By Rick Jabot
Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship
August 15, 2023
KORN FERRY TOUR ENTERS NEW ERA
NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CHAMPIONSHIP 2023 FORMAT AND SCHEDULE OF EVENTS DETAILS
Columbus, Ohio (Aug. 15, 2023) – The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, one of four Korn Ferry Tour Finals events, will be held at The Ohio State University Golf Club – Scarlet Course the week of September 18-24, 2023.
In June of last year, the Korn Ferry Tour announced they are embarking on a new era, recognizing the quality of competition on the circuit and the importance of rewarding season-long performance. The top-30 players in the season-long standings at the end of the 2023 campaign will earn PGA TOUR membership for the 2024 season. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship’s new later date on the calendar aligns with these changes to the PGA TOUR’s qualification process and overall schedule.
For the first time since 2013 on the Korn Ferry Tour, there are no longer separate point standings for pre-Finals and Finals events, but rather a cumulative standings structure. A Finals event is no longer a competition for TOUR cards between the top 75 on the Korn Ferry Tour and Nos. 126-200 in the FedExCup standings. Beginning this year, “Finals” refers to the final four events of the season, where Korn Ferry Tour members compete for increased purses and points allocations.
The four Finals events – which includes the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship – will feature $1.5 million purses and award 600 points to each winner. The 2023 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship will be third of the four Finals events, featuring a field of 120 players. The fields for the Finals will be progressively reduced, starting with 156 players for event No. 1, 144 players for event No. 2 and finishing with 75 players in the final event. The preceding 22 events on the schedule will have a minimum purse of $1 million – a 67% increase from 2021 to 2023 – and award 500 points to the winner.
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship will continue its philanthropic mission in 2023 and beyond to support Central Ohio charities, including the tournament’s primary beneficiary Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Since its inception in 2007, the tournament has donated over $22.3 million in support of the hospital’s pediatric cancer program, and features several annual events to highlight the hospital’s Patient Champions.
Pros for Patients will take place Tuesday, September 19 and provides Nationwide Children’s Hospital Patient Champions and their families the opportunity to meet and interact with Korn Ferry Tour players from the tournament’s field and participate in special activities such as a putting challenge, hitting stations, interactive games, face painting, balloon and creating care packages that will be delivered to inpatients at Nationwide Children’s during tournament week.
The tournament will officially kick off on Thursday, September 21 with the annual First Shot to Fight Cancer immediately prior to the tournament’s first round starting time. Details regarding the 2023 First Shot to Fight Cancer Patient Champion will be available in the coming weeks.
On Saturday, fans can enjoy FREE Graeter’s ice cream, courtesy of Nationwide, as well as the Junior Clinic, held at 2:30 on the driving range featuring Korn Ferry Tour players. On Sunday, fans can test their pancake-catching skills at the FREE pancake breakfast, open 8:00-11:00 a.m.
During all tournament round days, fans can enjoy the Play Yellow Putting Challenge near main admissions and the tournament’s famous Pub Thirteen, featuring Birdie Time is Miller Time. Pub Thirteen is a tented venue open to the public with premium views of the tournament’s par 3, 13th hole. For every birdie made on Hole No. 13, fans can enjoy beer specials for thirteen minutes. Food trucks will be open at Pub Thirteen Friday through Sunday.
Admission into the 2023 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship is FREE.
For general Tournament information, including how to become a volunteer, please visit www.ncc-golf.com or call (614) 764-GOLF. Stay connected with the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship on Twitter (@NCHC_Golf), Instagram (nchcgolf) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/NationwideChildrensChampionship).
ABOUT THE NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CHAMPIONSHIP
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship is owned and operated by Champions of the Community, Inc., an Ohio non-profit corporation. The event is one of three Korn Ferry Tour Finals tournaments that will determine the 50 players who earn PGA TOUR playing privileges for the 2021-2022 season and their eligibility position under the TOUR’s enhanced qualifying system. Featuring a purse of $1,000,000 the tournament is conducted to showcase the best golf on the Korn Ferry Tour on one of the most challenging venues in the world, The Ohio State University – Scarlet Course, for the enjoyment of spectators and to benefit charitable organizations in central Ohio. For more information, call 614-764-GOLF or visit our website at www.ncc-golf.com.
ABOUT NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2021-22 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric health care systems providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. Nationwide Children’s has a staff of more than 13,000 providing state-of-the-art pediatric care during more than 1.6 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.
ABOUT KORN FERRY TOUR
Founded (1990), owned and operated by the PGA TOUR, the Korn Ferry Tour identifies and develops golf’s next stars, preparing them to compete and win on the game’s biggest stage. The Korn Ferry Tour, which has served as a path to the PGA TOUR since its inception, will award 30 PGA TOUR cards based off its points list in 2023, with the No. 1 player earning exemptions into the following year’s PLAYERS Championship and U.S. Open. With more than 600 PGA TOUR titles, 29 major championships and six FedExCup champions, Korn Ferry Tour alumni make up 88 percent of the PGA TOUR’s current membership. To learn more about the PGA TOUR, the Korn Ferry Tour and to follow the season-long quest for PGA TOUR cards, visit PGATOUR.COM or follow the Korn Ferry Tour on social media. Select Korn Ferry Tour events are televised annually on Golf Channel in the United States, with tournament coverage available internationally in more than 170 countries and territories via 22 media partners.
ABOUT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
The Ohio State University Department of Athletics is completely self-supporting and receives no university monies, tax dollars or student fees. The Department of Athletics sponsors 36 fully funded varsity teams – 17 for women, 16 for men and three that are co-educational – and is committed to providing the very finest in academic and athletics support in an effort to provide its more than 1,000 student-athletes with a quality, life-changing experience at Ohio State.
ABOUT HNS SPORTS GROUP
HNS Sports Group is a Dublin, Ohio-based LLC founded in 2000. The company offers over 125-plus years of collective experience and is committed to providing professional, efficient and effective client representation in the categories of sponsorship consultation, event management, hospitality management, sales representation and tournament operation within the golf market. To learn more about HNS Sports Group, visit www.hnssports.com.
COURTESY HSN SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS
