LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Some of the world’s best golfers are battling for their chance to become a PGA pro, and this competition begins in Lincoln.
10/11 could be hosting a PGA golf tournament any weekend, but where do some of these golfers start? Many of them actually start out on the Korn Ferry Tour, which takes place in Lincoln on the Wilderness Ridge Golf Course.
Started in 1990 as the Ben Hogan Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour is used as a development league for the PGA, the golfers you normally see at tournaments on the weekends.
The first qualifying round for the Korn Ferry Tour will take place at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course from September 28th to October 1st. The pre-qualifying also took place in Lincoln on the Highlands Golf Course. Seventy players are playing at Wilderness Ridge this week and the top 20 will advance to the next round.
When 10/11 asked Wilderness Ridge golfer Mike Schuchart what this means for the city of Lincoln and Wilderness Ridge, he said it was a great honor.
“The players love coming here,” said Schuchart. “You see some of the best players in the world and some of those players are going on the PGA Tour that comes through here. So it’s pretty cool that you can look back and say, ‘He played in Wilderness Ridge.’
Schuchart says because of Lincoln’s central location and phenomenal tracks, qualifying will take place in Lincoln. Not only is this a big deal for the Wilderness Ridge Golf Course, but it also says Lincoln has the ability to host more events of this type in the future.
“I could imagine that we will organize the first stage in the coming years,” said Schuchart. “These are golf professionals who are highly skilled in what they do. So it’s fun to watch guys who are really good at what they do. These guys are really good at what they do, so it’s a really prestigious event for us. “
Schuchart says Nebraskans showed up for this event, be it as volunteers or to support the golfers. That support could mean these PGA tournaments, which air almost every weekend, could come to Lincoln in the future.
Copyright 2021 KOLN. All rights reserved.