NGA TOUR ready for 14th Annual Kandy Waters Memorial Classic

Myrtle Beach, SC March 12, 2013 – The Kandy Waters Memorial Classic has the longest tenure on the NGA TOUR schedule, and it also has a long lineage of soon-to-be PGA stars competing in the annual event.

Over the past 13 years, PGA TOUR winners Zach Johnson, Keegan Bradley, Scott Piercy, Vaughn Taylor, Ted Potter Jr., Michael Thompson and Camilo Villegas have teed it up the player-favorite tournament.

But just because you have PGA-caliber talent doesn’t mean you’ll be hoisting the big check on Sunday, given the depth of the fields on the NGA TOUR. Of the PGA TOUR winners that have competed in the event, only Villegas was able to claim the KWMC title.

“The fields out here are so deep, I think you could see 18 different winners this year,” said Justin Lower, who won the Spring Hill Classic two weeks ago. “I really think it could happen, and it would be great for the NGA TOUR.”

Through the first three events of the season, Lower’s prognostication has been correct as three first-time winners have claimed victories. Jon Curran won the season-opening Members Only Shootout, Clayton Rask won the Killearn Country Club Classic and Lower took the win at Spring Hill Country Club. All three are entered this week.

While it may be hard to pick a winner in this year’s $200,000 event, there are a couple of NGA TOUR veterans that will clearly be favorites this week to pick up their first victories of the season.

After missing the first three events with injury, Brandon Brown, the 2012 NGA TOUR Player of the Year, will be making his 2013 debut on the NGA TOUR. Last season, the former Eastern Kentucky golfer from Shelbyville, Ky., earned his sixth NGA TOUR victory and finished T4 or better 10 times in 14 events. Brown also made the cut in every event, finished outside the top 15 just once and earned a Tour-high $115,085. In addition, Brown picked up his first PGA TOUR paycheck in the Reno-Tahoe Open, after finishing 62nd playing on an NGA TOUR event exemption.

Veteran Jeff Corr, the 2011 NGA TOUR POY, is definitely on the ones-to-watch list for this week. After spending 2012 on the Web.com Tour, Corr returns to Mount Village Plantation Golf Club hoping to better his pair of third-place finishes in the event. The Jacksonville State alum from Longwood, Fla., has earned over $650,000 in less than 160 starts on the NGA TOUR.

Trent Whitekiller of Sallisaw, Okla., will be in action this week after posting a second-place finish at Killearn in his NGA TOUR debut and a T6 effort in the Spring Hill Classic. The former Oklahoma State standout has yet to post a round over par on the NGA TOUR.

In addition to winning the Members Only Shootout, Curran will carry a little more momentum into the KWMC after finishing T24 in the PGA TOUR’s Puerto Rico Open last week. Garrett Osborn also competed on the PGA TOUR last week and will be in the field for the KWMC this week.

While winning the KWMC alone is a feather in the cap of any golfer, this year’s event will have added importance. The KWMC is the first step in the race for the Web.com Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am event exemption. The 2013 NGA TOUR Pro Series member with the highest total cumulative earnings from the March 11-17 Kandy Waters Memorial Classic at Mount Vintage Plantation Golf Club, the March 18-24 Milton Martin Honda Classic at Chattahoochee Golf Course, the April 1-7 NeSmith Chevrolet Classic at Sapelo Hammock Golf Club, and the April 8-14 Brunswick-Heritage Oaks Classic at Heritage Oaks Golf Club will earn a spot in the Web.com Tour event on May 16-19.

Others notable participants include: Stuart Anderson, a 2012 Web.com Tour member; T.J. Bordeaux, a BWS winner and four-time Big West All-Conference selection at the University of Pacific; Nick Rousey, a former All-American at Alabama and 2013 Web.com Tour member; Jack Newman, the 2008 U.S. Public Links champion; and NGA TOUR winners Mark Blakefield, Eric Barnes, Travis Bertoni, Phillip Choi, Marion Dantzler, Jesse Hutchins, Grant Leaver, Adam Long and Jay Woodson.

In addition to Villegas, KWMC champions Justin Bolli (2001), Casey Wittenberg (2007), Lee Williams (2010) and Joe Affrunti (2009) are now playing on the PGA TOUR or Web.com Tour.

The first round of the Kandy Waters Memorial Classic will start at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday. As always, admission is free to the public.

The NGA Pro Golf Tour is the No. 3 Men’s Professional Golf Tour in the United States after the PGA and Web.com Tours and is the No. 1 recommended developmental tour by more PGA and Web.com Tour Professionals.

The NGA has helped hundreds of professionals acquire their PGA TOUR, Euro, Web.com, and Champions Tour cards. In fact, NGA alumni have won an incredible Fifteen (15) “Major” Championships.

NGA alumni include: 2012 Masters champion Bubba Watson; 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley; 2010 PGA TOUR Player of the Year and 2003 US Open Champion Jim Furyk; 2009 British Open Champion Stewart Cink; 2009 U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover; 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson; 2003 PGA Champion Shaun Micheel; 2003 British Open Champion Ben Curtis; two-time U.S. Open Champion Lee Janzen; British Open and PGA Champion John Daly; British Open Champion Tom Lehman; PGA Champion David Toms; 2003 Tour Championship Winner Chad Campbell; 2010 NGA Player of the Year Michael Thompson; 2012 PGA TOUR winners Mark Wilson, George McNeill, Ted Potter Jr., Scott Stallings and Scott Piercy.

The NGA Pro Golf Tour, established in 1988, predates the Web.com Tour as the longest running developmental tour in golf. In 2012, the NGA TOUR became the “Official Partner of the 2012 Reno-Tahoe Open” and secured one PGA TOUR and six Web.com Tour event exemptions for its members, the most in developmental golf.

For more information on the NGA or the NGA Pro Golf Tour, please visit our website at www.NGATOUR.com or contact our Tour Office at (800) 992-8748.