GOLF, Ill. (Thursday, Sept. 20) – The Web.com Tour and the Western Golf Association announced today that the Evans Scholars Invitational will make its debut on the Tour in 2019.
The Evans Scholars Invitational, which will be managed by the WGA, will be contested the week of May 20-26, 2019, at The Glen Club in Glenview, Illinois. The new partnership calls for a four-year agreement to run through 2022. All proceeds will benefit the event’s sole charity, the Evans Scholars Foundation.
“We’re very excited and pleased to be expanding our championship operations to include an annual event on the Web.com Tour,” said WGA Chairman Frank Morley. “This new event will feature the future stars in golf, including many who have competed in our Western Junior and Western Amateur championships. Combined with our annual BMW Championship, this allows us to be a part of these players’ development throughout their competitive years.”
The event also provides the WGA with another major fundraising opportunity for the Evans Scholars Foundation, which offers full tuition and housing scholarships to deserving caddies across the nation. This fall, 985 Evans Scholars are enrolled at 18 universities. Since its founding in 1930, 10,830 caddies have graduated as Evans Scholars.
“Our goal is to have 1,000 caddies in college in 2020,” Morley noted. “To reach that number and provide for future growth, we need to expand our fundraising opportunities. This event will help us do that, while also building further awareness of the WGA and our focus on championships and scholarships.”
For the Web.com Tour, the partnership offers the opportunity to expand its charitable reach in golf to helping send caddies to college on Evans Scholarships.
“The Evans Scholars Foundation has provided a tremendous avenue for kids to benefit from the game of golf, and we are excited to partner with the WGA to help those efforts through this new event,” said Web.com Tour President Dan Glod. “With the excitement of Web.com Tour golf and the incredible work being done by the Foundation, we are confident in our ability to leave a meaningful footprint in the greater Chicago community.”
The tournament will mark a return to The Glen Club for the Web.com Tour, which contested the Bank of America Open at the course from 2002 through 2008. The tournament produced an impressive list of champions, including 2013 PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner (2006) and 2015 Senior Open Championship winner Marco Dawson (2002).
“Anything the Western Golf Association does is first class,” said KemperSports President Josh Lesnik, who manages The Glen Club. ”It’s an honor for us to host the Evans Scholars Invitational at The Glen Club to showcase the next generation of great golfers and help raise money to send deserving caddies to college.”
With 50 available PGA TOUR cards for the following season (since 2013), the Web.com Tour is the path to the PGA TOUR. Twenty-five TOUR cards are reserved for the leading money winners at the end of the 24-event Regular Season. Another 25 are up for grabs at the three-event Web.com Tour Finals that follow the Regular Season in August and September.
Thus far during the PGA TOUR’s 2017-18 season, eight players from the Class of 2017 have earned titles, including Ryan Armour, Austin Cook, Ted Potter, Brice Garnett, Andrew Landry, Aaron Wise, Troy Merritt and Andrew Putnam. Wise’s victory at the AT&T Byron Nelson in May was the 500th by a former Web.com Tour player – a list which includes 23 major championships and eight PLAYERS Championships.
For more information on the Evans Scholars Invitational, or the Web.com Tour, please visit PGATOUR.com.