Bend golfer Sam Renner chips out of the sand trap onto the first green, while playing for a shot at making the U.S. Open at the Pronghorn-Nicklaus Course on June 5, 2024. Renner is one of the favorites to win the PNGA Men's Amateur Championship at Sunriver this week. (Bulletin file photo)

The 123rd PNGA Men’s Amateur Championship will be held this week at Sunriver Resort.

The championship, administered by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association, will be alternately contested over the resort’s Woodlands and Meadows courses, and will consist of 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying held on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a cut with the low 64 players advancing to single-elimination match play. Each match will be contested over 18 holes, with the exception of the final match, which will be played over 36 holes and held on Sunday.

First held in 1899, the PNGA Men’s Amateur is among the oldest amateur golf championships in the world, according to a news release. Players will compete for the Macan Cup, which is named after legendary golf course architect A.V. Macan, a member of the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame and winner of this championship in 1913.

Sunriver most recently hosted the championship in 2015, with Anthony Quayle securing the title.

Other past champions include Tiger Woods, Jeff Quinney, Ben Crane, Jeff Coston, Nick Flanagan, Jim McLean and Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Famers Chandler Egan, Harry Givan, Jack Westland, Bud Ward and George Holland, among many others. Sam Renner, of Bend, enters the week as defending champion.

Renner figures to be formidable again this week, coming off a busy and productive junior season on the Washington State University men’s golf team. He carded a team-record scoring average of 70.67 and was an All-West Coast Conference First Team selection, earning himself a berth in the NCAA Regional Championship.

Also in the field is Bryden Brown, of Moscow, Idaho. Brown, a rising senior at California Baptist University, finished runner-up to Renner last year.

Jake Rodgers, of Mulino, is another college player to watch for at Sunriver. A rising junior at Colorado State University, Rodgers won the 2022 PNGA Junior Boys Amateur and has played well since then. Like Renner, Rodgers qualified for this spring’s NCAA Regionals, and his Rams earned three other victories in their first three 2025 events. Rodgers made the round of 32 in last year’s championship.

Last month, Conrad Chisman, of Stanwood, Wash., fired rounds of 70-73-71 to finish tied for second in the Washington Men’s Amateur, just one shot off the lead. Coming off his freshman season at Seattle University, Chisman also qualified for the NCAA Regionals, and sparked his college career with low scores and solid finishes.

The PNGA Men’s Amateur Championship is among the 11 major regional amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.