A Look Into the 36th Metropolitan Amateur
St. Albans, MO - The Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association is eagerly gearing up for its 36th Amateur Championship, which will run over the course of three days, July 30 through August 1 at the Country Club of St. Albans. Starting next Monday, players will begin practice rounds to prepare for the tournament. Here is a brief look at this year's field, consisting of 156 players, and what to expect as the championship is underway.
The tournament will take place at St. Albans’ Lewis & Clark Course, designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. The par 72, 7,332-yard golf course opened in 1992 and is known to be the most challenging of St. Albans’ two courses. Players will compete with elevation changes as well as several rock-lined creeks and streams guarding the fairways.
A championship-worthy course, Lewis and Clark has a long history of hosting prestigious golf events throughout the region. They have previously hosted the Metropolitan Amateur Championship twice, along with the Missouri Women's Amateur Golf Championship, the Missouri State Amateur Golf Championship, the Missouri Cup Matches, the St. Louis Men’s District Championship, the USGA Men's State Team Championship, the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier and the 2017 Girls and Boys Junior PGA Championships.
Several past winners of the Metropolitan Amateur will return this year, adding a wealth of experience to the field at St. Albans. Among the returning champions are John Kelly, the 2004 Champion and Skip Berkmeyer, the 2009 Champion. More recent champions from the last 10 years returning include Brad Carpenter, the 2019 Champion, Drew Pranger, who captured the title in 2016, 2018 and 2022, Justin Bryant, the 2024 Champion and Corey Choate, the defending champion after claiming the title in 2025. Pranger has especially proven himself a strong competitor, by not only having won three separate times, but with one of those titles coming on the Lewis and Clark course at St. Albans in 2018.
Multiple players in this year’s field have already marked a successful showing this summer. Ryan Sullivan is the association’s most recent champion after winning the Old Warson Cup. Junior golfer, Hudson Shy will join the field off the back of his Metropolitan Junior Amateur win. Harper Ackermann went home with the Low Amateur medal from the Metropolitan Open earlier this summer, after surviving the cut alongside Ryan Sullivan and Justin Bryant. Conner McCall began his summer well with a win in the East Side Amateur. Joseph Williams and Keenan Flemming teamed up early this summer in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship where they narrowly missed the cut. Ten members of the 2026 winning Shogren Cup team will be teeing it up next week.
Across the board, the tournament will be competitive, boasting an average handicap of +0.6. 45 different clubs will be represented and the average age of the players is 31. It promises to be a championship to remember! Visit our Instagram during the tournament for live updates and videos, as well as our portal on Golf Genius for all information and live scores.