Three golfers share lead after Round 1 of AdventHealth Championship at Blue Hills C.C.

Three golfers share the lead after Thursday’s opening round of the four-day AdventHealth Championship at Blue Hills Country Club.

Tied atop the leaderboard at 7-under 65 in the annual Korn Ferry Tour event were MJ Daffue, a South African entrant, 2015 Virginia Tech grad Trevor Cone and University of Illinois product Michael Feagles.

Taylor Montgomery, of Las Vegas, was one back at 6-under, Brazilian Alexandre Rocha was at 5-under and a logjam of golfers — 10 of them — were tied at 4-under through the opening round of the 72-hole tournament.

The AdventHealth Championship, formerly known as the Midwest Classic and KC Golf Classic, features 156 golfers vying for a total prize pool of $750,000. The tournament typically takes place at either Blue Hills or the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate in Overland Park. It’s been held at Blue Hills three years in a row.

Top performers on the Korn Ferry Tour — such as last year’s winner, Cameron Young — earn promotion to the PGA Tour. Young is now playing on the PGA Tour after earning his tour card with a strong performance last season and is currently ranked No. 38 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 14 in the FedExCup Standings, with three runner-up finishes and a tie for third to his credit.

This year’s AdventHealth Championship marks the 13th tournament of the Korn Ferry Tour’s 26-event season.

Five former AdventHealth winners are among the field competing in Kansas City this week: Sterling, Kan. native Michael Gellerman (2019), Zecheng Dou (2017), Zack Sucher (2014), Jamie Lovemark (2013) and Shawn Stefani (2012).

This year’s edition features a few local faces, too, including several former Kansas Jayhawks — Andy Spencer and Charlie Hillier, both of whom are playing on sponsor’s exemptions, plus open qualifier Drew Shepherd. The field also features Sam Stevens of Wichita.

Playing in his first PGA TOUR-sanctioned event, Shepherd opened with a round of even par after qualifying Monday at The Golf Club at Creekmoor, where he was the last man standing in an 11-for-1 playoff for the final spot.

Spencer shot a first-day 77, Hillier a 79.

This year’s AdventHealth Championship field includes 49 past Korn Ferry Tour winners, including eight of this season’s 12 champions.

With another $750,000 up for grabs, the Korn Ferry Tour makes its other annual visit to the region next month for the Wichita Open Benefiting KU Wichita Pediatrics at Crestview Country Club in Wichita.

Friday Tee Times

Here are Friday’s tee times at Blue Hills C.C.:

Starting on hole No. 1:

6:45 a.m.: Rafael Camps, John Chin, Dawson Armstrong

6:55 a.m.: Brad Hopfinger, George Cunningham, Will Gordon

7:06 a.m.: Byeong Hun An, Brett Drewitt, Rhein Gibson

7:16 a.m.: Brandon Harkins, Brian Campbell, Jonathan Randolph

7:27 a.m.: Carson Young, Tag Ridings, Nelson Ledesma

7:37 a.m.: T.J. Vogel, Joshua Creel, Augusto Nunez

7:48 a.m.: Andrew Kozan, J.J. Grey, Jake Staiano

7:58 a.m.: Matt Atkins, Tain Lee, Conner Godsey

8:09 a.m.: Corey Pereira, Steven Fisk, Turk Pettit

8:19 a.m.: Chandler Blanchet, Jeremy Paul, Christopher Petefish

8:30 a.m.: Brandon Crick, Marcelo Rozo, Alex Chiarella

8:40 a.m.: Peyton White, Caleb Proveaux, Brandon Hoelzer

8:51 a.m.: Patrick Flavin, Corbin Mills, Isaiah Logue

12:05 p.m.: Martin Flores, Erik Barnes, Theo Humphrey

12:15 p.m.: Daniel Chopra, Nicolas Echavarria, MJ Daffue

12:26 p.m.: Brent Grant, Tom Lewis, Vince India

12:36 p.m.: Harry Hall, Sangmoon Bae, Josh Teater

12:47 p.m.: Mark Anderson, Chase Wright

12:57 p.m.: Rob Oppenheim, Fabian Gomez, Patrick Fishburn

1:08 p.m.: Trevor Cone, Kyle Westmoreland, Tanner Gore

1:18 p.m.: Taylor Dickson, A.J. Crouch, Cody Blick

1:29 p.m.: Trace Crowe, Alvaro Ortiz, Philip Knowles

1:39 p.m.: Marcos Montenegro, Luis Gagne, Garett Reband

1:50 p.m.: Michael Johnson, Nick Voke, Chase Parker

2 p.m.: Andrew Yun, J.T. Griffin, Bryce Emory

2:11 p.m.: David Gazzolo, Zahkai Brown, Drew Shepherd

Starting on No. 10:

6:45 a.m.: Grayson Murray, Charlie Saxon, Stuart Macdonald

6:55 a.m.: Scott Gutschewski, Kevin Roy, Eric Cole

7:06 a.m.: David Lingmerth, Zack Fischer, Sean O’Hair

7:16 a.m.: Brandon Matthews, Shawn Stefani, Ben Griffin

7:27 a.m.: Robby Shelton, Zecheng Dou, D.J. Trahan

7:37 a.m.: KK Limbhasut, Cody Gribble, Tom Whitney

7:48 a.m.: Albin Choi, Billy Tom Sargent, Logan McCracken

7:58 a.m.: Grant Hirschman, Ivan Camilo Ramirez, Peter Kuest

8:09 a.m.: Austin Eckroat, Spencer Ralston, John Augenstein

8:19 a.m.: Tano Goya, Alex Weiss, Jonathan Brightwell

8:30 a.m.: Jay Card III, MJ Maguire, Ashton Van Horne

8:40 a.m.: Jamie Lovemarkm Matt McCarty, Martin Contini

8:51 a.m.: Sam Triplett, Angus Flanagan, Charlie Hillier

12:05 p.m.: Eric Axley, Pail Haley II, Ted Potter Jr.

12:15 p.m.: Whee Kim, John VanDerLaan, Tom Lovelady

12:26 p.m.: Xinjun Zhang, Taylor Montgomery, Michael Kim

12:36 p.m.: Akshay Bhatia, Ben Silverman, Ryan McCormick

12:47 p.m.: Trevor Werbylo, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, Seonghyeon Kim

12:57 p.m.: Zack Suvher, Chris Baker, Sam Saunders

1:08 p.m.: Roberto Diaz, David Kocher, Alexandre Rocha

1:18 p.m.: Mark Blakefield, Quade Cummins, Clay Feagler

1:29 p.m.: Sam Stevens, Patrick Newcomb, Matthew Picanso

1:39 p.m.: Michael Arnaud, Mark Anguiano, Tripp Kinney

1:50 p.m.: Patrick Cover, Michael Visacki, Blake Dyer

2 p.m.: Tee-K Kelly, Michael Feagles, Thomas Walsh

2:11 p.m.: Luke Guthrie, Andy Spencer, Kaiwen Liu

This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 6:06 PM.