The Northeast Amateur Invitational at Wannamoisett Country Club in city once again kicked off a scintillating summer of action at courses around the area, including the East Bay, under the auspices of the Rhode Island Golf Association, the schedule really getting going next week with the 118th playing of the State Amateur Championship in the East Bay at Montaup Country Club July 10-14.

Competitors who needed to qualify for the event did so in early June at Cranston Country Club, Segregansett CC a little ways over the Massachusetts boarder in Taunton and at Fenner Hill in South County. Rob Grossguth and Robert Rambone each shot 71 at Cranston share qualifying medalist honors. John McNeill was low at Segregansett, shooting a 3-under 69. And Chris Rohrs, of Wannamoisett CC, came in with an even par 70 to lead the Fenner Hill quali.

Michael Hamilton and Kevin Blaser, who earned spots in the just completed Northeast, lead the field of exempt qualifiers into the State Am. Hamilton, the winner, and the Top 30 from the 2022 State Player of the Year points standings earned their way to Montaup as did Blaser and the previous 10 State Am champs.

The other exempt players are as follows: Hamilton and the last five Stroke Play Champions; Larry Lafauci, Jr. and the last three Mid-Amateur Champions;  Mark Wilson and the John P. Burke Champions; the Four-Ball Champions from 2022, Tyler Cooke and Bobby Leopold; the low amateur/amateurs at the 2022 Rhode Island Open, Austin Cilley and Teddy Murphy; the 2022 Boys’ Jr. State Amateur Champion Max Jackson and the Sr. Amateur Champion Timothy Murray.

Continuing on, the State Am Match Play Qualifiers from 2022 not otherwise exempt; the Top 5 from the 2022 Junior Player of the Year standings; the Ed Perry Gross Four-Ball Gross Champs; the 2023 Interscholastic League high school champion Sebastian Carlsson of Narragansett, the top Rhode Island resident in the youth Challenge Cup POY ranks; the top 10 on the 2022 Senior POY points list; and the top five of the 2022 Junior POY points list.

More men's notes

The RIGA's male major championship schedule continues July 24-28 with the 104th Rhode Island Junior Amateur at Winnapug CC in Westerly (July 24-25) and Ledgemont CC in Seekonk (July 26-28).

To begin August, the first and second, the 91st Rhode Island Open Championship at Connecticut National Golf Club out Route 44 in Putnam. The next week, Aug. 8-9, the 40th Rhode Island Stroke Play takes place at Valley CC in West Warwick. The month closes with the 65th Rhode Island Senior Amateur (Gross), Aug. 28 and 29, at Pawtucket CC.

The major slate concludes with the 30th Mid-Amateur Championship Quinnatisset CC in Thompson, Conn., September 26-27, and lastly the 25th John P. Burke Memorial Tournament, Gross and Net Divisions, Green Valley CC in Portsmouth and historic Newport CC, Oct. 3-4.

Women's notes

The RIGA women's/girls' major schedule starts in earnest as well with the Jr. Am run concurrently with the boys' edition July 24-28 with the 104th Rhode Island Junior Amateur at Winnapug CC in Westerly (July 24-25) and Ledgemont CC in Seekonk (July 26-28).

Next up, the Women's State Amateur and Senior Am Championships tee it up at Kirkbrae CC in Lincoln, August 1-5. The Stroke Play Championship follows at Crestwood CC in Rehoboth, August 8, then ends with the Four-Ball Championship at Wanumetonomy Golf and Country Club in Middletown,  August 21.

Dunlap wins again

Nicholas Dunlap, the soon-to-be Alabama sophomore who won the 61st Northeast Amateur two weeks ago with a birdie on the 72nd hole, claimed his second significant trophy in as many weeks when he once again rallied to defeat Stanford senior Karl Vilips, 1-up, to win the 123rd Men's North & South Amateur played over the famed Pinehurst Nos. 2 and 4 layouts June 27-July 2 in North Carolina.

Scheduled for a Saturday finish, the tourney concluded on Sunday due to a flash thunderstorm mid round of the final.

According to the report in The Pilot newspaper, Dunlap, who was seeded seventh in the 32-person match play field after finishing in that spot during the medallist qualifying, trailed 2-down on the back nine of the 18-hole championship contest. The position was quite similar to where he found himself eight days earlier at Wannamoisett when he made the turn trailing Claeb Surratt by four at the turn.

And as was the case in city, Dunlap proved the steadier, more poised player coming in. Like Surratt, Vilips made a couple of costly mistakes, including when eventually gave up his lead entirely with a bogey on the par 4 17th. Dunlap, meanwhile, made pars and had a key chip-in bogey to earn a half at 13. He then secured the win with a drama-free two-putt par after his approach at the last landed 15 feet from the pin.