The Western Amateur was already considered one of the most grueling tests in amateur golf.
Ian Gilligan had to endure far more than usual.
A rising senior from Reno, Nevada, Gilligan was slated to face off against his University of Florida teammate Jack Turner in an 18-hole final Saturday afternoon at Moraine Country Club in Dayton, Ohio. Only that wasn’t enough; Gilligan and Turner battled for 11 sudden-death playoff holes before Gilligan capture the Western title in a record 29-hole thriller.
Gilligan and Turner were two of three current Florida players to advance to the semifinals. Gilligan beat Parker Bell in 19 holes while Turner dispatched high-schooler Henry Guan by the same result. Gilligan’s road to the title also include 2-and-1 wins over Blades Brown, the reigning medalist at both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior, and Walker Cupper Ben James of Virginia.
Gilligan’s win continued a strong summer for the Gators, as incoming freshman Parker Sands won the Western Junior and 2025 commit Trevor Gutschewski captured the U.S. Junior last weekend at Oakland Hills.
The victory also could propel Gilligan into the top 10 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking for the first time. Gilligan entered the week ranked No. 14 and on the backs of a T-40 finish in his PGA Tour debut, at the Barracuda Championship. Gilligan also reached the quarterfinals of this summer’s North and South Amateur.
It’s been a steady climb up the amateur ranks for Gilligan, who starred for two years at Long Beach State, reaching No. 1 in the national college rankings as a sophomore, before transferring to Florida prior to last season, which was highlighted by Gilligan’s fifth career college win, at the Southern Highlands Collegiate.
While Gilligan’s Western triumph marks his biggest on the course, it pales in comparison to what he’s conquered off it. When he was 15 years old, Gilligan was diagnosed with stage-4 ALK-negative large cell lymphoma, a rare cancer usually found in elderly people and not even two dozen kids at the time. Detailed in this GolfChannel.com profile from November 2022, Gilligan spent over 50 days in the hospital (10 of those in the ICU) and lost about 40 pounds. But after seven months of treatments, which included chemotherapy, Gilligan was ringing the bell, having beaten cancer.
And so, 11 extra holes – and 154 total for the championship? Those were nothing.
