Both Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, two of the games hottest and best players on the PGA Tour, have a little bit of Greenville in their games.
The two golfers battled it out in a playoff on Sunday at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.
Burns sank a 38-foot birdie putt on the first extra playoff hole to win the trophy, his third on the PGA Tour this year. Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion, was going for his fifth victory in his last 10 starts.
Burns and Scheffler are two longtime friends who came to Greenville as youngsters to compete in the annual Future Tour Championship, which is played at the Greenville Country Club.
Scheffler came to Greenville five times and Burns came twice.
Bill Brozovich, who has helped to organize the event for all 27 of its years, said it was a thrill to watch two former Future Tour Championship alumni go head to head on Sunday.
“It shows this is a place where you can get started,” Brozovich said. “We treat the players like pros when they are here, and I know that they and their families appreciate it.”
Brozovich noted that former tournament alumni Chad Ramey and Ally McDonald Ewing have also won at the highest level this season. Ramey, of Fulton, won his first PGA Tour event in the Dominican Republic in March. Ewing, a Tupelo native, won her second LPGA Tour event last October in the LPGA Drive on Championship.
This year’s Future Tour Championship begins Friday and runs through Sunday. More than 175 young golfers from 11 states will be in town this week with many of their family members.
Everyone is welcome to come out and watch these future stars of the game.
“This tournament means so much to Greenville. With all the business that our hotels and restaurants receive from the out of towners, we estimate the economic impact is about $1 million a year,” Brozovich said.
