The 101st annual Southwestern Amateur, one of the country’s leading events for top-ranked amateurs, and one of the longest-running men’s tournament of its kind in the Southwestern United States, is scheduled June 13-18 on the Nicklaus Signature Cochise and Geronimo courses at the Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale.

The Southwestern Amateur is sponsored by the Southwestern Golf Association, a non-profit organization that promotes amateur golf in the Southwest.

“We have seen some stellar young players participate in this tournament,” said John Ranslem, president of the SWGA. “We’re proud that the organization has been able to support amateur golf for more than 100 years.”

Past tournament winners include Nick Watney, Mark O’Meara, Corey Pavin, Craig Stadler, Tom Pernice, Jr., Jay Haas, Ryan Palmer and Ted Purdy.

The 2015 winner was Dylan Healey of California State-San Marcos. Now a senior, he is planning to turn pro in the near future. Kyle Jones, the winner of the 2014 tournament from Taylor, Ariz., recently turned pro and was selected for an honorable mention on the 2015 Men’s All Am team.

Through the years the tournament was hosted by many clubs throughout Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas and Nevada. While many of today’s PGA Tour and Champions Tour players have been tournament winners in the recent past, an early amateur star from Arizona was Dr. Ed Updegraff, a member of the Tucson National Golf Club, who won in 1954-55, 1961 and 1969 and still plays golf today in his 90s.

Dr. Updegraff had a long amateur career, winning many other tournaments on a local, state and national scale, receiving the Bob Jones Award from the United States Golf Association in 1999 and induction into the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame in 1969. The Arizona Golf Association’s Ed Updegraff Award is given annually to a person who exemplifies the spirit of the game.

Bob Goldwater, the brother of five-time U.S. Senator from Arizona Barry Goldwater, known as the “Father of the Phoenix Open,” was also a tournament winner when he was 17 in 1927, 32 in 1942 and at 41 in 1951. Format is a 72-hole stroke play competition conducted over four consecutive days Play is divided between the Geronimo and Cochise courses in morning waves only for the play on the first two days. The field is reduced to the lowest 60 players and ties after 36 holes with play only on the Cochise course. Practice rounds start June 13-14. The first and second rounds are June 15-16 and third and fourth rounds are June 17-18

The 7,026-yard Cochise course, which hosts the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on the PGA Champions Tour, features a double-island green shared by the par three seventh hole, the course’s signature hole, and the par five 15th hole.

Geronimo, which plays at 7,099 yards, provides players with a golf experience full of drama: significant elevation changes, panoramic views, stunning vistas and challenging play across deep ravines and scenic plateaus.

The tournament is free to spectators. Desert Mountain is located at 37700 N. Desert Mountain Parkway (at Cave Creek Road), Scottsdale. For more information about the tournament visit www.swga.net or follow the tournament on Twitter @SouthwesternAm.