The field is set for next week’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester. It’s the latest stop on the golf calendar that brings the best players in the world together.

Justin Thomas. Dustin Johnson. Rickie Fowler. Before they were the biggest names in golf, the stars of today came to Western New York as amateurs to play in the Porter Cup.

“You look at it, you shake your head a little bit,” said Marty Shimmel, the Porter Cup tournament director. “We have letters here from Brooks Koepka almost begging not to be forgotten because he moved. He wanted to make sure his invite went to the right place. Guys like Rickie Fowler. Phil Mickelson won here in 1990. Jack Nicklaus walked this course when his son Gary played. So there’s been a lot of legendary players on this property.”

Nearly a quarter of the 156-player field at next week’s PGA Championship competed at least once at Niagara Falls Country Club. Six of those are past champions, while other very notable major winners found themselves in a much different spot on the Porter Cup leaderboard.

“Some of these superstars on the PGA Tour finished in the middle of the pack here, which is kind of funny,” Shimmel said. “Shows you on any given week ... Brooks Koepka tied for 48th here. Patrick Reed was near the bottom when he was here. Tiger [Woods] didn’t win it. He finished in the top five.

"That’s what’s kind of a funny thing. You’ll say 'yeah, this guy was in the Porter Cup. He finished 20th or something.' ”

There’s still a link between the Porter Cup and the pros, with many of the best players in the world today continuing to remain close to those they met during a week competing a decade or more ago.

“We take a lot of pride in that,” Shimmel said. “We still have people like Tim Mickelson who contact members here. Dena Armstrong has a wonderful relationship with Denny McCarthy, who you’ll probably see at the PGA in Rochester. Billy Hoschel sent me a picture of his newborn baby in the FedEx Cup shortly after his daughter was born. So yeah, those relationships are a cool thing to have.”