Here's why qualifying was dropped, according to a WGA official. The switch of tournament days from Wednesday-Sunday to Tuesday-Saturday, made to all clubs to still have one day of weekend play, eliminated the potential practice day for those who would have qualified on a Monday. It was though impractical to push qualifying, which traditionally was held on two (sometimes three) courses close to the tournament site, back to the previous Friday (on the theory that a course wasn't going to give up weekend play for qualifying).
The 107th Western Amateur champion is 20-year-old John Hahn of Hudson, Ohio. He beat 22-year-old Zach Barlow of Percy, Illinois, 3 and 2 on an extremely windy Saturday afternoon at Conway Farms. There were about 175 people on hand.