The return of professional golf to Amarillo for the first time in 36 years is assured to have at least a bit of local flavor.
When the Korn Ferry Tour makes its debut in town in June by hosting the OccuNet Classic presented by Amarillo National Bank, there will be room for a local. The winner of the Michelob Men’s City Championship scheduled for May 29-31 at Ross Rogers Golf Complex will be awarded a sponsor exemption to compete in the OccuNet on June 11-14 at Tascosa Golf Club, it was announced Thursday.
There will be two sponsor exemptions in the 156 player field of Korn Ferry players, who are competing on a PGA Tour developmental circuit. George Priolo, the general manager of golf operations at Ross Rogers and Comanche Trail Golf Complex, thinks having pros in town for a full week will only be a boon to golf in Amarillo, along with a local amateur getting to play with pros.
“My job by and large in promoting the game of golf and what better way to do that than to hacve something drop in your lap with PGA Tour quality players coming to your hometown,” Priolo said. “With the opportunities for sponsor exemptions, how can you not be excited? We may have a few amateurs who do the Monday qualifier, but by and large these are professionals who are used to playing all over the country. One of the hardest things in the world is to make it out there on the golf tour with so much competition.”
Back when it was known as the Ben Hogan Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour came to Amarillo in 1990 and competed at the Amarillo Country Club, but hasn’t been back since. For over two decades after that, the tour stopped in the Permian Basin in Midland and Odessa until 2014.
Now, it’s back in these parts and tournament director Drew Blass thinks it belongs.
“I talked to the PGA Tour today about the make up of Amarillo and how everybody here is like ‘What can i do? How can I help?,’ ” Blass said. “It really comes down to the quality of golf courses that we have from public to private. We have great golf courses and also some simulators and the golfing community is out there building this whole tournament up. It’s really built from the grass roots.”
There will be a Monday qualifier for the tournament scheduled for both courses at the Ross Rogers Golf Complex, from which the eight best scorers will make the tournament field. While those players may come from all over the country, there will still be a placed carved out for at least one Amarillo area player to make the field by winning the city championship.
The Korn Ferry Tour set a deadline of June 3 to submit the name of the winner of the city championship as the exemption for the OccuNet field. That was a problem since the city championship had been scheduled for June 5-7, after the deadline, which meant the city’s golf schedule had to be juggled to move up the city championship at least one week.
“We flip-flopped dates with the Dos Equis Open,” Priola said. “That was one of the first hurdles we kind of had to get over. There were a lot of people involved but everybody was all-in and there wasn’t any question that we could make this work. I’m just blessed to be in a community where people like to work together and enjoy their golf.”
While the Korn Ferry event is just getting started, the city championship is celebrating a milestone this year, as this is its 100th anniversary. Among the past winners of that tournament is Ryan Palmer, the Amarillo High graduate and PGA Tour veteran who at one time played on the Korn Ferry Tour.
“It’s pretty incredible the folks who have won that event,” Blass said. “I told Ryan Palmer about this and winning that tournament gave him the chance to play against some of the world’s best. It’s tough to go through that, but giving them a week to rest before that Monday qualifier is great.”
Just trying to get out of the city championship is a tall enough order. It’s a seeded match play format by flight which is determined before anyone tees it up.
The winner still has to jump through some hoops.
“A guy can find lightning in a bottle in those 18 holes and that’s what it’s there for,” Priolo said. “The first thing you have to do to make the men’s city is win an 18-hole qualifier. You have to get in the top 16 qualifiers that Friday morning then you have to win four matches, so the guy who wins this exemption is going to be very qualified to go win that spot.”
There is still one more exemption for the tournament to give out, which will be determined over the next four months.
It’s appropriate that the return of pro golf to Amarillo coincides with the milestone celebration of what might be the city’s signature tournament. Blass sees this convergence as fate which brought the Korn Ferry Tour to town.
“For over 20 years I’ve been to the East Coast and West Coast and I’m going to tell you this community in Amarillo is pretty special,” Blass said. “One of the reasons this is such a great golfing community is George Priolo. I’ve enjoyed my time in getting to know this community and he’s done something pretty special.”
The tournament will have a $1,000,000 purse with the winner taking home $180,000.
For information about corporate sponsorship opportunities, to become a volunteer, or for ticket information, please visit the official tournament website at https://occunetclassic.com/