A total of six area golfers will begin play today in the 111th Missouri Amateur Championship.
The tournament, hosted by the Missouri Golf Association, will be played at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau.
The area players include Nathan Erickson, Jack Rundle, Alex Gentry, Gerald Siemons and Levi Elder of Jefferson City, along with Logan Taylor of Holts Summit. Siemons, at age 72, is the oldest player in the field this year.
It's the second statewide tournament in recent weeks for Erickson, Rundle and Gentry. The trio all competed in the Missouri Golf Association's Junior Match Play Championship last week at A.L. Gustin in Columbia.
The tournament consists of 18 holes of stroke play today and Wednesday. The players with the lowest 64 scores after Wednesday advance to the match play portion of the tournament. Any ties for 64th will be decided in an immediate playoff after the conclusion of stroke play Wednesday.
Match play will begin Thursday, with two sets of match play set for Friday. On Saturday, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be held. The championship match, consisting of 36 holes, will be played Sunday.
This is the second time the Missouri Amateur has been held at Dalhousie Golf Club. In 2012, Nick Wilson defeated Skip Berkmeyer for the title. Neither is in the field this year.
Brad Nurski of St. Joseph returns to defend his title, while the 2017 runner-up and 2016 champion Sam Migdal of Ballwin is also in the field.
Correction: Nathan Erickson is playing in the championship. His last name was incorrect in an earlier version of this article.