Evans Scholars Invitational: Pre-tournament notes, storylines, more

The 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Season continues this week with the Evans Scholars Invitational, the 17th tournament of the 25-event schedule. The field at The Glen Club in Glenview, Illinois, includes eight PGA TOUR winners with 14 career victories, led by Ryan Palmer with four career wins.

The tournament also features 56 Korn Ferry Tour winners with 80 career victories, led by four-time winners Chesson Hadley and Robby Shelton. Thomas Rosenmueller, the 2024 champion, is the lone past champion of the Evans Scholars Invitational in the field.

Eleven players in the field are ranked in the top 200 of the Official World Golf Ranking, led by Blades Brown at No. 97. Other notable ranked players include Doc Redman (No. 127), Ian Holt (No. 152), Cole Sherwood (No. 156), Ross Steelman (No. 160), Davis Lamb (No. 167), Jeremy Gandon (No. 178), Carson Young (No. 188), Drew Nesbitt (No. 197), Jay Card III (No. 199), and Alistair Docherty (No. 200).

Notables in the field

• Ben Carr stands No. 15 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List off the strength of a runner-up finish at last month's OccuNet Classic presented Amarillo National Bank. Carr, who finished No. 17 in the 2023 PGA TOUR University Ranking after five seasons at Georgia Southern University, has 10 made cuts in 12 starts this season. Carr is in his first season on the Korn Ferry Tour, as he played the previous two seasons on PGA TOUR Americas, finishing outside the top 50 of the standings both seasons.
• Ian Gilligan, who defeated Blades Brown in the Round of 16 en route to winning the 2024 Western Amateur, stands No. 20 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List. In his first full season on Tour, Gilligan has six top 10s – all of which came in the first 10 events. Gilligan ended a streak of five consecutive missed cuts in the previous Tour event, The Blue Championship (T45). Gilligan finished No. 4 in the 2025 PGA TOUR University Ranking.
• Christiaan Maas, who earned Korn Ferry Tour membership with a No. 2 finish in the 2026 PGA TOUR University Ranking, carded a final-round 9-under 63 and posted a T5 finish in the previous Tour event, The Blue Championship. Maas played four seasons at University of Texas, earning three individual victories. Maas was the runner-up finisher at the 2023 Western Amateur.
• Tommy Morrison, who finished No. 6 in the 2026 PGA TOUR University Ranking after three and a half seasons at University of Texas, has top 10s in his first three starts on Tour (T10/OccuNet Classic, T5/Memorial Health Championship, second/The Blue Championship), propelling him to No. 29 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List. Morrison's most notable amateur title came at the 2024 European Amateur Championship.
• Doc Redman stands No. 1 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List off the strength of wins at the Astara Chile Classic and Visit Knoxville Open. A third win would earn him an automatic and immediate promotion to the PGA TOUR via the Three-Victory Promotion. Redman was notably the runner-up finisher at 2017 Western Amateur.

Tournament history

• Now in its eighth year on the Korn Ferry Tour schedule, the Evans Scholars Invitational is regarded as one of the premier events on Tour.
• The Glen Club has hosted all but one iteration of the Evans Scholars Invitational, with Chicago Highlands Club serving as the 2020 host due to schedule changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Glen Club, a Tom Fazio design built on the former Naval Air Station Glenview, previously hosted the Korn Ferry Tour’s LaSalle Bank Open from 2002 through 2008.
• Three winners of the Evans Scholars Invitational have gone on to become PGA TOUR winners: Scottie Scheffler (2019), Cameron Young (2021) and Harry Hall (2022).
• Scheffler has since gone on to become world No. 1, a four-time PGA TOUR Player of the Year and 20-time winner on TOUR, marking the most TOUR victories by a Korn Ferry Tour alum.

Tournament facts

• Course: The Glen Club; par 71, 7,262 yards
• Field: 156 players
• Defending champion: Johnny Keefer
• Purse: $1 million ($180,000/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.