Top-Ranked College Players and Celebrities to Raise $1 Million for Military Foundations
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – Fidelity Sports Group announced today multi-year partnerships with PXG, Scottsdale National Golf Club, GOLF Channel and the PGA TOUR to create and televise the inaugural PXG College Golf Showcase at Scottsdale National in Scottsdale, Arizona. The event will premiere on Wednesday, December 16 at 7 p.m. ET on GOLF Channel.
The College Golf Showcase will feature four top collegiate golfers from the PGA TOUR University Ranking along with four celebrities in an exhibition shootout, including three-time GRAMMY Award winner Darius Rucker, Marine Corps Veteran and actor/comedian Rob Riggle and Pro Football Hall of Fame members, Brian Urlacher and Jerome Bettis.
The show will focus on the new PGA TOUR University program and its innovative strategy to provide access to the Korn Ferry Tour and International Tours for the top four-year college players. During the 18-hole competition, players also will help raise awareness and critical funds for the Semper Fi & America’s Fund and Team Rubicon.
Participants will be split into two four-man teams, Team Semper Fi and Team Rubicon, which will each be comprised of two college golfers and two celebrities. The teams will go head to head in a scramble skins shootout for $1,000,000 – awarded by The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation – spread across the 18 holes of The Other Course and the diabolical 9th hole of the Bad Little Nine at Scottsdale National. The group will play as a walking eightsome with caddies.
“For our team, creating the PXG College Golf Showcase at Scottsdale National was in response to the fact that the college golf fall schedules were directly impacted, and many canceled due to COVID-19,” said Drew Carr of Fidelity Sports Group. “We set out to develop a platform that would help the PGA TOUR tell the story of its University program and provide a unique opportunity for golf fans to meet the future faces of the TOUR as they engage with iconic figures from sports and entertainment. We believe elite college golfers should be household names, just like the elite college quarterback.”
Scottsdale National Golf Club will serve as the host location for the PXG College Golf Showcase. Unlike many private clubs, Scottsdale National is not part of a master planned residential development – it is pure golf, with unending views of pristine desert landscape surrounded on three sides by the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Owned by Bob Parsons, an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and the founder of PXG, and his wife, Renee, president and executive creative director of PXG Apparel, the exclusive 45-hole private club presents an intimate and fun setting for this exhibition.
“These young athletes represent exceptional talent and the future of professional golf,” Bob Parsons stated. “Helping them hone their skill by providing an additional playing opportunity and a personal mentorship experience through the PXG College Golf Showcase at Scottsdale National is something we are pleased and proud to support.”
The 2020 PXG College Golf Showcase at Scottsdale National will feature four of PGA TOUR University’s top-ranked athletes, Austin Eckroat (Oklahoma State, No. 4), Garett Reband (Oklahoma, No. 7), Mac Meissner (Southern Methodist, No. 8), and Trevor Werbylo (Arizona, No. 10) Each player will have his program’s head coach as caddie during the event.
“The PXG College Golf Showcase is a tremendous opportunity for the top players in the PGA TOUR University program to receive incredible exposure to golf fans around the world,” said PGA TOUR University architect and Korn Ferry Tour Senior Director of Tournament and Membership Affairs, Brendan von Doehren. “By coupling these rising stars with the event’s celebrities, our hope is to create a meaningful platform from which to generate charitable dollars for the men and women who represent our military.”
Launched on June 1, 2020, the top five finishers from the final Official PGA TOUR University Ranking List will receive Korn Ferry Tour membership and will be exempt into all open, full-field events beginning the week following the conclusion of the NCAA Division I Men’s National Championship through the conclusion of the Korn Ferry Tour regular season. The top five finishers will also be exempt into the Final Stage of that year’s Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.
Finishers Nos. 6-15 will secure membership on one of the International Tours for the current season and a spot in the Second Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament (if necessary).
Events which will count towards the Official PGA TOUR University Ranking List include NCAA Division I Men’s Golf events and official PGA TOUR events, including the Masters, U.S. Open and The Open Championship.
The 2020 PXG College Showcase at Scottsdale National will be conducted without spectators. All individuals on-site at Scottsdale National Golf Club for the event will be tested for COVID-19 and are required to receive a negative test result prior to involvement in the College Golf Showcase.
The broadcast team for the made-for-TV event includes Matt Adams, Arron Oberholser, Lauren Thompson and Travis Fulton.
GOLF Channel is the television home for college golf. Following its announcement in 2013 as the exclusive television provider of the NCAA Golf Championships, GOLF Channel has provided live coverage of the men’s NCAA championships since 2014 and the women’s NCAA championships since 2015, which now are hosted at the same venue in consecutive weeks.
The College Golf Showcase can be found on Twitter and Instagram @cgolfshowcase and on YouTube @TheCollegeGolfShowcase.
ABOUT SCOTTSDALE NATIONAL
An exclusive, members only oasis in the Sonoran Desert, Scottsdale National Golf Club presents golf the way it should be played. No tee times required. Wide open fairways across forty-five holes with no homes lining the courses. Supported by two distinctive clubhouses with stunning views and unexpected amenities. Fifteen luxurious member Villas with sixty tastefully appointed rooms, surrounded by three million acres of government protected desert land in the center of magnificent vistas. And just one rule, established by club owners Bob and Renee Parsons, “No member shall ever impinge upon another member’s enjoyment of the club.”
ABOUT PXG
American entrepreneur and philanthropist Bob Parsons founded PXG – Parsons Xtreme Golf – in 2014. Leveraging breakthrough technology and sophisticated manufacturing processes that integrate high-performance alloys, PXG produces some of the finest golf clubs in the world.
PXG’s professional staff includes Zach Johnson, Pat Perez, Ryan Moore, James Hahn, Wyndham Clark, Jason Kokrak, Joel Dahmen, Scott Langley, Grant Hirschman, Mina Harigae, Lydia Ko, Anna Nordqvist, Brittany Lang, Celine Boutier, Austin Ernst, Christina Kim, Katherine Kirk, Haley Moore, Ryann O’Toole, Gerina Piller, Jennifer Song, and Linnea Strom.
PXG offers a full lineup of right- and left-handed clubs, including drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges, and putters, as well as high-performance, fashion-forward apparel.
ABOUT PGA TOUR UNIVERSITY
PGA TOUR University is a program designed to strengthen and elevate the path to the PGA TOUR through the Korn Ferry Tour, Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR Series – China. This program will reward elite collegiate play with varying levels of playing access to Tours operated under the PGA TOUR umbrella, while upholding the principles and virtues of collegiate athletics.
CONTACTS
David Moorman, Fidelity Sports Group, David@fidelitysportsgroup.com
Drew Carr, Fidelity Sports Group, Drew@fidelitysportsgroup.com
Leela Brennan, PXG/Scottsdale National, Leela@pxg.com
Jeff Szklinski, GOLF Channel, Jeff.Szklinski@golfchannel.com
Stewart Moore, PGA TOUR, StewartMoore@pgatourhq.com
