Web.com Tour’s 2019 Rex Hospital Open is underway in Raleigh

A few things to know before you go

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

Peter Koutroumpis

editor@trianglesportsnet.com

RALEIGH, N.C. — The 32nd Rex Hospital Open begins play Thursday at the Country Club at Wakefield Plantation (formerly TPC at Wakefield Plantation).

With the summer heat kicking in, the fairways are running firm and the greens are receptive setting up for another pin-seeking affair on the Web.com Tour event that returns to the City of Oaks.

Here are a few things to know before you go to watch how these guys #LiveUnderPar.

2019 Rex Hospital Open – Leaderboard

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#RexOpen

@WebdotcomTour

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#LiveUnderPar

Who’s won here and where are they now?

Every tournament champion over the past eight years eventually earned their card to play the following season on the PGA Tour.

Three of those winners – Joey Garber (2018), Trey Mullinax (2016) and Chesson Hadley (2013) – are currently playing up on the big Tour.

Champions Conrad Shindler (2017), Kyle Thompson (2007, 2011, 2015) and Byron Smith (2014) played the next year on the PGA Tour following their wins, and eventually returned to continue competing on the Web.com Tour and are all in the field this year.

Thompson seeking fourth career title

As the tournament’s career leader and owner of Rex Open crystal showpieces, Thompson recently announced his retirement from playing on Tour, save for another chance to win at Wakefield Plantation – his 16th showing in the event.

It is four years since he won his last title, a cycle which has yielded winning results previously.

Playing as an exempt past champion, he figures that since he knows the course very well – he shot a 30 on the back-9 during Wednesday’s pro-am – why not give it one last shot.

How they got here

Twenty of the Tour’s Top-25 are in the field with No. 2 Scottie Scheffler, winner of the preceding event, the Evans Scholars Invitational,  leading that pack.

Here is the breakdown of this year’s field and how participating golfers qualified or which exemptions they received to do so.

Tournament Winners
Mark Anderson,
Michael Arnaud
Eric Axley
Rafael Campos
Trevor Cone
Vince Covello
Zecheng Dou
Michael Gellerman
Lanto Griffin
Nelson Ledesma
Dan mccarthy
José de Jesús Rodríguez
Scottie Scheffler
Brady Schnell
David Skinns
Sepp Straka
Ben Taylor

Past Champion of Current Week’s Event
Conrad Shindler
Byron Smith
Kyle Thompson

Leading Money winner Latinoamérica/Canada/China & WCT QT Winner
Harry Higgs
Tyler McCumber
Callum Tarren
Danny Walker

Top 75 Money Leaders from the Web.com Tour Regular Season
Sebastián Muñoz
Kyle Jones
Wyndham Clark
Chris Thompson
Kevin Dougherty
Joseph Bramlett
Taylor Moore
Henrik Norlander
Erik Barnes
Steven Ihm
Sebastian Cappelen
Rhein Gibson
Ben Kohles
Bhavik Patel
Derek Ernst
Michael Johnson
Edward Loar
Bo Hoag
Justin Lower
Brett Drewitt
Max Rottluff
Maverick McNealy
Ryan Yip
Brad Hopfinger
Christian Brand
Richard Hoey
Brian Campbell

Next 25 Money Leaders – Web.com Tour Finals
Chase Seiffert

Former Fully-Exempt PGA TOUR Members
Ricky Barnes
Daniel Summerhays

PGA TOUR Members 48-49 Years Old
Ángel Cabrera
Frank Lickliter II
Paul Stankowski

Special Members/Medical (Exempt)
Scott Harrington
Nicholas Thompson
Scott Gutschewski
Jim Renner

Sponsor Exemptions (Members Not Otherwise Exempt)
Ben Griffin
Nick Heinen

Sponsor Exemptions (Unrestricted)
Stephen Franken
Stewart Jolly

Open qualifiers (12)
Davis Riley
Ryan McCormick
Jason Widener
David Gazzolo
Tommy Gainey
Carson Young
Matthew Short
Blake Palmer
Matt Bettencourt
Jon Curran
Gregor Main
Matt Hill

Top 25 From Previous Event
Marcelo Rozo
Nicolas Echavarria
Luke Guthrie
Blayne Barber
Jimmy Stanger
Tag Ridings
Jordan Niebrugge
Paul Haley II
Corey Pereira
Steve Marino
Vince India
Rob Oppenheim

Top 25 Official Money List at the time of the Reorder
Drew Weaver
Tim Wilkinson
Steve LeBrun

PGA TOUR – Not Exempt for current Event
Grayson Murray
Kris Blanks
Will MacKenzie
Zack Sucher
Tom Lovelady
Martin Piller
Tyrone Van Aswegen

First reorder category
Chris Baker
Cameron Percy
Austin Smotherman
Brett Stegmaier
Yechun Yuan
Wade Binfield
Brett Coletta
John Oda
Jamie Arnold
Andrew Novak
Matthew NeSmith
Doug Ghim
Zac Blair
Ryan Brehm
Charlie Saxon
Rick Lamb
Casey Wittenberg
Paul Imondi
Greg Yates
Steve Wheatcroft
Kevin Lucas
Timothy Madigan
Albin Choi
T.J. Vogel
Joshua Creel
Martin Flores
Kyle Reifers
Brian Richey
Jack Maguire
John Merrick
Oscar Fraustro
J.T. Griffin
Chad Ramey
Joseph Winslow
Andrew Svoboda
Motin Yeung
Garrett Osborn
Matt Atkins
Brock Mackenzie
Byron Meth
Michael Hebert
Andy Zhang
Zach Wright
Ben Polland
Nick Voke
Grant Hirschman
Horacio León
Brandon Crick
Brad Fritsch
Sam Love
Michael McGowan
Lee McCoy
Will Cannon
Brandon Matthews
Thomas Bass
Michael Buttacavoli

Peter Koutroumpis: 401-323-8960, @pksport