‘I wouldn’t never thought’: Wichita Open to become a $1 million prize golf tournament
When Roy Turner became the tournament director of the Wichita Open in 1999, the total prize money for the golfers totaled $100,000.
Turner has since turned the golf tournament into Wichita’s largest outdoor party every summer at Crestview Country Club and now he has watched the purse money grow 10 times its original amount.
Starting with the 2023 tournament, the Wichita Open will offer a $1 million purse, the Korn Ferry Tour announced on Monday. According to a press release, all Korn Ferry stops will increase from $600,000 to $750,000 in 2022 and then up to $1 million in 2023.
“A million dollars in the Wichita Open is something I would’ve never thought would happen,” Turner told The Eagle. “There’s been a lot of great things that have happened to this tournament, but this is one of the best. It’s pretty significant that little old Wichita can have a million dollar event. For my memories, this is one of the highlights of my career.”
Turner believes the significant increase in prize money will only attract a better and deeper field to the Wichita Open, a 72-hole competition that features 156 players from around the world.
Since debuting in 1990, Wichita has been one of four original tour stops that remain on the current schedule. The event was named the Korn Ferry Tour’s Tournament of the Year in 2019 and Turner expects more accolades to follow following this week’s news.
“I think what they’re establishing is that this is the second-best tour in the world and they’re raising the money to show everybody that,” Turner said. “I think we had 36 international players in the field last year and I think this is going to open it up even more to attract people outside of North America, not just for the chance to play on the PGA Tour but also for the prize money alone.”
The Wichita Open will return to Crestview Country Club this summer with festivities stretching from June 14-20.
This story was originally published May 18, 2021 at 1:46 PM.
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