20th season with the OGA and 19th Oregon Amateur where he directs the tournament.

“It’s been a good run. It’s a bit different, we try to outdo ourselves to make it special, to make it great, but we rely on our clubs, like the Tualatin Country Club, to make it an elite level championship to make them feel proud to host it to be part of the 116th year, and the number of champions we’ve seen. Its fun, I keep it doing it.” Whittaker said.

The last time someone repeated as champion of the Oregon Amateur was in 2012 (Tualatin CC) and 2013 (Eugene CC) when Nick Chianello won.

“It really is, it’s ironic when Nick Chianello won it in 2013, its had been a since Brob Prall won in 1964 we saw someone repeat as champion,” Whittaker said. “There is a little bit of irony, if Zach was able to win, his third title in 90 years, at Tualatin Country Club, it would be really exciting.

“He has a big hill to climb. The medalist doesn’t always fare well, the curse of the medalist, he has a big hill to climb, but he continues to prove himself. He beat a lot of great players last year (Oswego Lake CC). I would tip my hat to the year at Pumpkin Ridge Witch Hallow (2023), he went through a lot of great players then. It would add another layer. He just had a baby, it would be great for him to see if he can do it. I met him when he was 11 years old in pee wee, seeing him win the national title at Oregon in 2016, getting his amateur status back. Our whole organization would be behind him, to see him do it. It would mean a lot for him to do it.”

The women’s round of 32 begins Wednesday, with the round of 16 on Thursday, and the quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday.

The men will play the round of 64 on Wednesday, before the round of 32 and the round of 16 on Thursday. Friday will showcase the quarterfinals and semifinals.

The championship final will consist of 36 holes for both the men’s and women’s finals on Saturday.

Tualatin Country Club opened its 18 hole course in 1919 with the help of legendary course designer Chandler Egan.

In 1922 Tualatin Country Club hosted its first Oregon Amateur Championship, where Dr. Oscar Willing won. It was one of five Oregon Amateur wins for Willing who was also a U.S. Amateur runner-up, after beating Egan in the semifinals.

Willing also won the Oregon Open which was a sanctioned PGA Tour win and was the first player from the Northwest in the Walker Cup. Bobby Jones requested Willing as his playing partner in the Walker Cup in 1930, which led to conversation about the Waverley Country Clubs “Blyth Champion” green jacket.

Tualatin CC has hosted 9 Oregon Amateur Championships, but it was a top 15 local player and winner in the first flight in 1922 that led Ed Neustadter to create the OGA in 1924.

Live scoring, tee times, and brackets can be found here: 116th Oregon Amateur Championship Event :: Results