NAPERVILLE, Ill. (July 17, 2023) – A field of 120 of the world’s best amateurs is set to compete in the 123rd Women’s Western Amateur Championship at White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville, Illinois, on July 18-22.

Held without interruption since its inception in 1901, the Women’s Western Amateur is among the oldest and most prestigious annual championships in women’s amateur golf. The tournament is conducted jointly by the Women’s Western Golf Association and the Western Golf Association.

The championship features the top amateur and collegiate players from across the globe. Its list of past champions spans more than a century, from legendary stars Patty Berg, Louise Suggs and Nancy Lopez to modern standouts like Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lang, Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn.

Taglao Jeeravivitaporn, of Thailand, will seek to defend her Women’s Western Amateur title after emerging victorious in 2022 at Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield, Illinois. The Iowa State graduate and Golfweek All-American is trying to become the first player to win back-to-back Women’s Western Amateurs in more than two decades (Meredith Duncan in 2000 and 2001).

This year’s field is one of the strongest in recent history, featuring top amateurs from 30 states and 15 countries. Some of the highly ranked players joining Jeeravivitaporn at White Eagle include:

  • Justice Bosio, of Australia. The second-ranked Australian in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Bosio tied for second at the Australian Women’s Amateur in 2022 and 2023 and finished in the top five of the Queensland Amateur, North & South Women’s Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship in 2022.

  • San Jose State graduate Antonia Malate, of Seaside, California. A two-time member of the United States Arnold Palmer Cup team, Malate has recorded 12 top-10 finishes during her collegiate career. Malate has also won the Northern California Women’s Amateur and West Coast Women’s Amateur and finished in the top 25 of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur twice.

  • Stanford rising senior Sadie Englemann, of Austin, Texas. Englemann finished 10th in the 2023 NCAA Women’s Individual Championship and recorded 10 top-15 finishes in her recent collegiate season. She was named to the All-Pac-12 Team in 2023 and helped the Cardinal win the 2022 NCAA Women’s Team Championship.

  • Florida rising senior Maisie Filler, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Filler was named a 2022 Golfweek All-American Honorable Mention and represented the Gators on the 2021 SEC All-Freshman team. Filler has finished second in the Florida Women’s Amateur and placed in the top 10 in six collegiate events.

  • Kentucky graduate Marissa Wenzler, of Dayton, Ohio. The 2021 Women’s Western Amateur champion and stroke play medalist returns after her triumph at Park Ridge Country Club in Park Ridge, Illinois. Wenzler reached the quarterfinals in 2022 and finished second in the Ladies National Golf Association Amateur.

Four previous Women’s Western Junior champions will seek to become the 11th player in history to win both WWGA championships. Suzie Tran (2023) of Poulsbo, Washington; Jessica Mason (2022) of Westminster, Colorado; Mara Janess (2021) of Barrington, Illinois; and Mikaela Schulz (2017) of West Bloomfield, Michigan, are each set to compete this week.

There are eight local players from Illinois in the field, including Janess, Grace Curran (Minnesota) of New Lenox, Sarah Arnold (Western Kentucky) of Geneva, Emma Carpenter (Minnesota) of DeKalb and Caroline Smith (Wake Forest) of Inverness.

The championship will start with 18 holes of stroke-play qualifying on Tuesday and Wednesday, after which the field will be cut to the low 32 players for match play. Five rounds of 18-hole matches will decide the Women’s Western Amateur champion.

This will be White Eagle’s first WWGA or WGA championship. Founded in 1989, White Eagle was designed by legendary golf figure Arnold Palmer. His layout features signature Palmer design elements, leaving players with many risk-reward considerations thanks to a flurry of penalty areas surrounding fairways and greens.

White Eagle has also become a dedicated supporter of both the Women’s Western Golf Foundation and the Evans Scholars Foundation. The WWGF has awarded over 730 scholarships to young women who play golf since 1971, while the ESF is a nonprofit administered by the WGA that has awarded full college turion and housing scholarships to more than 13,000 caddies since 1930.

WWGF Scholar and Butler rising sophomore Cybil Stillson, of Nappanee, Indiana, will compete in the Women’s Western Amateur this week.

Andrew Wilber, a rising senior at the University of Colorado-Boulder, became White Eagle’s first caddie to receive the Evans Scholarship in 2019. Wilber will be among the more than 1,130 Evans Scholars enrolled in 24 leading universities nationwide this fall.

Attendance and parking for the Women’s Western Amateur are free. For more information, visit womenswesternamateur.com.

To view the full field, click here.

For tee times, click here.