Worldwide Field Announced for The 2021 Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship presented by The Will Erwin Headache Research Foundation World’s top amateur golfers coming to Whispering Pines Golf Club for prestigious biennial championship which will be available via livestream on GolfChannel.com, the NBC Sports app and on TheSpiritGolf.com TRINITY, Texas (October 21, 2021) – The field is set for The 2021 Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship presented by The Will Erwin Headache Research Foundation (The Spirit). The Championship will be held Nov. 4-6 at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas. The Spirit will bring together the best amateur golfers from 20 countries and four continents for three days of competition. Two female and two male amateurs from each country will play for a chance at gold in five concurrent competitions.
“Our field is set for The Spirit, and it is an impressive group of international players,” said Corby Robertson Jr., founder and owner of Whispering Pines Golf Club. “These players are the future of golf across the world, and we look forward to providing them an incredible experience while they compete in one of the most prestigious events in amateur golf.”
The Spirit is a celebration of international goodwill through the game of golf. There is an opening and closing ceremony in addition to social events throughout tournament week. Camp Olympia, one of the premier summer camps in the country, provides international village accommodations for the golfers, allowing them to gather and socialize after play.
The championship will be available via livestream during competition on GolfChannel.com, the NBC Sports app and on TheSpiritGolf.com. GOLF Channel will present the highlight show in primetime, from 7-9 pm ET on Dec. 9, followed by an encore presentation on Dec. 11 from 4-6 pm ET.
The 2021 Spirit features 80 competitors from 20 countries, representing four continents. It is a 54-hole, four-ball stroke play competition, with five concurrent competition categories. Gold, silver and bronze commemorative medals are awarded to the top finishers in each competition.
“Every single one of our 80 participants has expressed how excited they are to have the opportunity to represent their country in competition,” said Charlie Epps, The Spirit tournament director and president of the Spirit Golf Association. “Some of these players will experience international competition and team golf for the first time, but others have experienced it before and have joined our field because of how much they do enjoy it. We’re looking forward to an incredible week at The Spirit.”
Individual standouts among the women’s field include USA’s Rose Zhang who is ranked No. 1 in the world and is the 2021 U.S. Girls Junior and 2020 U.S. Women’s amateur champion. USA’s Rachel Heck is ranked No. 2 and is the 2021 NCAA individual champion and PING/WGCA Player of the Year. Two players, Andrea Lignell (Sweden) and Chiara Tamburlini (Switzerland) are members of the 2021 Ole Miss national championship team; and Caley McGinty helped lead England to the 2021 European Ladies Team Championship earlier this year.
David Puig of Spain leads the men’s field ranked at No. 5 in the world rankings, followed by USA’s Sam Bennet who is ranked at No. 6 and was chosen to represent USA in the 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup. USA’s Jamie Piot, ranked at No. 58, won the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championship and has won six collegiate or amateur events since 2019.
About The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship presented by The Will Erwin Headache Research Foundation: This biennial event, staged for the 10th time in 2021, is a premier amateur competition featuring the world’s best men and women amateurs representing their respective countries in team and individual play. Eighty competitors from 20 countries compete for gold medals in the 54-hole four-ball stroke play competition. Each country is represented by two women and two men amateur golfers. Previous Spirit International competitors who now are professionals on the LPGA and PGA TOUR include Lorena Ochoa, Brooke Henderson, Scottie Scheffler, Bernd Wiesberger, Jordan Spieth, Francesco Molinari, Lexi Thompson, Brandt Snedeker, Paula Creamer, Jason Day, Bronte Law, Martin Kaymer, Maria Fassi, Austin Ernst, Ally Ewing, Jessica Korda, Will Zalatoris and Viktor Hovland, to name a few. Spirit alumni have gone on to win more than 650 professional titles, 25 major championships and 56 Olympic appearances, including 16 PGA Tour winners, 27 European Tour winners, 24 LPGA winners and 23 Ladies European Tour winners. The Spirit Golf Association is dedicated to the promotion of amateur golf for the benefit of health-related causes. It organizes and oversees the event along with the Texas Golf Association.
About the Spirit Golf Association (SGA): The Spirit Golf Association, 501(c)(3), serves as the host for The Spirit. The SGA was formed in 1999 by Houston philanthropist Corby Robertson, Jr. With a passionate vision, Robertson turned the SGA into reality by establishing a unique charitable organization that benefits health-related causes while promoting the global goodwill of amateur golf. In addition, SGA also hosts the Spirit Charity Challenge featuring Spirit alumni and Spirit Hall of Fame Game, which features local sports Hall of Famers and celebrities. Charlie Epps, PGA, serves as president and has been associated with the SGA since it was created in 1999 and was captain of Team USA in the 2001 inaugural Spirit Championship. Mark Steinbauer, PGA, and Jeff Strong, PGA are vice-presidents.
About The Will Erwin Headache Research Foundation: The Will Erwin Headache Research Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization founded in 2014. The Foundation was created with the goal of finding a cure for debilitating headaches including migraine and cluster headaches. The Erwin Headache Research Center is dedicated to leading the way in research to find a cure for these neurological disorders and to bring an end to the pain experienced by so many. The Foundation was created to honor the memory of Will Erwin, whose story as well as additional information about the Foundation, may be found at www.cureheadaches.org.
About Whispering Pines Golf Club: Located just 80 miles north of Houston along the shores of Lake Livingston, Whispering Pines Golf Club is one of the best private golf clubs in the country. Whispering Pines is ranked #1 in Texas and was recently ranked #19 in the top 200 modern courses in the country by Golfweek. Chris Rowe, PGA, is the head golf professional and Tim Timlin is the General Manager at Whispering Pines.
