NorCal well represented at 125th USGA U.S. Amateur Championship

If home field advantage carries any weight in a major golf event, the winner of this week’s USGA U.S. Amateur Championship, being played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, August 11 – 17, may well come from the ranks of the fourteen Northern Californians in the field.

The local players hail from all around the Bay Area and the inland regions of the northern half of the state, from as far south as Salinas and as far north as Red Bluff. For one local player in the field the 2025 U.S. Amateur is an actual home game – Matthew Goode, of San Francisco, is not only a member of the Olympic Club, he is the current club champion. There is one more player with a connection to the Bay Area – World #1 Amateur Jackson Koivun, who was born and raised in San Jose, attended Laurel Springs High School in Ojai, California, but now, along with his parents, calls Chapel Hill, North Carolina, home since starting college at Auburn University.

Jackson Koivun plays his tee shot on the 16th hole during the first round of stroke play of the 2025 U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club (Ocean Course) in San Francisco, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (Eakin Howard/USGA)

The NorCal field ranges in age from Aston Lim, of Union City, at 15, to recent college graduates Matthew Kress of Saratoga, and Baron Szeto, of Moraga, both 22 years of age.

Overall the ages of the players in the field range from Lim, at 15 to Arizona resident Greg Sanders, 61. The oldest winner in the 124-year history of the event is Jack Westland, 47, in 1952; the youngest is Byeong-hun (Ben) An, who played one year of college golf at Cal-Berkeley – 2010-2011; An took the title in 2009, at age 17. The average age of the players in the field this year is 23, so this championship is definitely the province of young, but experienced, players.

The tournament opens with two rounds of stroke play on the Lake and Ocean courses at the Olympic Club on Monday and Tuesday to trim the field from 312 hopefuls to the match play field of 64. The field will be further whittled down over four days of match play, Wednesday through Saturday, with the two finalists contesting for the championship in a 36-hole final on Sunday, August 17th.

Getting to the first tee box at the U.S. Amateur is an epic journey in itself. To even enter a qualifying event a player must have a handicap of 0.4 or better. This year 5,245 players submitted entries, most of whom teed it up at 47 local qualifying sites hoping to advance to final qualifying at one of 19 sites, and from there to the U.S. Amateur. Various achievements in amateur golf during the year leading up to this tournament will earn a player a direct entry to the event, and six of the 143 exempt entrants are from Northern California:

• Jackson Koivun (San Jose) – Qualified for 2025 U.S. Open; Top 20 points leaders in the World Amateur Golf Ranking as of March 26; Top 100 points leaders in the World Amateur Golf Ranking as of May 21
• Jaden Dumdumaya (Benicia) – Winner of 2025 Pacific Coast Amateur
• Jacob Goode (San Francisco) – Winner of 2025 California Amateur
• Matthew Kress (Saratoga) – Top 100 points leaders in the World Amateur Golf Ranking as of June 25
• Zachery Pollo (Rocklin) – Qualified for 2025 U.S. Open; Top 100 points leaders in the World Amateur Golf Ranking as of May 21
• Clark Van Gaalen (Turlock) – Top 100 points leaders in the World Amateur Golf Ranking as of June 25

At the end of 18 holes of stroke play Jackson Koivun led the NorCal contingent, sitting T5 at 2-under. Koivun is the only local player who is currently under par for the tournament, but a handful look to be in with a chance to advance to match play if they carry on Tuesday as they began today. That group includes the youngest player in the field, Aston Lim; the 15-year-old shot a one-over-par 71 on the Lake Course today, as did Baron Szeto of Moraga; Avinash Iyer of San Ramon – a SJSU Men’s Golf team member; Sacramento’s Brady Siravo; and Clark Van Gaalen. Also currently within the Top 64 are Zachery Pollo of Rocklin and Jaden Dumdumaya, of Benicia.

Play resumes Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m., with players switching from Lake to Ocean courses, or vice versa. Ties for 64th position at the end of stroke play on Tuesday will be decided by a playoff.