Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS: Pre-tournament notes, storylines, more

The 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Season continues with the 11th playing of the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS, the 15th tournament of this season's 25-event schedule. The tournament will be held at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois, from June 18-21.

The field includes 17 PGA TOUR winners with 30 total victories, led by Aaron Baddeley and Martin Laird with four wins each. Additionally, 66 Korn Ferry Tour winners with 103 career victories will compete, led by five-time winner Ben Kohles. Two past champions of the Memorial Health Championship are in the field: Anders Albertson (2018) and Paul Barjon (2023).

Eleven players in the field stand inside the top 200 of the Official World Golf Ranking, including Blades Brown (No. 105), Doc Redman (No. 123), Ian Holt (No. 147), Davis Lamb (No. 156), Jeremy Gandon (No. 174), Ben Kohles (No. 168), Carson Young (No. 182), Zac Blair (No. 187), Alistair Docherty (No. 193), Cole Sherwood (No. 194) and Jay Card III (No. 199).

Four players in this week's field are coming off made cuts at the 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club: Ben Kohles (T23), Zac Blair (T32), Jackson Van Paris (T61) and James Nicholas (T65).

Ian Holt and Doc Redman, Nos. 1 and 2 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, respectively, are the only two multi-time winners this season. Should either player capture a third victory, they would earn an immediate promotion to the PGA TOUR via the Three-Victory Promotion, last achieved by Matt McCarty in 2024.

The Route 66 Cup presented by Compliance Solutions continues this week with the second of four events in the series. Zack Fischer leads the standings following his victory at the inaugural OccuNet Classic presented by Amarillo National Bank. Players are competing for a $100,000 bonus pool, with $66,000 awarded to the champion.

Notables in the field

• Jackson Buchanan, who stands No. 123 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, will make his third start at the Memorial Health Championship. Buchanan made his first career Korn Ferry Tour start at the event as an amateur in 2024 (T39) and made his first career cut as a professional at the event in 2025 (T34). Buchanan played four seasons at the University of Illinois (2021-25), finishing No. 12 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2025.
• Ben Carr, who stands No. 17 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, is coming off a runner-up finish at the OccuNet Classic presented by Amarillo National Bank, the best result of his career. In eight starts this season, Carr has finished inside the top 10 in half of them. Carr, a Korn Ferry Tour rookie, began the season with conditional membership with a T79 finish at Final Stage of 2025 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry.
• In his 171st start on the Korn Ferry Tour, Zack Fischer captured his first career victory last time out at the OccuNet Classic. Fischer converted a four-stroke, 54-hole lead into a one-stroke victory over runner-up Ben Carr. Fischer, who stands No. 16 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, will make his eighth start at the Memorial Health Championship.
• Ben Kohles captured his fifth career Korn Ferry Tour title earlier this month at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX, becoming the 14th player in Tour history with five-plus career wins. Kohles, who stands No. 6 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, is coming off a T23 finish at last week's U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, his best result in three career starts at the event.
• Jase Summy finished T3 in his professional debut at the OccuNet Classic in Amarillo, Texas. Summy finished No. 3 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2026 after four seasons at the University of Oklahoma (2022-26). By virtue of his No. 3 finish, Summy earned membership for the remainder of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season (finishers Nos. 2-10 in PGA TOUR University Ranking).
• Alistair Docherty earned an exemption into the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale by winning the 119 Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro as part of The Open Qualifying Series. Docherty has climbed to No. 2 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List behind one victory, one runner-up finish and four additional top-25 finishes in 10 starts this season.

Tournament facts

• Course: Panther Creek Country Club; par 71, 7,258 yards
• Field: 156 players
• Purse: $1 million ($180,000 to the winner)

Note: Using player performance data from ShotLink powered by CDW, the PGA TOUR has created this story using AWS Gen AI technology. While we strive for accuracy and quality, please note that the information provided may not be entirely error-free.