THE KORN FERRY TOUR plays at Sawgrass Valley this weekend, Welcome to the Chicago Highlands Club-Westchester IL., home of the 2020 Evans Scholars Invitational _____________________________________________________________________
The new clubhouse at the Chicago Highlands Club in Westchester Illinois. Photo by Rory Spears.
THE 2020 Evans Scholars Invitational (ESI) has a new home for this September 9-13.
Enter one of the newer clubs in the Chicago area, The Chicago Highlands Club. The ESI will be one of five tournaments that will comprise the Korn Ferry Tour’s fall schedule.
“We’re excited to be joining with Chicago Highlands to conduct the Evans Scholars Invitational in Chicago’s western suburbs this September, “said Vince Pellegrino, WGA senior vice president of tournaments. “This will be an outstanding venue for championship golf, and we join with the Korn Ferry Tour in looking forward to seeing golf’s future stars compete on such a quality layout.”
The second green with a great backdrop.
The ESI was originally scheduled for late May, but was pushed back on the schedule due to the Corona Virus. With the date change, the previously scheduled venue, the Glen Club, was not available to hold the tournament in September, due to previously scheduled commitments. The 2021 ESI has not yet scheduled a venue.
2019 ESI champion Scottie Scheffler was named 2019 Rookie-of-the-Year for the Korn Ferry Tour. Scheffler is currently playing on the PGA Tour.
The 576 yard par 5, 12th hole at Chicago Highlands.
The Western Golf Association (WGA) and local officials will be working together to provide a safe atmosphere to everyone on property that week.
Pellegrino adding,” safety is our top priority.”
The Chicago Highlands Club is a links style golf course, that is spread out over 270 acres. It first opened for play in 2010, and was designed by Arthur Hills. It’s new clubhouse only finished completion in the last two years, was designed by architect Dan Wolhfeil.
The par 3, 13th hole will be a partially blind tee shot.
“We’re excited to have this opportunity to host the Evans Scholars Invitational and see some of the world’s finest up-and-coming golfers test out our unique and challenging layout,” said Tom Healy, one of the managing partners of Chicago Highlands. “We’re equally thrilled to know that, through our partnership with the Western Golf Association, we’ll be helping to send more caddies to college on Evans Scholarships. We’re looking forward to a great week of championship golf and charitable fundraising with the Western Golf Association.”
Pellegrino said the ESI is used to raise funds to send more caddies to college on Evans Scholarships. Currently, the WGA has 1,010 caddies in college at 18 different colleges or universities.
The Korn Ferry tour has made changes to it’s schedule before it awards 25 PGA Tour cards at the 2021 WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by KraftHeinz. 25 more tour cards will be presented at the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
THE GOG BLOG by Rory Spears, Host of Golfers on Golf Radio on Am 820 WCPT Chicago Saturday mornings at 10 AM, and Director of Content and Creation for GolfersonGolf.com. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy, Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram.