Pilot injured when blimp goes down near US Open in Wisconsin

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. – Six-time PGA TOUR winner and 2014 FedExCup champion Billy Horschel today announced that he will host a special Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour event bringing 18 top minority golfers to THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on July 29-31. The Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational presented by Cisco, will focus not only on the competition but also in providing key development opportunities for players off the course as well. The Advocates Professional Golf Association was established in 2008 as a non-profit organization with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf. The Tour hosts and operates professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs and introduces the game to inner city youth throughout the country. “Growing up in a blue-collar family, I did not always have the same opportunities in golf as some of my fellow competitors. Without some of the success that I had in college, I would have struggled to find financial backing, resources, and industry connections to continue my dream of making it onto the PGA TOUR,” Horschel said. “Through the APGA Tour and The Player Development Program, I want to help support each players’ journey, provide them with some resources, and gain an experience that I hope will benefit each player as they chase their dreams in professional golf. I’m thrilled to have a company like Cisco, who have already shown great support of promoting equality and diversity in golf, to help this event have a massive impact for these young players both inside and outside the ropes.” “I want to thank Billy Horschel for launching this APGA event and giving Cisco the opportunity to support this important initiative,” said Mark Patterson, SVP and Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO at Cisco. “At Cisco, we are focused on powering a more inclusive future, and this is another intentional moment where we are proud to step up and provide support for promising golfers, just as we did earlier this year when we welcomed Kamaiu Johnson to Team Cisco. We’re thrilled to be part of this event and look forward to helping more aspiring golfers reach their full potential!” The event will include an initial day of a pro-am, roundtable, seminars and other development opportunities all with key partners and industry leaders. The competition will challenge the players with 36 holes at THE PLAYERS Stadium course, home of THE PLAYERS Championship. “We are grateful that Billy Horschel took the initiative to start this event and for Cisco’s support to help us continue to create unique opportunities for our players to grow and develop as golfers both on and off the course. Billy’s passion to help these young men is beyond incredible,” said APGA Tour CEO Ken Bentley. “The APGA Tour is a special group of players who all have stories of perseverance and determination. Events like this are crucial for the guys in our development program to continue to progress as golfers and also to introduce them to the variety of opportunities in the golf industry as a whole. I can’t wait to see our guys spend three days at the home of the PGA TOUR and take on TPC Sawgrass.” The event will include several rising stars including Kamaiu Johnson and Willie Mack who each have made multiple starts on the PGA TOUR this year. Johnson returned from his PGA TOUR experience to win in his first event back on the APGA Tour at TPC Las Vegas in April. Mack is one of the most successful players in the history of the APGA Tour with six victories and two Lexus Cup titles. Mack has 65 professional victories and won a record 11 times as a member of the Bethune Cookman golf team. Rovonta Young and Jacksonville native Jarred Garcia each won earlier this year in Florida on the APGA Tour. Young was introduced to the game by his grandfather at a young age while his mom was deployed during her military service. Garcia’s victory in Port St. Lucie came at just the right time as both his parents lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other APGA Tour standouts in the field include Marcus Byrd, Joey Stills, Michael Herrera, Davin White and Ryan Alford, who won the most recent event at TPC Scottsdale. The 18-player field will consist of: • Nine players from the APGA Tour Player Development Program – Ryan Alford – Marcus Byrd – Jarred Garcia – Michael Hererra – Kamaiu Johnson – Willie Mack III – Joey Stills – Davin White – Rovanta Young • Five graduates from the APGA Collegiate Ranking – Mulbe Dillard – Andrew Walker – Mahindra Lutchman – Cameron Riley – Prince Cunningham • The top-ranked player in the current APGA Collegiate Ranking – TBD • Three Sponsor’s Exemptions – TBD

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Steve Stricker did it the hard way. After writing the USGA for a special exemption into next week’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills, and getting denied, Stricker shot 67-65 at the sectional qualifier at Ridgeway and Germantown Country Clubs on Monday to earn a spot in the 156-player field. “It might be the easy way,� said Stricker, whose 10-under-par total put him alone at the top when a storm halted play with a handful of players still out on the course. “Easier than trying to—yeah, well. It’s nice to be able to go there and play. I’m excited. I’m happy it all worked out.� Troy Merritt, Chez Reavie, Andres Romero and Trey Mullinax finished at 8 under par or better and looked likely to also qualify. Harris English was at 9 under through 16 holes. This will mark the first time the U.S. Open has come to Wisconsin, and Stricker, who lives in Edgerton, about an hour and 15 minutes’ drive from Erin Hills, was grinding to get in. He walked the course with the USGA’s Mike Davis, original owner Bob Lang and Erin Hills chairman Jim Reinhart when a Wisconsin U.S. Open was just a seedling of an idea. Stricker is also a five-time Wisconsin State Open champion who has represented the state throughout a long and distinguished PGA TOUR career that has seen him win 12 times. Still, he went from optimism to pessimism as he wrote the USGA for an exemption, which in the past has mostly been limited to Hall of Famers, plus then-amateur sensation Aaron Baddeley. “I think he just wanted to get in on his own at this point,� said Mario Tiziani, Stricker’s brother-in-law, agent, and occasional caddie. (Tiziani was on the bag in Memphis.) “A lot of people were lobbying for it, but he just wanted to get in on his own. He’s 84th in the world—they probably could have [let him in]—but he’s happy the way it went. “It was a quick no,� Tiziani added. “And, personally, I feel like that’s what the exemption is for, a guy that’s not in the top 60 but he’s super close. Being in Wisconsin and some of the other things that matter, I think it would’ve been a good thing to do, but they have other ideas and he made it on his own.� Stricker nearly holed out for eagle at the par-4 13th hole at Germantown late Monday, and his tap-in birdie got him to 10 under par and seemingly in command. Alas, after his tee shot wound up in a hole on 14, he was denied relief and, trying to do too much with his second shot, clipped a tree and hit his ball in the hazard. He salvaged a bogey after taking a drop and a penalty stroke. “It ended up being a great bogey,� Stricker said of his heart-stopping moment on 14. “It was one of those unfortunate breaks, really, to get into that hole. In hindsight, I probably should have just laid it up short of the hazard. I should have just taken my medicine.� A tap-in birdie at the par-5 18th hole gave him a 10-under-par total, which led the qualifier as some groups waited to finish. The Memphis sectional, one of 10 across the country and 12 worldwide, featured 108 players vying for nine spots. Stricker, 50, has played in 19 U.S. Opens, with his best a fifth-place finish in 1999. He voiced his displeasure at being denied an exemption, but Monday’s performance made it a moot point. A club member brought him and Tiziani two celebratory beers as they plopped down in the clubhouse grill just before the horn blew for the weather delay. “It gained some traction,� Stricker said. “It made its way around, people started tweeting, thinking that I should’ve been given a spot. It’s a big relief to get it behind me and be able to play. It was on my mind a lot. I mean that’s why I’ve been playing all these events, trying to get my world ranking up to try to get in there and play.� Stricker normally doesn’t play as many as four straight tournaments, but last week’s Memorial Tournament Presented by Nationwide, where he faded with a final-round 78, was his fourth in a row. He flew privately Sunday night to Memphis, not just for the sectional qualifier but also because he was scheduled to play in this week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic, after which the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking will get into the field at Erin Hills. Now, though, he’s already in. And the FedEx St. Jude would be his fifth consecutive week of play, followed by next week’s U.S. Open (sixth) and the PGA TOUR Champions’ American Family Insurance Championship (seventh). So as not to play himself to exhaustion, Stricker said he may withdraw this week. “I’d hate to do that to them, and to the tournament,� Stricker said. “I’ll talk to a few people and see what the right thing to do is.� He also has one more conundrum, now that he’s a go for Erin Hills: How to distribute his allotment of tickets to friends and family. Stricker laughed at the mention of it. “That’s a nice problem to have,� he said.

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Rory McIlroy is the 39th player to win at least 20 times on the PGA Tour, and it’s his fifth straight tour season with at least one win.

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