Bridgehampton - The United States Golf Association (USGA) will be conducting the 30th U.S. Mid Amateur Golf Championship starting this week at the Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton. This will be the second USGA event to be hosted by the Atlantic Golf Club, following the 1997 U.S. Senior Amateur Golf Championship.

This is the second USGA event to be hosted by the Atlantic Golf Club. Joe Kazickas

The Mid-Amateur Championship is opened to amateur golfers over the age of 25 and drew an intitial qualifying field of over 4,500 golfers across the country who participated in regional qualifying events in order to establish a competing field of 264 players, now making the trip to Bridgehampton to compete for the championship.

After two rounds of medal play (one each at neighboring golf course The Bridge, and Atlantic) the field will be cut to the top 64 qualifiers who will then play head to head in match play elimination format at Atlantic. The final two remaining competitors compete for the crown in a 36 hole final scheduled for Thursday, September 30.

Two time Defending Champion Nathan Smith will be seeking his second consecutive Mid-Amateur title and third over all. Smith won his second title last year at the Kiawah Island Club in South Carolina against re-instated amateur Tim Spitz. He won his first title in 2003. Notables in the field include George Zahringer III, winner in 2002, a former Met Open champion and five time Met Amateur Champion, and George Marucci who in 1995 suffered a 36th hole defeat against a Tiger Woods eight iron to 18 inches in the U.S. Amateur final at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. Also in the field is retired MLB pitcher Mark Mulder, who is seeking his first title.

The field will be cut to the top 64 qualifiers who will then play head to head in match play elimination format at Atlantic. (Joe Kazickas)

Unlike professional golfing events amateur tournaments allow for spectators to roam more freely around the course to watch the action. And what a setting Atlantic Golf Club is! Designed by Reese Jones and completed in 1991 the 7,044 yard, par 72, layout is one of eastern Long Island's golfing gems and is spectator friendly.

Admission is free. The wind whipped Atlantic Golf Club will offer players a meaningful challenge and spectators a taste of classic links style play as practiced by the most accomplished amateur golfers in the country.

For more information go to www.usga.org.

The Atlantic Golf Club was designed by Reese Jones and completed in 1991. (Larry Lambrecht)