38 major event exemptions awarded to the SwingThought Tour since 2010, more than any other tour in developmental golf. Digital Ally Open 8th awarded in 2015 alone!
Myrtle Beach, S.C. – May 19, 2015 – Over the past five seasons, the SwingThought Tour has secured more Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR event exemptions than any other tour in developmental golf. Today, that gap got even wider as the SwingThought Tour announced they have been awarded an event exemption into the 2015 Digital Ally Open to be contested August 6-9 on the championship Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate in nearby Overland Park, Kansas. The event, formerly known as the Midwest Classic, features a $600,000 purse. The SwingThought Tour does not have any official affiliation with the PGA TOUR or Web.com Tour, however, this is the thirty-eighth (38th) major event exemption awarded to the SwingThought Tour (formerly the NGA/Hooters Tour) since the start of the 2010 season. And this is the 1st time the tour has been awarded an event exemption into the Digital Ally Open and SwingThought Tour president Robin Waters couldn’t be more excited about the new partnership.
“The No. 1 goal of the SwingThought Tour has always been and always will be to help professional golfers achieve their dreams of playing at golf’s highest levels,” stated Robin L. Waters, SwingThought Tour president. “Golf is a game of opportunities. By securing an exemption into the Digital Ally Open, our seventh major event exemption secured so far this year, we continue to do everything in our power to help them achieve those dreams. We cannot thank the Digital Ally Open enough for providing this opportunity.”
The Digital Ally Open is a Web.com Tour event that dates back to 2009 where it originated as the Christmas in October Classic. Michael Sim won that inaugural event, thus earning the Battlefield Promotion onto the PGA TOUR via his 3rd in-season win. The event was not held in 2010 but returned in 2011 as the Midwest Classic with the Kansas City Crusaders as the host organization. SwingThought Tour alum James Nitties won that year and still holds the record for the low aggregate score (258) and low to par score (-26). Multi-time SwingThought Tour winner Shawn Stefani won the event in 2012 and Jamie Lovemark in 2013. Long-time SwingThought Tour member Zack Sucher, who had just played on the SwingThought Tour last in 2013, won this past year’s event helping him to finish inside the top 25 money list and earn his PGA TOUR card for 2015. All five past winners have played or continue to play on the PGA TOUR.
So far, in 2015, the SwingThought Tour has gained Web.com Tour event exemptions into the United Leasing Championship, the Air Capital Classic, the Knoxville News Sentinel Open, four (4) into the BMW Charity Pro-Am Championship, and, now, the Digital Ally Open. Since the start of the 2010 season, the SwingThought Tour has now secured Thirty-eight (38) Major event exemptions including three into PGA TOUR events in 2012 and 2013; the Reno-Tahoe Open and Sanderson Farms Championship.
About Digital Ally
Based in the Kansas City suburb of Lenexa, Kan., Digital Ally is a technology-driven company that boasts the best in technology and innovation in the field of advanced video police cameras, fleet event recorders and law enforcement surveillance equipment. The Digital Ally Open will be Digital Ally’s first engagement with a major sports sponsorship. The company plans to activate its partnership by introducing and integrating its products in unique ways during pre-tournament and tournament-week activities in August. The Digital Ally Open supports the “Fallen First Responders”. The benefitting organizations are: S.A.F.E, C.O.P.S, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, and Children’s Mercy Kansas City.
About SwingThought Tour
Since its establishment in 1988, SwingThought Tour alumni have won an amazing 16 Major Championships. Alumni include Masters champions Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson, PGA Championship winners Keegan Bradley, Shaun Micheel and David Toms, Open Champions Ben Curtis, Stewart Cink and Tom Lehman, U.S. Open Champions Jim Furyk, Lee Janzen, and Lucas Glover, Open and PGA Champion John Daly, Tour Championship winners Chad Campbell, Billy Mayfair, and Camilo Villegas, and recent PGA Tour winners such as Matt Every, Robert Streb, Ben Martin, Kevin Streelman, Michael Thompson, Ted Potter Jr., Gary Woodland, Chris Kirk, John Senden, Brian Harman, Brendon Todd, Chesson Hadley, Russell Henley, Mark Wilson, George McNeill, Scott Stallings, Scott Piercy, and many many more. In addition, 89 of the 150 players competing in the 2014 Web.com Tour Q School Final Stage were past players on the SwingThought Tour.
For more information on the new SwingThought Tour visit swingthought.com or call 800-992-8748.
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