Caolan Rafferty of Ireland and Defending Champion Mason Overstreet Lead Patriot All-America Invitational Field
PHOENIX, Ariz. (December 17, 2018) – Caolan Rafferty of Ireland and defending tournament champion Mason Overstreet lead an impressive field of top collegiate golfers who will play in the 2018 Patriot All-America Invitational presented by the Valley Toyota Dealers. The tournament, considered one of the elite amateur golf events in the country, will be played at The Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz., December 29-31.
Rafferty, a sophomore at Maynooth University in Kildare, Ireland, and Overstreet, the 2017 Patriot All-America Invitational champion and a junior at Arkansas, lead a field of 84 PING All-America golfers from all three NCAA Divisions, NAIA and NJCAA rankings as well as from U.S. Military Academies and universities outside the United States. Golfers will compete in a 54-hole, stroke-play competition on The Wigwam’s famed Gold Course. Competitive rounds for the 2018 Patriot All-America will be played December 29, 30, and 31 with a champion crowned at approximately 4 PM on New Year’s Eve.
What separates the Patriot All-America from other collegiate golf tournaments is participants play for more than themselves or their school. Each golfer honors a fallen or severely injured soldier by carrying a golf bag bearing the name of that soldier. Before the tournament, participants receive a card with the soldier’s story, so they can be familiar with who that person was, what they represented, and how they were killed or wounded in action. At the conclusion of the tournament, the golf bags are shipped to players’ schools and auctioned with all proceeds benefitting the Folds of Honor Foundation, which provides post-secondary educational scholarships for children and spouses of military servicemen and women killed or disabled while in active service.
According to the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking, Rafferty (50) is the highest-ranked player in the field, with Austin Eckroat from Oklahoma State (61), Overstreet (63), and Noah Goodwin from SMU (67) the other top 70 players to commit. The Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking system ranks the top male amateur golfers in the world on the basis of their average performance in counting events over a rolling cycle of the previous 104 weeks.
Collegiate golfers currently committed to play in the 2018 Patriot All-America Invitational – with World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (SPWAR) – include:
Name Institution WAGR SPWAR
Mason Andersen Arizona State 581 239
Jacob Arnett Oglethorpe University 2133 4089
Michael Biata Oral Roberts NR NR
Devon Bling UCLA 99 73
Peyton Callens Texas A & M 1564 3408
Frankie Capan University of Alabama 299 375
Sam Choi University of New Mexico 463 728
Quade Cummins University of Oklahoma 78 18
Reid Davenport Vanderbilt University 706 1928
Alec Dutkowski Taylor University 615 1072
Austin Eckroat Oklahoma State 61 24
Hunter Eichhorn Marquette University 235 203
Riley Elmes Loyola Marymount University 217 105
Clay Feagler Pepperdine University 133 63
Michael Feagles University of Illinois 264 188
Robert Foley University of Stirling 464 492
Ryan Gerard UNC – Chapel Hill 316 150
Joshua Gibson Hope College 2005 480
Noah Gillard University of Illinois 1001 2140
Emilio Gonzales St. Mary’s University 550 816
Noah Goodwin SMU 67 149
Ryan Gronlund University of Oregon 199 226
Jordan Hahn Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison 211 204
Ryan Hall South Carolina 330 761
Austin Hardman Ottawa University AZ 2720 1906
Joe Highsmith Pepperdine University 253 502
Derek Hitchner Pepperdine University 737 1126
Noah Hofman Ottawa University AZ 5930 1470
Jack Ireland UCLA 761 696
Isaiah Jackson University of Memphis 894 473
Zach James SE Oklahoma State Univ. 860 546
Mark Johnson College of Coastal Georgia 645 543
Peter Kerr University of St. Andrews 1743 2184
Ryan Knop Auburn University 137 233
Newport Laparojkit San Diego State 917 1159
David Laskin University of Arizona 328 158
Wonjun Lee Arizona State 194 219
Rasmus Lind University of Toledo 1710 2678
Jake Maples Georgia Southern 1624 3146
Joshua McCarthy Pepperdine University 123 34
Ferdinand Mueller Oklahoma State University 149 645
Sean Mullan S. Illinois Univ. – Carbondale 3856 NR
Ronan Mullarney Maynooth University (Ireland) 241 197
Matthew Myers University of St. Andrews 1393 1222
Noah Norton Georgia Tech 110 195
Kaito Onishi Univ. Southern California 236 157
Matt Organisak Emory University 1222 855
Charles Osborne SMU 360 875
Cade Osgood Southwestern University 2092 1215
AJ Ott Colorado State University 275 332
Mason Overstreet University of Arkansas 63 37
Griffin Peters US Naval Academy 2426 NR
Ashton Poole Virginia 347 250
Caolan Rafferty Maynooth University (Ireland) 50 84
Garrett Reband University of Oklahoma 171 163
Tyson Reeder University of Arkansas 1036 597
Michael Salazar Grand Canyon University 603 716
Julien Sale Arkansas State 668 350
Alex Schaake University of Iowa 231 107
Alex Scott Grand Valley St U 1086 206
Stephen Shephard Huntingdon College 1525 2022
Davis Shore University of Alabama 189 60
Cameron Sisk Arizona State 242 462
Brandon Smith Texas A & M 142 32
James Song Berkeley 170 607
Spencer Soosman University of Texas 336 85
Hayden Springer TCU 208 90
Jake Staiano Colorado State 458 331
Jackson Suber University of Mississippi 135 284
Elis Svard California State University 455 1012
Tate Tatom Air Force Academy NR NR
Trey Tobias Univ. North Carolina Charlotte 3987 2787
Tyler Uhlig Univ. Texas Tyler 1346 3254
Thomas Walsh University of Virginia 82 52
Jackson Wedgeworth University of North Alabama 3647 1008
Cecil Wegener Ole Miss 312 397
Tim Widing University of San Francisco 183 190
Brice Wilkinson Mississippi Gulf Coast CC NR 1103
Justin Williamson United States Military Academy 3701 6304
Rob Wuethrich Illinois Wesleyan University 2923 2378
Hidetoshi Yoshihara UCLA 163 116
Nolan Zikas Concordia-Nebraska NR NR
The Patriot All-America is a collaboration between the Arizona Golf Association, JDM Partners, The West Valley Mavericks, and the Golf Coaches Association of America in partnership with the Folds of Honor Foundation. The Thunderbirds, hosts of the PGA TOUR’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, volunteer at and support the event.
Patriot All-America alumni now playing on the PGA TOUR, including three-time major winner Brooks Koepka (2011 Patriot participant); Justin Thomas (2011); Daniel Berger (2012); Bryson DeChambeau (2013); and Cameron Champ, the 2016 Patriot All-America Invitational champion.
The winner of the Patriot All-America will receive a sponsor exemption into the Web.com Tour’s Wichita Open played June 20 – 23 at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kansas. For more information on The Patriot All-America Invitational presented by the Valley Toyota Dealers, visit www.patriotallamerica.com.
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