Preston Summerhays (Courtesy of Waste Management Open)
Preston Summerhays will have a little less than a month to prepare for the raucous crowd which awaits him on the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale after the Arizona State freshman received a sponsor’s exemption into the 2022 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
The former U.S. Junior Amateur champion is the first of five sponsor exemptions into the WM Phoenix Open, which gets underway on Feb. 10 at TPC Scottsdale.
“Preston is one of the top amateur golfers and an extremely accomplished player, especially for his young age,” said tournament director Dr. Michael Golding said. “He has put together a remarkable junior and amateur career and has taken on some of golf’s biggest stages, including the U.S. Open. We are excited to see what he can do at ‘The People’s Open’ in 2022.’”
Currently a freshman at Arizona State, Summerhays has put together a stellar amateur career, competing in the 2020 U.S. Open and 2021 Barbasol Championship, and was the winner of the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. He also was the youngest-ever winner of the Sunnehanna Amateur (2020), one of the world’s most prestigious amateur golf tournaments, was a member of the 2019 U.S. Junior Presidents Cup team, was a back-to-back Utah Amateur champion in 2018 and 2019, and was a First-Team Rolex Junior All-American. This will be Summerhays’ first PGA TOUR event playing on a sponsor exemption.
“I first started standard bearing at the Waste Management Phoenix Open when I was 10 years old, so this event is like a major championship to me,” Summerhays said. “To be able to compete against the very best players in the world, in this amazing atmosphere, in my own backyard, is a dream come true.”
The 2022 WM Phoenix Open will take place Feb. 7-13 at TPC Scottsdale. “The People’s Open” has been named the Tournament of the Year by the PGA TOUR four times in the past seven years (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019) to acknowledge the tournament’s legendary status as one the most unique events in golf. The 2022 edition will mark the 87th playing of the event (one of the five oldest events on the PGA TOUR) and the 13th with Waste Management as title sponsor.
Waste Management Phoenix Open contributed to this report.
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