Trans-Mississippi golf tournament back at Prairie Dunes

A two-week run of high-profile amateur golf tournaments in Kansas begins Tuesday with the 114th Trans-Mississippi Championship at Hutchinson’s Prairie Dunes Country Club.

The tradition-rich tournament, which includes past champions Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw and Bob Tway, features a field of 144 golfers from across the country. Prairie Dunes is hosting the event for the first time since 2005 and the sixth time in its history.

Defending champion and two-time winner Will Zalatoris will play his second tournament in Kansas this summer. Zalatoris, a Wake Forest senior who won last year’s Trans-Miss at San Francisco’s Olympic Club, earned a sponsor exemption into last month’s Air Capital Classic and missed the cut at Crestview Country Club.

The field also includes 2015 champion Collin Morikawa, who won his Trans-Miss title at Andover’s Flint Hills National, the site of next week’s U.S. Junior Amateur. Morikawa, who will be a junior at California, played in Wichita’s Web.com Tour event in 2016 and reached a playoff before finishing second to PGA Tour rookie Ollie Schniederjans.

Other notable players in this year’s tournament include Dallas native Scottie Scheffler, a senior at Texas. Scheffler was the low amateur in last month’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills and helped the Longhorns win their fifth consecutive Big 12 men’s title in April at Prairie Dunes.

Scheffler’s teammate, Doug Ghim, will also play in the Trans-Miss. Ghim finished second three summers ago in the final U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Newton’s Sand Creek.

Scheffler and Ghim shared second individually at the Big 12 tournament behind former University of Kansas golfer Chase Hanna. Hanna, of Leawood, is one of the top Kansans in the Trans-Miss field along with Wichita’s Sam Stevens, an Oklahoma State golfer, and Wells Padgett, an Auburn signee who qualified for his third U.S. Junior Amateur next week.

The Trans-Miss features 18 holes of stroke play Tuesday and Wednesday before Thursday’s 36-hole finale for the low 54 and ties.

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Trans-Mississippi golf tournament back at Prairie Dunes."