THE FLATS – Stewart Cink and Richy Werenski, both 2020 winners on the PGA Tour, open 2021 with a trip to Maui and the Sentry Tournament of Champions … Three former Yellow Jackets are competing in this week’s Big Money Golf Classic … Tyler Strafaci to turn pro following Walker Cup … More below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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REWARD FOR WINNING IS A TRIP TO MAUI
Perhaps the best reward for winning a PGA Tour event is knowing that a trip to Maui is in your future. Stewart Cink won the Safeway Open, the opening event of the 2020-21 PGA Tour season back in October, his ninth PGA Tour victory, while Richy Werenski captured his first win at the Barracuda Championship back in August.
The limited-field Sentry Tournament of Champions, conducted this weekend at the Kapalua Plantation Course, is reserved for tournament winners from the past year, and because of the COVID-shortened 2019-20 schedule, 17 other players who qualified for last season’s Tour Championship are also in the field.
Cink is playing in the tournament for the first time in 11 years after his last appearance, which came following his 2009 Open Championship.
“I’ve been a lot of places — I’ve been a pro golfer my adult life the entire time and I’ve been to some of the world’s best places, but I’ve never been to a better place than Maui,” Cink said. “So, it’s great to come back and I can’t wait.”
Cink is currently No. 4 in the FedEx Cup standings, having also posted a tie for 12th place at the Sanderson Farms Championship and a tie for fourth place at the Bermuda Championship. He has earned nearly $1.5 million in six events.
Werenski made three cuts in five events in the fall, with a high finish of T28 at the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek, and sits No. 174 in the FedEx Cup standings.
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THREE FORMER JACKETS IN THE FIELD FOR BIG MONEY GOLF CLASSIC
Three former Yellow Jackets, including Korn Ferry Tour player J.T. Griffin, recently turned-pro Luke Schniederjans and amateur Tyler Strafaci are competing in the Big Money Golf Classic, a new 54-hole event that will be conducted this week at The Legacy Club at Alaqua Lakes and Heathrow Country Club in Lake Mary, Fla.
This revolutionary event is providing professional players an opportunity to play for a $400,000 purse in one of the largest events in Mini Tour Golf History. At the end of the event one winner will take home $100,000. As an amateur, Strafaci is ineligible to accept prize money and remains an amateur at least through the Masters next April.
More information | Leaderboard
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STRAFACI TO TURN PRO FOLLOWING WALKER CUP
The Georgia Tech fifth-year senior, thanks to his victory over SMU’s Ollie Osborne last August at Bandon Dunes, has quite the schedule lined up for the first half of the new year. He’ll play in two majors, the Masters in April and the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in June, and is exempt into the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Genesis Invitational, RBC Heritage, Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial and Memorial Tournament. He’s also already on the U.S. Walker Cup team, which will compete in early May at Seminole.
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FOUR JACKETS HAVE QUALIFIED FOR 2021 MASTERS
As of the beginning of 2021, four former Yellow Jackets have qualified to play in the 2021 Masters, coming up in April – Stewart Cink, who earned his spot by winning the Safeway Open in October; Matt Kuchar, who is among the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; Larry Mize, the 1987 Masters champion; and Tyler Strafaci, who won the 2020 U.S. Amateur.
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GOLF DIGEST RANKS PGA TOUR TOP 100 PLAYERS
Four former Yellow Jackets appear in Golf Digest’s ranking of the top 100 players on the PGA Tour – Richy Werenski (No. 100), Cameron Tringale (No. 88), Stewart Cink (No. 82) and Matt Kuchar (No. 64). Read what the magazine’s writers had to say about them.
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