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CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center: Pre-tournament notes, storylines, players to watch

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PGA TOUR Americas travels to Cragun's Legacy Courses in Brainerd, Minnesota, for the fifth-annual CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center. (Courtesy PGA TOUR Americas)

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Written by Staff

PGA TOUR Americas travels to Brainerd, Minnesota, for the fifth-annual CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center. The event was named 2025 PGA TOUR Americas Tournament of the Year, and past champions include Jake Knapp (2022) and Michael Brennan (2025). Only three regular-season events remain before the top 60 players on the points list qualify for the season-ending Dominican Republic Tour Championship presented by Scotiabank, where the top 10 players on the final points list will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the 2027 season. The purse is $225,000, with $40,500 going to the winner.

Notables in the field

Daniel Svärd (Stockholm, Sweden) recorded his first victory in only his fourth pro start last week, defeating Adam Duncan on the first playoff hole to win the Manitoba Open. With the win, Svärd improved 104 spots to No. 16 on the points list, securing his spot in the 60-player season finale in October and putting himself in contention for one of the 10 Korn Ferry Tour cards at season’s end. The Northwestern graduate finished No. 19 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2026 to earn PGA TOUR Americas membership this summer, and he joins Jackson Koivun, Tommy Morrison and Frankie Harris as PGA TOUR University alumni who have won since turning pro in June. In four years at Northwestern, Svärd won the Big Ten individual championship twice (2023, 2024) and was named First-Team All-Big Ten three times.

Adam Duncan (Bakersfield, California) carded a final-round 68 to force a playoff at last week’s Manitoba Open before ultimately finishing runner-up, his best result in 18 starts on PGA TOUR Americas. Duncan earned membership in 2025 as the NCAA D-II Jack Nicklaus Award winner out of Colorado Christian University, and this season he’s up to No. 23 on the points list with two top-10s.

Austin Greaser (Vandalia, Ohio), a third-year pro out of the University of North Carolina, finished fourth at the Manitoba Open, his best result since finishing T4 at the 2024 Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS on Korn Ferry Tour. Greaser started the season with conditional membership and has made the cut in his last four starts to move to No. 40 on the points list.

Étienne Papineau (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) backed up his win at the Osprey Valley Open with a T5 finish at the Manitoba Open. Papineau (No. 4) and Joey Savoie (No. 8) are the top two Canadians on the points list, and they are two of the six Canadians with victories on PGA TOUR Americas since the tour launched in 2024.

Thomas Ponder (Dothan, Alabama) leads the points list and is the only player who has made the cut in all 11 events this season, but he’s coming off a season-worst T45 finish at the Manitoba Open. He leads the tour with eight top-10s and will make his third start at the CRMC Championship, where he has a 65.38 scoring average and finished T4 in 2024 and third in 2025. Last year, Ponder closed with a career-best 61 on Sunday and finished one shot out of the playoff between Michael Brennan and Derek Hitchner.