News >> Major Feel To Gold Strike Casino Classic
Six of the Top-10 in money standings take to Tunica National
Longs, SC—The axiom “To be the best, you have to beat the best” may be a bit trite, but it couldn’t be more true in the Gold Strike Casino Golf Classic at Tunica National Golf Club in Tunica, Miss., as six of the top-10 players in the money standings are entered into this week’s NGA Hooters Tour tournament.
Matt Harmon, the current money leader, returns to the NGA Hooters Tour after playing his last two tournaments on the Nationwide Tour. Harmon, a former Michigan State golfer, already has two wins this season and another one would push him over the $100,000 mark in earnings for the season.
Jim Renner, of Plainville, Mass., comes into the event second in the standings. Renner, who played at Johnson & Wales Univ., has one win this season and four top-10 finishes, including a seventh-place effort last week’s Michelob Ultra Classic at The Auburn University Club.
The winner of last week’s Michelob Ultra Classic, Michael Thompson, will also be teeing it up this week in the Gold Strike Casino Golf Classic. The former SEC Individual Champion fired an 8-under par 64 in the final round of the Michelob Ultra Classic at The Auburn University Club en route his first career NGA Hooters Tour title. The win—and $30,000 payday—pushes Thompson to third on the season’s money list with $67,314 in earnings but more importantly his win places him in the early lead for the Knoxville News Sentinel Open Exemption.
The Knoxville News Sentinel Open exemption will be granted to the NGA Hooters Tour leading points winner over the three (3) events in July and August: Auburn, Alabama, Tunica, Mississippi & LaGrange, Ga. The NGA Hooters Tour member who accumulates the most points in those three events will earn the exemption into the Nationwide Tour’s Knoxville News Sentinel Open.
Michael Welch, fifth on the money list, will be looking for his second win of the season in the Gold Strike Casino Golf Classic. Welch, who won the F&S Asset Management Group Classic in March, is riding the momentum of a second-place finish in his last tournament, the Victoria Texas Open.
Though winless this season, Philip Pettitt Jr. finds himself 10th in the money standings due to his consistent play. Pettitt Jr., who has one victory on the NGA Hooters Tour, has made 10 of 12 cuts this season and finished inside the top 25 in eight of those tournaments. Pettitt Jr., who played golf at the University of Tennessee, finished fifth in the Michelob Ultra Classic last week.
Joining the season-long stalwarts this week will be a horde of golfers with plenty of potential, including Mississippi golfers Landon DeStefano, of Olive Branch; Kyle Ellis, of Senatobia; Kevin Jones, of Terry; Josh Oller, of Jackson; Jessie Soeirs, of Oxford; and Justin Spratlin, of Vardaman.
The first round of the Gold Strike Casino Golf Classic will start at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, August 5 and admission is free to the public. For more information, please visit www.HootersTour.com or www.TunicaNational.com.
The NGA Hooters Tour is the 3rd largest men’s 72-hole professional golf tour in the country behind the PGA and Nationwide Tours and boasts an impressive list of alumni.
Stewart Cink, the 2009 British Open Champion; Lucas Glover, the 2009 US Open Champion; Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters Champion; Shaun Micheel, the 2003 British Open Champion; Ben Curtis, winner of the 2003 British Open; Jim Furyk, winner of the 2003 US Open; Lee Janzen, a two-time US Open winner; John Daly, a British Open and PGA Champion; Tom Lehman, winner of the British Open; David Toms, a past PGA Champion; Chad Campbell, the 2003 Tour Championship winner; Vaughn Taylor, a two-time Reno Tahoe Open winner; and Craig Perks, winner of the TPC, tested their mettle on the NGA Hooters Tour before tasting success on golf’s grandest stage.
All told, the NGA Hooters Tour’s alumni have an incredible 12 “Majors” to their credit. The NGA Hooters Tour has helped hundreds of professionals acquire their PGA, Senior PGA, and Nationwide Tour cards. In fact, 48% of the players that earned their 2010 PGA Tour card, and 53% of the players that earned full exempt status on the Nationwide Tour started their careers on the NGA Hooters Tour.
