Following his 1951 US Open victory at Oakland Hills Country Club’s South Course, the legendary Ben Hogan said he had “brought this course, this monster, to its knees.’’

Starting Saturday, three area hopefuls — Peter French, Jake Shuman, and Matt Organisak — will have a crack at what has subsequently been nicknamed “The Monster’’ when they tee it up in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., at the 116th US Amateur Championship.

Two days of practice rounds will be followed by 36 holes of stroke play, paring a field of 312 to 64 for match play that concludes Aug. 20 on the 7,445-yard South Course — which will be shortened by 111 yards for the amateur competition.

French, 22, who plays out of the family-founded and operated Maplegate Country Club in Bellingham, qualified for the 2013 and 2014 US Amateurs but did not make match play.

An NAIA All-American and Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year Award recipient in his final season at Johnson & Wales University’s Miami campus, French will attempt to earn a Web.com Tour card later this summer.

“I could have turned pro earlier, but it was important for me to enjoy my last summer as an amateur and to give the US Amateur another shot,’’ said French, a former state MIAA champion at Franklin High who was born the year his dad, Mike French, qualified for the US Mid-Amateur Championship.

French participated in the Barbasol Shootout in June with the four other Nicklaus Award winners at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio, where Nicklaus learned to play as a youngster.

Although he did not gain exemption to the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship at the Shootout, French said it was “a privilege’’ to meet Nicklaus, who won the 1991 US Senior Open at Oakland Hills.

“Jack told me to be myself and stay in the moment,’’ said French, whose victory on the second playoff hole secured the final sectional qualifying spot at The Ledges Golf Club in York, Maine.

French’s trip to the Amateur is even more special because his father, who has undergone cancer treatment, plans to accompany him. “He’s been at all my events since he got out of the hospital in late June,’’ said French, who called his dad’s recovery “amazing.’’

Shuman, 20, a member at Blue Hill Country Club and a rising junior at Duke University, and Organisak, 18, entering his freshman year at Emory University in Atlanta, are first-time qualifiers.

Shuman warmed up to the task by playing at the prestigious Porter Cup at Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Country Club and this past week’s Western Amateur at the Knollwood Club in Lake Forest, Ill.

He’ll be in familiar company at the Amateur since five of his Duke teammates, including roommate Ben Silverman, are among the field.

Shuman, who fired a competitive course record of 7-under 64 during the state amateur medal round at Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, also topped the leaderboard at the US Amateur qualifier at The Orchards in South Hadley.

A former multisport athlete at Needham High who fine-tunes his swing with The Country Club head pro Brendan Walsh, Shuman said Oakland Hills “will test every aspect of my game,’’ and that he will go into the event a more mature golfer because of better game plans and improved temperament.

Organisak, also a standout tennis player at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High, persevered through three extra holes to qualify at George Wright Golf Course in Hyde Park. A club champion at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord, he sank an 8-foot putt on the final regulation hole to make the playoff.

“Going to the US Amateur,’’ he said, “was something I had only dreamed about.’’

Bittersweet time

On July 15, Groton’s Brendan Hunter, who had never advanced to match play at the Mass. Amateur, won the championship on the 33rd hole of his fifth and final match at Taconic.

“It was an early birthday present, but not a very happy birthday,’’ said Hunter, a rising senior at Division 2 St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, N.Y.

En route to a US Amateur qualifier at Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle, N.Y., the Groton-Dunstable High graduate wound up spending the night of his birthday, July 18, at a hospital. An infectious cyst was removed from his lower back.

Unable to play the next day at Wykagyl, Hunter intended to participate in the Francis Ouimet Memorial Tournament, but had to pass because of the death of his grandmother.

“It’s been a bummer,’’ he said. “But I proved to myself that I can play a consistently solid game and I appreciate even more what it takes to win.’’

More in common

Four decades separate 13-year-old Conner Willett and Pam Kuong in age, but they share much in common.

Both reside in Wellesley, are superb golfers at Charles River Country Club, and are instructed by Skip Guss, director of Golf­Rite Academy in Southborough.

Willett was victorious at the recent MGA Young Golfers’ Amateur Championship at Acoaxet Club in Westport. Kuong was runner-up at last year’s US Women’s Senior Amateur. That finish gave her a one-year exemption for this past week’s US Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Pa., and three-year exemption to the US Women’s Senior Amateur to be held Sept. 15-22 at Wellesley Country Club.

Meanwhile, James Imai, 15, a rising sophomore at Brookline High, shot a final round 69 Wednesday at Kernwood Country Club in Salem to capture the three-day Massachusetts Junior Amateur title. He also won the New England Junior PGA championship last month.

Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@rcn.com.