First off, congrats to Cole Rueck. The Boise State junior fired a 3-under 69 around Torrey Pines’ South Course on Monday to make history as the first two-time winner of the Genesis Collegiate Showcase, the 18-hole college shootout that rewards one lucky winner a PGA Tour exemption. Nice playing, Cole.
That said, this event desperately needs to be reimagined.
There’s no hiding the fact that the showcase is not what it once was – far from it. Early winners included Will Zalatoris (2015), Sahith Theegala (2017) and Scottie Scheffler (2018), and they beat fields littered with All-Americans to do so. PGA Tour pros used to participate as well, usually repping their alma maters and contributing toward the team competition in which the winning team would earn its program a $50,000 donation. And lastly, and perhaps most notably, the top college player no longer receives an invite into that week’s Genesis, which is now a limited-field signature event, but rather the Barracuda Championship in July.
With merely an opposite-field invite up for grabs and a hefty price tag to play ($33,000 per team), many college programs have opted against participating, especially with the Genesis dates usually occurring right as the spring semester gets rolling. Wake Forest’s Scotty Kennon was the highest-ranked player in this year’s field at No. 107 in Scoreboard’s rankings. Rueck is No. 506.
But what if I told you there was a chance to save this once great event?
Years ago, there were some rumblings that the showcase could turn into an all-star game of sorts, like the former Sun Bowl All-America Golf Classic that used to take place every winter in El Paso, Texas. That tournament was last held in 2019, and college golf has been without its own all-star game ever since. Obviously, nothing has materialized to evolve the Genesis Collegiate Showcase, but maybe there’s hope for someone to revive this idea.
With the emergence of PGA Tour University, the allure of playing PGA Tour events is greater than ever among top college players. Florida State’s Luke Clanton has enjoyed an historic run of late, posting a pair of runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour last season and translating that success into a likely PGA Tour card this summer; he’s just one point away of earning membership via PGA Tour U’s Accelerated program, and a made cut at the next month’s Valspar Championship (he’s qualified courtesy of his Valspar Collegiate win last spring) – or any made cut on the PGA Tour – would give him that elusive point.
Now, imagine Clanton facing off against Arizona State’s Josele Ballester, North Carolina’s David Ford and about a dozen other top college players. Eligible players would include first- and second-team All-Americans from the previous season, the top 10 players in the final PGA Tour U senior ranking of the fall and any players with 10 or more Accelerated points at the time of competition.
It would be difficult to exempt the winner into the Genesis like in the old days, but what if you offered an exemption into the Barracuda (or a spring opposite-field event to fit within PGA Tour U’s current windows) and an Accelerated point? I think that’d be enough to incentivize the best players to compete.
College coaches could schedule around this event, and the sport would once again have an All-America showcase where the stars of tomorrow can battle on one of the PGA Tour’s best stages.
Thoughts?
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