Frank Fuhrer finally has his wish.
After years of building his three-day, 72-hole invitational into an event that offers a $40,000 first prize, his lasting objective was to have every person in the select 40-player field be invited personally by him.
And that’s what he will have when his $200,000 Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational begins Monday at Pittsburgh Field Club, highlighted by three players who have won on the recently renamed Korn Ferry (formerly Web.com ) Tour. That includes the defending champ, Dan McCarthy, who posted a wire-to-wire victory at the Savannah Championship in March.
“It ought to be the best one we’ve ever had,” Fuhrer said. “We got by far the best field we’ve ever had.”
For the first time in the 21-year history of the tournament, local Tri-State PGA professionals are no longer eligible to compete in the event. Fuhrer took away their 15 spots that were based on the section’s point list in favor of taking control of the entire field with sponsor exemptions.
In exchange, Fuhrer helped resurrect the Pittsburgh Open with a $10,000 first-place prize for local professionals that will be held July 1-2 at Sewickley Heights Golf Club. The Pittsburgh Open was staged for 14 years, from 1985 to 1998, until Fuhrer took control of the tournament and renamed the event in his name.
In addition to McCarthy, Washington, Pa., native Steve Wheatcroft, a two-time winner on the Web.com Tour who has been on and off the PGA Tour, will make his first appearance in Fuhrer’s event. Michael Gligic, who won the tour’s Panama Championship in February, also will be in the field.
So will Justin Moose, the sixth-ranked long driver in the world who finished runner-up in the 2018 World Long Drive Championship, and former hockey player-turned-announcer Jeremy Roenick, who plays on the celebrity tour. Four local amateurs have also been invited — Notre Dame recruit Palmer Jackson, Penn State recruit Jimmy Meyers, West Virginia’s Mark Goetz and Pittsburgh Field Club member Jack Katarincic.
“I got 100 applications here I couldn’t even fill,” Fuhrer said, rummaging through papers and letters on his desk. “The field is full. Everybody from all over the country wants to play.”
Just the way he wanted it.
What’s in a name?
It began as the Hogan Tour, when it was played at Quicksilver Golf Club in 1990 and the winner was R.W. Eaks
Then it became the Nike Tour, Nationwide Tour, Buy.com Tour, Web.com Tour and now, if you can believe it, the Korn Ferry Tour.
That’s six different names for the tour that feeds the PGA Tour nearly all of its top young players.
The sudden branding change, which sent golf fans scurrying to Google to find out if the new umbrella sponsor was perhaps a farm transportation system, surprised even the most ardent golf fans because it occurred past the midpoint of the season. Web.com had been the tour’s sponsor for the past seven years.
“Certainly with a name change, we’ll have to adjust,” said tour president Alex Baldwin, who is the first female in history to be president of one of the PGA Tour’s six global tours.
If only because of the strange-sounding nature of the name. Korn Ferry is a Los Angeles-based company that conducts global executive searches and consulting and also has been involved in orchestrating college basketball coaching hires. The firm met with Baldwin and other tour officials in February about becoming invested in their sport.
Web.com, which is based in Jacksonville, Fla., was sold to an affiliate of Siris Capital Group in October 2018, according to the Florida Times-Union. There were three more years remaining on its 10-year agreement with the tour, but Siris Capital declined to renew and agreed to end the deal. That’s when Korn Ferry stepped in with a 10-year agreement.
“It all clicked. It all happened very quickly,” Baldwin said over the phone the other day. “There was a strong interest to invest in our sport at this level. It was love at first sight.”
There are no immediate plans to expand the tour’s schedule beyond its current 27 events in four countries, but one instant change will involve a more aggressive and digital-focused promotion of its players. Also, because a lot of players on the developmental tour never make it to the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry will help to prepare them for a future off the course as well as on.
“At first there’s the curiosity factor — who are they, what do they do?” Baldwin said. “The feedback I’ve gotten from the guys, I think they’re very excited. We have seven events left till the top-25 event. Their focus is on their game. There’s a quick pause — ‘Who is it? What does it mean for me as a player?’ — but they’re focused on what’s happening inside the ropes.”
Open thoughts
Some things I thought about the fifth year of Fox’s coverage of the U.S. Open:
• The camera coverage and technology has gotten better each year, especially the Toptracer technology, where the camera moves to follow the trace until its conclusion. And the overhead views provided from drones were amazing, casting Pebble Beach in a light never seen before.
• Why does Joe Buck have to welcome me and every other viewer (what few still remain on Fox) into the broadcast tower at least three times during the U.S. Open broadcast?
• Shane Bacon said Henrik Stenson needs to “get off the schneid” and win a major. Guess he forgot the Swede won the British Open in 2016?
• Curtis Strange’s interview with Tiger Woods off the 18th green after his final round was awkward at best, embarrassing at worst.
• Do we really have seven more years to go?
Raffle call
Tickets for the “Great Golf Course Raffle,” in which the winner receives a foursome at five of the top clubs in Western Pennsylvania, are available for $20 each (or three for $50) at Vietmeier Golf Center in Kennedy or by calling, 724-947-1234.
The five participating courses are The Club at Nevillewood, Sewickley Heights GC, St. Clair CC, Green Oaks CC and Olde Stonewall GC. Proceeds benefit Parkway West Rotary charities and the Coraopolis Train Station Project. Drawing is July 8.
Listen to “The Golf Show with Gerry Dulac” every Thursday 7-8:30 p.m. on ESPN Pittsburgh 970 AM, 106.3 FM. Twitter: @gerrydulac.
First Published: June 21, 2019, 2:33 p.m.
Updated: June 23, 2019, 12:26 a.m.
