There have been a plethora of early changes to the field for the ISCO Championship this week on the PGA Tour ahead of the event beginning on Thursday.
The ISCO takes place at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky, where Harry Hall won his maiden PGA Tour title last year after coming through a five-man playoff. The Englishman is not defending his title as he is playing in the Genesis Scottish Open.
There were a number of withdrawals over the weekend, with Harrison Endycott, Joost Luiten, Richie Ramsay, Henrik Norlander, Marcel Schneider, Richy Werenski and Camilo Villegas all pulling out.
While seven players withdrew on Saturday and Sunday, 12 DP World Tour players were added to the field: Bjorn Akesson, Alexander Levy, Jack Senior, Andreas Halvorsen, Mikael Lindberg, Kazuma Kabori, Zihao Jin, Ryan van Velzen, Joel Moscatel, Davis Bryant, Wenyi Ding and Brandon Robinson Thompson.
Sean O'Hair, Dylan Wu and Fabian Gomez were also added to the line-up. The field also features a total of eight sponsor's exemptions, two PGA Tour members and six unrestricted, including promising young stars Miles Russell and Jackson Koivun.
Russell, the no.1-ranked AJGA player, made the cut on the Korn Ferry Tour at the age of 15 and won this year's Sage Valley Junior Invitational.
Auburn University's Koivun currently ranks 1st in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and has already earned a PGA Tour card via the PGA Tour U Accelerated program, which he has deferred until next year. Still just 20, he finished T11 at the John Deere Classic this past weekend.
Former Stanford man Michael Thorbjornsen is the current betting favorite.
The event runs opposite to the Scottish Open and is also co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour. While the Scottish Open has all the stars, including eight of the world's top-10, there is plenty of intrigue in the ISCO Championship line-up, which is a real mix of PGA and DP World Tour up-and-comers and journeymen along with the amateur stars.
William McGirt is now the first-alternate for the field if there are further withdrawals before the first tee shot is struck.
There is a $4m prize pool this week, with the champion taking home $720,000.
ISCO Championship field changes
- Sunday, July 6
- Joost Luiten (out, W/D)
- Richie Ramsay (out, W/D)
- Bjorn Akesson (in)
- Henrik Norlander (out, W/D)
- Marcel Schneider (out, W/D)
- Alexander Levy (in)
- Jack Senior (in)
- Andreas Halvorsen (in)
- Richy Werenski (out, W/D)
- Mikael Lindberg (in)
- Kazuma Kobori (in)
- Zihao Jin (in)
- Ryan van Velzen (in)
- Joel Moscatel (in)
- Davis Bryant (in)
- Wenyi Ding (in)
- Brandon Robinson Thompson (in)
- Saturday, July 5
- Harrison Endicott (W/D out)
