Kory Franks will be in good company this week.
The Missouri State senior and Blair Oaks graduate will be one of 312 golfers competing in the 2018 U.S. Amateur Championship, which begins today at Pebble Beach, Calif.
Golfers ranging from ages 14 to 67 will be competing at the U.S. Amateur, including 16 who played in the U.S. Open earlier this summer at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in New York.
Franks will tee off today's round of 18 holes alongside Nick Carlson of Tacoma, Wash., and Brandon Einstein of Clemmons, N.C. They begin play at 11:15 a.m. CDT on hole No. 10 at Spyglass Hill Golf Course.
Franks played a practice round Sunday morning at Pebble Beach Golf Links, which has hosted the U.S. Open five times and will host it again next summer.
The U.S. Amateur will begin with two 18-hole rounds of stroke play for all competitors today and Tuesday. After that, the top 64 golfers advance to a single-elimination, match-play format, which begins Wednesday and will continue through Sunday.
To advance to the U.S. Amateur, Franks tied for fourth in last month's sectional qualifier at Westwood Country Club in St. Louis. He shot a 4-under 138 in the two-day event that began with 120 golfers.
A total of 7,463 entries for the U.S. Amateur were accepted ahead of sectional qualifying, which took place at 79 courses across the country.
Franks is one of two golfers from Missouri competing in the U.S. Amateur. He is joined by Richard Berkmeyer of St. Louis, who tied Franks for fourth at the St. Louis qualifier. This is Berkmeyer's 10th appearance at the U.S. Amateur.
Doc Redman won the 2017 U.S. Amateur title, defeating Doug Ghim 1-up in 37 holes.
Previous winners of the U.S. Amateur include Bobby Jones (five times), Tiger Woods (three times), Jack Nicklaus (two times), Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson.