LENEXA, Kan. – The 9th Watson Challenge will begin play at Mission Hills Country Club on June 12-14. The Watson Challenge offers the strongest field of amateur and professional golfers in the Kansas City area.
The Watson Challenge is an annual 54-hole golf championship held “To Determine the Best Golfer in the Greater Kansas City Golf Community.” The event has a 48-golfer field, consisting of the top PGA Club Professionals from the Midwest Section PGA, and the top amateurs living in the greater Kansas City golf community. Other players receive special invitations, which include Tom Watson, the Kansas City Junior Championship winner, the Club’s Host Golf Professional and reigning Club Champion.
In the eight year history of the Watson Challenge, there have only been four winners, including Blake Graham (2007), Joe Ida (2012), Robert Streb (2014), and Tom Watson (2008,09,10,11,13). The defending champion, Robert Streb, will not compete in the 2015 Watson Challenge, as Streb qualified to play in the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington.
The 2015 Watson Challenge will be held at Mission Hills Country Club in Mission Hills, Kansas. Mission Hills Country Club is a challenging 6,455-yard, par 70 championship course. The club was established in 1912 and originally designed by Tom Bendelow. He wanted to take full advantage of its natural features. In 2007, Keith Foster, a golf architect, renovated the course and opened it to its members. Foster added a full sized driving range and improved the practice facilities at Mission Hills Country Club to give it the Championship venue appeal.
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