Cardinal Amateur gets a second chance at life
By Andy Zunz
The Cardinal Amateur will be a part of the
amateur
golf circuit this summer under the same name
and
for the same cause,
despite a recent change in
leadership.
The 37-year-old event will be played July
17-19
at Sedgefield Country Club's Pete Dye Course in
Greensboro, N.C.
The future of the Cardinal Amateur was in
doubt
after the tournament committee announced that
it
failed to reach a financial agreement with
McConnell
Golf regarding operating costs for the course.
McConnell Golf took control of the event shortly
afterward and announced Saturday that it will
run
the tournament in 2015 with assistance from
former
Cardinal Amateur committee members.
The tournament will continue to support the
Thomas and Bettie O'Briant Scholarship Fund,
which
was established in 1983. The need-based
scholarship
supports students from the Guilford County area
in
North Carolina and has awarded more than
$125,000
to students in its history.
“Our goal is to continue to support the
O’Briant Scholarship Foundation and raise the
level of the tournament,” said Brian Kittler,
McConnell’s director of golf, in a release.
“Both McConnell Golf and The Cardinal Am
have strong brands. We are happy to combine
them,
which we believe should help better market the
event in the Southeast.”
Through 2014, former Cardinal Amateur
participants have earned more than $532 million
professionally, according to McConnell Golf.
Patrick
Reed, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson and Stewart
Cink
are among the former participants who have
enjoyed
success on the PGA Tour.
The event hosts a 78-man field, half of
which
play at the collegiate level and half of which play
at
the mid-amateur level.
ABOUT THE
Cardinal Amateur
The Cardinal Amateur, presented by McConnell
Golf, is held at the Sedgefield Country Club, Pete
Dye Course in Greensboro, NC. 54-hole stroke
play tournament. Many former competitors are
now on the PGA, Senior PGA and Nationwide
tours. The field consists of 78 contestants,
chosen among college level and mid-amateurs.
Jay Sigel, a winner on the senior tour, has been
quoted as saying that the Cardinal Am is one of
the finest amateur tournaments in the country
and one which he wishes he had won during his
amateur career.
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