McConnell Golf's Tournament Time By Brian Weis

McConnell Golf's Tournament Time

By Brian Weis

McConnell Golf releases 2021 event schedule.
Raleigh-based company partners with prestigious organizations including the PGA Tour, and Korn Ferry Tour

There may never be a more eagerly anticipated tournament season on the McConnell Golf calendar than the 2021 golf season.

McConnell Golf's expanding portfolio of high-end golf courses is anxious to return to hosting some of the best golf tournaments in the southeast and beyond, after COVID-19 left last year's competitive season in constant flux.

"We are excited to host several of these events this spring and summer that were canceled in 2020 due to COVID," said McConnell Golf VP of Golf Operations Brian Kittler. "More importantly, we look forward to having our members and fans attend these events, even if it will be in limited capacity."

As always, the 2021 competitions highlight McConnell Golf partnerships with prestigious organizations including the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), and the state golf associations from North and South Carolina, and Tennessee, among others.

Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., annually plays host to the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship. The sixth-oldest event on the PGA Tour excluding the major championships, the 2021 Wyndham Championship will be contested August 12-15.

Sedgefield will also play host to the Women's ACC Golf Championship, which will be contested April 14-18, as well as the AJGA Wyndham Invitational presented by Truist, which will be played June 14-18.

Another significant professional event, the Korn Ferry Tour's REX Hospital Open is contested annually at The Country Club at Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh June 3-6. Just a few weeks prior, May 13-16, Holston Hills Country Club will play host to the Korn Ferry Tour's Visit Knoxville Open. Located in East Knoxville near the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains on 180 acres of rolling farmland tucked into a bend in the Holston River, Holston Hills features a 1927 Donald Ross-designed golf course. The layout was recognized as the state's finest when it opened and began hosting every important regional tournament, including a PGA Tour event.

For amateur golfers, the Cardinal Invitational, which is scheduled for October 1-3 at Greensboro's The Cardinal by Pete Dye, is a prestigious aspiration. The field is selected from among college level and mid-amateurs, and numerous former participants are now on the PGA, Champions and Korn Ferry tours. Jay Sigel, a winner on the Champions tour, has said that the Cardinal Am is one of the finest amateur tournaments in the country and one which he wishes he had won during his amateur career.

McConnell Golf - 2021 Tournament Schedule

March 21-23 ECU Men's Pirate Intercollegiate (Brook Valley CC, Greenville, N.C.)

April 14-18 ACC Women's Golf Championship (Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, N.C.)

May 13-16 Korn Ferry Visit Knoxville Open (Holston Hills CC, Knoxville, Tenn.)

May 19-21 GPro Tour Greenville Open (Brook Valley CC, Greenville, N.C.)

May 25-30 SCGA Four-Ball Match Play (Musgrove Mill GC, Clinton, S.C.)

June 3-6 Korn Ferry Rex Hospital Open (Country Club at Wakefield Plantation, Raleigh N.C.)

June 14-15 CPGA North Carolina Senior Open (Old North State Club, New London, N.C.)

June 14-18 AJGA Wyndham Invitational presented by Truist (Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, N.C.)

June 28-29 CPGA Junior PGA (The Cardinal by Pete Dye, Greensboro, N.C.)

June 29-July 1 Tennessee Women's State Amateur (Holston Hills CC, Knoxville, Tenn.)

July 19 Carolinas Pro-Junior (Providence CC, Charlotte, N.C.)

July 26-29 CGA Junior Boys Championship (Treyburn CC, Durham, N.C.)

August 12-15 Wyndham Championship (Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, N.C.)

August 23-24 UNC-Asheville Bulldog Classic (Country Club of Asheville, N.C.)

September 13-15 Carolinas Senior Amateur (The Reserve GC, Pawleys Island, S.C.)

October 1-3 Cardinal Invitational (The Cardinal by Pete Dye, Greensboro, N.C.)

Revised: 03/11/2021 - Article Viewed 9,880 Times

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.