The game’s future stars have descended upon Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tennessee, this week for the Visit Knoxville Open on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Last year, Anders Albertson used an opening-round 8-under 62 to propel him to the win. Carl Yuan finished solo second at 19 under, MJ Daffue grabbed solo third at 18 under, and Taylor Montgomery — whose seen some steady success on the PGA Tour over the last 8 months — and Sean O’Hair tied for fourth at 16 under.
Ben Kohles, the 2022-23 KFT Points leader, is in the field looking for his third win of the season. Kohles won the Astara Chile Classic and the HomeTown Lenders Championship in April. Both events were decided by a playoff.
Fresh off a win at the AdventHealth Championship, Grayson Murray now sits 14th on the points list. Murray has made six stroke-play event starts on the PGA Tour this season. He missed five cuts and tied for 15th at the Puerto Rico Open in March.
Murray has said he might consider playing the remainder of the season on the Korn Ferry Tour. Just eight months ago, he was in a scooter accident in Bermuda that didn’t lead to any broken bones but he did need 50 stitches — 25 on his face, 10 on his leg and others on various parts of his body.
Last week’s victory was Murray’s second on the Korn Ferry Tour and he also won as a rookie on the PGA Tour at the 2016 Barbasol Championship.
Murray has been open about some struggles with mental health and alcohol.
“I think everyone has their own battles,” Murray said after last week’s victory. “Sometimes people are able to hide ’em and function and
sometimes you’re not. You know, I think our society now is getting better about accepting that, you know, it’s OK to not be OK type deal. I’ve embraced that type of mentality. Not ashamed that I go through depression, anxiety.
“I know I’ve helped people out in the past just through my social media DMs, people messenger me and that’s I think part of I can use my platform to continue to help with things like that.”
An honest conversation about mental health struggles.
Grayson Murray opens up about the last six years and his continuing fight while supporting others who battle with mental health. 💚🫶#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth pic.twitter.com/PrYXruKzVm
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) May 21, 2023
According to Data Golf, Alejandro Tosti is the favorite to win. The Argentinean has finished T-7, T-10, T-22 and solo fourth in his last four Korn Ferry starts. On top of his success at this level, Tosti is three-for-three making the cut on the big tour this year, with his best finish coming at the Mexico Open where he tied for 10th. He’s still searching for his first win.
As for the golf course, Holston Hills is a par-70 track that measures 7,218 yards. HHCC was founded in 1927 and was designed by the famed Donald Ross.
The last two winners of the Visit Knoxville Open reached 20 under, so birdies — and a lot of them — will be needed to have any shot of winning the title.
Swings from the sky 🏌️♂️
Putting in the work @visitknoxopen. pic.twitter.com/7tscPNxRFo
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) May 24, 2023
If you live in the area and are interested in attending the event, daily tickets are available as well as week-long badges. You can purchase tickets online here.
