We learned a few things on Tuesday the 16th, at the Niagara Falls Country Club. A week from today, 90 of the world’s best amateur golfers will begin competition in the 60th playing of the Porter Cup. What will they face? Who are they? Here is what we know.

~The #7 golfer in the world, Chun An Yu, and the #22 ranked golfer, John Pak, will compete in this year’s tournament;

~Four of the continent’s top mid-amateur golfers will compete. They are: Kevin O’Connell, the 2018 USGA Mid-Amateur champion; Matt Parziale, the 2017 Mid-Am champion; Garrett Rank; and Justin Tereshko;

~The golf course is in the midst of a greens revitalization and renewal. Many of the putting surfaces have been recontoured to add additional undulation, while still offering new hole locations. All 18 will eventually undergo this treatment;

~On the junior side, one of the top commits from the class of 2020, Canon Claycomb of Orlando, will compete. Claycomb will attend the University of Alabama. He has represented the USA on both the Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Presidents Cup teams;

~The golf course will likely offer a lot of putts at birdie, as long as golfers can keep their tee balls in the fairway. Rain is forecast for 3 or 4 of the next 10 days. The remaining days will be overcast, ensuring that the course does not “drought-out.” Unless the tees are waaaaay back on 5, 8, 9, 13 and 17, expect less-than-drive on many of the par-four holes;

~All of the golfers will have four attempts at replicating Tiger Woods’ 12th-hole ace in 1994. If they come as close as this guy, they’ll make birdie more often than not.

CRITICAL LINKS*CRITICAL LINKS*CRITICAL LINKS

2019 PORTER CUP PLAYER PROFILES

2019 PORTER CUP CONTESTANT LIST

2019 PORTER CUP EVENT SCHEDULE