2024 PGA Professional Championship Preview

In the not-so-distant future, the 312 PGA of America Golf Professionals competing in the 2024 PGA Professional Championship on April 28–May 1 at Fields Ranch in Frisco, Texas, will watch with envy as the finest golfers in the world challenge the East and West courses at PGA Frisco, the Home of the PGA of America and modern golf.  Competitors will play one round on Beau Welling’s design at Fields Ranch West. Perhaps they will tell their children and grandchildren how they played the same famous courses in 2024, fondly recounting an eagle on one of the par 5s, a series of birdies, or an incredible par save along the way.  During the next 12 years, the PGA of America will conduct 25 elite championships at Fields Ranch, including the PGA Championship in 2027 and 2034, KPMG Women’s PGA Championships in 2025 and 2031, and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2029, after the best players over 50 christened the Fields Ranch East Course last May (with Steve Stricker outlasting Padraig Harrington in a playoff). Before the Rory McIlroys, Scottie Schefflers, Nelly Kordas and Rose Zhangs of the world visit Fields Ranch in the future, it is particularly fitting that the Home of the PGA of America host the finest players among its more than 30,000 members in the 56th PGA Professional Championship presented by Club Car, Corebridge Financial and Rolex in a nationally televised (Golf Channel) coming out party for the two championship courses at Fields Ranch. A True Home Game  Since its inception in 1968, the PGA Professional Championship has been conducted in 17 states at some of the finest courses and golf resorts in America.  But never has it enjoyed a true-blue home game like the 2024 version, which brings a field of 312 PGA of America Golf Professionals to the 660-acre PGA Frisco campus with a golden opportunity to play the Fields Ranch East and West courses under competitive conditions while familiarizing themselves with the 500-room Omni PGA Frisco Resort, the PGA Coaching Center, 13 restaurants and bars, the Monument Realty PGA District and golf opportunities for every member of the family. “It’s really cool that we have the opportunity to play our PGA Professional Championship at the Home of the PGA of America and on golf courses that will host so many major championships in the future.  Who doesn’t want to play on a major venue?” says Braden Shattuck, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Pennsylvania, who won the 2023 PGA Professional Championship in his Championship debut in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. A Two-Course Championship The 312 competitors in the 2024 PGA Professional Championship will play one round on each of the Fields Ranch East and West courses the first two days, before playing the final two rounds on the Gil Hanse-designed East Course following the 36-hole cut. As per tradition, the champion and top 20 finishers in the Championship will be named to the Corebridge Financial PGA Team and receive invitations to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, in May. As Shattuck discovered a year ago in his PGA Professional Championship debut, winning the largest professionals-only tournament in America comes with many spoils – a $60,000 check, the coveted Walter Hagen Cup, six PGA TOUR exemptions, an exemption through the first phase of PGA TOUR Qualifying, and significant worldwide exposure via the Golf Channel telecast. “Winning the PGA Professional Championship a year ago was life-changing in that it changed the trajectory of my career to some extent,” explains Shattuck, whose career was put on hold for two years after he suffered two herniated disks and other back injuries in an automobile accident in 2019 while in Florida competing in a mini-tour Event. Shattuck played well but missed the cut in the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill (79-73) and in the 2024 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches (72-73). But he continues to prepare for his PGA Professional Championship title defense and is looking forward to visiting PGA Frisco and playing the East and West courses at Fields Ranch with enthusiasm. “I haven’t played the two courses at Fields Ranch yet, but I have talked to a few players who have and they have nothing but good things to say about the entire PGA Frisco complex,” says Shattuck, 29. “I’ll come in three or four days early to play practice rounds and learn the courses. Because the courses at Fields Ranch are so new, not a lot of professionals have had a chance to play them.” Fair, challenging – and memorable The two championship golf courses at Fields Ranch – the East Course designed by Hanse and the West Course designed by Beau Welling – were constructed specifically with championships in mind. They will share the spotlight with the 312 competitors in the 2024 PGA Professional Championship, as the PGA of America uses the Championship as a dress rehearsal for the future. “We knew coming into this project that the PGA of America wanted to create a new home for golf in the United States and that the courses needed to be built to accommodate championships for golfers of all skill levels, including several major championships,” notes Hanse. “The two golf courses at Fields Ranch sit side-by-side on the property, but they are distinctly different,” observes Welling, whose design philosophy was influenced by the great Alistair MacKenzie. “Since we knew in advance that these courses were destined to host a variety of championships, we worked closely with (PGA of America Chief Championships Officer) Kerry Haigh to design certain challenges into some holes for major championships, while maintaining the flexibility to set up a softer approach for something like the national high school championship.” Paul Earnest, PGA, Director of Golf and Operations at Fields Ranch-PGA Frisco, believes Hanse and Welling hit home runs in the design and development of the East and West courses at Fields Ranch. He believes the PGA of America Professionals competing this month will find the courses fair but challenging – and memorable. “What Gil Hanse and Beau Welling have created here will test the world’s best golfers, as well as provide memories of a lifetime for players of all skill levels for decades to come,” says Earnest.