WYNDHAM CLARK, BRETT COLETTA, BEAU HOSSLER, RYAN RUFFELS RECEIVE EXEMPTIONS INTO 2017 TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP
HARTFORD, Conn., June 15, 2017 – The Travelers Championship today announced that Wyndham Clark, Brett Coletta, Beau Hossler and Ryan Ruffels have received exemptions and will compete in the 2017 tournament. Coletta, Hossler and Ruffels all turned professional in the past year; Clark intends to make his professional debut at this year’s Travelers Championship.
“We’ve had a long history of welcoming up-and-coming golfers into our field, and we’re excited to provide this group with the opportunity to play,” said Travelers Championship Tournament Director Nathan Grube. “It will be great to watch them early in their careers, and I hope they keep coming back to the Travelers Championship.”
Wyndham Clark recently graduated from the University of Oregon, where he helped the Ducks advance to this season’s NCAA Tournament championship match. Clark spent his first four college seasons at Oklahoma State, where he was first team All American after redshirting as a freshman. At Oregon, he was named the player of the year this season in the Pac 12, was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award and recently qualified for the Mackenzie Tour in Canada. The Travelers Championship will be Clark’s first PGA TOUR appearance.
Brett Coletta is a 21-year-old from Australia and will be making his third appearance on the PGA TOUR. He recently made his first cut, at The Memorial. As an amateur, Coletta became the first player since Stuart Appleby in 1991 to win the Queensland Open, and followed that with a T2 at the New South Wales Open and a T6 at the Australian PGA. Coletta finished second at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in September and turned pro in January.
Beau Hossler already has a professional victory. The 22-year-old won an event on the Adams Tour in December. Hossler has played in seven PGA TOUR events in 2017, making three cuts, with a best finish of T39 at the Shell Houston Open. He played his college golf at the University of Texas, and led the Longhorns to the 2016 NCAA title match, which he was forced to miss due to an injury. The 2016 winner of the Haskins Award as the nation’s most outstanding collegiate golfer, Hossler has played in three U.S. Opens, in 2011 (as a 16-year-old), 2012 and 2015.
Ryan Ruffels was born in Florida but grew up in Australia. Ruffels turned professional in 2016 as an 18-year-old and has played in 11 PGA TOUR events during his career, including three this year. His best TOUR finish has been a T20 at the 2016 Zurich Classic. Ruffels ended the season No. 22 on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica money list in 2016, with four tournament finishes of T7 or better.
Clark, Coletta, Hossler and Ruffels join a player field that includes Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Russell Knox, the 2016 Travelers Championship winner. The 2017 Travelers Championship will be held June 19-25, and tickets are now available. For more information, visit www.TravelersChampionship.com.
About the Travelers Championship
The Travelers Championship, held in Cromwell, Connecticut, is one of the premier events on the PGA TOUR and part of the FedExCup series. The tournament proudly supports the PGA TOUR’s Tradition of Giving Back by donating 100 percent of net proceeds to charities. Travelers, a leading provider of property and casualty insurance for home, auto and business, is the Official Property Casualty Insurance Provider of the PGA TOUR. The company became the tournament’s title sponsor in 2007. Travelers has been doing business in the Hartford community for more than 160 years and has been a corporate sponsor of this event each year since its inception in 1952. Complete details are available at www.TravelersChampionship.com.
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