TOWSON, Md. – The Maryland State Golf Association (MSGA) will conduct the 103rd Maryland Open Championship from July 8-10 at Talbot Country Club in Easton. Six of the 129 players who qualified are either current or former Towson University men's golfers.

The Maryland Open is open to amateur members of MSGA member clubs with a handicap index of 7.1 or less and to professionals employed by member clubs or residents of Maryland. The field will feature David Hutsell (class 1992), Billy Wingerd (2005), Chris Baloga (2005), Ryan Siegler (2016), Brad Riley (2024) and Braden Anderson (2028).

Seven previous champions will compete, including Siegler, the defending champion, Wingerd, who prevailed in 2007, and Hutsell, who was victorious four years later.

Siegler ranks sixth on the all-time list in rounds played and 20^th in scoring average. Turning professional in 2018, he has earned status on both the Korn Ferry and PGA Canada tours. He has finished in the top five in the last four Maryland Open tournaments, including last year when he went wire-to-wire at Hillendale Country Club to win by four strokes - making 21 birdies and 30 pars with just three bogeys while shooting 18-under par.

Hutsell began his college career playing baseball at UMBC before transferring to Towson, where he played two seasons of golf. After turning professional in 1993, he blossomed into one of the best players in the Baltimore metropolitan area – qualifying for the PGA Championship in 2010 and 2011 and earning the 2011 PGA Professional National Championship. Now the lead instructor at Baltimore Country Club, the 53-year-old played in the Senior PGA Championship in late May. When he won the Maryland Open in 2011, he fired a 65 in the final round to set a scoring record at Maryland Golf and Country Club.

Wingerd and Baloga were key members of the two greatest teams in Towson history (2003-04, 2004-05). which included back-to-back NCAA Regional Championships appearances.

Wingerd, the top golfer in school history, earned low amateur honors at the Maryland Open last year – winning in a playoff. He became Towson's first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Championship medalist and Player of the Year when he captured the individual conference title in 2004. He is the only Towson golfer to earn First Team All-CAA honors three times and earned a spot on the CAA's 25th Anniversary men's golf team in 2010. He was named Towson's Male Athlete of the Year as a senior and was inducted into the Towson Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017. On the Towson leaderboard, Wingerd remains the program's career average leader at 73.00 over 104 rounds.

Baloga, now the head coach at nearby Loyola University, ranks in the top 20 in both scoring averaging (75.6) and total rounds (94).

Riley was a mainstay in the lineup the last five seasons - finishing his career ranked seventh on the all-time scoring list with a 74.4 average and fourth in rounds played (113).

Anderson, who redshirted in 2023-24, will be playing his first Maryland Open.

The Maryland Open format is 54 holes of stroke play, with all players playing 36 holes and a cut to the low 40 scorers and ties for the final round. The event is open to both amateur and professional golfers and has been played annually since 1921 at a variety of courses around the state. Previous winners include Fred Funk, who won 29 professional tournaments including the 2005 Players Championship and the 2009 U.S. Senior Open, and Denny McCarthy, who is currently ranked 34th in the official World Golf rankings.   Rising sophomore Josh Galindo shot a three-under 68 on Monday at Granite Bay Golf Club in Northern California to advance through local qualifying for the 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship. Galindo shot 31 on his final nine holes, which included five birdies, to finish in seventh place. Final qualifying will take place on July 16 when he will battle for a spot in the US Amateur which will be held at Hazeltine National in mid-August.

Galindo qualified for five of the six tournaments played in spring 2024 – averaging 75.4. He shot 75 or better 11 times in 15 rounds.