VERONA, WI (LEARFIELD-WSAU) The P-G-A’s senior tour will have a stop in the Madison area starting next year. American Family Insurance has signed a three-year agreement to be the title sponsor for the Champions’ Tour event — the first of which will be held June 22th-through-26th of next year at the U-W’s University Ridge course in Verona.
The tournament was announced this morning. It will have a field of 81 players. Madison P-G-A pro Steve Stricker will be the host — even though he won’t be able to join the Champions Tour until 2017 when he turns 50.
Rhinelander native Dan Forsman is a regular on the Champions’ Tour. Fox Point native Skip Kendall has played in limited events since last fall. Jerry Kelly of Madison turns 50 later this year, and can join the senior tour — as will Appleton’s J-P Hayes, who turns 50 in August. Two-time U-S Open champion Andy North of Madison plays in sporadic Champions’ Tour events — and Stricker hopes he’ll play in this one.
Stricker says he’s wanted to bring an annual P-G-A event to Wisconsin since 2009, when the U-S Bank Championship ended 42 years in Milwaukee. The American Family event will be a standard Champions’ Tour stop, with two days of pro-ams before a 54-hole no-cut tournament Friday through Sunday. The Golf Channel will televise it.
Stricker created the American Family Insurance Foundation in 2013. Proceeds from the tournament will go to the foundation and the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison.
