Peter Koutroumpis (@pksport)
RALEIGH, NC – The 156-player field at the 2022 Rex Hospital Open teed off on Thursday morning.
The 15th tournament of the Korn Ferry Tour’s 26-event season, the 28th edition of the tournament is once again being played at The Country Club at Wakefield Plantation.
The field is headlined by 21 of the top 25 players on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List, currently led by Carl Yuan, the highest ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking (No. 137) coming into the Rex.
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2022 REX HOSPITAL OPEN – TEE TIMES – ROUND 1 & 2
(General Grounds tickets are free – click here for tickets)
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Keeping it local
The field includes 15 players with ties to the state of North Carolina: Akshay Bhatia (Wake Forest resident), Jonathan Brightwell (Charlotte native), Trevor Cone (Charlotte native and resident), Patrick Cover (Mooresville native, Charlotte resident), Trace Crowe (Charlotte native and Greenville resident), Taylor Dickson (Gastonia native), Stephen Franken (Raleigh native and resident), Will Gordon (Davidson native and Charlotte resident), Ben Griffin (Chapel Hill native), Brad Hopfinger (Charlotte resident), Grayson Murray (Raleigh native and resident), Garett Reband (Charlotte resident), Kyle Reifers (Charlotte resident), sponsor exemption Christian Salzer (Cary resident), Thomas Walsh (High Point native).
Seven players in the field played collegiately in the state of North Carolina: Albin Choi (North Carolina State), Brightwell (University of North Carolina-Greensboro), Cover (University of North Carolina- Wilmington), Franken (North Carolina State), Griffin (University of North Carolina) Pontus Nyholm (Campbell University), Reifers (Wake Forest University).
Raleigh native and Duke University alum Quinn Riley will make his professional debut this week as a sponsor exemption.
He recently finished T16 and was Duke’s highest finisher at the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship.
Riley also received a sponsor invite to the PGA TOUR’s John Deere Classic (June 30-July 3).
Ending a successful run
Wakefield Plantation has hosted the event since 2001, and this year’s tournament marks the last time the event will be held there.
Next year’s event will be held at Raleigh Country Club as part of a three-year deal with the KFT and Rex Hospital Foundation accordingly.
The inaugural REX Hospital Open was played in 1994, when Skip Kendall held off future World No. 1 and 2001 Open Championship winner David Duval for the title.
Mito Pereira won last year’s REX Hospital Open and earned the Three-Victory Promotion with another victory the following week; he finished T3 at the PGA Championship two weeks ago and has three top-10s in 20 starts as a rookie on TOUR this season.
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