After pandemic-prompted year off, PGA’s AdventHealth Championship returns Thursday
The four-day, 72-hole AdventHealth Championship, formerly known as the KC Golf Classic, returns from a year off Thursday-Sunday at Blue Hills Country Club.
The Robert Dunning-desiged Blue Hills course, a par-72, 7,347-yard layout, will play host to a field of 156 players when competition gets underway Thursday morning at 7:45.
The total purse for the PGA Korn Ferry Tour event is $675,000, with $121,500 awarded to the winner.
AdventHealth became the namesake sponsor of the tournament in February. The duration of the sponsorship agreement is six years. The 2021 edition of the AdventHealth Championship, barring weather delays, calls for 18 stroke-play holes to be played per day.
Defending champion Michael Gellerman, who took home the trophy on the Blue Hills course in 2019, is one of two former winners in the mix — the other is 2013 victor Jamie Lovemark.
Gellerman, who grew up in Sterling, Kansas, is vying to become the first repeat champion in the 32-year history of the Korn Ferry Tour.
Other past champions of this tourney include current PGA TOUR players Shawn Stefani (won in 2012), Jamie Lovemark (2013), Zack Sucher (2014) and Sepp Straka (2018). Four-time Korn Ferry champ Michael Sim (who won here in 2009) and six-time champ Martin Piller (2015 winner) are also playing this week.
This year’s field includes a total of 53 past Korn Ferry Tour winners boasting a combined 71 victories, led by Steven Alker with four. Eleven former PGA TOUR winners with 16 total victories, led by Aaron Baddeley’s four, are among the field, too.