He’s back on home turf for KC Golf Classic Web.com golf event, which starts Thursday

Joseph Winslow has played golf in a lot of different locations since his days as a star player in high school at St. Thomas Aquinas. This week, he finally gets to play at a course he knows well again.

Winslow is in the field for the Web.com Tour’s KC Golf Classic starting Thursday at Blue Hills Country Club.

“I’m really excited to be in a home game here, sleep in my own bed and play in a familiar territory,” Winslow said. “Blue Hills is a fantastic golf course. It’s awesome to be here. It gives me chills a little bit to think about it.”

Winslow made a splash on the golf scene in high school, winning three Kansas 5A state titles. He skipped his junior season while playing in other tournaments around the country.

“It was nothing but a joy to have him on the team,” Aquinas coach Ryan Best said. “He made the rest of the team better. He was doing things on a different level.”

Winslow played in college at Iowa and South Florida, and since then had played in a number of places around the world while trying to get established as a professional. His first victory as a pro came last year in the Yantai Championship on the PGA Tour Series-China.

Winslow, 26, finally gained his Web.com Tour card this year and says his game is starting to trend in the right direction. After missing two cuts in a row, he has three straight top-30 finishes.

Winslow said he considers his short game, ball striking and mental approach strengths. This week, he hopes to take advantage of knowing the strategy needed to play Blue Hills: nuances on and around the greens and what to do on blind tee shots.

“This is one of the best competition golf courses in the Kansas City area, if not the best,” he said. “It’s a great venue. The members and the community have really rallied to make this first class. You can already see it in the practice-round days.”

Winslow recalled trying to qualify for the tournament when he was in high school. He didn’t get in then, but he has remained motivated by the thought of getting to play in this event as a professional.

The Winslow family has a rich history of golf: His brother Michael and sister Baile also own high school state titles, and he has learned a lot about the game from his father, Tony.

Winslow said it is a great blessing to be playing on the Web.com Tour and have a chance to go even farther in professional golf.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It was a culmination of a lot of hard work for the past several years. Especially playing last year on PGA Tour-China, it was a great motivator to get to come back to the United States and play. I hope to continue climbing the ranks and have the opportunity to get my PGA Tour card.”

KC Golf Classic

When/where: Thursday-Sunday at Blue Hills Country Club

Tickets: $10 daily, $25 weekly. Available at kcgolfclassic.com/tickets.

Thursday’s tee times

6:55 a.m. (No. 1 tee): Michael Arnaud, Kyle Reifers, Brian Campbell (No. 10 tee): Dawie van der Walt, Luke Guthrie, Max Rottluff

7:05 a.m. (1): Steve Wheatcroft, Tim Wilkinson, Derek Ernst (10): Robby Shelton, Zecheng Dou, Michael Johnson

7:16 a.m. (1): Trevor Cone, James Driscoll, Bhavik Patel (10): Michael Gligic, Rafael Campos, Erik Barnes

7:26 a.m. (1): Sebastian Cappelen, Bo Hoag, Steven Ihm (10): Martin Flores, Ben Kohles, Jason Bohn

7:37 a.m. (1): Jonathan Randolph, Zac Blair, Ryan Yip (10): Scott Harrington, Vincent Whaley, Carl Yuan

7:47 a.m. (1): Xinjun Zhang, Ben Taylor, Casey Wittenberg (10): Nelson Ledesma, Boo Weekley, Max Greyserman

7:58 a.m. (1): David Skinns, Brett Quigley, John Peterson (10): Sam Love, J.T. Griffin, Olin Browne Jr.

8:08 a.m. (1): Conrad Shindler, Matt Atkins, Andres Gallegos (10): Jamie Arnold, Horacio León, Jimmy Beck

8:19 a.m. (1): Timothy Madigan, Brandon Crick, Nicolas Echavarria (10): Vince India, Jordan Niebrugge, Corey Pereira

8:29 a.m. (1): T.J. Vogel, Zachary Edmondson, JD Dornes (10): Marcelo Rozo, Seann Harlingten, Rafael Becker

8:40 a.m. (1): Armando Favela, Michael Gellerman, Michael Miller (10): Mark Blakefield, Andrew Novak, Joseph Winslow

8:50 a.m. (1): Brock Mackenzie, Albin Choi, Greg Yates (10): Motin Yeung, Norman Xiong, Tyson Alexander

9:01 a.m. (1): Will Zalatoris, Zahkai Brown, Aaron Davis (10): William Kropp, Blake Trimble, Jay McLuen

12:10 p.m. (1): Lanto Griffin, Brad Hopfinger, Harry Higgs (10): Oscar Fraustro, Brett Coletta, Callum Tarren

12:20 p.m. (1): Dan McCarthy, Brett Drewitt, Drew Weaver (10): Rob Oppenheim, Scott Gutschewski, Danny Walker

12:31 p.m. (1): Mark Hubbard, Edward Loar, John Merrick (10): Mark Anderson, Jimmy Stanger, Mike Weir

12:41 p.m. (1): Erik Compton, Tag Ridings, Christian Brand (10): Steven Alker, Rhein Gibson, Justin Lower

12:52 p.m. (1): Henrik Norlander, Steve Marino, Rico Hoey (10): D.H. Lee, Dicky Pride, Daniel Summerhays

1:02 p.m. (1): Vince Covello, Brad Fritsch, Jin Park (10): Ryan Brehm, Joseph Bramlett, Austin Smotherman

1:13 p.m. (1): Brian Richey, Michael Buttacavoli, Kevin Roy (10): Todd Baek, Brandon Matthews, Joshua Creel

1:23 p.m. (1): Jack Maguire, Byron Meth, Patrick Sullivan (10): Oliver Bekker, Nick Voke, Emmanuel Kountakis

1:34 p.m. (1): Jimmy Gunn, Ben Polland, Lee Hodges (10): Ethan Tracy, Kevin Lucas, Dylan Meyer

1:44 p.m. (1): Lee McCoy, William Harrold, Thomas Bass (10): Paul Haley II, Matt Harmon, George Cunningham

1:55 p.m. (1): Wade Binfield, Charlie Saxon, Michael McGowan (10): Chad Ramey, Matthew NeSmith, Andy Zhang

2:05 p.m. (1): Taylor Montgomery, MJ Daffue, Ted Smith (10): Jonathan Hodge, Chase Hanna, Jordan Gumberg

2:16 p.m. (1): Eric Steger, Chris Naegel, Hunter Stewart (10): Mookie DeMoss, Mickey DeMorat, Gage Ihrig

This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 5:45 PM.