ERIE — The Western Pennsylvania Golf Association’s first major championship of 2026 is set for Monday and Tuesday in Erie.
The Kahkwa Club, a renowned course deeply embedded in the fabric of Western Pennsylvania and Erie-area golf, will host the 126th WPGA Amateur Championship next week, marking the first time in 14 years that the premier championship for amateur golfers in Western Pennsylvania has been held in Erie.
“It’s a great honor to host,” said Sean Moffat, Head Golf Professional at The Kahkwa Club. “We have a lot of great players here in the area that participate all over the state, so I'm excited to have people from Pittsburgh come up and see us. We're kind of a hidden gem up here in Western Pennsylvania, so I’m looking forward to it.”
The Kahkwa Club was founded in 1893 as a social club. Six years later, coinciding with the inaugural year of the WPGA, golf came to Erie on a 100-acre parcel of land.
In 1912, the course moved to a 200-acre facility in Swanville and, four years later, legendary architect Donald Ross devised the 18-hole layout. In typical Ross fashion, the course is well protected by complex bunkers and challenging greens.
“From a sheer distance standpoint, it's not that daunting,” said Moffat of the course, which will play roughly 6,700 yards for the West Penn Am. “But if you miss the greens long, left or right, you're kind of in trouble. The greens are going to give fits to the players, for sure.”
The Kahkwa Club has hosted several regional, state and even USGA national championships throughout its history, and has consistently elevated and reworked the course’s layout to fit the ever-changing game.
“We’ve been a staple in Erie for many for over a century,” said Moffat. “There’s a long line of history in The Kahkwa Club. We’re wanting to get back into that conversation of hosting bigger events. Now that we have the course and the bunkers for today’s game, we really look forward to keep climbing that ladder and branching out.”
The club has hosted three USGA national championships in its history. In 1971, the U.S. Women’s Open was claimed by JoAnne Carner in Erie. The U.S. Women’s Amateur was won by Jane Park in 2004 and Julia Potter took the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur crown in 2016 at Kahkwa. Several Pennsylvania State Amateur Championships have been contested at the course, as well.
The WPGA Amateur Championship will be held at The Kahkwa Club for the fourth time. In 1987, Erie native Tim Dunlavey took the title at Kahkwa. Just over a decade later, amateur legend Sean Knapp claimed the second of his record nine WPGA Amateur titles in Erie. And, in 2012, another Erie native, Greg Podufal, took the W.C. Fownes Trophy.
“There is a tremendous history of golf in the Erie area,” said Terry Teasdale, executive director of the WPGA. “We’re extremely excited to bring the West Penn Am back to The Kahkwa Club, and to see the challenge that the course provides to the region’s top players.
“We’re thankful to the club, its leadership, membership and staff, for hosting the 126th WPGA Amateur Championship.”
Next week, the top players in the Western half of the state will chase a major championship that has been won by a handful of legends.
Started in the WPGA’s founding year of 1899 and played all but two years since, the WPGA Amateur Championship is one of the oldest amateur golf competitions in the country.
Winners include seven USGA champions, including Arnold Palmer, Nathan Smith and Knapp, who remarkably has secured a West Penn Am title in five different decades.
Three qualifying rounds were used to establish this year’s championship, as qualified players will join exempt players in the field of 78 players.
A year ago, David Fuhrer II claimed his first major title in dramatic fashion, sinking a birdie putt on his 54th hole of the championship to win the 125th WPGA Amateur Championship at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown.
Fuhrer II, a rising junior at George Mason University, will look to defend his title starting Monday. He will be joined by a decorated field that includes 2025 WPGA Player of the Year Darin Kowalski and 2024 WPGA Amateur champion and Player of the Year Nathan Piatt.
West Virginia rising junior Nick Turowski, who claimed last week’s WPGA Spring Stroke Play, will compete for his second major title in his career (2024 WPGA Junior Championship). Three-time WPGA Amateur champion David Brown (2004, 2011, 2013), 2016 WPGA Amateur champion and three-time WPGA Open winner Dan Thompson and three-time WPGA Mid-Amateur champion Ian Bangor are in the field, as well. Dunalvey will be in the field, as well.
Three members of Team Pennsylvania will compete next week, including Carson Kittsley, who nearly became the youngest winner of the WPGA Amateur Championship a year ago, as well as Bailey Donahue and Jack Sacriponte.
The WPGA Amateur Championship is a two-day competition featuring three rounds (54 holes). Monday will include two rounds (36 holes), with play beginning at 8 a.m. from the first and 10th tees. A cut will take place at the conclusion of Monday’s second round, reducing the field to 32 players, plus ties, for the final round Tuesday.
For any media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
